Could have paid some high school kid $100/mo to do his social crap.
I think social media is devil spawn, but if it paid the bills for me and I could go run wherever I wanted and not work otherwise, sign me up!
Could have paid some high school kid $100/mo to do his social crap.
I think social media is devil spawn, but if it paid the bills for me and I could go run wherever I wanted and not work otherwise, sign me up!
How? Tell us what he has done lately!
Smoke weed, talk sh!t like Lane Kiffin wrote:
NERunner00053 wrote:
This is an appropriate discussion in with the Tinman stuff & Ari/Morgan Pearson stuff. The reality is that Ben True is a beast but pretty quiet about it.
I think he should be sponsored but companies see more value in people with less stellar running times but a further reach.
Another piece of this is sponsorship rules. True would probably be ok if you could deck out your jersey with sponsors since he consistently does well. Times would matter more but T&F athletes are living under some draconian rules.
Contrast him with his fellow Saucony ex, Droddy. Droddy is plenty active on social media and I doubt many would call him fake or artificial in how he uses it. He's been pretty open about his down times in running of late. And yet running a top 10 all time US performance wasn't enough to draw interest from ANYONE with 5-digit contracts to give. It seems wrong, especially to Pearson and his chorus, but that's the landscape today. It really all goes back to these folks operating as independent contractors in a disjointed sport, rather than on teams with guaranteed salary as part of a cohesive tour or league. It's still too much of an amateur sport in that way. That's also why people in NAZ Elite, Hansons, Bowerman can survive a down year or two to get to the next breakthrough as they're part of a collective with deep pockets behind them that makes itself far easier to market and a buffer against individual disappointments. That way, with more good or great runners under a unified brand collective there's more news of noteworthy performances to put out on the regular to capitalize on via media and social media.
Droddy looks like an absolute tool. Zero marketability, if it's someone you'd cross the street to avoid. Sorry, but that's the fack, Jack.
free shipping with purchases wrote:
Is Ben True the biggest flake around?
Offers to pay training partner $20k per year - attracts groupies and pays one guy one time.
Lives in poor location for training, admits he would've been faster with training partners.
VT and NH are great for running. They may not be at altitude, but otherwise have some of the greatest trails in the country—both road and off-road.
Droddy snuck under 2:10 on a tailor-made course and a tailor-made day. Do you honestly see him improving? He's over 30 now. Do you think he's going to run 2:08 at Chicago? Top five at Boston or NYC? No way in hell.
Vermont and NH are beautiful, but are not at altitude and have bad winters. I get the romance of running dirt roads from your cabin and tapping your own maple syrup etc but it's not professional. Just do the right thing for 10-15 years of your life then make the hedonistic choices.
highhoppingworm wrote:
I get your point but at the end of the day 13:20/27:50 isn’t what it was a decade ago. Two 19 year old NCAA runners ran that 5k time this weekend and those times no longer have any hope of making a world champ or Olympic team. They barely make the trials and would be lucky to land you top 10-15 in the US. Absent extenuating circumstances like a huge social media presence or running the time as a 19 year old and signing a pro contract it also won’t put very much food on the table.l either.
It’s hard not to call it elite but it also isn’t really elite. It is sad to even hear myself saying this but I think 13:20-13:25 is actually the threshold at this point...
Seriuosly, how many times can we get hyped up about a washed up 5k/10k runner moving up to the 'thon and they are in "the best shape of their lives??" Ritz was in 2:03 (because of his thumb placement) shape for Chicago and went 2:08......Tegenkamp, Bonk......Torres, Bonk..... The days of running fast track times and hitting the roads at 35+ are over. Sammy Wanjiru changed that sh!t by concentrating on the 'thon from the beginning and he killed it. Wow, who knew? Run the distance in your prime and you will be good at it for some time. He almost broke the 12k national record on a training run is like saying Deion Sanders ran 4.27 in Converse on grass for the 40m at FSU. Stop it. If he breaks 2:10 I will be shocked.
heartfoundation wrote:
he should get dressesd!
It's interesting - and somewhat annoying - how many men are, these days, apparently made somewhat uncomfortable with another man being shirtless and/or wearing shorts that don't go to his knees.
You know, there was a time not THAT long ago when NO ONE would have commented on such a thing. Now, it seems to almost be point of pride with many men to point out or criticize such things. Dumb.
SensitiveClothes wrote:
heartfoundation wrote:
he should get dressesd!
It's interesting - and somewhat annoying - how many men are, these days, apparently made somewhat uncomfortable with another man being shirtless and/or wearing shorts that don't go to his knees.
You know, there was a time not THAT long ago when NO ONE would have commented on such a thing. Now, it seems to almost be point of pride with many men to point out or criticize such things. Dumb.
