This forum has convinced me, we should drop the metric system in cross we should run the 6 mile. Lets get rid of K's all together. I've never liked K's since the KKK.
This forum has convinced me, we should drop the metric system in cross we should run the 6 mile. Lets get rid of K's all together. I've never liked K's since the KKK.
I am so smart smrt wrote:
I wasted my time reading the argument from other people and decided that someone should post a good reason for the mile.
I understand that it is hard to break tradition, especially in a sport like Track. However to switch to the mile you wouldn't lose very much tradition. People can still go for the 1500m records during the season.
We all know how wussy people run in championship races so the NCAA championship records really don't mean that much.
I guess it kinda would be cool to see the run the mile since its an American thing. (A dumb American thing) but the existence of the mile itself typifies the American culture so much that I guess we could afford the switch.
In the end I must accept that the fact that the rest of the world focuses on the 1500 is an overpowering argument. At least the other side has a little representation.
Nice!!!
haha YO wrote:
As long as the 1500 is run at the Olympics and World Championships it should be run at the NCAA championships. End of story.
That says it all my friend.
get oned wrote:
someone had to do it wrote:what do you run in gym class? - the mile
don't you mean 1600m going the wrong direction on the track?
Actually, at Hughson, we still have a 440 yard dirt track.
The mile is one of the few athletic endeavours that ALL Americans can relate to. The mile is run nationwide in high school and junior high school P.E. classes. Some schools have a mile wall of fame, where everybody who makes a certain benchmark (6:00 at the local junior high) gets their name immortalized in the annals of their schools sporting legacy. When I talk to prospective track or cross country athletes, I ask them "How fast do you run the mile in P.E.?" I will get a solid answer. I can't ask a kid his 100 time (unless she or he has run track previously). If I want to know if the kid might be a sprinter I have to ask things like, "do you know so and so? Are you as fast as him? I can't ask a kid what his best toss in the shot is (once again, unless he has competed in track). I can ask a kid how much he can bench, but most P.E. programs don't require any max bench tests. So for the throws, once again I have to rely on subjective assessments of how good a kid might be.
But, the mile. The mile is a gold standard measurement for distance running potential here in the states. It is a distance that everyone can relate to. Little Suzy might have hated running the mile in P.E. shuffling along to a 9:06, trying not to ruin her make up, but she can certainly respect when Becky runs a 5:01. Kids on the basketball or soccer teams may bitch and moan about having to run a timed mile as part of their try outs (our old boys varsity coach made 6:00 one of the criteria to make the hoop team for everyone but the centers), but they can respect when some freshman hot shot comes out and runs a 4:35. Even the other event groups on the track team may not understand the 800 or the 3200, but the 1600, they understand. They stop and pay a little more attention to that event because it is only 9 meters distant to the one distance that they and ALL Americans can relate too.
I think that going to the mile distance for collegiate meets is a fantastic idea
Who are these people that don't like watching the 1500meter. What do you do during Nats, the Olympics or Worlds. Just sit there with a grumpy face. Are you people even runners?
Man Centros run at worlds was so dumb. Worst race ever I mean he didn't even run a whole mile.
If they ran a mile at competition races all you would see is an extra 106 or so meters of wussy racing. The race would be pretty much the same. On the other hand we would get another 15-16 seconds of race time which would be a plus even if it is jogging.
All I here is bitching. I agree Americans want to watch more mile races run. I do to. But, changing the NCAA championship race from 1500m to me is just ridiculous. 1500m is set so that times are appropriate to world standards, just like 5k and 10k came to replace the 3 and 6 mile.
I say both NCAA and USATF just need to add more Mile races into their season and just keep the 1500m for championship and qualifying purposes. I would also like to see an old school meet with 2, 3 and 6 mile races, just to see how times in the 70's vary from times now at those odd distances.
And if you are a true runner, you already understand the metric system in track, if you don't well, we don't worry about you.
And XC is so different. Why can't these high school kids understand that 3 miles is not a 5k. When they run 15'50 3 mile and consider themselves a sub-16 5ker. Stupid. that's like a 16'30 at best kid.
New name for the forum:
Why are there so many trolls who don't like the 1500m.
Its ok to like the mile more but is it really that big of a deal.
Seriously some people need to get their hormones checked.
Maybe I'm missing something because I'm fairly new to the sport, but where did the idea of 1500 come from? Why not do an even four laps?[/quote]
The idea of the 1500 came from those loons that use the metric system. 1000 grams is equal to 1 kilogram? 100 centimeters in a meter? Distance races at 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, and 10000m? Who comes up with this s@^*? Maybe someday they will open their eyes and see the benefits of the REAL measurement system.
Troll me one more time wrote:
New name for the forum:
Why are there so many trolls who don't like the 1500m.
Its ok to like the mile more but is it really that big of a deal.
Seriously some people need to get their hormones checked.
I don't dislike the 1.5k. I simply would rather see our guys running a distance that EVERYONE in the US can relate to.
I believe we originally switched away from the mile so that our guys would be better prepared to race the 1500 on the world stage.
I think that running the mile would make as much sense as running the "lieue", which is about 4,447 meters. Nobody in the world uses the lieue as a measurement anymore, so it would not make sense. Very few countries in the world know what a mile is. It's an old unit if measure, which is not followed by the majority of planet earth.
That being said, I think I would have been rather good at the half lieue.
