Des Linden Attempting 50k World Record Today

i know we're supposed to hate everyone on this site but i like des and think shes probably one of the best role models as far as pros go

I got next wrote:

what in Gods name would cause someone to be a Des hater?

She came out of obscurity to become one of the countries top 'thoners, and just missed a spot in the trials.

How anyone could defend the last several posts iTT is beyond me

I used to like her, but not anymore after she trashtalked Shalane and whined about the shoes.

macdaddy og 3 wrote:

I got next wrote:

what in Gods name would cause someone to be a Des hater?

Can’t speak for the other poster(s), but for me it’s her...

- Holier than thou attitude

- Calling out questionable runners, but celebrating her ‘friends’ with the same questionable connections

Yeah...her hypocrisy irks me.

Shalane took thyroid meds early in her career at least (it's documented in the press) and about 99 percent of the people on this site whine about the new shoe tech.

Regardless, I admire Shalane and like the shoes (I have tried them, but don't wear them regularly). But crapping on Des for her opinions on a site dedicated to different opinions is rich.

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

macdaddy og 3 wrote:

Can’t speak for the other poster(s), but for me it’s her...

- Holier than thou attitude

- Calling out questionable runners, but celebrating her ‘friends’ with the same questionable connections

Yeah...her hypocrisy irks me.

Explain the alleged hypocrisy.

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

I got next wrote:

what in Gods name would cause someone to be a Des hater?

She came out of obscurity to become one of the countries top 'thoners, and just missed a spot in the trials.

How anyone could defend the last several posts iTT is beyond me

I used to like her, but not anymore after she trashtalked Shalane and whined about the shoes.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9677497

No matter what shoe she's in, the record's a shoo-in!

desperate des wrote:

nearing the end wrote:

Remember after the marathon trials when she said that she was debating going back to the track? I laughed then and I laugh now.

It would be a great if another 5 or 6 runners were to show up and make it a race but they won’t because they are all running on the track. Oh how the once relevant struggle for relevancy near the end.

She was never serious about running on the track as she would be exposed. It is easy to hide in NY and Boston because of the difficulty of the courses. This would not happen on a track. What is the fastest performance by Des since 2017 for ANY distance? FASTEST not where did she place well on a difficult course?

Her latest race was a 1:15 HM losing by 4 minutes to Makena Morley.

You are clearly a human dildo.

Good idea for Desi Linden. I think she'll do well. Maybe it'll help generate more interest in events longer than a marathon, which I think would be great. I don't even like the term "ultramarathon". It's like, there are sprints, middle distance, long distance, and longer distance. Why have this arbitrary line of 26.2 miles as the supposed endpoint of "serious" running?

Good for her. I am interested to see if she can pull it off.

Sledge_Hammer wrote:

I used to like her, but not anymore after she trashtalked Shalane and whined about the shoes.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9677497

^^^Surprise, surprise, another little nike shill girl shows up bloviating nonsense.

Do you have a specific example of this?

I got next wrote:

what in Gods name would cause someone to be a Des hater?

She came out of obscurity to become one of the countries top 'thoners, and just missed a spot in the trials.

How anyone could defend the last several posts iTT is beyond me

I just want to clarify that I am also a Des fan. My point was that using that December race as any indicator of what she's still capable of or what she has accomplished in her career is garbage. She took the summer low and did that fun 'add a mile a day' challenge in October and then this is December... It was not like she was out there with her compete level at 100 and seems disingenuous to say that race defines what she is now.

World Athletics does not seem to recognize the 50km run as an official record distance.

So I believe this 50km "record" is a little soft.

If Linden is fit and still can easily break 2:30 in a marathon she should have no problem running faster than 3:07.

A high mileage strength/endurance trained marathoner should have no problem running a fast road 50km. By strength/endurance trained I mean a marathoner that has run high mileage in singles, does long training runs over 24 miles, and has spent long full days out hiking, climbing, cycling.

J Cox is correct that she should approach this more like a marathon than an ultra.

Janis Klecker seems to still hold the US womens 50km record at 3:13:51 set in 1983. After that she got faster in the marathon, and won the US Oly marathon trials in '92 and went to the Barcelona Oly games.

As far as I can tell she never did another 50km once she improved as a marathoner.

That makes sense as the Marathon gets more attention and is much more competitive than the 50km.

Lets not forget that Linden is the first alternate for the US Olympic Marathon Team...

I have got to believe that there will be some woman from Japan that will be able to go sub 3:07 for 50km, based on their general high mileage strength approach to marathoning. Maybe a top runner that has a bad race a Nagoya this weekend will target the 50km record, or someone will run fast at the IAU 50km World Championship still on for Oct 31, 2021 in Chinese Taipei.

Apparently the IAU recognizes a World Record at 50km.

https://iau-ultramarathon.org/assets/pdf/rankings/IAU%20Records%20Committee%202017_2020_RecordsTable_20200126.pdf

Des claims that the reason she has not jumped into any of these pop up elite races is because she prefers big races and the whole big race atmosphere.

Everyone knows it is a cop out. Why not Gate River?

How is the month mileage thing connecting to a big race? How is a lonely 50k connecting with a big race?

Obviously neither are anything other than a struggle for relevance.

The end is near and she knows it.

The attempt was announced by a headphone company. Clearly she's looking to make some money out of this. She's 37. Saying "the end is near" isn't really a hot take for a 37 year old. I don't know why you have to crap on her for that fact?

Just...some people seem to hate people for weird reasons and then try to come up with other reasons to justify it.

How is announcing an attempt at a 50K world record a "cop-out"? You say she should run the ultra-prestigious Gate River road race instead. First off, why would anybody give a crap what you want her to do? And second, maybe she'd rather go for a 50K world record than run Gate River. Is that a crime?

And you keep mentioning how her career is winding down, as if that is also a crime. Guess what: it happens!

"The end is near and she knows it". That's probably true, at least in a relative sense. She's closer to the end of her elite career than she is to the beginning. I assume she is aware of that. So?

If she sets a new WR it'won't be much of an achievement. There have been over 300 runners that have faster times than her marathon PR. Half of the current 100K WR is 3:15.

Come on some of you negative nells, what have you ever done, list it ?

She’s spent 15 yrs competing in the shorter events. She didn’t dodge anyone. She got everything out of herself. Why should she keep doing it- just to appease the Letsrun trolls? Get outta here. 99% of top marathoners would retire, but she isn’t. It’s commendable.