Should I lead the first half of Olympic Trials then drop?

Wait a minute.. Bekele??

On second thought, 15k pace would probably give you the most tv time.

It would be pretty funny if all the runners in the 215-217 range did that.

There are currently 25 guys with 2:16:X. Rojo, start a running club with these guys and then come up with a game day plan for some type of “team” tactics to dominate TV coverage for as long as possible. Heck, maybe even get one into the top 3! You’re welcome for one of the greatest low-budget marketing ploys ever.

Seriously?

Say that fast 3X.

A lot of guys in that range do try to stay close to the lead, and then almost inevitably slow down and either hold on enough for a slow finishing time or drop out somewhere around twenty miles in. But those guys are actual competitors who are trying to do their best and are hoping for a big breakthrough. The original poster here is suggesting a fraud -- merely pretending to be a serious competitor and potential contender or winner before dropping out, and for purely selfish and deceitful reasons.

Some people have suggested that his intended or contemplated action could be justified by his possible effect as a pacemaker. But these days, fake competitors who merely pace real competitors are generally labeled as pacers or given distinctive outfits to let the more knowledgeable spectators know that that the designated pacers are not actual competitors. This guy could certainly try to put the word "PACER" on the front and back of his shirt in big, bold letters, but that would undermine his fraudulent intent, and would probably also be disallowed by race officials, since Olympic trials races aren't supposed to have designated pacers, and there still are, as far as I know, "honest efforts" requirements for competitors, although clowns have flouted those requirements on a number of occasions. Quite apart from that, pacers who are not properly identified (and even those who are) almost invariably obscure the real competitors in the race. I find most paced races to be almost unwatchable, and races with undesignated pacers are far worse, because commentators and film crews can be faced with difficult decisions about whether to ignore such possible pacers or treat them as legitimate competitors who are making heroic efforts to outrun more highly credentialed competitors.

This might not be popular with the kids but you're taking the place of someone who puts blood, sweat and tears into racing the best they can. It would be disrespectful of the race, the other runners and most of all the one whose place you're taking.

And you could tell your grandkids that you once ran the Olympic Trials but knew you weren't going to win so behaved like a d1ck. Not sure that's the life lesson and legacy you want to look back on.

He's not taking anyone's place. Anyone who ran sub 1:03 / 2:18 is in.

He earned his spot in the race and can run it as he sees fit. If this is a problem then the organizers should just have a trials with the top 20-25 times , but they obviously don’t want that.

Remember Barnicle?

Carry ketchup packets in your shorts.

when it’s time to bail squeeze those things super hard until they’re running down your legs, wave goodbye to the camera and then jump in that limo a legend.

you worked hard to get to these trials and you deserve this.

While I know that you are only semi-serious, do you really want your first, last, and only appearance at the US Trials to be a DNF?

I completely agree with this. And though a number of the other slower runners in the race may be fairly indifferent to such antics, virtually all would have the basic dignity not to act this way, and I'm fairly confident that the great majority of the faster competitors and legitimate contenders would be angry to learn that this guy whom they were taking seriously, and possibly redlining to keep him within striking distance, was just an attention-seeking ass. (I've seen that happen before, with horrible consequences for the guys who had been pushing hard to cover the fake competitor's moves.)

By the way, I like "dont's" reference to "the kids," because I think that many of the people who think that this is a great idea have simply never had to deal with these clowns in races for which the legitimate competitors have invested so much of their adult lives to compete in, against other legitimate runners of similar stature.

When I ran the Olympic trials marathon with a severe metatarsal stress fracture, I knew that it was unlikely that I would be able to finish, but I would never have chosen to lead the race until I "suddenly" had to drop out with a legitimate injury. (It was a hot day and a slow race from the start, so anyone willing and able to click off five-minute miles could hold the lead for as long as he could maintain that pace.) Instead, I ended up running 5:20s in dead last place (shared with Benji Durden, which was an honor), falling further and further behind until the pain became too much to bear.

Wrong. He's taking at least one other person's place up front, for purely selfish and unsupportable reasons.

What are you even talking about?

You can't "take one other person's place up front" in a marathon

It isn't like there's a limit on places up front, or anywhere else.

Hands down the weirdest post I have seen in awhile.

This is if the average viewer had any inkling of what is going on. Remember those two jokers who took off like that last trials? They got a ton of screen time even thought they had zero shot. It is a disgrace to the sport. Want all of your idols to hate you? This does it. It is way cooler to say you beat some runner you never would race on that stage anyways. They can’t dispute the importance of the race and abunch of nobodies beat the pros at this race every time it rolls around.

Pretty sure letsrun won't hate him.

This is a fair point. When he finally gets passed he could downshift and run the rest of the race at easy long run pace.