Hall's Entuiastic Finish = Slower Time

In order to be compared to some of the jack@ss moves seen in major sports, he would have needed to stop and do that hand-to-the-ear "I can't hear you move" to the crowd, maybe signed an autograph or two before he finished, or turned back at the direction of Ritz and made his hand like binaculars. Or he could have faked a calf cramp, overacted it, then smile and point to the crowd and start running again.

Now if he had done any of those things we could say the may was showing bad form. What he did was keep running a a brisk pace while getting the fans excited.

Desert rodent needs to rejoin the girls team. No room in a mens race for girly guys. Even his sarcastic mode sounds effiminate.

If you read my original post you'll see that I'm a big Ryan Hall fan... I actually think he can run better but he needs to be careful.. It's a delicate game at his level.... NO harm with the enthusiasm at New York and the crowd did seem to like it, however, 3 sec's faster and it would have been a 2:08... Just 3 sec's.. Oh well, I guess it's a personal thing and relative to the individual..

My comments and opinion are based on 32+ years of running, training, racing and coaching...

Cheers

Vex wrote:

If you read my original post you'll see that I'm a big Ryan Hall fan... I actually think he can run better but he needs to be careful.. It's a delicate game at his level.... NO harm with the enthusiasm at New York and the crowd did seem to like it, however, 3 sec's faster and it would have been a 2:08... Just 3 sec's.. Oh well, I guess it's a personal thing and relative to the individual..

My comments and opinion are based on 32+ years of running, training, racing and coaching...

Cheers

But are they based on even one instance of winning a National Championship? Because if they are not, your opinion ain't worth a whole lot.

ttc wrote:

How's celebrating like that different than Terrell Owens or Darius Miles celebrating a win, before the game's over?? Maybe Randy Johnson can celebrate with a 4 run lead in the last half inning.

If you think this is in anyway similar to those situations you are very stupid. Hall is pumped up, didn't disrespect a single person with his celebration and let the world know he is going to be a contender come Beijing. I bet if he wins in Beijing and does a celebration you guys would find some way to bash him. Enjoy what he and others are accomplishing!

Chances are, if you run that race, you have a lot of your friends and family coming out to support you. And when they do, they're gonna be all over the course so you've always got someone in your face cheering you on. Hall's supporters got up at the ass crack of dawn in shitty weather to root him on - they were all over the course, urging him on to the best race of his life. If he's really feelin it, and appreciative of their energy, why can't he give them a little something back on the last go-round?

Hall was pumped, the crowd was pumped, let's all get pumped - GO HALL.

rhrunner wrote:

ttc wrote:

How's celebrating like that different than Terrell Owens or Darius Miles celebrating a win, before the game's over?? Maybe Randy Johnson can celebrate with a 4 run lead in the last half inning.

If you think this is in anyway similar to those situations you are very stupid. Hall is pumped up, didn't disrespect a single person with his celebration and let the world know he is going to be a contender come Beijing. I bet if he wins in Beijing and does a celebration you guys would find some way to bash him. Enjoy what he and others are accomplishing!

I think Owens & Miles are letting the world know how good they are too.

I've decided that there are two types of poster on this thread. There is the true fan of the sport, who was inspired by Hall's performance, and then there is the naysayer, the guy who thinks he's a fan of the sport but isn't.

I know the naysayers well. They are the first to say it can't be done. They are the glass-is-half-empty, it's-too-far, it's-too-cold, it's-too-fast kind of guys. They have a definite idea of what's possible and what isn't, and if anyone dares cross that threshold, then it's either drugs or something else.

(I know these guys well because I had a few of them as coaches. Most of them had fragile egos. They had been in the sport for 30 years but what had they contributed? I got away from these guys as fast as I could. Life's too short.)

They see a phenomenal performance and their first impulse is to critique: What if he had run three seconds faster and run 2:08? (Answer: It wasn't about the time. It wasn't about the time. It wasn't about the time. And if you don't understand that then you may as well not read on.)

Wasn't that poor sportmanship when he pumped his fist and gave the thumbs up and pointed skyward all those times? (Answer: I saw an athlete celebrating his win with a supportive crowd, not showing anybody up. I saw a US distance runner who could very soon be a household name. I saw a spontaneous outburst of emotion that gave me chills. To compare it to TO or any of those football guys who do all that preplanned stuff to show an opponent up is so absurd that again, if you can't understand the difference, then don't bother to read on. )

He can't replicate that performance in Beijing, can he? (There is nothing so far that indicates Hall will be anything but amply prepared for Beijing. I can't wait.)

And then there are the Ryan Shay's of the sport. The guys who believe they can get it done with hard work. The up-beat, let's-run-15-instead-of-10, passionate guys, the ones who make things happen.

It's not where you end up, it's how far you came to get there. Which is something most of you negative nellies here on letsrun will never understand.

Yesterday I felt proud to be a runner: proud at the effort our phenomenal athletes put forth, awed by the outpouring of compassion for Shay and his family.

And yet some folks are on here complaining about some fist pumps. You guys are not fans of the sport. Someone along the way you lost sight of what really matters. It is not the ability to criticize or second-guess or play internet coach or take pleasure in someone's failings. It is the love of an activity that, when everything goes right, allows us to glimpse the human spirit. It was on full display yesterday. I certainly felt more alive, with both joy and sadness.

