Kevin Hanson wrote:
Pat,
We agree with the problem. We just disagree on the whole sacrifice thing. A few corrections for you. Evey single Hansons-Brooks athlete that runs 2:12 will make far more than $50k a year. Far more.
My father in law worked for 40 years for the ability to travel both the US and the World and be involved in sport (for him it is non competitive golf). An elite american distance runner can travel the US and the world and be involved in sport without the prerequisite 40 years of work. Ask my father in law if that is a sacrifice?
I will bet you that Brinker and Sell and Verran and Campbell have seen more of the US and the World than most 50 year olds that chose the cubicle route. I see that as several outstanding life experiences far more than I do a sacrifice.
Clint Verran has continued to train 120-140 miles a week, travel the world, get married, buy a house, and open his own physical therapy clinic. Once again I miss the sacrifice.
We (Hansons-Brooks) have created a situation that allows the athlete not to suffer financially. That excuse does not carry weight with me.
As far as the whole there are no guarantees, once again you are wrong. I GUARANTEE that if you are not willing to invest 8-10 years after college, that you will never achieve much in our sport.
I apologize for the rant but I have personally invested a lot to insure that the "sacrifice argument" doesn't hold water.
Kevin Hanson
The one problem with this is that you are talking about guys that end up running faster than 2:12, the top elite guys. I think the point of the person that you replied to was that a guy coming out of college running a 2:20 marathon has no guarantee that he is going to get down around 2:12 so most people do end up sacrificing financially. There isn't much room for guys that need to develop a lot still, it might be a big sacrifice for them. I do agree with you about the "traveling the world" part though.