New Rule: Ducks, if you're going to quote Pre . . . .

New Rule for D-Bags who pay $7.00 to watch an early Oly year meet on the web:

You must be a good sport and not a whiny baby.

Ad you don't think that Becca Friday ran a gutsy 800 race? And you don't think that Cabrals's duel with Eaton in the 110 Highs was gutsy? And you don't think that Brianne Theisen's PR 200 meter race was gutsy? And you don't think that the 3K effort by those two Oregon Freshmen (8:06 and 8:11) was gutsy? You wasted your $7 because you don't understand Track very well do you?

What Say You wrote:

Ad you don't think that Becca Friday ran a gutsy 800 race? And you don't think that Cabrals's duel with Eaton in the 110 Highs was gutsy? And you don't think that Brianne Theisen's PR 200 meter race was gutsy? And you don't think that the 3K effort by those two Oregon Freshmen (8:06 and 8:11) was gutsy? You wasted your $7 because you don't understand Track very well do you?

A 110 Highs and a 200meter can never be gutsy, wake up and use your head. These are all out races. Nothing about guts.

Pre ran brutal races often going through the first mile in 4:10 or faster in the 6 mile cc.

You should complain about the $7. Which in fact was $8 I think. ($7.99 on O-zone?). Don't take it out on Duck fans quoting Pre. Its the freakin Oregon twilight meet. Its absurd. Individual Diamond League events to watch the world's best are cheaper at around $3-5.

What Say You wrote:

you don't think that Brianne Theisen's PR 200 meter race was gutsy?

Um, how was it? I really don't see how a 200 can be "gutsy."

I agree with the replies that we need to have reasonable expectations in May, but then again the rest of the world is actually putting down times, aren't they? And since the rest of the world consistently beats the US to a pulp in the distances, maybe all of this stuff your coach's dad sad about not running fast in May isn't really all that smart.

100% agreed with the OP that invoking Pre while running 10s off your 1500 PR is pretty laughable.

Why do so many people think Pre was the only one who took a race out hard. Nick Rose was way out in front of Pre at NCAA XC, but proved that going out hard is not the best strategy. Dave Bedford led from the front in many more races than Pre, but he didn't medal in the Olympics either.

Lame Ducky wrote:

Why do so many people think Pre was the only one who took a race out hard. Nick Rose was way out in front of Pre at NCAA XC, but proved that going out hard is not the best strategy. Dave Bedford led from the front in many more races than Pre, but he didn't medal in the Olympics either.

Proof that going out hard is only a winning strategy if you're a porn star.

Lame Ducky wrote:

Why do so many people think Pre was the only one who took a race out hard. Nick Rose was way out in front of Pre at NCAA XC, but proved that going out hard is not the best strategy.

That was the 1973 XC Championship in Spokane, WA to be exact. It took a while, but Pre ran Rose down somewhere around mile 5 and went on for the win.

Or conversely. Why do so many people think Pre took a race out hard from the start? He was before my time. But I know he won every 5000M event at Hayward field. You don't do that by simply running wild from beginning to end. Some races he obviously ran out front because he was simply on a level above everyone else, but I doubt it was a fast pace on a world elite level. His most famous races we see he was generally running in the pack and then made a strong surge from a long ways out. And that is because that is what his strengths and weaknesses dictate he should do.

Everybody needs to get it into their heads that Munich was the stupidest race Pre ever ran. People look at that race now and think that was normal for how he ran. It wasn't. It was sort of like Bruce Springsteen's first album. It was exciting and energetic but really not that good, even by his own standards of the day.

ryan foreman wrote:

Everybody needs to get it into their heads that Munich was the stupidest race Pre ever ran. People look at that race now and think that was normal for how he ran. It wasn't. It was sort of like Bruce Springsteen's first album. It was exciting and energetic but really not that good, even by his own standards of the day.

To lend a little perspective, he probably could have medaled if he had run a different race, but wouldn't have won. He was going for the win obviously, but was counting on Bedford to take it out hard which didn't happen. The pace was limping along, he knew he couldn't beat Viren over the last 600m, so he had to make a choice.