I don't understand how any of you are still interested in elite running

Thank you for sh!t take and sharing with us, we are now worse for knowing it

Hate it and love it. Awesome to see faster times, but I hate how I can't shake the feeling that some of it is just too good to be true. Shoes, peds, whatever you wanna say it is, it just isn't the same anymore. 1:41 used to be astronomical. Now it's just another world lead.

That's the thing. It's not awesome to see fast times anymore because we all know they're due to peds and bouncy shoes. They engender nothing but yawns from me. It baffles me that anyone is still a fan of this nonsense.

Not only that but I feel like it's affecting track as whole too. I'm talking collegians and even high schoolers. How are so many HS'ers running sub 10.00, 45, and 1:46's like it's nobody's business?? Not even 5 years ago that was a fantasy. It's just unenthusiastic now

Maybe it’s time to start implementing new rules against supershoes and stricter steroid testing. I’m getting sick of this crap too. It’s just cheating at this point.

I get yr point. I’ve made almost the same point at times. With me it’s part unwillingness to let go of something I’ve followed for well over a half-century. I never believed in pro wrestling as a re as a real sport. Bicycling was a great sport until the ped scandals and you-know-who. But running/track was and still is to a degree was “sacred” in a secular sense (?). I cling still to the arguable idea that enough honest athletes and coaches remain to save the day—some day a healthy balance-or eradication of the drug issue. Diehard fan.

EPO era of the 90s was even less authentic.

No, because they didn't have bouncy shoes in the 90s. Now it's peds AND bouncy shoes.

That's only on race day. Give it a generation. 10+ years. I'll bet the people who grew up training in super shoes their whole life will be inferior to those who only race in them.

I suppose not all of us are downers.

LOL... I get you.... I feel the same way about those spiderman receiver gloves that football players wear these days. Being able to catch the ball with basically velcro just doesn't seem fair either.

It

I am not interested in elite running.

I am just here for the spelling mistakes.

You still believe EPO is the way to optimise oxygen delivery? Get your head out of the 90s

Poor analogy, but still, I get your sentiment. Thing is, they all are on equal footing with each other on the shoe thing. Regarding PEDs, who knows wtf is going on in secret from one competitor to the next. That hasn't really changed, though. So all-in-all, if you put the stopwatch away and just view the action, nothing has really changed regarding the actual enjoyment of watching a race, except the greater involvement of pacers and pacing technology, which some like and some don't.

I hear you loud and clear. Your points do sort of make sense, "if something is augmented and artificial, why do people get so excited about it?"

But look at the other things that people love: Hollywood movies, gorgeous celebrities/models, NFL teams, most religion, politics, "adult content," Vegas, New York, Disneyland, popular music, the internet, social media, video games, and modern foods.

I would argue that none of those things are really very "real" or authentic. Being "real" isn't actually a very important criteria for humans to like something.

As for me, I can still enjoy things that aren't 100% certified perfect, like pro track (and everything else in life).

Are you telling me you wouldn't want to watch Jessica Hull and these other elite runners pace Faith Kipyegon in the sub-4:00 mile attempt? It is going to be "fake" but I will be watching:

Image:live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/4c...

^ This is spot on. Well said.

This. ^

Galen Rupp 26:44, astonishing.

grant fisher 26:xx, uninspiring and empty.

I don't really give a damn about that. They can do whatever.
But I don't watch elite running. Or any other sport to be honest. It's just very, very dull to me. It's interesting that I really do love the sport and the activity of running, I do it every day, but to sit and watch and follow the sport - not for me. Occasionally I watch races like Mid-Cheshire 5k while I am on the threadmill but that's pretty much it.

LOUUUUUDDDD NOIIIISESSSSSSS!