Blue collar to most means a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage. This labor can be skilled or unskilled. Blue collar work typically requires less formal academic education which is needed to succeed in other types of work, with many blue-collar jobs requiring only a high school diploma or GED.
I don't understand how this can apply to runners, epecially at an elite level? They all work hard.
I dunno I thought they all wore singlets
I apologise for typing that incredibly lame joke, I just couldn't resist.
Just bring back this epic thread:
Blue Collar Runner definition:1)ran slow in HS (4:30 miles) because they didn't train at all. Turns out running 70 mpw instead of 30 turns 4:30 runners into 4:10 ones. 2)runner who is bitter about not being able to break 50 for the 400m. So they claim not to have talent despite the all their other advantages.3) Some one who likes running high mileage (120+) instead of quality. Use the lack of talent excuse so they can spent hours of their life running slowly
sir runshardalot wrote:
Blue collar to most means a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage. This labor can be skilled or unskilled. Blue collar work typically requires less formal academic education which is needed to succeed in other types of work, with many blue-collar jobs requiring only a high school diploma or GED.
I don't understand how this can apply to runners, epecially at an elite level? They all work hard.
There is blue collar running, even at the elite level.
Dathan and Hall = Runs 120-130 miles per week. Gravity treadmills, no jobs and blue chip runners their entire careers. Major contracts to both. NCAA Champions, etc.
Sell = Runs up to 170 miles per week. Works at Home Depot doing manual labor. No contract, wins prize money that's it. Below average runner in HS, decent in college but won no major titles.
What was Sells mileage in HS and College? Maybe the reason he wasn't a blue chip back then was because he was a slacker? I don't know his story but that is the story of a lot of the runners i have read about. They run 4:30 in hs on 30mpw and then go to a real program in college and the next year they are running sub 4.10. As far as 170 versus 120 that is meaningless unless you tell us about workouts, tempo, conditions, ...
aafadfad wrote:
There is blue collar running, even at the elite level.
Dathan and Hall = Runs 120-130 miles per week. Gravity treadmills, no jobs and blue chip runners their entire careers. Major contracts to both. NCAA Champions, etc.
Sell = Runs up to 170 miles per week. Works at Home Depot doing manual labor. No contract, wins prize money that's it. Below average runner in HS, decent in college but won no major titles.
sir runshardalot wrote:
Blue collar to most means a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage.
That's a proper definition, but this is letsrun, it's different here.
You see it's kind of like Rap music. Who spends the most money an Rap and it's related clothing etc? Middle and upper class white kids. They have no clue of what living in the ghetto is, but they sure think they can act like it by blaring 50 Cent and Lil Wayne out of the SUV their parents gave them. They think it gives them "street cred".
Runners, especially if there are people more talented than them look for running "street cred". And the way they do this is making up stuff about how difficult it was for them to become the runner they are. So they say they are "blue collar" and act like they have a chip on their shoulder and embellish their running exploits here. Stuff like how they run in cotton because bloody nipples make them tough. How anyone who runs in anything but shorts in 10 degree weather is a yuppie and being a patron of Starbucks will lead to the downfall of civilization. Oh yeah, the use Macs and say dude a lot and say they put 10,000 miles on shoes.
Here's a hypothetical. Say you have a father who is successful in his own right and starts hanging in some privileged circles. This guy makes some important connections and when those people get into really high positions they give him one too. Say the guy has a son who was raised in a privileged environment that included the best schools and top college and a fat trust fund. The kid turns out to have a talent for plumbing and decided to do that for a while after college, but a blue blood plumber is unheard of and would never be considered "one of the guys", so he embraces the "blue collar" persona because he wants people to think he came up with the hard knocks of a real "blue collar" guy. It's the best of both worlds. Act blue collar and think you are cool without having to ever worry about the things the real deal does.
aafadfad wrote:
There is blue collar running, even at the elite level.
Dathan and Hall = Runs 120-130 miles per week. Gravity treadmills,
I haven't seen anything to indicate that Hall goes with the freaky gizmos such as (what you must mean to be) anti-gravity treadmills like Ritz and the other Nike pawns do.
Um, yeah, because this is a site about running, not about employment and careers outside of running. It is simplistic to take "blue collar runner" and instantly equate it with "blue collar worker." If you can't look beyond superficial aspects and understand something such as mindset and values, then you're hopeless. Do us all a favor, just click "return to index" and go find a gun barrel to suck on.tjgfd wrote:
sir runshardalot wrote:Blue collar to most means a member of the working class who performs manual labor and earns an hourly wage.
That's a proper definition, but this is letsrun, it's different here.
Sorry I hit a nerve, but thanks for showing everyone the act.
A true blue-collar runner would never don a singlet. A wife-beater T does the trick.
tjgfd wrote:
Sorry I hit a nerve, but thanks for showing everyone the act.
Not really, you're just the moronic straw on the proverbial camel's back. Nothing special about you or what you said, you're simply another piece of crap on the dung heap. Yes, I know I have misanthropic tendencies. I'm okay with it and as a result choose to not own firearms.
A blue collar runner is someone that lacks natural talent but makes it up with hard work and tenacity.
American distance only make the first half this definition.
Ritz only uses that zero g because he doesn't have as much talent as Sell. He only has talent to run 90 mpw (but insists on doing 120 and breaking something every 18 weeks which is why he needs the zero g) while Sell has the talent to run 170....
dissing your distortion wrote:
aafadfad wrote:There is blue collar running, even at the elite level.
Dathan and Hall = Runs 120-130 miles per week. Gravity treadmills,
I haven't seen anything to indicate that Hall goes with the freaky gizmos such as (what you must mean to be) anti-gravity treadmills like Ritz and the other Nike pawns do.
blue collar - some dumb fvcker that works at grease monkey and shops at walmart for star runner gear, little debbie snack cakes instead of powerbars!
That's not called being Blue Collar.... that's called being a less successful runner.