Pull a "Glenn Randall" (GR)

formidable doer of the nasty wrote:

Look, we all spend enough lonely hours on the road to become good marathoners. Hardly any of us become good enough to even be in the limelight for 2 hours. So don't be so uptight when someone pulls a stunt to get a little attention. It's not like Glenn is pulling a Dean Karnazes here, he was just having some fun. You people need to lighten up. Go get laid or something, just get that bitterness out of your systems.

I don't get the anti-Randall vitriol either. But I could say that about nearly every thread on letsrun.

You do realize the 2:20 was his marathon debut, right?

I swear on my life this story is true.

When Glenn showed up as a freshman he trained in an old clunky New Balance shoe, I think it was the 992.

It looked like this:

http://www3.images.coolspotters.com/photos/45258/new-balance-992-profile.jpg

One day we were doing a workout called the Michigan where you run a two-mile hard, mile tempo, mile hard, mile tempo, then finish off with an 800.

So Glenn runs the two mile and keeps up with most everyone hitting right around 9:33. He then runs the mile tempo with everyone and gets to the mile ready to roll. Most guys in his group run the mile in just under 4:40 but as Glenn's PR was 4:38ish for a mile (even though he had run sub 25:00 for five miles that season), Glenn managed about 4:48.

Pissed about this, Glenn catches up on the tempo and starts the 800 with everyone. The group goes through in about 65 and Glenn is WAAAAY off the back. So as Glenn gets to 400 to go he lets rip this PRIMAL SCREAM and KICKS OFF HIS TRAINERS so he's running in just his socks. He then runs the last 400 at about the same pace, maybe a little slower, for about 2:20.

When asked about it afterward, he said he just couldn't run fast. Oh man, being on the team with Glenn was the best.

Not meaning to bust on Fanelli or Randall at all. Just recalling another runner from a bygone era and wondering why the hate here.

bloodsport wrote:

the whole point of PowerBar is to keep you from bonking, why would they want one of their sponsored runners pulling the biggest bonk of all time?

ROFL ROFL ROFL

Jackass or delusional?

Not sure what to think of the guy. It was pretty amusing in a "look at that jackass" sort of way. Sort of like a streaker or something. Why not do the unexpected? If thats the case more power to him.

I also understand the negativity. A quick check of athlinks shows that his 2:20 was a hell of a performance for him. He appears to be typically a 1:09HM type and his 10k at boston may very well have been a PR.It might even be possible that he was initially trying to run a fast race and found himslef in the lead and simply went with it. The guy is no stranger to blow-ups as his last race performance on athlinks shows(he might even have led this one too!):

2011 Las Vegas Half

Glenn Randall

Mesa, CO

Age: 25 | Gender: M

Overall: 34 out of 33283

Division: 27 out of 52

Gender: 34 out of 12148

5 Km

10 Km

10 Mi

14:53

30:32

51:26

Pace

Chip Time

Clock Time

5:20

01:09:52

01:09:52

again 2:09 and a win at Pikes Peak is a seriously good time. Not to be laughed at. Greententpoll that was an funny story.

LEAVE GLENN RANDALL ALONE. Seriously guys, Those Kenyans have more respect to somebody like Glenn who just want to run and not be afraid to be in front of them. I am a Kenyan myself and I speak for all Kenyans that they appreciate the effort no matter what your abilities are. Glen Randall knows what it feels to run up there, people like Glenn are likely to succeed because they try.

Comparing glenn Randall to Wardian? Pleeeeze. Glenn is a great athlete. He ran div 1, competed in the NCAA XC meet, and won the NCAA XC skiing championship. I don't know his PRs but I'm guessing they are around 30 min in the 10k and 14:15 in the 5 k. All of that is damn good and the XC skiing thing is amazing,

.

Wardian is a joke, untramarathoner, who runs baby jogger marathons and tread mill marathons and ALMOST SURELY HAS TAKEN PERFRMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS. (this post will now be removed). He never ran in college but is decent because Most college runners quit after school because they have a life.

Similar comparison:

Magic Johnson vs Meadowlark Lemon

Vegas is downhill = 2 minutes faster than a PR.

Must say I don't understand why people are so worked up over what he did. I wouldn't have done it but I don't see how it really matters.

From what I've seen the criticisms are 1) based on him representing American distance running poorly by going out too fast and blowing up. This is fairly ridiculous and assumes that the rest of the world's running community bases its opinions of American distance running on the one guy they saw on TV in 2012 running the Boston Marathon.

