Wannamaker Mile Spoiler... I warned you...

In the end, I think Webb is going to have a good career, but I think he made a major mistake by sticking with his high school coach. Alan has so much talent and was destined for bigger things than he has so far shown. He should have been in the WC final until the very end challenging for a medal, for example.

A lot of his shortcomings I attribute to Raczko, who learning as he goes along and who hasn't been able to teach Alan any tactics or get him to relax before and during races. Last year Webb lost his entire season because of poor decisions with racing and training.

Now, I acknowledge that is a matter of conjecture, and I am sure that I will be flamed by rapid posters frothing at the mouth, but it just seems that Alan has so much talent and that his results have yet to match it, and that a large reason why is Raczko (IMHO).

Webb didn't run up to par. Fine, it happens. The problem is that in the eyes of the letsrun.com comunity, he can never win. If he goes out, runs even splits and runs 3:58 or something, he gets bashed for not sticking his noise in it. If he sits off the back he's a pussy for not taking it out. Any way he ran, someone would bash him. In the grand scheme of things, this race doesn't matter a lick. He needs to clean up his tactics, but he's still great. Unless someone else on here can blow up and run 4:04.

The highlight of Webb's career probably will be the US record for the mile. He will be remembered as a talented but erratic runner. Lets be honest Webb's inconsistency is what makes him interesting. There is always an ongoing soap opera when it comes to Alan Webb. No other distance runner generates as much discussion as Alan Webb does on these boards. Last week Webb was a genius and a week later he is back in the doghouse. This is nothing new for Webb.

When he runs a 3:50 at Prefontaine he will be a genius again.

not impressed wrote:

3:54 world class in 2007? Let's talk to Eammon Coghlan and see what he thinks.

"ON THAT TRACK." Not a good track. I believe KB ran 4:00 on it last yr.

i give up.. wrote:

webb's tactice reminds me of the pathetic move by kennedy in the 5000m final in atl.

Umm...Kennedy's move at Atlanta is one of the most inspiring moments in American track and field history. Don't confuse the two.

AmericanMilers wrote:

This has been the curse of American Milers ever since American Milers started performing on the international level. When it comes to crunch time, shit hits the fan.

January is "crunch time"?

what?

you must be joking?

when i saw that move, i was like saying "what the f u c k are you trying to prove...?"

yeah an the idiots in the crowd who don't know s h i t about running got all emotional for those few seconds thinking he was going to do something spectacular..

yeah well guess what...

his competition was thinking was thinking the same thing i was thinking...

"desperation"

just like webb in the WC

american running scared..

oh yeah and bob has done this numerous of times.. running to the front as if he's going to intimidate his rivals...

give me a break... he ain't fooling anyone

mott and lagat are thinking right now.. webb has no confidence when it comes to big time racing

s h i t webb's coach should have came out to the track and bitche-slapped webb for running what a 56sec quarter ..

he needs good ol' fashion discipline

You do realize that Mottram took second in that race? And that if you want to talk about large frames, I'm fairly certain Mottram would come to mind before Webb. If anything, Mottram was at the biggest disadvantage, but he still went 3:54. I don't know what happened with Webb, but I think he'll be alright. What I do know is the "large frame runner" excuse doesn't work when Mottram is in the race.

On Webb's race plan, I'm not 100% convinced that making sure you're in front of 6ft 3in Craig Mottram running his firt race on an 11-lap track is a silly thing to do. TV announcer also said that he was working on going from a fast pace from the gun, like he'll see later in the year.

Some basic facts:

1. The garden track is slow -maybe 4-5 seconds for the mile.

2. Track and field is a sport of competition between athletes. Most of the time middle/long distance races are tactical - the win is more important then the time.

3. This years Wanamker Mile was a great race: Webb tried to blow it out (his tactics failed), Buster tried to run away from Lagat (a tremendous effort for a big man on this small track), Lagat stayed with him and sprinted past with less then 80 meters to go for a great finish.

4. Lagat and Buster's time were under 3:54 - a time that very few runners have run.

5. It was one of the best Wanamaker Miles in decades.

On Lagat's Citizenship:

Bernard has done exactly the same thing that everyone of ours parents,or grandparents, or great parents, etc. did - they came to America for a better life and oppertunity - it's the American way.

