The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Jeez dude, leave his girl out of it lol

Wish I could’ve seen this thread in the heyday of Tinman Elite. It would have been beautiful.

2019 at U.S. Champs was their peak as a team, no? I don’t think I could even ridicule those guys without just feeling bad. They all seem like pretty good souls who just failed so freaking much. Mostly due to injury, coaching changes, debatably sub-par coaching (unless Drew’s mom was still coaching him for that 4th place at U.S. 10,000m), and lack of God-given talent (was Eliud Kipsang their most talented recruit by a long shot?).

And then since they live in (what’s becoming) a HCOL area like Boulder, they have (?) to make a dramatic video about every single failure. I remember seeing every consecutive race video of theirs that popped up in my feed being just an absolute sh*tshow or mediocre-fest for all involved.

Reid Fischer has maybe been the most consistent one? Again, not the most talented guy, so I think his Top-15 finishes at a bunch of world marathon majors, plus repping the USA Kit a few times, is admirable for the tools he was born with.

Again, it’s kind of hard for me to rag on these guys. They’re decently self-aware; pretty sure I remember Drew saying at one point close to verbatim, “Yeah, I wish we could show you guys a bunch of great results, but the reality is we suck right now.”

Greatest Tinman moment might be one of them wearing Dragonflies back when they were the only super-spike and then Adidas promptly terminating his contract.

I've always wondered why a very small number of people doesn't seem to like Bester but I think I get it now -- he's a little too perfect, isn't he? A fantastic runner, amazing physique and looks, incredibly humble, an all-around perfect example of a human being, and often literally bending over backwards for the benefit of those around him. That's gotta piss some lesser people off.

Yeah not cool. But, also, in fairness, I wish begging Ben would leave his girl out of it too. Let her shill stuff on her own channel.

These pro Bester trolls are actually ruining this thread now. It will soon die a death (which is probably what Bester wants)

Actually think its the anti-Bester trolls who are ruining it. Bester isn't that interesting to talk about here because he's a good runner who trains well and an OK youtuber. This is a thread to snark on the youtube runners who train ridiculously, think they are better runners than they are so get injured and give poor advice. Or ones who are peak cringe in their videos 9which Bester occasionally is but there is way worse). Or just shill every product under the sun like Benisrunning

The anti Bester trolls keep rising to the obvious bait comments which keep adding fuel to the comments and so they continue. If you just ignored them they would probably lessen. They also don't recognise clear sarcasm. Which seems to be more an issue with the American users here.

Seems to confuse them even more than Ashes chat. Great comeback from the poms on day 1 btw. Feast on that P Luttrell ;)

Spoken like a true virgin

Who's the biggest British Bellend in the youtube world?

I would have to say Fordy Runs myself. The idea that he's a running coach and him taking himself way to seriously. Just a total turnoff. Bester working hard to top that list with his spamming of this thread though.

First off, to give him his due he's got decent times over the shorter distances.

But jfc, he currently said he has a stress reaction in his tibia and that on the advice of a physio, if you can believe it, he is managing this by "only" running 10k every other day.

If an actual physio advised this, which I have severe doubts about, they should be struck off. Honestly they probably should be locked up.

This is completely insane, watching a car crash in slow motion here.

When I had a stress reaction in my tibia my physio advised runs of no further than 10km as that's what seemed to trigger the pain. This was only 3-4 times a week but it is possible that the advice is correct. Mine got better like this.

Unrelated to everything you all are talking about, but there's one thing running YouTubers do that gets really annoying sometimes. When someone is running any kind of race or workout and is clearly holding their camera or filming equipment and they keep saying "we". "We're hitting a good pace right now". "We're in a good position". No, YOU are hitting a good pace, and your support team is supporting you. Especially in the trail ultra videos, so many people talking about "we" when they're 3 miles from the nearest person. It's annoying.

You’re right, they definitely deserved a mention. Allie Ostrander and The Athlete Special both bring a different kind of energy to the running scene, and their content is super fun to follow. Honestly, the list could easily be twice as long with all the creators people keep reminding me of 😂. Thanks for pointing them out!

Absolutely. The cringiest of them all - absolutely love him

Stephen Cousins (Film My Run). I have never encountered such a sanctimonious idiot. He is condescending to everyone, volunteers included. It's also frustrating seeing him attempt umpteen races with absolutely no preparation, only to walk the course and complain about the difficulty. He is the opposite of a good role model.

Will second this. Has shouts at waiters/waitresses vibes. Seems full of self importance from what I see on his YouTube channel.

Understand that you can’t fully judge someone on how they come across on YouTube without meeting them though. So perhaps unfairly maligning him.

Other YouTubers that I quite like (respect at a stretch) such as MARM and Tim Grose appear to be friends with him so maybe he’s an alright dude deep down.

Id have that Truett bloke as most obnoxious. And there’s a few who take themselves way too seriously. Aubrey, Fordy spring to mind. It’s not that deep guys. You run and then talk about it on YouTube.

i agree with everything you said. butLMAO bro really. you find it hard to rag on them yet your entire novel of a post is entirely a passive aggressive insult to the tinman group -_-. completely unsolicited and random as well - nobody was discussing tinman in this thread recently at all. you clearly just hopped on here to bash them for no reason. and you're not wrong with what you said - think they are clowns, but cmon at least call a spade a spade and dont hide behind the intent of your ragging

I think the negative is the feeling that the guy we get in the video is a carefully curated "persona." I could be wrong, but that's the vibe I get.

I have a lot of respect for the shape he's worked his way into, especially given age + size. I also respect his business smarts - he's done a very good job of developing a business model.

To me, though, he just seems less authentic than, say "Ran to Japan" or the Scottish marathon guy, or Cole...

BITR weekly update!

- ongoing debate about the ethics of banditing/bib swapping for big races. Detective Robby catches a nike influencer/coach in the act. Says he “understands” but still just wants the guy to fess up to he sins

- Thomas is chuffed that bitr wasn’t mentioned in the nycm weekend highlights video. The gang concludes this must be because their shakeout was so big they don’t need the coverage

- Thomas talks sh-t about the state of Maine

- the gang talks sh-t about another shoe they think is good performance wise but the aesthetic again is just not up to their standards. They conclude that when they meet the designer of the shoe at TRE, the designer will be wearing clothes that “make sense” for why the shoe is so ugly

- Robby and Thomas spend the last fifteen minutes sh—tting all over local Baltimore, and notoriously struggling, athletic brand under armour. According to Thomas the best ad they’ve had in recent years is a thirty second clip of Robby saying that Baltimore is a good running city because it’s “gritty” and running requires “grit”

- the above discussion devolves into Robby and Thomas sh-tting all over brands in general, including hoka, which is sponsoring their upcoming dnf’s/walking finishes at jfk 50

- meg and karl are silent for the majority of the podcast, either bored or in awe of the stupidity of Thomas and Robby’s ranting

Can we have less of the chat about what I presume are American YouTubers. Never heard of these people you mention and whenever anyone talks about unknown Americans the thread comes to a grinding halt. Floberg apart, none of them are interesting.

Lets just stick to the vast array of wonderful, wacky and in some cases wa**erish British influencers.

Now what we were saying about Ben, Nick and filmMyrun?