Now carry on with your ridiculous rants and insight and negativism. I just hope that one day you rediscover the reason why you first laced up a pair or running shoes. Because that's what's truly important.

Bravo, sir. Amazing post.

it amuses me that the same people who whine about the lack of interest in our sport are on this thread whining about how a guy who had a two minute lead celebrated at the end of the race and responded to the crowd. you've got ttc, the poster boy of idiotic musings, comparing him to terrell owens. and lance-a-lot declaring with his usual misplaced authority, that the guys he talked to about this are 10x better than kartelite ever was. oops on that one, huh. good job with this thread, OP. you sure brought out the idiots.

Good point...but I think he would have been wayyyyyy faster. like in 2 07's if not even faster!!! obviously i won't state my life on that. but if you watched the damn marathon you would know he could have been much faster!! so yeh, in short, the point is if he would have ran faster, he would still have the record, he would still be going to the olympics. nothing would have changed.... like every one has told you, quit posting^o^

dsfsdfsdf wrote:

And then there are the Ryan Shay's of the sport. The guys who believe they can get it done with hard work. The up-beat, let's-run-15-instead-of-10, passionate guys, the ones who make things happen.

damn straight brother. Wejo get this up as the front page quote.

I don't do that post of the day crap and such. but, you sir have possibly the best post I've ever seen on lets run.

This really is the essence not just of running, but of sport. I was coaching my kids at a meet yesterday and couldn't watch the trials, but I watched the TV coverage thsi afternoon. Hall's last loop was inspiring - he clearly prepared a great deal for yesterday's race. if you consider the thousands of hours he spent hammering away, i don't think a few minutes of celebration is too much to ask.

yep, good post.

i usually like it when runners stay calm and humble, but what hall did warranted every second of spontaneous celebration. he is obviously a humble guy, and there is no way anyone should misinterpret what he did as showboating.

i watched that final minutes multiple times online, even after being shocked by the news of shay's passing...and he was a friend and teammate.

chuck d wrote:

it amuses me that the same people who whine about the lack of interest in our sport are on this thread whining about how a guy who had a two minute lead celebrated at the end of the race and responded to the crowd. you've got ttc, the poster boy of idiotic musings, comparing him to terrell owens. and lance-a-lot declaring with his usual misplaced authority, that the guys he talked to about this are 10x better than kartelite ever was. oops on that one, huh. good job with this thread, OP. you sure brought out the idiots.

a) I never complained about the "lack of interest" in track and field

b) I wasn't bashing Hall at all, for crissakes (whoops, sorry Ryan), but simply thought he was SLIGHTLY over-the-top with his celebration. I said his performance was amazing. I guess I am not allowed to make a simple observation/state an opinion concerning his multiple fist shaking, sky-pointing, shouting last mile? Relax people, Ryan isn't reading this, so I don't think it's worth jumping out of your seats and spending 10 minutes defending his exuberance. OK, most of you think his celebration was just fine, and I can understand your point of view on that, it wasn't a big deal to me either way. Is everyone ok now?? All calmed down and all. Cool.

c) "lance-a-lot declaring with his usual misplaced authority, that the guys he talked to about this are 10x better than kartelite ever was. oops on that one, huh. "

What the hell does THAT jibberish mean? "misplaced authority" ? Are you saying the guys who brought up the subject of Hall's celebration to me (I didn't bring it up) and thought it was slightly over the top are NOT 10x better than Kartelite?? How's top 5 in a Olympic marathon trials suit you (a few decades back)? Yeah, those are the credentials of the two people I was talking to about it. And I only brought them up BECAUSE (you still with me chuck?).....kartelite mocked ttc's opinion by stating only an athlete who was never competitive could have such an opinion. WELL.... I proved him wrong, because these guys that brought it up to me were clearly competitive. More than him, more than you, more than me. I guess their opinion counts then? Comprende?

So then what the hell does "oops on that one mean, huh" ?

(and I know Chuck, in your mind 99.9% of people are idiots, except the brilliant ones like you)

Vex wrote:

If you read my original post you'll see that I'm a big Ryan Hall fan... I actually think he can run better but he needs to be careful.. It's a delicate game at his level.... NO harm with the enthusiasm at New York and the crowd did seem to like it, however, 3 sec's faster and it would have been a 2:08... Just 3 sec's.. Oh well, I guess it's a personal thing and relative to the individual..

My comments and opinion are based on 32+ years of running, training, racing and coaching...

Cheers

What you are failing to see is that the "extra three seconds" is, in actuallity, meaningless. So he would have ran under 2:09, so what? Why is this necessarily of any importance and what extra good would this have done for Hall? A W is a W my friend and thats all that matters, especially in a championship race.

ttc is either 1) a brilliant mind who plays a character on letsrun made to irritate the crap out of people, ie a talented troll or 2) a complete idiot, jealous hater of all who appear superior to him. The latter is more likely.

If I win the Olympic trials, I would feel entitled to a little fist pumping. This has been talked about enough by others here.

ttc, I believe, was also the troll who posted his own thread about "I have a bad feeling about Ryan Hall" right before his great London race.

Did Ryan Hall beat him up as a child or something?

So when we all win a local race, please, whatever you do, dont raise your arms in victory or maybe wave to some folks at the finish, be as bland as possible. Peace out.

Great post by dsgsgdgs..nailed it.

= less glory to gawd.