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    • Bryan
      • Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun - In fact, it's his favorite website 8/5/2013 10:02PM
      • Bryan
      • The September 2013 issue of Runner's World has a really good Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell, who turns out to have been quite a solid young runner, and is very thoughtful about our sport.

        The money quote, though, pops up on pg. 79, where he says, "Because I'm such a running junkie, I was on letsrun.com, my favorite Web site, watching video of Mo Farah in Kenya."

        [hi Malcolm]
    • daedalus
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 9:24PM - in reply to
      • daedalus
      • Malcom Gladwell is on my top 5 list of people to have in the car on a XC road trip. MG has a very penetrating intellect. Much more balanced and approachable than someone like Steven Pinker (another Canadian).
        Surprised McGill, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn or Princeton
        hasn't scooped him up. Seems destined to teach.
    • nwkfnweoragfn
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 9:41PM - in reply to daedalus
      • nwkfnweoragfn
      • Gladwell is a legend. He did a piece about the Olympic Trials/Games 5,000 for the New Yorker last summer. Excellent writer and glad to see somebody like him is such a fan of the sport.
    • My nose runs
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 9:51PM - in reply to Bryan
      • My nose runs
      • IDK. It's kind of embarrassing to think that an actual grown up, serious person like Malcolm Gladwell is reading some of the stuff that gets posted on here.
    • run with the wom
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 9:55PM - in reply to My nose runs
      • run with the wom
      • Hi Malcolm. Big fan. And I'm very sure that he has a good BS filter for the discussions on the World Famous Message Board.
    • Zimmerman
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 9:56PM - in reply to My nose runs
      • Zimmerman
      • Gladwell, if you are reading this, your 10,000 hours principle does not apply to Kenyans in the area of running.
    • rojo
      co-founder
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 10:08PM - in reply to Zimmerman
      • rojo
        co-founder
      • We've received a ton of compliments over the years but for some reason this may have been my favorite one.

        Zimmerman wrote:
        Gladwell, if you are reading this, your 10,000 hours principle does not apply to Kenyans in the area of running.
        As for the Kenyan point, the interesting thing about his Runnersworld Interview is he very much acknowledges the role of genetics. Gladwell himself was like an agegroup star in Canada and beat i think the eventual Canadian 1500 national record holder, but he says he knew he wasn't nearly as talented as that guy.

        Gladwell realizes now that he's a kid who is short and physically mature early and thus he thinks he just got close to his ceiling much sooner than others. I noticed that while coaching at Cornell. I recruited a few guys that were like 9th/10th grade phenomes but were really short and didn't progress as much as we would have liked. That makes sense, if you have a man's muscles pushing a tiny body, of course you are going to rock things relatively speaking in 9th grade.

        -Rojo
        PS. I updated the title of the thread to better reflect how Gladwell feels about letsrun.com.

        PPS. Maybe we'll do a Q&A with gladwell and epstein after we get back from Worlds. Maybe we should do a live Internet show pre-worlds where they give us their picks.
    • ecole
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 10:14PM - in reply to daedalus
      • ecole
      • daedalus wrote:
        Malcom Gladwell is on my top 5 list of people to have in the car on a XC road trip. MG has a very penetrating intellect. Much more balanced and approachable than someone like Steven Pinker (another Canadian).
        Surprised McGill, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn or Princeton
        hasn't scooped him up. Seems destined to teach.
        Pinker is an academic and Gladwell is a journalist. Gladwell's theories are often more interesting and more provocative (not too mention more affirming of our politically correct zeitgeist), but alas there is little or no data to buttress his claims. The groves of academe demand a rigorous analysis of which Gladwell seems unconcerned. Why do the hard work when you can make more money presenting facile theories to an audience all too eager to believe you?
    • geronnnnimoe
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 10:27PM - in reply to ecole
      • geronnnnimoe
      • ecole wrote:
        daedalus wrote:
        Malcom Gladwell is on my top 5 list of people to have in the car on a XC road trip. MG has a very penetrating intellect. Much more balanced and approachable than someone like Steven Pinker (another Canadian).
        Surprised McGill, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn or Princeton
        hasn't scooped him up. Seems destined to teach.
        Pinker is an academic and Gladwell is a journalist. Gladwell's theories are often more interesting and more provocative (not too mention more affirming of our politically correct zeitgeist), but alas there is little or no data to buttress his claims. The groves of academe demand a rigorous analysis of which Gladwell seems unconcerned. Why do the hard work when you can make more money presenting facile theories to an audience all too eager to believe you?
        Exactly. Gladwell writes for the masses who tend to be morons. Consequently, he would actually fit in here, and it makes sense that he loves this site.
    • djjdj
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 10:34PM - in reply to rojo
      • djjdj
      • rojo wrote:
        I recruited a few guys that were like 9th/10th grade phenomes but were really short and didn't progress as much as we would have liked. That makes sense, if you have a man's muscles pushing a tiny body, of course you are going to rock things relatively speaking in 9th grade.