Molty Lokey wrote:

The highlight of Webb's career probably will be the US record for the mile. He will be remembered as a talented but erratic runner. Lets be honest Webb's inconsistency is what makes him interesting. There is always an ongoing soap opera when it comes to Alan Webb. No other distance runner generates as much discussion as Alan Webb does on these boards. Last week Webb was a genius and a week later he is back in the doghouse. This is nothing new for Webb.

When he runs a 3:50 at Prefontaine he will be a genius again.

Webb is not erratic and unpredictable at all. In fact, I can predict the outcome of almost any race with Webb in it. It's pretty simple: If there are 1 or more top-class Kenyans and/or Europeans, Webb will run poorly by his standards, making several blundering stupid tactical errors throughout the race. If the competition is sub world-class whiteys i.e. Kevin Sullivan, Mark Fountain, James Nolan like in Boston, Webb will win by a good margin and run a pretty good time. The only exception I can think of is Ostrava back in '05 i believe; he won a 1500m against decent competition on the Euro tour. That may have been his PR. I was impressed... it hasn't happened since!! So I guess Webb's career is a soap opera with ONE good race.

Carlos, you were the moron who asked if there are any HILLS in the Stanford meet that Hall is primed to run in. Obviously your knowledge of track is about nil. Go back to fixing your cousin's lowrider.

i give up.. wrote:

"desperation"

Bob=12:58,7:30 at the rise of the African Nations' distance dominations. He was the 1st anamoly and his performance in Atlanta is considered one of the premiere moments in American distance running history. He was desperate...he wasn't runnign scared. There was a time in which the world record for 5k was in his reach and he had it as a legitimate goal. Learn about what you're trying to discuss and think before you speak.

Wasn't* desperate

I totally agree with this post and the post by Molty Lokey a few posts under it. Webb is so talented and most likely will better Scott's AR in the mile, but he has not shown the ability to race when the pressure is on. I have forgiven him up to this point because I always believed that he had never learned tactics earlier because he didn't need them; in high school he could just run away from everyone. The fact that he still is useless in a tactical race against top-class competition doesn't bode well for his career.

If he doesn't learn how to race by this summer, I don't see him ever learning. He'll have had ample opportunities after Osaka. Webb's talent is without question, and it really will be a shame if he can't take care of the easier part: the tactics. I don't know if Raczko is to blame or if Webb just can't learn, but a coaching change at least has a possibility of helping the situation.

Kennedy was a great runner. There is no denying that fact from an American perspective. And his surge was certainly a heart-warming move. Hooray for the underdog, "baby fat", white guy running in his home country. But to call that moment one of the finest is American distance running history is laughable. Credit to him for throwing down his chips, but the extent to which he was outclassed is almost embarrassing. There was a time when American distance runners were known for more than heart-warming and sometimes boneheaded moves - they were known for winning.

daman wrote:

Carlos, you were the moron who asked if there are any HILLS in the Stanford meet that Hall is primed to run in. Obviously your knowledge of track is about nil. Go back to fixing your cousin's lowrider.

Haha I like how you referred to my knowledge of track in a ROAD race.

Who cares about you and your goddamn schedules?

Your name "daman" is a misspelled grammatical f***-up for god's sake! Anything you say with that name will sound retarded.

If it is in fact a track race, Hall will run sub 27.

Go suck your dad's mangina daman.

daman wrote:

Carlos, you were the moron who asked if there are any HILLS in the Stanford meet that Hall is primed to run in. Obviously your knowledge of track is about nil. Go back to fixing your cousin's lowrider.

Hey, daman, i bet you're an Alan Webb fan huh?

hahahahahahahaahahahahaaahahahahahahaaa!!!!!!

gotta love it, man! In keeping up with letsrun knucklehead tradition, you been following track for probably a month at most and then come on here with some stupid shit about if there are hills in the race.

your brain is probably the size of a pea and probably a pea that never reached maturity. But keep on throwing down your amazing comments ... they are so stupid, they are quite entertaining.