Toughest Runner?

Joss Naylor

"Remember when Goucher won NCs he beat Meb and Abdi."

Hmmm. And just who was it that Ritz beat?

It's just a general feeling of brash talking bogus-ness I get from you. I don't get the feeling you've pushed yourself 1/5th as hard as Goucher.

The toughest runner of all time is some guy nobody knows who trains his butt off despite having no talent and races tougher and with more pain than anyone can ever realize. The chance that he's an elite is not nearly as high as the chance that he's a good local runner who suffers without the hope of recognition and quietly does so alone, in the dark, and for his own reasons.

maybe..... wrote:

The toughest runner of all time is some guy nobody knows who trains his butt off despite having no talent and races tougher and with more pain than anyone can ever realize. The chance that he's an elite is not nearly as high as the chance that he's a good local runner who suffers without the hope of recognition and quietly does so alone, in the dark, and for his own reasons.

I agree with this post... and of course Terry Fox.

Yeah, I agree with that. The toughest runner also has a full time job and trains in the dark at five a.m. and after work.

how about Bob Kempanien? Puking during the late miles of the '96 Marathon trials and still running 4:30's to pull away from Coogan and brantley

irun wrote:

Bob Kennedy. Here's why:

1600m in 3:56. 2:30 min. rest.

1200m in 2:55. 2:30 min. rest.

800m in 1:54. 2:30 min. rest.

400m in 54 sec.

OR

It could be Henry Rono, who would binge drink and then run a 10,000m WR 4 days later after almost being lapped half way through the race. Oh, and he kicked ass in cross country.

true, that's a tough workout, but didn't he run it with Komen who ran some even more ludicrous times (I seem to remember something like 2-3 seconds faster on each rep)

I got the same feeling about Turkey S**t, sorry, I mean Turkey Leg.

I figured he has no clue what it is to push through pain. I was at some high school XC meets a couple years ago in Upstate NY some 9th or 10th grade girl had asthma. She was on one of the best teams in the state- she ran through asthma attacks- never stopped- and would be lying there at the finish line totally spent. Some parent on the team told me that she just wanted to keep her spot in the top 7. She was gutsy and tough- all 5' sub 100 pounds of her.

YIANNIS KOUROS... the most consistently willful runner ever.

Not saying he's the toughest ever, but...

Matt Davis is far and away the toughest runner I've ever met.

Murray Halberg

Why would the toughest runner be elite? Loads of us could run 140mpw if we could sleep all afternoon.

Anyone running anywhere near their potential who has a job and family and can come up with a story about puking/ collapsing at the end of a race or smacking out 20 400s on windy night after work in January etc etc (we've all got one) is pretty tough in my book.

Do you need to be more dedicated to train full time doing something you love than to put in 60 hours a week at your job? I don't see it but we all eulogise about the dedication of Amrstrong / Radcliffe etc. I don't mean they aren't dedicated but no more than anyone who takes alot of pride in their work.

Ron Hill ran a 2:09 marathon in 1970 (2nd fastest ever at the time) and came 6th in the Mexico City 10,000m after 2 weeks altitude acclimatisation all while fitting in his training round a full time job.

The toughest runner I know was fitting in 100mpw while getting up at 4am every morning to work as a postman and then renovating a house after work. He could run his PB for 400m at the end of a marathon. It's guys like him, who are as hard as nails and doing it without recognition and because they love it, that are the toughest in my opinion.

maybe..... wrote:

The toughest runner of all time is some guy nobody knows who trains his butt off despite having no talent and races tougher and with more pain than anyone can ever realize. The chance that he's an elite is not nearly as high as the chance that he's a good local runner who suffers without the hope of recognition and quietly does so alone, in the dark, and for his own reasons.

Hear, hear. I remember reading, years ago in grad school, that the highest known blood lactate level (a decent proxy for the highest pain level) was from some unknown Soviet 10ker. He was a national-, but not international-, class runner.

Good stuff wrote:

It's just a general feeling of brash talking bogus-ness I get from you. I don't get the feeling you've pushed yourself 1/5th as hard as Goucher.

Damn impressive then if I can get on the podium at the national championships with 1/5 of goucher's effort.

Why do you think that going so hard to make your teeth hurt is such a rare thing?

maybe..... wrote:

The toughest runner of all time is some guy nobody knows who trains his butt off despite having no talent and races tougher and with more pain than anyone can ever realize. The chance that he's an elite is not nearly as high as the chance that he's a good local runner who suffers without the hope of recognition and quietly does so alone, in the dark, and for his own reasons.

Amen brother

Steve Jones.

Chicago'marathon 85.

Half marathon split in crazy 61.42 (!!) only 30 sec off the current half world record.

Still finishing in 2.07.13, only 2 sec off Carlos Lopes world rec..

anyone that says ritz isn't tough is a moron. I'm not saying he is the toughest, but the guy turned a stress fracture into a complete break in 2004. The doctors said he couldn't do more damage to his foot because they didn't think that someone could have that kind of pain tolerance to make the fracture a complete break. that is serious toughness.

of course he is. check out what he did in the 2000 5k trials.