Excitement for who? The Men, that's it and the idea of the 4 minute mile...Long gone!!!!
Two Minute Thousand wrote:
No Way wrote:I don't think you do recall correctly... 1500m is just 1.5km, a nice round number for the metric folk.
[quote]tony reali wrote:
[quote]forgive my ignorance wrote:
Maybe I'm missing something because I'm fairly new to the sport, but where did the idea of 1500 come from? Why not do an even four laps?
On a 400m track, 1500 can pretty nicely laid out. You can start with a full straightaway before the first turn, and finish with a full straightaway as well.
Of course, the same logic would lead to running a 500, a 700, a 900, etc, and we don't do that.
The story I have heard is that we used to do the 600 yard run indoors because on a standard 160 yard track, it was three and three quarter laps, so you could start and finish with a straightaway. The 1000 yard run was the same--6 full laps plus a straightaway.
All this is pretty silly, but silliest of all is American high schools running 1600 and 3200 meters.
how is the 1600 and 3200 silly? we have the 100, the 200, 400 800 so why not 1600 and 3200? with 1600, the math is easier when it comes to split times.
we should replace the 1500 to the 1600 and change the definition of a mile to 1600 meters
SIMPLE LIFE.
You talk as any non-track person cannot figure out the 1500 and time.
In my school most kids have no idea how long a mile is and when you talk times with them they are even less in tune with what a good time is.
I would prefer the 1500 in high school
As for the 3200/two mile... why not run the 2800??? I know two red heads from Jersey that are pretty good at that event!
Please name one athletic event other than the mile that all of us have to participate in growing up. If you want track to have more appeal, give people an event they can relate to.
If they can't relate then they don't care anyway. Why are we trying so hard for a few people that have no interest in the sport? If we try to dumb it down for people who don't care, we will lose as many as we pick up.
Kurt Angle wrote:
Two Minute Thousand wrote:On a 400m track, 1500 can pretty nicely laid out. You can start with a full straightaway before the first turn, and finish with a full straightaway as well.
Of course, the same logic would lead to running a 500, a 700, a 900, etc, and we don't do that.
The story I have heard is that we used to do the 600 yard run indoors because on a standard 160 yard track, it was three and three quarter laps, so you could start and finish with a straightaway. The 1000 yard run was the same--6 full laps plus a straightaway.
All this is pretty silly, but silliest of all is American high schools running 1600 and 3200 meters.
how is the 1600 and 3200 silly? we have the 100, the 200, 400 800 so why not 1600 and 3200? with 1600, the math is easier when it comes to split times.
we should replace the 1500 to the 1600 and change the definition of a mile to 1600 meters
SIMPLE LIFE.
I might agree with you if we were designing World track and field from the beginning. But the US HS change to 1600/3200 was a weird response to a metric world--we began measuring our distances in meters, but adopted distances that nobody in the World ran. So our high schoolers couldn't compare their times to people who ran before them, and they couldn't compare them to the rest of the world. It wouldn't have bothered me at all if we kept on running 440/880/mile/2mile. It wouldn't have bothered me if we switched to 400/800/1500/3000. But 1600/3200?
toro wrote:
Why do you hate the 1500?
Greatest post of all time
I personally would have voted for it but running the 1500m allows collegiates to run times compare times with the worlds best. They also keep it for the foreign people that don't know what a mile is.
milermikey wrote:
Every time someone excitedly asks me about my fastest mile, I slowly watch that excitement drain from their face as I try to explain..."well, technically... I've only run 4:11, but I've run 3:50 in the 1500 (his first yawn), that's what they run internationally (his second yawn) so that’s what we run here too. (third yawn, eyes closed) The conversion is somewhere between 16 and 18 seconds depending on...(mouth open, head back, audible snoring)...[pause, he stops my explanation]..."Hey man, I gotta go feed my dead goldfish."
Same question, I answer: 4:07 high, 4:08 low. “Wow! That’s fast! Have you thought about trying to break four? How do you train for that? What’s the world record? Are you close?....(as they ask questions and I answer them, in my head I’m thinking, I’m actually pretty slow. Well, maybe better than average for an unsponsored 34 year old, but 7 seconds, that’s like from here to that tree- ... wow, that’s only from here to that tree. spread that out over 4 laps and 9 meters, if I could just get to 2:58 all aerobic- oh crap, is rent due this week? We need groceries. Do I run or take that job tomorrow?...)
While I support keeping the 1500 as the championship event, I completely understand this post.
This was my event and I get asked my mile time.
The answer is:
4:04, indoors.
But the 1500 is the major event outdoors.
I ran 3:42.1 which is equivalent to 3:59.9 for the mile (using the 1.08 conversion).
So basically 4 flat, but not officially.
I am pretty sure I would have been an official sub 4 miler if they ran the mile at USATF.
But I still think the NCAA and USATF should stick with the Olympic distance.
.............................. wrote:
Track isn't football or basketball anymore. It isn't popular, and we should stop worrying about what a group of older or uncaring people will understand. It didn't become unpopular because of the metric system or the 1500.
You can't get a qualifying time from a mile if you are an international athlete competing in the ncaa.
I agree the switch to the metric didn't make track unpopular and i'm not saying that switch back will make it suddently popular. But it won't hurt and the mile is much different than everything else.
When people run road races, they don't get 1k splits or 1500 splits. They get mile splits.
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