Is Shelby Houlihan dirty?

When I Google image her, I see an attractive, fit, tiny girl. Anyone who compares her to a bodybuilder is either trolling or a complete idiot. She's gotten a bit more toned since college, which is expected with increased training (and probably more supplemental work with weights), and she seems more athletic than most distance runners she competes against, just based on her build and stride, but if you saw her walking around the mall or something, you'd just look at her like and think, "Wow, she's pretty but man she's little."

Longdistancerunning wrote:

No one likes to point fingers at Americans for doping and I love Shelby but to me it seems weird that she has dropped 7 seconds in the 1500m in the past couple months with her PR today of 3:57 and doesn’t even look that tired at the end with a lot of room to kick. I don’t want to be rude I just want it to be up for discussion .

Depends on what you mean when you say "dirty." Is she taking steroids? I would say no. Is she micro dosing something that is not easily testable, and is grey area legal? OH HELL YES

Oh Please wrote:

Who is the most suspicious American runner of the last 10 years? The guy that went from something like 13:20 5k PR to multiple 12:55 and a 26:59 10k in one year, then disappeared. What group was he part of?

No proof of course, same with Shelby. Fact is, in this day and age, if you're a professional athlete and you're competitive with the rest of the world, then you are automatically suspicious.

Any big jump in your mid 20s or later has to be called into question. Mo Farah anyone?

Exactly, some people are incredibly naive. If it's too good to be true, it isn't.

Yeah idk what this is. Shelby is smaller and less vasculated than my remarkably tiny penis.

enhancingperformer wrote:

I always wondered if Muir was on some kind of medication to make her cheeks puff out like that; it seems unnatural for an elite runner to have such puffy cheeks and thin body.

It's called "moon face" and is a known issue with corticosteroids such as prednisone, which Muir likely has a TUE for.

Does this look like someone who should be winning huge climbing stages of a grand tour? Not unless they are taking some sort of corticoid.

Not that one would expect a doctor/vet to have access to any PEDs, right?

Longdistancerunning wrote:

No one likes to point fingers at Americans for doping and I love Shelby but to me it seems weird that she has dropped 7 seconds in the 1500m in the past couple months with her PR today of 3:57 and doesn’t even look that tired at the end with a lot of room to kick. I don’t want to be rude I just want it to be up for discussion .

There is also the 400m runner. That speed is out of this world.

To everyone that is saying that she could just be working hard, to me that isn’t a valid exscuse. Ma Junren’s group worked extremely hard running a marathon a day in Tibet altitude which would make Colorado seem like nothing up hills. I still don’t by the times they ran were clean although they may have been the hardest working group of runners in history, with many reporting that they have permanent headaches because of the running plan they were on. Just because Shelby works hard doesn’t mean that can justify a 7 second difference in just one month. She didn’t even come in top 10 at many diamond league events last year.

She's obviously dirty.

This is Track and Field.

I don't understand fans of Track&Field. I mean you B!tch if the times are too slow and when the times are fast then you automatically accuse he or she of being doped from head to toe. The hard truth is that in order to run ridiculous times then some form of aid is going to be needed. You guys honestly think Bolt,Flo-Jo,El-G,Lagat,Komen,Bekele and many more were clean when they ran their pr's?

You know its true! wrote:

I don't understand fans of Track&Field. I mean you B!tch if the times are too slow and when the times are fast then you automatically accuse he or she of being doped from head to toe. The hard truth is that in order to run ridiculous times then some form of aid is going to be needed. You guys honestly think Bolt,Flo-Jo,El-G,Lagat,Komen,Bekele and many more were clean when they ran their pr's?

No....I don’t think I single person thinks that any of those people besides maybe Lagat (as he has had master success even when no super elite) are clean.

bladerunner wrote:

Clean until dirty wrote:

Everyone who is competing has been cleared to compete. It is a very small percentage who have been found to be cheating. Houlihan is the current American dream runner. Let’s enjoy it and admire her.

What bothers me is she does look different. Her neck and arms are bigger. Then look at Hassan. Hassan has soft features and looks like a runner. Houlihan looks like a body builder now. She comes down the home straight like a running back. She makes Daphne Schippers look like a petite flower. I can't think of any other female runner whose appearance changed so dramatically.

