Off the Grid wrote:
MW has family and friends - they can get great video of him leading the OTs for 20-25% of the race...thats awesome.
Yeah ... awesome!!!! Along with that, they should have the last 75% - where he gets his *ss cooked by the guys that care more about the race they're running than the public eye.
Off the Grid wrote:
The OTs CLEARLY were not his priority race (he ran 7 minutes faster the next week).
I don't really disagree here....... but it just shows how messed up his priorities can be. He's a really strong runner and one of the few that can make the trials, and he treats it like it's just another marathon that comes around every week instead of every four years.
Off the Grid wrote:
....a lot of people are jealous that he can qualify as an after-thought...
Ummmmmm...... he ran a PR by a couple minutes and qualified by like 23 seconds - that's no after thought.
I live/run in the DC area and am exposed to all the coverage he gets - he's all about the "wow" factor. It's really not that complicated:
OPTION A-> Run/win 15-25 marathons per year around 2:25-2:35, be highly regarded by the general public as the "working man that could go to the olympics" (even though he never stands a chance), pick up some prize money, be on the news, etc.
OPTION B-> Train just as hard and smart and run 2-3 marathons/year around 2:17ish?, be highly regarded by the running community as a true elite marathoner, toss the general attention into the wind.
Obviously he chooses option A - I guess we're all different that way, but there's no question to why he does it all - attention.
But it does get quite annoying when everybody in the area thinks a 2:25 guy is a running god.