I wanted to see if I could get more discussion going by recapping and updating an old thread. I've had time to sharpen and unify some of my thoughts (plus the old thread has too much drivel from Ventolin and such bogging it down) so I think we needed a fresh start:
1) Because we're starting to roll...we have a deep pool of runners who can compete with the world's best.
-Jenny Barringer Simpson WC gold
-Centrowitz's WC bronze
-Symmonds multiple WC finals, a couple great wins against elite international competition, elite times
-Morgan Uceny Diamond League champion
-Rowbury brought home a medal two years ago
-Khadevis Robinson just won at Rome this summer at 34
-Alan Webb national records, elite times when he's at his best
-Manzano made the 2009 WC final
-Some very promising performances by several other runners--most of them still very young--that seem like they could put it together a la Simpson or Centrowitz: Andrew Wheating, Robbie Andrews, Maggie Vessey, Charles Jock, Lopez Lomong, Anna Pierce, Alysia Montano, Christin Wurth-Thomas, etc.
With the possible exception of Rudisha in the men's 800, there aren't really any runners worldwide that clearly outclass our best. When things go his way, Symmonds can beat Kaki, Borzakovskiy, etc (he's done it, in fact); Uceny and Simpson can beat anyone; Centrowitz and Wheating are closing in on the top guys; etc. Unlike sprints or LD, anyone in the final can medal. Whenever we have people in there, they can break through and surprise the field. We are consistently seeing Americans make finals now, and as we saw during this WC, we will grab medals. Our WC medal haul in the middle distances ranks us in a close second behind Kenya. I believe we can be first in the future.
2) Because we can run faster than we've ever run before.
I think there's a lot of untapped potential because...
-The world hasn't really been getting faster (one of my original points from the first post). I think we've mentally set ourselves behind the Africans. Perhaps rightly so in the longer stuff...but not in MD.
-Our coaching sucks. The problem is that almost all teams have a distance coach and a sprints coach, but no dedicated middle-distance coach. MD becomes the secondary job of the distance coach who was a marathoner/LD/cross guy himself, while some sprints coaches have a few 800 runners. The LD coach pretty much applies his 10k mindset to MD training (except he figures out that some stuff should be a little shorter and faster), while the sprints coach has his 800 runners do 400 training with a little bit more long stuff. We need more pure MD coaches. I think we also need distance coaches and sprints coaches putting their heads together to figure out the 800. I think it's pretty obvious that 800 training should have a lot in common with both 400 training and 1500 training--it seems to me that a lot of coaches have never thought of that. There is a lot of really unsophisticated MD training, even across the D1 level.
3) Because MD races are the most exciting
-championship races are ALWAYS tactically interesting
-there is so much more uncertainty near the finish
-these are the fastest races not run in lanes, which is always an adventure: the drama of speed and tactics
-once you get to the final, depending on how the race plays out, anyone can medal (e.g. Centrowitz, Christian Smith '08 trials) or falter (Uceny). This can certainly be crushing, but it's no less fascinating.
4) Because MD has the greatest potential for connections with fans
-Goldilocks says: The short stuff is too short, the long stuff is too long, but the middle stuff is just right.
-the four-minute mile still holds America's fascination
-every kid in America runs the mile--a lot. It has meaning for people.
-youtube is perfect for MD: 2-4 minute clips with a full, exciting story. I get a buzz every time I randomly look up MD youtube clips: Dave Wottle, Leo Manzano, Nick Symmonds, El G, etc. (This started when I was a pure LD guy.)
-MD athletes can have several great races a year: prime example was Wheating in 2010. Our stars can put on a show indoors, late spring, and throughout the summer season into the championships. If we want to increase the visibility of track, fans have to see the star athletes live.
-culture: LD in America is 98% white; sprints are 98% black. MD has the unique ability to pull everyone together: Manzano, Lomong, Simpson, Centrowitz, Jock, Symmonds, Montano, Vessey, KD, etc. We cheer for people more similar to ourselves (perhaps we dream of doing what they're doing). It's not really a bad thing, it's just reality. Black people are less likely to cheer for an all-white team, white people are less likely to cheer for an all-black team. MD is fascinatingly mixed.
-MD also welcomes a wide range of body types: big, little, short, tall.
-remember Alan Webb breaking the record in high school? Captured the nation's attention. I don't remember that happening for any other event.
-everyone can run the mile--there are great local events that involve mass participation. Participation = interest. (Much untapped potential here.) Longer races tend to be about just survival rather than speed, which is a pull in the wrong direction. People are more apt to understand that the mile is really about running fast.
-Galen Rupp vs. Andrew Wheating . . . who do you think America would rather cheer for?
5) Because we can't compete with East Africa in LD.
Kenya and Ethiopia are killing us in the steeplechase, 5000, 10000, and marathon. The assumption is that they're also killing us in the 800 and 1500. That assumption is false. Let's suppose that Kenya's greatest natural strength is the 10000. If you pour enough Kenyan athletes on the 10k, they will start to spill over onto other events, eventually reaching the middle distance races. There are some very good East African middle distance runners, no doubt, but they have a tiny fraction of the dominance that they have in LD.
At this last WC, genetic East Africans claimed the top 6 spots in the men's 10000, the top 6 spots in the women's 10000, the top 8 spots in the men's 5000, and the top 6 spots in the women's 5000, but they only claimed 5 of the 12 MD medals. The world's top times list in the 5000 and 10000 are totally dominated by East Africans--that's not even remotely the case for the 800 and 1500.
6) Because MD fits America's culture for development better.
-We're athletically schizophrenic in the U.S.: we play several different sports growing up. The speed and strength you develop from a wide variety of sports is not really all that helpful for a 10k...it's very helpful for an 800.
-Because of the above, an MD runner can at times rise very quickly (see: Wheating, Andrew). We're not a very patient culture, and our development systems aren't very patient: you have to perform pretty quickly in high school and then in college to stay in the system. That's murder on LD, but not necessarily MD. I think we could use more post-collegiate opportunities for continued development for MD runners, but the system is still better for MD as is.
-Diet and physique: If Kenyans ate the way Americans ate, I guarantee you that they would look a lot more like Americans, and I guarantee you that they would not be as good at LD. The American diet has a lot of flaws of course, but part of it is simply that we eat a lot of protein, which is good for MD physique but not as good for LD physique.
-We have very serious issues with women and anorexia, especially when you combine the drive to be thin for LD with a culture obsessed with skinny = beauty. MD doesn't demand mega-miles and demands enough muscle strength that this is much less likely to be an issue.
Thoughts? Additions? Disagreements?
p.s. the old thread is here:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=3627463&thread=3627463