Should Andy Bayer have retired? (update: I spoke to him)

So he was recovering from a serious injury?

no, he was dumped by his shoe company and got a prestigious grad school internship . He felt like he couldn't do it without the support of a shoe company behind him. A shoe contract, according to Andy Bayer, means a lot

How long has he had foster kids? Good for him if he’s happy with his life decisions but that’s the first time I’ve heard any runner say they never really had much of an Olympic dream.

Only 20-30 miles per week for a 8:12 Steepler is EXTREME TALENT

Nobody said he could run 8:12 on 20-30 miles per week. In fact we know he cannot.

I misspoke, I meant 20 to 30 hrs a week.

Eric Clapton Fan wrote:

How long has he had foster kids? Good for him if he’s happy with his life decisions but that’s the first time I’ve heard any runner say they never really had much of an Olympic dream.

He's had foster kids for 3 years and the older one is 12. I don't think I got the age of the younger one, but I think pretty close to that.

He said, it wasn't an easy decision to make. He was unhappy running or trying to run without the contract and he didn't want running to be a miserable activity and it also might have been different if he didn't. The quote I have here is:

"There’s things I miss for sure, to be honest I can’t speak to it, because I haven’t done it. Because maybe if you win a gold medal or set a world record, I’d be satisfied, it sucks that I’d never been on Olympic team and I was very close, but at the same time, I got to the point where I was proud of my career, but I was able to step back.

I feel like I’m happy with how my career has gone. I only wanted to do this because I enjoyed doing this, and I don’t want to make my life miserable and that’s what I felt was going to happen, running without a contract, and just because …… I’d make strides towards another career. I felt like I needed to set myself up for the next stage"

He also had a very intensive grad school program

There has to be more going on here - like injury.

Why would an ncaa champ who is one of three guys with the Olympic standard in his event just get dropped if he was fit? Maybe just not as much money as he thought he should get?

What about other sponsors? If he was in a good place to make the team and Nike decided they didn’t want him, other brands should be excited to get a guy with a much better chance at making a team than the vast majority of (especially non-Nike distance) runners…

I’m glad he’s doing well and is at peace with his career and retirement, but I just can’t take this at face value.

duck sauce wrote:

There has to be more going on here - like injury.

Why would an ncaa champ who is one of three guys with the Olympic standard in his event just get dropped if he was fit? Maybe just not as much money as he thought he should get?

What about other sponsors? If he was in a good place to make the team and Nike decided they didn’t want him, other brands should be excited to get a guy with a much better chance at making a team than the vast majority of (especially non-Nike distance) runners…

I’m glad he’s doing well and is at peace with his career and retirement, but I just can’t take this at face value.

I disagree. There isn't more going on. He's just a runner who doesn't care as much as a lot of us do as much as we want to believe it. He just happens to be a lot more talented.

Ok7272 wrote:

I misspoke, I meant 20 to 30 hrs a week.

LOL for a moment it seemed like he might be the second coming of Henry Marsh.

Yea same here. It basically takes full dedication to be a competitive distance runner at the pro level. It probably helps to have a part time job or some other hustle so you can have something else to focus on, but you can't support your running career with a part time job and no sponsor. It was either this guy kept along with the low probability dream for little money, or did something which was better for his future. I mean, if you are going to grad school and raising kids, there is little time for anything else. It's called being an adult and setting priorities and doing what is best for your future.

duck sauce wrote:

There has to be more going on here - like injury.

Why would an ncaa champ who is one of three guys with the Olympic standard in his event just get dropped if he was fit? Maybe just not as much money as he thought he should get?

What about other sponsors? If he was in a good place to make the team and Nike decided they didn’t want him, other brands should be excited to get a guy with a much better chance at making a team than the vast majority of (especially non-Nike distance) runners…

I’m glad he’s doing well and is at peace with his career and retirement, but I just can’t take this at face value.

I would assume that not finding a sponsor is all about bid versus ask spread. Seems like for say 10k and shoes, you would sign just about anyone who has a Olympic qualifier. But you might not want to invest say 100k in a guy with a couple years left and whose top might be making an Olympic final.

The only sort odd part is doing it with 6 months til the trials. But at some point you got to call it quits. He may have tried the job/training for 3 months and realized it was undoable.

Agree, he chose the responsibility of caring for his family's future over the freedom to stick with a sport that isn't highly financially rewarding, even for those who do make the Olympic team. Probably not an easy decision at all when you have such great talent and potential and can never be sure you've seen its peak yet it's clear he has far bigger personal goals than being an Olympian. Seems like a grounded guy, wise beyond his years, and it's refreshing to see this when often it's a case of someone with Peter Pan Syndrome hanging on too long, playing out the string and clinging to a lifestyle rut, and eroding any potential in other areas of life to make a real difference for others.

I don't think he's just going to grad school. I think he's genuinely excited about it and he wants to make sure he commits fully.

Eric Clapton Fan wrote:

How long has he had foster kids? Good for him if he’s happy with his life decisions but that’s the first time I’ve heard any runner say they never really had much of an Olympic dream.

Nef Araia was one of the top collegiate runners in the mid 2000s for Stanford including a runner up finish in cross. He would have surely had good offers from shoe companies out of college but would guess had professional opportunities he choose to pursue after college... but yah there aren't many.