Molly Huddle Slowing Down

Dk what Molly did to offend OP so bad. The new shoe tech era is hard to navigate as a pro. Molly hasn't handled it worse than other pros. Everyone is just trying to figure things out.

She is about to turn 37 & has had an amazing career. Hoping she can compete at the Trials.

Who cares if she is slowing down. She's 37 years old and has already had her time in the sun. Most won't ever reach the pinnacle. Just for the record, a 37 yr old woman running 15:24 5k is remarkable no matter what. In fact if you're a 37 yr old woman running under 20 for 5k you're pretty damn good.

Being a super-shoe responder is just as important as being a thyroid/EPO/microdosing responder as well, in addition to being super gifted/talented and having the right coaching/workouts

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

Who cares if she is slowing down. She's 37 years old and has already had her time in the sun. Most won't ever reach the pinnacle.

Yep, so very few ever reach that level. Take a look at the Footlocker National Finals in 2001, when Molly placed 4th. Take a look at all those names. Name ONE besides Molly who did anything post-collegiately. She was blown off the course by a full minute by Amber Trotter. Will Trotter be in the Trials this June? Will ANY of these runners? No. She's 37 and still making the Trials twenty years after high school. She never even won a single NCAA title. She may not have been a first round draft pick coming out of school, but neither was Tom Brady. While some athletes stop improving, others continue to excel with age.

This will be her last chance for an Olympic team, but I believe she still has a damn good marathon in her. Assuming she decides to continue with the marathon after 2021, I expect to see another top-3 finish in a World Marathon Major. I saw her finish second to Megan Kaltenbach at the old Adidas Outdoor Championships at NC State and her career has been a joy to watch for the past 20 years.

1 Amber Trotter (12) West Ukiah HS Redwood Valley CA 16:24.07

2 Erika Odlaug (12) Midwest Deerfield HS Bannockburn IL 17:04.30

3 Natasha Roetter (12) Northeast Lexington HS Lexington MA 17:05.14

4 Molly Huddle (12) Northeast Notre Dame HS Elmira NY 17:19.59

5 Laura Stanley (12) South Carolina Day School Fletcher NC 17:34.54

6 Felicia Guliford (12) West Gallup HS Gallup NM 17:35.67

7 Jackie Zeigle (12) West Bingham HS South Jordan UT 17:41.84

8 Valerie Lauver (12) South Allen HS Allen TX 17:45.40

9 Amber Harper (11) West Orem HS Orem UT 17:46.10

10 Heidi Lane (12) West C.M. Russell HS Great Falls MT 17:46.93

11 Julie Allen (12) West Corona Del Mar HS Corona Del Mar CA 17:50.51

12 Sally Meyerhoff (12) West Mountain Pointe HS Tempe AZ 17:51.40

13 Tracey Brauksieck (12) Northeast Homer Senior HS Cuyler NY 17:51.87

14 Megan Kaltenbach (11) Midwest Smoky Hill HS Aurora CO 17:52.68

15 Kara Scanlin (12) South Episcopal HS Ponte Vedra Beach FL 17:53.19

16 Kristina Roth (12) Midwest Celina HS Celina OH 17:53.83

17 Mindy Sullivan (12) South Coronado HS Lubbock TX 17:56.74

18 Angela Homan (12) Midwest Spencerville HS Delphos OH 17:57.27

19 Liz Gesel (12) Northeast Central H.S. Manchester NH 17:58.19

20 Zoe Nelson (9) West Flathead HS Kalispell MT 18:00.88

21 Jessica Gall (12) Midwest West Lafayette HS West Lafayette IN 18:01.25

22 Laurel Burdick (12) Northeast Fayetteville-Manlius HS Manlius NY 18:03.34

23 Stephanie Madia (12) Northeast North Allegheny HS Wexford PA 18:06.15

24 Jackie Mulrooney (12) Midwest Arrowhead HS Hartland WI 18:08.67

25 Nicole Bohnsack (10) Midwest Rockford HS Rockford MI 18:14.01

26 Jessica Cickay (10) Northeast Council Rock HS Newtown PA 18:14.64

27 Lindsay Van Alstine (11) Northeast Hawthorne Christian Academy Midland Park NJ 18:16.79

28 Julia Cathcart (12) South Starkville HS Starkville MS 18:23.88

29 Amber Smith (10) Midwest Westwood HS Ishpeming MI 18:34.19

30 Carly Matthews (12) South Mount Tabor HS Winston-Salem NC 18:39.23

31 Jessica Hellender (12) South Cooper City HS Cooper City FL 18:51.63

32 Brooke Stewart (11) South A&M Consolidated HS College Station TX 19:09.99

You're not a fan anymore because she's getting old? Are you kidding?

trollin' along wrote:

2:39 should not win Boston wrote:

When Edna Kiplagat, whose resume includes two golds and a silver in the marathon from the world championships, and three wins, five 2nd places, and one third place in WMMs can only run a 2:47, then yes, 2:39 SHOULD win Boston.

Remember, Rupp could not finish that day. No ifs, and, or buts. No asterisk next to his big fat DNF. Literally COULD NOT FINISH! How many millions of people have finished marathons? How many thousands finished that one? Don't you all remember the guy coming in without a shirt right when the TV producers cut back to the finish line camera? I have run in that kind of weather. More times than I can remember. Shirtless, even. Rupp runs on a treadmill in his basement in that kind of weather. That day, he had the same weather Des had and couldn't finish. Des won a race that many others had the opportunity to win. She ran in the same conditions everyone else did. Why didn't they simply run faster? We don't need to answer that. They didn't. Who cares why? Desi's win was as legitimate as any win ever except for when Farah took a shortcut right on camera in London Stadium and Quigley got DQ'd for less of a shortcut. That win is not legit at all. Desi's was.

Great post, and wouldn't it be fascinating to get info on how these other runners progressed (or didn't) in their running careers. Definitely puts some perspective in current collegiate runners in USA...how many of them will be in the conversation for competing, not just 15 years from now, but even 5 years from now? And what can be done to change the seemingly big drop off?

Molly's career has been great. I hope she can get to the trials and give it another go! And yes maybe some more future strong marathons as icing on the cake!

Interesting to see that 17 of the top 19 in that race were seniors, the other two juniors. I'd become accustomed to think that there was a randomness among the girls' hs races with a lot of the greats dominating early as frosh and then falling back somewhat by senior year, but not in 2001.

Not a fan anymore wrote:

I used to be a big fan of Molly Huddle, for whatever reason. But the past year and a half when she started complaining about the new shoes and basically making that an excuse to why she didn't win races, I started to not like her. The first big instance was probably after the 2020 Houston half marathon when I believe she got beat by some Americans and had others hot on her heels, and was no longer the dominant American. So now she runs what, 15:24 for a track 5k in good conditions to run fast? What's her excuse now? She has obviously run waaaaaay faster than that with spikes from several years ago. So that can't be an excuse. Seems she is just slowing down. Not all because of the shoes. Poor excuses.

This seems taken out of context. Molly has always been someone who praises her competition post-race.

Molly is a throwback athlete that would be appreciated no matter which decade she ran in. She has never pretended to be anything other than herself. This is refreshing. Too many athletes give up their principles to appease a sponsor or put on a fake persona because it is more pleasant than their own.

Amber Trotter. Remember her? She only ran maybe 1 collegiate season at a small school called Middlebury and then quit running completely because she no longer wanted to run competitively.