2) The Boston Marathon is a prestigious race that should be taken seriously at all times (from the Runners World comments). Like above, this one is fairly absurd because anybody in the race who didn't try to run their absolute best would be just as guilty. Even if you assume that what Glenn Randall did was more public and therefore more insulting the prestige of the race worse things have happened at Boston (cheating to be the first woman, banning women). Going out fast getting media attention and dying does not register as a a big issue, which is why none of the elites or race directors complain. Ultimately, I suspect this argument is from people who train very hard to try and come close to qualifying for Boston and as such have built it into something it isn't. This is also one of the few instances I can think of where one's running credentials matter.

3) He stole media attention from the other runners who deserved it more. This argument is just baseless speculation. While he did get some media attention is assumes that the rest of the elite runners suffered, or at least were truly upset, about not having the cameras on them for those first 6 miles. The lack of complaint from the leaders, and the absurdity of that assumption speaks is sufficient.

4) It was stupid for him because he did not try to run as fast as he could. I'd think one's racing goals should be up to them (saying that it is Boston and therefore should be taken seriously is addressed above). I know plenty of runners who will go out fast in a race and see how they do, tempo a race, jog then kick in the last bit, all of which lead to not perfect results. I do not see why other people should care how somebody decides to run a race or what their goal should be.

5) He looked stupid in his Tri suit and should have avoided the attention. This sort of argument only comes from LetsRun and is really specious. For a start I hardly think a singlet and short shorts is the definition of style and seems to imply that if you are going to run you should fit in and wear what everyone else does (unless you finish 4th at the Boston Marathon). As a start what you can wear in a race should not be contingent on how fast you are. Then there are people like Dave Waddle (hat) John Walker (long hair) Pre (mustache) and Wanjero (arm warmers) to name a few. But really the important question seems to be why somebody is so worked up over what somebody wears at a race then vents about it on LetsRun. At best it sounds like a overly obsessive high school track official.

Those are the big ones at least. If somebody can come up with a reason why it was wrong to deliberately take a race out too fast and then die is so personally repulsive I'd like to hear it.

1) +1

2) +1

3) +1

4) +1

5) +1

Glenn Randall wrote:

Hey guys this is Glenn. You can go ahead and criticize me all you want for blowing up. But the fact is I was leading the Boston Marathon through the 5k mark. How many of you guys can say that you have done that in a World Major Marathon or any marathon for that matter. I was going out trying to hit 2:20, I felt pretty good in the beginning. When I saw I was near the lead I said to myself why not, how many chances do you get to do this. With the guys going out a relatively conservative pace because of the heat I decided to forgoe my plan of running 2:20 and just take the lead. Yes it was relatively short when talking about a marathon but I had my 10 minutes of fame, and I don't regret it.

-Glenn

You're not Glenn Randall. If you were, you'd know that he does this in every single race he runs.

So, does anyone have a link to a picture or video of Glenn Randall at the Marathon?

I was unable to view the live feed on race day and haven't been able to find a picture/video of the first few miles of the race...

A guy did the same thing about 10 years ago, Delbert something. Led the first 5K, held on through 10K, finished about 3:40. That guy was clearly pulling a stunt since he pushed his way up from the 1st corral.

Glenn had a reason to be up front, just maybe not to be able to stay there.

The Wagon wrote:

So, does anyone have a link to a picture or video of Glenn Randall at the Marathon?

I was unable to view the live feed on race day and haven't been able to find a picture/video of the first few miles of the race...

Came in to this thread to post exactly this.

Any pics?

I posted yesterday asking Glenn to contact me for a story. One of you jokers sent me a fake email from

colo_randall@yahoo.com

(allegedly from Glenn) with "his side of the story."

It was a very good attempt, but I caught you. I have spoken with Glenn and he has not posted on this thread nor did he email me from that address.

I am editing my story and I will send to Rojo soon to post.

Thanks,

Zeb Lang

or 6) any reasonable person should find it hilarious. Didn't you laugh at the weirdos in high tops who would hammer the first 150 meters in cross country meets in high school? We used to laugh about them during the race. This is the same thing. No hard feelings toward Glenn, he sounds like a great athlete, but it was funny to watch.

I still don't see how people can rip on Wardian. Yes, he does take on unusual challenges. So he has some fun. I think it is good for the sport. But how can you call him a joke when he has run the last three Olympic marathon trials, ran a 2:17:xx at the age of 37, was top three in 13 of the 14 marathons he ran in 2011, and has won three marathons this year already??? Not to mention all the incredible ultra performances he has turned in. And I don't buy the drug accusations for a minute. Show what proof you have when making these accusations.