JBaller33 wrote:
emr0129 wrote:
Physically, she’s done nothing other than show me she can run a 15:18 outdoors. I just think over the past months she’s continually said she had a bad race or there was more in the tank, and you can only say that so much before people figure out you just aren’t very good. I think she is probably thinking that she needs a good performance tonight and MAYBE that will result in one. I don’t care for her as a runner and she turned me off from the start with her ‘Win the gold in the marathon.’ She was an good runner for triathlon but she’s got half the talent of the rest of her team.
I actually think Gwen has running talent, but she had a lot of factors that haven’t helped her:
1. Committed to running full time too late in her career. How many good 33 year old US runners are there besides marathoners who have moved up from the track? Honestly, that’s probably why she thought she would be a marathoner.
2. Trying to run high mileage with too big of a frame. She’s 5-10 and has a decent amount of muscle. That’s too much pounding to avoid injury, and she certainly looks injured.
3. Forgetting what made her good in the first place. She clearly responded well to heavy cross training with the triathlon. The other events gave her an aerobic engine and more power than she currently has. Power = speed.
4. Running with women who are plain and simply better than her. While it’s good to push yourself, it’s mentally draining to get beat day after day in workout after workout. The Bowerman Babes are simply the best group of US runners, and Gwen is not at that level. She could have progressed more with a lesser training group closer to her ability and still maybe had a shot at the Olympics.