Alan Webb is my new favorite person in track and field

halliburton wrote:

This is a slippery slope...

I wont be surprised...

If he is riding a 10 speed...

across brazil next year.

screw that, if he's a man, he'll do it on a single speed (48x14)

Seriously, though, I'm a huge Webb fan. I think he'll be back for London 2012 and he'll be the WR holder or at least close to it by then

nooooooooooooooo! wrote:

no offense, but a guy who isn't making money off running who says, "I've sacrificed so much in my life for running," is kind of like some guy who plays basketball on the Y during his lunch break saying the same thing. you have no clue what it takes to perform at the level alan webb does, just like some weekend warrior at the y has no idea what it takes to get to a michael jordan type level. shut up.

that's absolutely absurd. you understand the beauty of purity and true value of the sport if you think that. maybe this is just another idle interest for you, but there are people who really care, and you don't have to have world class talent to really care.

and for your information - i would doubt that you know this, given your immature little rant - there are very few people who can make money off of running. a girl i know was top 5 at ncaa 1500 a few years ago, i want to say she was 3rd, but at least 5th, and wasn't given a shoe contract. this isn't basketball, not everyone gets paid, your analogies to other sports do not work.

and i doubt you are a very serious runner if you think that you have to have world class talent just to appreciate the "trials of miles" and what real competition is, then you are delusional. i know exactly what it takes to be the best you can be, god just didn't give me the talent that he gave alan webb. that argument just doesn't work.

i don't get this. you are the same people who get off to once a runner - look at the sacrifices cassidy makes. OAR is so popular because it is so true. you cannot go out and drink every night with your friends, you can't stay up till 4 am every night with a girl and have to get up at 7 the next morning to work out before the heat kicks in. this is a given. you can have a normal life or you can try to be the best athlete you can be. that doesn't mean you can't live with your friends, hang out with your friends, go out with your friends. but your life is not carefree and you will suffer the consequences on the track if try to pretend it is.

and for the people who said i need therapy - people say that to cass, too, and you could say that to a lot of real distance runners. listen to an alan culpepper interview sometime. great guy, really great guy, but see if you can get a good idea of his personality. real distance runners are pretty nuts.

finally, i am NOT saying that webb is 'one of the guys' like the OP is saying. i think that his habits have been blown out of proportion. maybe he eats a bit unhealthy, but he's probably been doing that for years, and he's run 3:46 off of it, so i would let it be. furthermore, if webb were 'one of the guys' IT WOULD NOT BE GOOD FOR HIS RUNNING CAREER. IT IS AS PLAIN AND SIMPLE AS THAT. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I DO OR SAY, IT HAS ONLY TO DO WITH THE TRUTH. It doesn't matter though, because he is way to focused on the sport to be 'one of the guys' (by this i mean drinking/staying out late all the time, not being properly disciplined). He knows what it takes to be a champion, knows that being a clown, as some of you seem to be suggesting, is not the route there. He has different problems, which I think he will eventually figure out.

thefattest wrote:

you are a huge f***ing douchebag. I guarantee you many of us here supporting webb are significantly faster than you, can work as hard or harder than you, and still find time to have a life. Oh and you know why i can make that guarantee? Well first it's just statistically very likely. 2nd, I know all kinds of national and a few world class runners. NONE of them have been as dorky about you regarding sacrifice.

I don't know a single very high level runner who won't have a drink or socialize. only the f'ing running dorks think like you...all striving towards their 15:30 5k goal.

jesus. no wonder distance runners are thought of as weird outcasts.

How does being dedicate make me a douchebag? That's pretty cool to say though, I guess.

For the next thing you said, yes, I'm sure there are people on here who post that are faster than me, and I'm sure there are people who CAN work as hard. Anyone CAN work as hard as is possible, as I like to think I've done. I mean anyone can overtrain to the point where they have trouble walking. It's possible yes. But do I think the immature 20 year olds who are so proud of having fake id's so that they can "have a life" work that hard? No, I do not think so. I do have a life, I just make running a big part of it. I enjoy having a good long run more than I enjoy getting wasted every night of the week. Is that the part that makes me a douchebag?

Also, I apologize for being more dorky than all of the thousands of elite runners that you know. I'm sorry I'm not that perfect.

I never said I wouldn't have a drink or socialize. I do socialize, I just don't get wasted, and i kind of like running and chasing my dreams more than sitting in a bar staring at the bottom of a beer glass and wondering and wishing about what could have been, if only, thinking how cool it would be to be an olympic athlete...if you want to be a fan and watch, that's fine. But all of your famed "very high level runners" don't go out every night to get trashed, and whether they talk about it with YOU or not, they've made sacrifices. To think that they haven't is absurd.

Also the 5k is not my event and I run it much faster than 15:30, but if i trained this hard and could still only manage a 15:30 it is good to know that nice people like you will be able to appreciate what it takes for any one to reach their true potential. good luck continuing to be an elitist prick, and when you think you've run enough thousands of miles to be sure that you've completely maxed your potential out, let me know.

disagree wrote:

I'm nowhere's near Webb's level, even in my event, which is much longer, he would still beat me by minutes. I refuse friends all the time, drink once a year, and have alienated two girls just in the past year.