LOL, she is nowhere near Dafne's size.

Why is it that in the anonymity of a message board someone feels that it's perfectly ok to label someone as a cheat and a criminal just because her race times have improved? Would the OP want people to name them as a sex offender because they scored three dates in a month? Did this person stop for even one second to think about the feelings of the person they demonized just because they felt like it? Is it too much to ask to treat people the way YOU would wish to be treated?

You know its true! wrote:

You guys honestly think Bolt,Flo-Jo,El-G,Lagat,Komen,Bekele and many more were clean when they ran their pr's?

Obviously not.

canadian wrote:

Why is it that in the anonymity of a message board someone feels that it's perfectly ok to label someone as a cheat and a criminal just because her race times have improved? Would the OP want people to name them as a sex offender because they scored three dates in a month? Did this person stop for even one second to think about the feelings of the person they demonized just because they felt like it? Is it too much to ask to treat people the way YOU would wish to be treated?

Why shouldn't we be allowed to discuss drug use? So that we can pretend that it doesn't happen?

This is a running message board. Drugs are a part of running. It will always be discussed, as I'm sure it is in any sports message board.

It wasn't "discussing" drugs, it was labeling someone as a cheat? If Shelby was a sibling of yours, would you be happy with a statement like that hidden in the framing of a question?

I think going from 30mpw early in college to 80mpw and coming from a 400m/800m runner background in highschool explains a lot about her improvement.

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

I think going from 30mpw early in college to 80mpw and coming from a 400m/800m runner background in highschool explains a lot about her improvement.

It explains very little about her improvement. Her exceptional 400 speed only tells us that she's showed the potential to run as fast as she just did, but why did she suddenly do it? What changed? This is something professionals needs to understand. People want to know how they did it. It's not a matter of training going good. Sure, that tends to happen, but there is something else in Shelby's life that had to have shifted to make such a big jump. She's not just going from 4:03 to 3:57. I think she ran 4:06 3 times last year and a mile equivalent of barely slower. That is a very consistent level of performance that was 3 seconds slower than the year before. Was it simply that she was focusing on the 5000 and all those 4:06 1500s were tune-ups?

When you reach the upper echelon the rules of engagement are different. For one, if you haven't been accused of doping before you are not elite. That comes with the territory because most people can't believe the human body is capable of such things due to the fact they aren't capable of it or even close to it. Second thing is that as an elite you need to take the accusations in stride and understand where people are coming from. Then speak the truth about what took you from a bunch of 4:06s down to 3:57 the next season. Look within your personal life. What little breakthrough did you have that allowed you to have better training this season? That's what people want to hear because that's what we can relate and strive for.

The doping accusations are not personal. They are a reflection of our own self-doubt combined with the knowledge of the past. If I was Houlihan and was clean I'd love hearing people thought I must be doping. What greater intimidation is there since so many people think it's a magic bullet.

You're a little overboard with it. Sure, she could be doping, idk.

But what I said does explain her improvement. She has been training consistently at a higher and higher level. Maybe something else shifted, like her confidence, or her mentality approaching and in races. But it's also likely just her training.

I've had similar breathroughs, as have others. Just because on paper she went from 4:03 to 3:57 doesn't mean that's how much her actual fitness has improved. She could have very well have been in sub 4 shape last year.

jeff tallon wrote:

yes,shes on steroids,and no,she isnt micro dosing.im from a bodybuilding background.shes on winstrol,and probably clenbuterol, epo as well. i know what those drugs do.increased leanness,muscular cuts,wider jaw,sunken face.some masculinisation.many athletes are protected,and because shes american,shes more protected than most.she could test positive 100 times,and no one would ever know.just pay a fee,dont piss anyone off,and youll have a good,long,drugged up career.she looks like a small woman on cutting steroids.

Jeff it is always obvious. These people are talented as a youth, they dominate, people tell them "you're going to be an Olympic champion one day" and these kids believe the hype. Then they hit senior level and they're also rans, they make semis if they're lucky, they miss out on the big invites to the big races. Then one day they realise those ahead of them must only be ahead of them because they're doping. So they crack, "I want to get me some" and they get on the sauce and make sudden big changes in shape & speed. It helps if you're only test thrice per annum.