Up Dawg 10 miler is ON! Keira is busting it out!!!

I understand how some people can be skeptical of record performances. I've been a lifelong fan of the sport and we've seen many people pop hot over the years. I was coaching in New Mexico when Eddy Hellebyuck (who was also coaching a rival high school) was setting records as a Masters runner. I had heard lots of rumors about him possibly taking EPO. Him and his wife even got on here and threatened to sue people that were saying this. He popped hot and not many were surprised.

I do not personally know Keira. However, I used to work and run with her husband. He ran for the Air Force Academy and would put in 90-100 miles per week by running at 4AM before working 12 hours/day. He was and still is a HUGE fan of the sport. Eventually he decided to hang up his racing shoes when he ran 2:30 and determined an Olympic Trials Qualifier just wasn't going to happen for him. I've been following Keira on Strava for a while now. It seems like she posts every single workout she runs. It's been fun to watch and really motivating for me. Like Tony, she looks like she just completely loves the sport. I've never seen someone seem to have so much fun with it. At the Marathon trials is was clear she ran to place top 3, and didn't quite have enough that day. Otherwise I'm sure she would have ran a little faster if she was just running for time.

People on here complain all the time about not enough being done to promote our sport. Keira is doing a fantastic job of promoting it and driving on through all of the restrictions we have right now. A lot of people in our sport should be taking notes on how's she's promoting it.

I would be completely shocked if she is cheating. COMPLETELY! At this point she looks like she's on a roll and with each PR is just feeding on the excitement more and more. I hope she stays healthy and can have a big 2021!

YMMV wrote:

The conversion for 10K/HM is 30:31 and 68:33, so very impressive. We have a new contender, folks.

(TL;DR version on bottom)

For frame of reference, 30:31 is 4.21% slower than the existing 10,000m record and 68:33 is 6.25% slower than the existing half-marathon record. For men, these percentages would yield a 27:17 in the 10,000m and a 61:40 in the HM. While these are strong performances, I do not think they would have everyone screaming "DOPER!" although they might.

American women's times are rapidly improving. While they were competing for medals consistently over the course of the 2010s, they were nowhere near the best Africans in terms of PRs. These gaps are now closing thanks to the likes of Ellie Purrier, the Bowerman babes, etc. Not too long ago, the American Record for 5,000m was north of 14:40 and sub-15 was a big deal. Now, 5 women have run 14:50 or faster in 2020 alone and that was with limited racing opportunities.

It reminds me of the jump that American men made in the late 00s. Remember, Webb and Goucher ran 13:10 in 05/06 and that was FAST for the US. In fact, I think it put them 3-4 on the American list behind only Kennedy and Maree. Now? They're barely in the top 20 sandwiched between Chris Derrick, Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher. If a former 6th place NCAA XC guy reappeared on the scene after a long layoff to "rip" a 13:13-13:14 TT (equivalent to D'Amato's 15:04 in terms of American rankings) and then a 10 mile that equated to 61:40 a few months later, it would be surprising and cool but would not necessarily set off alarm bells for me.

Note that I have not even brought up shoes yet. We may see a rash of sub-67:30 clockings from US women once some more road racing opportunities become available if a couple of the top track girls "give it a go" as D'Amato has.

TL;DR VERSION

American women are getting faster. What D'Amato has done is awesome, but is not other-worldly. It seems that she has rededicated herself during the pandemic, gotten some nice fancy shoes, and is a talented athlete. I expect that many others will drop fast times when road racing really opens back up. This could make what D'Amato has done seem more plausible. This type of shift in how we perceive performances already happened with the men about 15 years ago and has been happening with the women on the track in recent times.

I wonder if any of the fearlessness comes with having a life outside of running (working spouse, and kids) and not having your income from running be responsible for your or your family's wellbeing? I listened to a podcast with Keira the other day, and it sounds like she's essentially or totally unsponsored. It would certainly give you some amount of fearlessness and freedom to attack a race the way you want, if you knew that a blow up or failure wasn't going to mean a missed paycheck or house payment.

I find it interesting that not one poster mentioned drugs for the first 2-1/2 hours this thread existed before the first accusation was made in post #14 at 9:10. This was followed by a series of accusations in succession. Something tells me this was probably one poster just trying to stir the pot and make it look like a lot of people were calling her out. Petty jealousy is so sad. The following was posted by another poster in July 2016 and sadly still rings true today. The trolls never change.

Tomato, D'Amato wrote:

The following was posted by another poster in July 2016 and sadly still rings true today. The trolls never change.

Thats an awesome post. It should be pointed out that a lot of the same complaints get pointed at men. Be like Rupp and complain about you being secretive and having no personality.. Be a Tinman Elite and post all sorts of videos and people tell you to just run. Be like Symmonds. and promote yourself and your attention whore. Just run and you aren't accused of not supporting the sport. Woman might get an extra level of this but the core is always there. Some of it is just different people (i.e. some people want to see their heros posting on youtube. Other people don't) having different views. A lot of just jealously of them getting to live the life a lot of us dreamed about.

I think insecurity, humiliation, and/or jealousy plays a huge role in this case. Some males feel their masculinity under attack when outperformed by women in a physical task that they themselves have dedicated their lives to trying to excel at. I get it. There is a long history of the roles and physical expectations in many cultures that reinforces these feelings. Well, the times are a-changin', boys!

Did anyone notice she had 2-3 gels and grabbed water basically every time she had a chance? I thought people had one gel at most in a half? What's with all the nutrition/hydration in a ten mile? Seriously doubt she would be cheating during a race for a record like this but never seen that before.

I ran at a Big Ten powerhouse and never broke 52 minutes in the 2 ten milers I ran. This woman's time is incredible. Congratulations to her

...to the gills.