Then you're an idiot who will soon not have any friends, as well as being an idiot for thinking you're more committed than Webb. In short, you're an idiot.

pointer out of facts wrote:

Then you're an idiot who will soon not have any friends, as well as being an idiot for thinking you're more committed than Webb. In short, you're an idiot.

my friends understand my quirks just like i understand my quirks. otherwise they would not be friends. you have a lot to learn about friendship.

moreover, never did i say i was more committed than webb, nor would i ever say i was more committed than someone that is faster than me, even if it were the truth. in case you haven't noticed, i've been defending how committed webb is. that's the point. you can't be a 3:46 miler and NOT be committed.

from the looks of the things, based on your inferences, you have the reading comprehension level of a 6th grader. i wouldn't call anyone an idiot if i were you.

i meant to say, my friends understand my quirks, just like i understand THEIR quirks.

Just keep doing what's best for you and if this is working keep doing it. Just make sure you're happy with how you're spending your time and won't look back with regret, that's my only piece of advice!

webb this...webb that; the real reason he loses is HE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO BE THE ALPHA MALE ON THE RACE TRACK.

YOU TURNED DOWN GIRLS FOR RUNNING? HAHHAAHAHAHAHAHA

anyone have that link the the pics of him partying after the trials?

Whats worse to you guys:

That Alan Webb wants to have a beer

or

That Bernard Lagat used EPO.

Just tie your head around that.

Two points:

1) Webb would probably be appalled by the idea that he's just having fun in his youth while showing up at meets to occasionally run really fast times. He probably considers himself to be a serious miler dedicated to being the best in the world.

2) Webb has a big income because of his marketing value, and the current threads on letsrun dedicated to giving Alan Webb advice are a good barometer of that. His marketing value is high, as everyone is concerned about the direction of his career. But Webb's value as a marketing tool will dry up if the public ever stops viewing him as the future of American middle distance running. That's why he should consider finding a new coach.

disagree wrote:

it takes more than enjoying your mid20's to become the best athlete you can be. it's called sacrifice. if you don't understand that you don't understand the sport.

this post actually made me finally decide to quit running.

thanks, really.

no you are the other extreme you'll turn 35 or 40 and find yourself thinking, jeez i wish i hadn't spend my twenties and teens just running, chasing something that i wasn't really all that close in the first placei wish i could go back and have embraced more aspects of lifein short you'll wish you had had a life and worked harder at creating a decent life for later on in your life

disagree wrote:

i kind of like running and chasing my dreams more than sitting in a bar staring at the bottom of a beer glass and wondering and wishing about what could have been, if only, thinking how cool it would be to be an olympic athlete...

What's up anEconomist, did you find out he is a Christian that has been secretly supplying food to starving people in Africa? I know that usually bothers you. To everyone else... does anyone on this web site know how to think for themselves or is this a site for sheep? YES, it is good that Webb was able to relax and put a bad performance behind him... but (like someone else said) Webb would actually AGREE with "disagree." Webb most definitely IS (or at least ASPIRES to be) a dedicated athlete. In fact, perhaps "Disagree" hasn't articulate his arguments as well as he could have, but he is 100% correct (the fact that anEconomist is arguing against him is evidence of that).

ALL of your running heroes have made sacrifices to get to where they are today. I am pretty sure that includes Webb as well.

I have made many sacrifices in my own life, but the rewards far outweigh those sacrifices i.e. traveling around Africa, learning dedication and discipline, pushing myself to the best of my own ability, meeting and training with dedicated and disciplined athletes, meeting pretty ladies that have more to their personality than getting drunk, etc.

On another note... WHY, WHY, WHY would Webb be your hero just for his drinking?? I am pretty sure that there are tens of thousands of college age and 20 somethings drinking way more than him all across the country and the world.

Wouldn't you aspire to be mroe like them? There are some people that are even "cool" enough to do drugs and then then there is the creme de la creme - those that CONTINUE doing drugs and drinking alcohol to the excess until they die a miserable, lonely, and middle-aged man.

Don't set your sights too low (i.e. Webb) there are people that abuse their bodies far more than him!

really, everyone is different, so you can't make generalizations like that. i love running. if you love running, then like i said earlier, it's really not that big of a sacrifice to make.

i think people are forgetting we are not talking becoming a hermit 365 days a year. we're talking about how the athletes who are able to squeeze out every last bit of their potential don't get wasted every night or whatever.

don't see exactly what it is about that truth that seems to bother everyone so much.

Thank you Disagree and Captain Fantastic.

I like Alan Webb. I have nothing against the guy. But do you people really think that the fastest born American miler EVER can just be a normal 25 year old?? It just seems to me that Alan Webb cant face the fact that he is a world class athlete, and a world class athelete CANNOT just live his life like any other 25 year old.

Being a champion does take sacrifice. It does take hard work and dedication. But for those who really want it, that sacrifice is nothing. It just doesn't seem like Alan Webb has made that kind of sacrifice. And, sacrifice doesnt mean not "having a life". Do you think that someone like Geb doesnt have a life? Good family, nice house, his own organization. He's made sacrifices, but in the end its all worth it.

Lastly, how happy do you think Alan Webb is right now? Do you think hes thinking, I didnt make the olympics, it's all good, at least I have a life. I highly doubt that. However, perhaps if he was slightly more dedicated, if he let go of a few things (like watching football for 12 hours straight or living with some 2x year old guy, or not letting go of a high school coach) he would have so much more right now.

well...... wrote:

this post actually made me finally decide to quit running.

thanks, really.

what, did you not realize before that being a good runner wasn't about being "one of the bros"? you can't be frat leader and star runner, if that's what your after.