        That makes sense??? How about the training you were giving them just wasn't what they needed? Or they weren't taking care of themselves sleep wise or nutritionally?

        And what is really short? Bekele and Geb are under 5ft 5 and seemed to have done well as both junior and senior level runners.
    • SMJO
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 10:59PM - in reply to daedalus
      • SMJO
      • After Gladwell logs on here for a total of 10000 hours he will automatically become a super troll like everyone else on here.
        His theory is totally sound.
    • Guppy
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/5/2013 11:22PM - in reply to My nose runs
      • Guppy
      • My nose runs wrote:
        IDK. It's kind of embarrassing to think that an actual grown up, serious person like Malcolm Gladwell is reading some of the stuff that gets posted on here.
        Kind of what I was thinking. I am laughing at the thought of MG reading, posting, and trolling here. Love his writing. I would be very interested in knowing some of his posts here.
    • sdr
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/6/2013 12:19AM - in reply to Guppy
      • sdr
      • Guppy wrote:
        My nose runs wrote:
        IDK. It's kind of embarrassing to think that an actual grown up, serious person like Malcolm Gladwell is reading some of the stuff that gets posted on here.
        Kind of what I was thinking. I am laughing at the thought of MG reading, posting, and trolling here. Love his writing. I would be very interested in knowing some of his posts here.
        Does Gladwell actually read the forum? Or does he only read the home page/news?
    • Peter Andersson
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/6/2013 12:27AM - in reply to SMJO
      • Peter Andersson
      • SMJO wrote:
        After Gladwell logs on here for a total of 10000 hours he will automatically become a super troll like everyone else on here.
        Also, his mother was born in Jamaica, so obviously his early developed writing skills all come from Yams and Doping. ;-)
    • National Assillyations
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/6/2013 1:33AM - in reply to My nose runs
      • National Assillyations
      • My nose runs wrote:
        IDK. It's kind of embarrassing to think that an actual grown up, serious person like Malcolm Gladwell is reading some of the stuff that gets posted on here.
        He probably spend very little time on the message boards, and follows the news and videos.

        The dude couldn't be as successful of an author as he is if he idled time away here.
    • National Assillyations
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/6/2013 1:37AM - in reply to ecole
      • National Assillyations
      • ecole wrote:
        daedalus wrote:
        Malcom Gladwell is on my top 5 list of people to have in the car on a XC road trip. MG has a very penetrating intellect. Much more balanced and approachable than someone like Steven Pinker (another Canadian).
        Surprised McGill, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Penn or Princeton
        hasn't scooped him up. Seems destined to teach.
        Pinker is an academic and Gladwell is a journalist. Gladwell's theories are often more interesting and more provocative (not too mention more affirming of our politically correct zeitgeist), but alas there is little or no data to buttress his claims. The groves of academe demand a rigorous analysis of which Gladwell seems unconcerned. Why do the hard work when you can make more money presenting facile theories to an audience all too eager to believe you?
        Anyone who uses the term "politically correct" is an idiot, whom, I'm betting cannot define the term nor pinpoint the origin of the term. It is nonsensical at this point. Just like saying, "meh." No one says "meh," in real life, but idiots. And no one uses the term "politically correct" in real life except idiots.
    • Down goes WaPo
      • RE: Malcolm Gladwell loves Letsrun 8/6/2013 7:28AM - in reply to webby
      • Down goes WaPo
      • webby wrote:
        Political Correctness is common decency objectionable to the right.
        Wrong, it was used and promoted by leftists in colleges in the late 70s.