Shalane's Latest Journal Entry

Oh... maybe you'll both be mad at me.. Oh well!!

Honestly, neither one of you are making convincing arguments towards your intellects or running talents.

But, I do have to admit, "pre-madonna" was classic. Was that before the song "Holiday"?

"Holida-ay... oooh yeah, oooh yeah... celebra-ate... we have got to get together-ther".

Daniel Webster wrote:

Hey, if you can beat 13:50, then have at it. Doesn't mean that you're smarter or right if you're faster, though. You spend as much time if not more here! Yeah, I'm going to start taking seriously the opinion and advice of some anon internet user who's probably just some h.s. sophomore who's stuck in his room all weekend because he got grounded by mom and dad. See you at Mt. SAC, if you got it.

Hey, if we are gonna throw around PR's of 13:50 lets include our names as well please! I am not saying you guys are lying or anything, but those are some quick times and it would be nice to have a name/location or something to stick with that time just to know who we are dealin with...

Oh yah, and on the main topic, Shalane Flanagan is awsome. She is really sweet and down to earth... Incredibly so for a runner of her calliber. She knows how to have fun and be normal while still being one of the best in a sport where neuroticism is generally rewarded with success... atleast on the female side. Nothing wrong with her comment at all. I wonder how many Razorback's would stay in Arkansas for spring break if they had a chance to go elsewhere???

A few points here that I find rather interesting:

1. Some people's negative reaction to Shalane having an online running journal. So what! I understand that for many of you ego-maniac types out there you feel that unless you break several world records and have multiple Olympic gold medals, one is not deserving of talking about their training or running philosophy online. The more people who are great runners (yes, I would qualify Shalane as great even though she hasn't even beat Paula Radcliffe yet) talking about their training the better. And one can learn plenty from non-elites too. Having a fast PR doesn't give one a monopoly on knowledge of the sport. If that was the case, Gags wouldn't be qualified to coach anyone outside of the Penguin running program drop-outs. Yet, he happens to be one of the top coaches in the country.

2. The bickering over PRs is pretty amusing as well. Making fun of someone for having a 15:00 5k PR when yours is more than a whooping full minute faster. That's a pretty good attitude to take. But guess what, to Geb, you are all still a bunch of slow little bitches anyway. However, I doubt he feels the need to come on and poke fun of people. It's pretty clear how things play out. The 15:00 5k guy who thinks he is pretty hot stuff in the local circuit, but gets laughed at by your 13:50 type who has made a name for himself at a regional level. This guy in turn, is not taken very seriously by your sub 13:30 top national caliber runner. And guess what. That 13:30 guy is going to get laughed off the track (or more likely not even invited) at a big meet in Europe.

And I see how it starts. Just go over to dyestat. Same scenario where a number of people put others down. Only difference is that on there it is a 9:30 2 miler putting down a 10:00 2 miler. And in a few years, some of these guys will graduate to the level of some here.

Of course I don't mean that this is directed toward everyone on this board in any way. Many fast runners and good coaches regularly post on this board who seem to appreciate and want to help runners of various ability levels.

3. Regarding Shalane and her looks. Most people I'm sure agree that she is incredibly attractive. Others claim that she and others who often have their pictures posted here are nothing special. Before you jump on the "these chicks suck" bandwagon, you might want to get a grip on reality. Albeit, for all I know you might be dating a supermodel and be qualified to talk. However, for most (myself included), that is not the case. Spending a lot of time posting on track message boards and being able to pick up attractive women are usually not congruent activities. And to all the self-proclaimed Rhodes Scholars and master grammarians, pardon me if I didn't use congruent in the proper context as I couldn't think up of another fitting word. Of course, I'm guessing that any real Rhodes Scholars on here know they are smarter than everyone else and don't feel inclined to point it out whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Shut up, weiner

too many crybaby groupies out there. i.e. Morceli1978

I'd have to say that regional arrogance or at least defensiveness - while never appealing or productive - is more rampant in the South than in any other part of the country.

This is not unjustified, and it would help the Northeast's cause if young jokestresses like Ms. Flanagan would not remark unnecessarily on stereotypical targets such as inbreeding, hillbillism, and the regressive causes and poor hygiene of people south of Maryland and east of the Mississippi. The foregoing is in no way a comment on Ms. Flanagan, whom I do now know, but least Southern women wear short shorts with pride, and in so doing do not display badly overgrown pubic thatches covering fishbelly-white shanks. They are also not averse to perfectly round and very firm breasts available not through sound genetics, but through surgical purchase; this, too, is grand.

While regional differences within these fifty states are often overstated for purposes of false contrast, I myself have found people from the South to be generous and kind when compared to the provincial if better-educated motherf***ers in New England - this in spite of a decidedly giveaway Yankee accent. But it is also Southern folk who are most apt to relexively reject, or become suspicious of, someone perceived as an "outsider" - a carpetbagger or a Yankee; in the Northeast, barking in a bawdy Southern accent is - to the surprise, I'm sure, of many - not cause for amusement or alarm or the automatic assigning of a negative label. Expatriate Southerners in Massachusetts are welcomed simply as one more ethno-cultural group along with Puerto Ricans, Laotians, and the Chileans who love to pose as bellhops and steal tourists' lugage from the lobbies of swank hotels.

If any tribe merits ridicule above all others, it is the people from or near Indiana and the Ohio River Valley. Yes, friends, unmitigated Midwestern white trash blows through the gutted heartland of our fine nation. Here, not in the South, is where you find the most racist, backward, malicious, close-minded, unwashed righteous f***heads in America.