When the web editor at Running Times let me know the print version had been released online, I had no idea it would stir up so much interest in the LetsRun community. That said, if anyone's interested, I wanted to clarify a few of the recurring misconceptions.
First of all, the weight lifting thing has come up over and over again. McDougal wasn't saying that weightlifting was inherently evil, just that the way he did it (always right before or right after a run, in a non-running specific way) was counterproductive. He felt that since his motor patterns were poor anyway, the lifting exacerbated these woes. And when you're only taking one class in your last semester, and you've got all the time in the world and can't realistically run any more miles...well, you can see what would happen.
Yet the very thing which McDougal cites as breaking him also helped bring him back to place he's at now. Bryan, the Athletic Republic guy, used weights and other forms of resistence to help "balance" out McDougal, if you will. So all those imbalances and poor motor patterns were remedied using the very thing that he believes hurt him in the first place.
As for the Solinsky example, you're a little off base. While his mileage has certainly continued to increase over the year, he and the rest of the Schumacher group all lift weights and perform other running-specific core/flexibility work under the guidance of Pascal Dobert, who is on the Nike payroll to provide exactly that component for the team. At the NXN coaches clinic, Schumacher spoke to how he let Dobert control that aspect in its entirety, and that his only input was lessening the load if a key workout was coming up. So while Schumacher's group is definitely more "old school" in its training than Alberto's group, that doesn't mean they're not doing core/lifting/drills for an hour a day as well.
I also would not take offense when McDougal talks about it being a waste of his time to spend 3 years trying to take 5 seconds off his PR. This is a guy who gave it his all in college, and after so many injury woes, I think you just start realizing there's a law of diminishing returns. But this is also a guy who wants to encourage others to give it their absolute all as a coach. And while I and most others on this board would kill to have his talent and are steadfast that we'd do anything in the world to fulfill it maxmially, we've never walked in his shoes.
As for the happiness factor, while McDougal definitely was pretty down and out when discussing the turns his running career has taken, in the rest of his life he came off as very happy. I was able to spend 2 days in Lynchburg with him last September to conduct all the interviews and add some depth to the piece, and between watching Monday Night Football, going out for Mexican, and seeing him with his housemates (all current or former Liberty athletes), he seemed happy in his day-to-day life.
Lastly, the God factor. Comparing him with Ryan Hall at this juncture makes no sense. When I went back and looked through my interview notes, there is actually no mention of God or Jesus until over an hour and a half into the interview, at which point I asked how his well-known faith was affected by these trials. He gave a short, forthcoming answer, and then we moved on. I love Ryan Hall as an athlete and he seems a good person, but McDougal is certainly more secular in that regard.
I don't mean to come off as a McDougal defender, it's just that when you have 2 days of material and only 3,000 words to write, misconceptions like these happen. Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions - just thought this might shed some light in this on-going debate.