All of the responses in this thread along the lines of "you can't do what they do so stfu" are so pathetic, by that logic Zack Wilson is a great NFL QB because he's better at what he does than anyone here. Men's distance running in this country is weak, there was nothing great yesterday, jag runners on the world stage did their best and that's all there is to it. There are a lot of things to be excited about as a fan of American distance running on the women's side, not just specific to Boston yesterday even though Bates had a breakthrough performance.