Pull a "Glenn Randall" (GR)

As a few others have said, Glenn is notorious for going out incredibly fast. At Pikes Peak, he led from the gun and held that lead to the finish. He's opened an immediate lead at BolderBoulder, the Rocky Mountain Shootout, and probably every other race he's done, but did not win those races. He seems naive in thinking that this isn't hurting his race and just looks foolish.

Orville Atkins can!

Congrats wrote:

I am sure very very few LR'ers can say they "led" the Boston Marathon (either for 5 yards, 5 minutes or 5 miles). If you accomplished what you wanted (10 minutes of fame) - I believe you did that and you should walk away happy. I am fairly confident many LR'ers can run a 15:04 5K downhill.

I am not entirely sure I understand how irrational pacing would yield a 2:20 (how is a 15:04 5k to open a Marathon a good example of pacing). If your goal was to hit the time, the 10 minutes of fame obviously had nothing to do with it.

That is one

next

Thanks for remembering Dan's name, I remember he was a student in the Boston area. Dude was pretty good despite running in trainers.

This has been a great thread, with the various opinions. GR is obviously a serious athlete, with real credentials. I ran Boston on Monday (it was as hot as advertised). The only thing I question about GR's performance was the ridiculous tri suit he was wearing.

Video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Hv7ylPZ_o

Randall is in the first minute or so of the video.

not the first time wrote:

As a few others have said, Glenn is notorious for going out incredibly fast. At Pikes Peak, he led from the gun and held that lead to the finish. He's opened an immediate lead at BolderBoulder, the Rocky Mountain Shootout, and probably every other race he's done, but did not win those races. He seems naive in thinking that this isn't hurting his race and just looks foolish.

Not so in skiing. The link here

shows a picture of the US Distance Nationals a few years back. This is the lead pack on the first or second of seven very brutal laps in the 50K.

The three guys on the left are US Olympians James Southam (104), Torin Koos (106), and Lars Flora (107), and 102 is one of the Canadians, I think on their Olympic team.

Randall is a the back of this group, white hat and I put in a red line above that. You can see the Mean Green tights. Anyway, he hung back here--fell back quite a ways and then moved up and was the 3rd place USA skier that day, beating all but two of the Olymians (Southam and up and coming star Noah Hoffman).

Wardian has lied about drugs: he said he was tested at two oceans. Lie.

He said he was tested as a member of the Michigan state club lacrosse team. Lie.

Why would he lie about this? No reason except...

He is not on the official US list of drug test participants.

I have said time and time again (and my posts get removed) that I am not saying Wardian does drugs. I say Wardian EITHER does drug or has the greatest recovering ability of all time. Pick one.

Now to relate this post to the thread: don't compare a great collegiate athlete, Glenn Randall, to a likely drug cheat.

When you voluntary place your self in the public light such as on TV you have to expect criticism. If you don't like it, then don't put yourself on TV.

Wow...there is nothing wrong with criticizing him for looking like a clown. That's what we do, and not just letsrunners, Americans. All of the Glenn defenders need to get over us and go read the WSJ, but make sure to avoid the comments section so you don't have to hear what other people think. Obviously you can't handle reading other people's thoughts, but maybe it's because you're uncomfortable with your own thoughts..

Wowser, He does appear to be carrying a load of junk in the trunk. But seriously folks, get of GR's back.

The Wagon wrote:

Video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Hv7ylPZ_o

Randall is in the first minute or so of the video.

not the first time wrote:

He seems naive in thinking that this isn't hurting his race and just looks foolish.

Read --

The article clears up much of GR's Boston '12 move.

"Yeah, crazy like a fox. His plan worked perfectly, and 2 hours, 9 minutes and 28 seconds later, the guy who started too fast was the Pikes Peak Ascent Champion.

Randall, a professional cross country skier from Mesa, Colo., said he likes to run on the flats.

He used that strength to open an early lead. No other runner in the race could catch him.

“I am pretty good on flats,” Randall said. “If people were going with me, hopefully it was going to take a toll on them. I feel like I should be in pain, but I am not.”

Standing on top of “America’s Mountain” and accepting congratulations from people who had never heard his name before, Randall, 23, said he came to Pikes Peak to train

for skiing."

He doesn't look foolish at all. He is a professional CC skier who dabbles in running races, diversely.

As it happens, neither the Kenyans or Ethiopians have been able to touch Randall in cross country skiing. I saw this as a serious taunt--a throw-down challenge for the East Africans to take to planks on the snow.

I wouldn't compare the Pikes Pike ascent to the Boston Marathon. Sure he took it out fast there and won - but who was he racing? Ricky Gates. Not quite the same as running a real marathon against international Olympians and guys like Korir. Can we confirm Powerbar paid GR for such a stunt? If that is the case I would understand why he did what he did.

Glenn's own words on the subject:

http://glennrandall.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-have-sign-in-my-bedroom.html

Hopefully that puts this all to rest. The dude has an unconventional approach to racing. Without his performance, this race would have been pretty boring. A slow major marathon in an age when we expect records and 2:03s every time. So more power to Glenn for giving us all something to talk about.

Finally, just respect the dude for having the balls to jump into running after a few years of skiing professionally. Maybe he doesn't race smart, but he races with guts, and that's something in and of itself.

Glenn, come by the one true NYC running bar, the Hairy Monk. Beers on us!

I second going to the Hairy Monk... host of "The Real Heps Showdown"

helllooo wrote:

Obviously you can't handle reading other people's thoughts, but maybe it's because you're uncomfortable with your own thoughts..

Or maybe it's just stupid busybodies that we're uncomfortable with.

I'm impressed. He appears to have legitimately decided to take a gamble. Naive, but respectable. Perhaps he had the Leadville discussion from Born to Run in mind when he took off like that. Pulling a GR just took on a whole new meaning for me. It's a race tactic pure and simple.

Your thread was legitimate until you included the abbreviation "GR" in parenthesis.

Two things.

1. When I saw the footage I thought it was Lance Armstrong.

Identical body builds.

2. GR's out in the front technique reminisces another runner who we all know and love -- Gerry Lindgren.