Internet making high school runners get faster? Denver Post story.

I agree that the cross country comparasins are unfair, but I think that kids are getting faster. Take a look at the 5A state qualifing time in the 3200 over the past 5-6 years. It has dropped from something like 10:06 5 years ago, to 9:59 last year and probably even faster this year. Last year more than 20 guys broke 10 min. for the 3200. That's impressive when the q-time is calculated by the 6th place finish at state over the past 5 years. That means that more than 20 boys could have been fighting for a state place only a few years ago. The top times might not be going down as much, but the depth is definitly greater now.

BTW the colorado springs course is a little short. I've wheeled it twice its about 120-130 meters short (ie a bunch of seconds)

Yes, that might be true, but that was the first piece of press I have gotten in almost 20 years. I thought that was pretty cool!

Press aside, I also thought the article was off-the-mark. The fact is Colorado Springs course is very fast, always warm in the Fall and at 4,000 feet. Denver Kent is not that much slower, but slow enough where it does effect the sub-16 statistics.

More to the point, kids probably are not that much faster to day then 20 years ago, but they might be more informed (and that does affect their training -- for good and for bad). I like to think that they have more access now to training information than I did.

One thing is for sure, the kids today race less. They race less (definitely on the college level) than we did and they are more aware of the regional and national competition. This is definitely due to the internet and makes a big difference in times -- I applaud the college coaches today for realizing this.

Also, when I was in high school I didn't know anything about other runners from other states. I think that does make a difference when you run at regionals or nationals (you train harder knowing that being the best in your state might not be good enough). And parents didn't move their familes to Colorado so that their kids could train at altitude (a new phenomenon which has occurred and maybe due to the internet).

The thought of running (as a sport) being on the level of teen tennis or minor league baseball was absurd (to me) then, and frankly, in my opinion, now. But, maybe that is why I never ran well in college -- I didn't treat running like it was my profession. I think some of these kids do. Is that due to the internet?