It's gotta be a reaction due entirely to some automatic latent stirrings in their loins when they see or even think about a guy in skimpy attire.
A. Moran wrote:
highhoppingworm wrote:
I get your point but at the end of the day 13:20/27:50 isn’t what it was a decade ago. Two 19 year old NCAA runners ran that 5k time this weekend and those times no longer have any hope of making a world champ or Olympic team. They barely make the trials and would be lucky to land you top 10-15 in the US. Absent extenuating circumstances like a huge social media presence or running the time as a 19 year old and signing a pro contract it also won’t put very much food on the table.l either.
It’s hard not to call it elite but it also isn’t really elite. It is sad to even hear myself saying this but I think 13:20-13:25 is actually the threshold at this point...
Seriuosly, how many times can we get hyped up about a washed up 5k/10k runner moving up to the 'thon and they are in "the best shape of their lives??" Ritz was in 2:03 (because of his thumb placement) shape for Chicago and went 2:08......Tegenkamp, Bonk......Torres, Bonk..... The days of running fast track times and hitting the roads at 35+ are over. Sammy Wanjiru changed that sh!t by concentrating on the 'thon from the beginning and he killed it. Wow, who knew? Run the distance in your prime and you will be good at it for some time. He almost broke the 12k national record on a training run is like saying Deion Sanders ran 4.27 in Converse on grass for the 40m at FSU. Stop it. If he breaks 2:10 I will be shocked.
Mostly agree. When he runs fast, then we can talk.
Although, it is kind of interesting how many reasonably successful U.S. track runners never do much at the marathon (.....while Africans we've never heard of and maybe haven't ever seen a track run low/mid-2's in their debuts!!).
I'll show my age by saying the Todd Williams was probably my biggest American disappointment at the marathon. One of basically only 3 American distance runners in 90s who could run with the Africans (along with Kennedy and Croghan), and ran very fast at 15K on the road. I really looked forward to him being upper-level world class in the marathon - winning some NYCs and Bostons.....and it never happened.
BOHICA wrote:
SensitiveClothes wrote:
It's interesting - and somewhat annoying - how many men are, these days, apparently made somewhat uncomfortable with another man being shirtless and/or wearing shorts that don't go to his knees.
You know, there was a time not THAT long ago when NO ONE would have commented on such a thing. Now, it seems to almost be point of pride with many men to point out or criticize such things. Dumb.
It's gotta be a reaction due entirely to some automatic latent stirrings in their loins when they see or even think about a guy in skimpy attire.
Yes, seems quite likely.
Ben just signed with Asics.
courage for both parties - nice.
agip wrote:
Ben just signed with Asics.
courage for both parties - nice.
That would be nice. Link to confirmation?
meanwhile: Droddy just signed with Salomon! Might be harder to run another sub 2:10 in those shoes...https://www.instagram.com/noah_droddy/?hl=en
Roadrunner once, roadrunner twice wrote:
Smoke weed, talk sh!t like Lane Kiffin wrote:
Contrast him with his fellow Saucony ex, Droddy. Droddy is plenty active on social media and I doubt many would call him fake or artificial in how he uses it. He's been pretty open about his down times in running of late. And yet running a top 10 all time US performance wasn't enough to draw interest from ANYONE with 5-digit contracts to give. It seems wrong, especially to Pearson and his chorus, but that's the landscape today. It really all goes back to these folks operating as independent contractors in a disjointed sport, rather than on teams with guaranteed salary as part of a cohesive tour or league. It's still too much of an amateur sport in that way. That's also why people in NAZ Elite, Hansons, Bowerman can survive a down year or two to get to the next breakthrough as they're part of a collective with deep pockets behind them that makes itself far easier to market and a buffer against individual disappointments. That way, with more good or great runners under a unified brand collective there's more news of noteworthy performances to put out on the regular to capitalize on via media and social media.
Droddy looks like an absolute tool. Zero marketability, if it's someone you'd cross the street to avoid. Sorry, but that's the fack, Jack.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Ben True but I do not get the marathon hype for him.
His own coach says he is in 2:09 shape on a perfect day with perfect weather and a perfect course.
NYC is literally the hardest WMM, it's two minutes slower than any other course, maybe the worst for a debut.
That puts him at 2:11 and half of letsrun whining for weeks afterwards.
He's got a massive vo2max but he's also a big guy so it better be cooler weather.
The asics in theory are as good as the next5% so that will help but not solve the sub-2:10 problem.
https://twitter.com/jgault13/status/1456279208917929990?s=21Running Cult Member wrote:
agip wrote:
Ben just signed with Asics.
courage for both parties - nice.
That would be nice. Link to confirmation?
Great move for him. No excuses now, he has proper shoes. 2:10 is an absolute minimum for him in those shoes