Craig Engels says he’s contemplating retirement. His contract with Nike runs out at the end of the year. He’s only 27 and with the compact years ahead due to Covid, he still has plenty of chances at making Championships. You all think he’s just trying to create headlines or is he actually serious about this?
Source:
What's it matter?
Hopefully just retiring the haircut and mustache.
Droddy & Stinson's Communal Bong wrote:
What's it matter?
Because he’s one of the few personalities in one of the most boring sports ever.
He’s probably serious. Craig just watched two much younger guys blow past him at Hayward, with even more clipping at his heels.
His contract with Nike is almost certainly heavily-dependent on performance bonuses. He may be processing a significant pay reduction since he didn’t make the Olympic team. He didn’t make it in 2016 either. If you’re a marquee Nike athlete and you’re not making Olympic teams, your pay is going down.
Another sponsor would probably pick him up since Craig is fun and marketable (Symmonds’s time at Brooks comes to mind), but Craig might not want to upend his life and gamble on a new training situation at this point in his career. His coach is a Nike guy through and through, so he’d need a new group.
As a fan, I hope Craig at least makes a run at Eugene ‘22 but it’s hard to blame him if he decides against it. Life is short, running at this high of a level is hard, and Craig clearly wants to have more fun in his youth than the lifestyle of a globally competitive elite runner allows.
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I agree with most of what you said, but honestly this “job” is much better and allows him more free time to live his youth than almost any other 9-5 job would. He’s said himself he trains for 1-2 hours a day and has to fill the rest of his day with stuff to do. Would be kind of dumb to abandon it now with the Olympics only in 3 years, him being very marketable, and him being only 30 by then.
He's about to be choosing between Hoka and On, at best, so this is not surprising.
57tgyuilo66ue wrote:
He's about to be choosing between Hoka and On, at best, so this is not surprising.
Why not Brooks Beasts? They could use some experienced veterans, Craig could use a group and a training partner in Kerr, plus he could stay in the Pacific Northwest.
thoughts on these thoughts? wrote:
this “job” is much better and allows him more free time to live his youth than almost any other 9-5 job would.
Yeah, but point is with his contract up this year, he isn't going to be able to make ends meet as just a runner. He's gonna have to work at a shoe store or bartend several days a week.
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BeevieB wrote:
thoughts on these thoughts? wrote:
this “job” is much better and allows him more free time to live his youth than almost any other 9-5 job would.
Yeah, but point is with his contract up this year, he isn't going to be able to make ends meet as just a runner. He's gonna have to work at a shoe store or bartend several days a week.
He’s an Olympic and World Championship contender every year, has tons of followers on social media, and actually has a personality unlike 99% of other distance runners. I highly doubt no one will sign him, probably even for more than he was making at Nike given Nike is all performance based. If someone like Boris Berian can get 6 figures a year, Craig can easily get a contract through this Olympic cycle where he wouldn’t have to work part time as a bartender lol
More elite hobby jogger than true elite. Should hang up the spikes and get a real job.
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Both.
He should take a try at the ‘thon before fully retiring... Ritz to coach him. I bet he’s got more in the tank. He just needs a new perspective. 26.2 of them.
The roads
10k, 1/2 Mary, Full Thon
Maybe XC for fun
The article says:
"And there's the matter of getting a car from Denver to Oxford, Miss. – an RV will stay behind in Portland – so that Engels can pursue his MBA at his alma mater, the University of Mississippi, and be a volunteer assistant coach."
So wouldn't that mean he's not sticking around with the Nike training group in Portland?
Any chance he tries to run the marathon?
thoughts on these thoughts? wrote:
I agree with most of what you said, but honestly this “job” is much better and allows him more free time to live his youth than almost any other 9-5 job would. He’s said himself he trains for 1-2 hours a day and has to fill the rest of his day with stuff to do. Would be kind of dumb to abandon it now with the Olympics only in 3 years, him being very marketable, and him being only 30 by then.
i dont think its the free time, but how he can use it. obviously some pro runners drink, but its def in extreme moderation and to perform at the highest level you really have to prioritize sleep and minimize partying/drinking. i think craig is just burnt out on the lifestyle. he can chug some beers at the finish line of a road mile and go out an party with fans after and still be a competitive runner on a national level, but to make an olympic team or have any hopes of a world medal clearly he would have to make more sacrifices (and there is no guarantee they would pay of). craig clearly prioritizes things outside of running so i dont blame him.
