It's posts like this from what is seemingly the next generation that makes me realize our planet is doomed.
It's posts like this from what is seemingly the next generation that makes me realize our planet is doomed.
Lol... I'd pay to see your SAT scores.
terry smithwick wrote:
Same goes for the state meet. Injury and illness aside. If you finish that far back you came from a really weak regional, the points you score won't help your suck-ass team in the standings, or you are a displacer who won't displace anyone.
Plenty of runners sitting at home who deserve to be there more than you. YOU SUCK!
Ron Hill ran the English national XC championships this year 43 years after he last won it. A true legend who loves this sport. This is from his blog:
The English Cross-Country Championships at Alton Towers. Well I did embarrass myself and I did keep the time keepers waiting , though they seemed very cheerful about that.
Driving to the venue was ominous. On the tops above Buxton and then Leek there was snow on the road and mist on the tops. After parking I sought one of my club mates, Mark Whiteman, to collect my number, 6153. The whole area in front of the start line was churned mud. I did not believe that the course itself would be anything like this. Then came the news, " The distance has been reduced from 12 K to 10 K. " One short lap of 2 K and two big laps of 4 K. There was a delay of around 15 minutes before we were off.
From the back of pen 54 I started up the slight incline and was out of breath immediately. Lack of fitness due to my falls and low mileage. Very soon the field had gone leaving around half a dozen of us at the back, strung out. Martin McGann, East Cheshire Harriers, running his 42nd consecutive National ! dropped back to run with me. Suddenly it was mud, mud and more mud. I had thought I would be able to find grass at the edges of the course. Wrong. I had no strength to lift my legs. At the end of the short lap I could feel both my calves pulling. Into the first big lap I was desperately trying to find grass to run on but instead I was wallowing. Now I had to get out of the way of the rest of the field as the leaders, Steve Vernon, Michael Skinner and Tom Lancashire seemed to fly over the mud. My fellow runners in the rear guard were all struggling and Martin kept me going. Up the long hill I had to walk but got going again at the top. Slowly we passed four of our sorry group.
The end of the first long lap we had to run alongside the never ending finishing straight. Finishers were streaming past on our left churning up the mud to well above ankle level. By now I was exhausted and was absolutely dreading the last 4 K. My watch showed 45:03 for 6 K. I did not work it out at the time but that was 7:30 per K equivalent to 75 minutes for 10 K. I had already had one fall and now had difficulty dragging my feet out of the mud. at every little uphill I had to walk, or rather stagger. I kept telling Martin to go on but he said I was doing him a favour by stopping him racing as he had recently been injured with plantar fasciaitis. He felt the " soft " going was protecting his heel ! Four of the back gang staggered past again. I did not care. I just wanted to get to the end. But I looked at them and wondered how they did it. The only thing I could think was that they were big guys and had the strength to drag their legs out of the quagmire.
I walked up the steep long hill again Now my back was aching. I felt helpless. At the top of the hill I tried to start running and fell down. I runner from the South Cheshire Running Club, Chris Walsh, who was catching us called, " Are you OK ? " "Yes," I replied, " It was a soft landing." He ran away taking 72 seconds out of us before the finish. Martin was urging me on but kept falling forward, such was my lack of energy. Eventually that dreaded finishing plod. About 250 metres out it became a river. It was not runnable for me. I had to wade. I tried to raise a trot, more of a stagger. 150 metres to go I fell down. Martin waited and as we got to the finish line he held my left hand high. I fell on to the finishing mat and my timing chip kept the electronics ringing signalling my ordeal was over. My last 4 K took 36:26 an average of 9:07 per K.
Thank you Martin for your help and congratulations on 42 consecutive National finishes. A record that will never be broken.
1st, Steve Vernon, Stockport H & AC, 35:11; 2nd, Michael Skinner, Blackheath and Bromley H, 35:32; 3rd, Tom Lancashire, Bolton United H, 35:59.
Watching our local northern TV news that evening I was surprised when Steve Vernon's victory in such a big event was not mentioned. I was more amazed when Monday's Daily Telegraph sports section DID NOT EVEN PRINT THE RESULTS ! When I won the event in 1966 it was the biggest achievement I had had up to that date and still ranks as one of the 4 greatest successes of my life.
Sunday I wrote in my log "The route to full fitness must be 30 miles per week plus speedwork." That day and Monday I ran recovery runs of 3.5 miles. I was in a sorry state. When I opened my emails there was one which cheered me up from Debbie Hope of Staffordshire Moorlands AC:
"Hi, I was marshalling on Saturday at the National Cross Country Championships at Alton Towers and just wanted to say that you made my day when I saw you run up the hill for the last time on the course. You are a real inspiration to many of our members (thank you for having your picture taken with Rebecca, one of our junior athletes!) and to see you running such a gruelling race when you could sit back having proved your worth many times over is amazing. I hope you enjoyed (if that is the right word) the event. You will be more than welcome to come to any of our club events and I am sure Roy Fowler was smiling down on you. Kind regards."
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
"In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.
In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
There should be 9 runners. Maybe the field can be padded by local runners as they'd be there anyway, deserving or otherwise.
jjjjjjjjjjjj wrote:
henry rono in 237?? was that the most distinguished field in ncaa history? you have the future long time American record holder in the 10k (Mark Nenow), well back. You have Jim Spivey, Ken Martin, Plasencia, Salazar, and so many others who made a mark as pros.
1976 was the top field in NCAA history. 2 10k world record holders. Numerous AR holders.
Hey, you're onto something here! Let's keep whittling the riff-raff out of the field until the race only contains a Sam Chelanga type. But wait - then he'd finish in the bottom 10 percent. He sucks!
This is like the logic of the old saying that you should always practice tennis by playing against people who are better than you are. In that case, nobody can play tennis.
the cancer guy wrote:
Somebody's gotta finish last. So, let's say we take the last 10% of the field and remove then. What then, do we take the next 10% and remove it? Where do we stop?
Who said it was progressive? 90% of you dinks calling me a loser or stupid have put more than twice the energy into this thread than the one you accuse.
Who is the idiot? Who is the loser?
So, how do you identify that bottom 10% BEFORE the race? WIthout that being in the first post the very notion is simply fundamentally flawed and designed to get reactions, not to generate ideas.
terry smithwick wrote:
the cancer guy wrote:Somebody's gotta finish last. So, let's say we take the last 10% of the field and remove then. What then, do we take the next 10% and remove it? Where do we stop?
Who said it was progressive? 90% of you dinks calling me a loser or stupid have put more than twice the energy into this thread than the one you accuse.
Who is the idiot? Who is the loser?