I, Christopher Lukezic, am officially retired. Peace out!

hypnotoad wrote:

Let's say this really was for runners who travel all over the world for races. Now, if I had a room to rent out and I could choose between some random dude and some random dude who belonged to NYRR that might be a meaningful distinction especially if I could contact the owner of the NYRR group and ask if this person was legit. Or if you could guarantee me that all members of the NYRR group of your site were legit. For the folks renting out space, something like the eBay seller ratings might work but I think the "buyer" ratings are much more critical for a couch surfing service.

It seems extremely unlikely people who travel extensively for a living would want to return home to soiled sheets and dirty dishes in their sink.

Lukezic dropping Symmonds and Geb's names seems over the top as well. Symmonds probably has no problem finding people to sleep in his bed. Geb probably makes more $ in a year than Lukezic has ever made in his life.

The whole announcement thing is kind of puzzling. Most elite runners have a down year or two. Chucking it all in to join a company with a circa 1995 home page, that seems like a poor choice.

From the perspective of a weekend 5 minute miler this decision seems nuts. If you are among the top ten in the country in something why give it up to become an obscure businessman. He has plenty of time to go into this kind of business after 30. Why waste the gift of being given sub 4 minute mile speed. Only 1 out of a million people can run that fast. Besides, couldn't his 3:37 this year again improve to 3:33. What is 4 seconds?

His contempory Myers is sticking it out.

Does this move make it easier for Chris to train with other athletes or sign with other sponsors ? Obviously I'm talking about the Nike crowd.

flummoxed wrote:

Lukezic dropping Symmonds and Geb's names seems over the top as well. Symmonds probably has no problem finding people to sleep in his bed. Geb probably makes more $ in a year than Lukezic has ever made in his life.

The point of mentioning Geb was that he is opening up a hotel for runners and wouldn't it be great if he listed the hotel on airbnb in the letsrun section.

Dammit, I just defended Lukezic. I promise that won't happen again.

He's not wasting it; he's raced and competed at the elite level for a long time now. I don't think most elites who've been at the top for as long as Chris has feel much of an obligation to "put their speed to work." It's simply a matter of fact for them. That's why Chris running 3:59's, Webb running 3:57's and Krumm running 1:48's evokes negative emotions. It may be fast to us, but it's missing the mark for them.

Extremely hypothetical. 4 seconds is a lot when you're in a rut and you're racing at a high level. He ran 3:33 in Europe riding the pack. I think he's the kinda guy who'd need a lot of positive results and momentum to make that happen again.

Chris made noise in 2006 and that was about it. Myer's has had more continued success and fuller resume. Myer's similar to Riley or Torres; quiet, but always in it when it counts.

If memory serves, Chris had a very promising performance or two indoors and it even looked like he might win the USA Indoor title. But that was a bust, and things went south after that. I buy the notion that perhaps his heart just wasn't in it.

Picayune wrote:

If memory serves, Chris had a very promising performance or two indoors and it even looked like he might win the USA Indoor title. But that was a bust, and things went south after that. I buy the notion that perhaps his heart just wasn't in it.

He won the 1500m at USA Indoors in 2006 but cooled after that.

At a local High School track I tried to run a fast quarter and came in at about 62.77. After walking around the track a few times I started thinking about this thread again. How is it possible to run faster than my quarter for 4 laps. To me it seems impossible, and I wonder how anyone would give up the ability to run this fast. From my perspective it is a rare gift. In the distance among the rollling autumn hills of hunterdon country NJ I saw the a pack of high school sub 5 minutes milers gliding effortlessly. I then began to think of a youth that has long past. I wonder if lukezic will regret quiting so early and look at the last few years as his youth past.

Actually, I am probably no longer a 5 minute miler. Since 40 I have not gone faster than 5:15. I know the 5:30 mile now awaits me. My PR in HS was only 4:43 so maybe its not a big deal. It would be if I was once a 4 minute miler.

Well actually, I was referring to the 2009 indoor season...he ran well in the first Boston meet then not so well at USA Indoors

I checked out the airbnb website. Very cool! Thanks for putting that out there. We might give that a try for our next out of town race.

skiptoo wrote:

Does this move make it easier for Chris to train with other athletes or sign with other sponsors ? Obviously I'm talking about the Nike crowd.

Nothing ever prevented him from training with anyone. He used to do some training with Webb. There are clauses that bar coaches who have their own coaching deals from coaching athletes who represent competing brands.

Since his announcement nullified his Reebok deal, he's technically open to announce a comeback and sign with anyone, but, given this type of announcement, I don't believe that would ever happen.

It's sort of like Webb or Mottram annoucing their retirement on here to sell Amway products door-to-door.

Hope I didn't give anyone any ideas!

on the runs wrote:

Since his announcement nullified his Reebok deal, he's technically open to announce a comeback and sign with anyone, but, given this type of announcement, I don't believe that would ever happen.

This is what I was wondering about. Nike seems more committed to developing talent in a group setting than Reebok, and that's what he needs at this point. I'm sure he's serious about airbnb but I also think that somewhere in the back of his mind he's still thinking about his options as a pro, and what he needs to get to the next level.

Thank you all for the love and the hate!

I hawked the idea of the running group to all of you because I knew it would seem uderly ludacris for me to present it in such a way. It was a joking way to present the idea to everyone on the site. How else could I get you all to pay attention to a web start-up? I thought possibly it would seem intriguing enough to get people to join. Perhaps I was wrong. It was enough to get your attention though. I thought that Letsrun was a community small enough to actually engage. Perhaps I'm wrong.

The idea of traveling within a network of those with similar interests, ideals, and affiliations may or may not take off.

It was relevant enough for Tech Crunch to pick up the story a week after it launched . . .

http://bit.ly/airbnbtechcrunch

That was enough to make me feel like the idea didn't fail. It is just a question of whether or not it takes off.

Start-ups are scrappy. You have an unproven product in a market that no one wants to believe in. You also have droves of people dying to tell you it won't work either.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Hey Chris, can you code in Java ?

Chris good luck to you. It seems the haters usually are of the type that they could only dream of running as fast as you and cannot fathom someone who would give that up.

But there comes a time for people to put their energies into other things. You have decided to do something else, and I applaud you for that.

Just from personal experience i say go to a bike shop pick up a decent racing bike get some coaching and do some serious riding. Its a good physical outlet, You might not feel it right away but its not uncommon after a month or two to get the running DT's. Your body has spent so much time training at a high level it truly craves the dopamine and other things that you wont be giving it any more. If you can throw yourself into some other extremely physical activity it will help wean yourself off running.

GRRRRRRR wrote:

Why would I ever buy this product if I could just as easily rock couchsurfers? This is not an innovative concept at all. I wish you the best of luck and hope the company grows... I just don't see it...

10 years later a $50B+ IPO

Growl wrote:

GRRRRRRR wrote:

Why would I ever buy this product if I could just as easily rock couchsurfers? This is not an innovative concept at all. I wish you the best of luck and hope the company grows... I just don't see it...

10 years later a $50B+ IPO

lol

Never knew this thread existed

Was he really employee # 9?