Mike Cassidy Meb Article:Share Your Appreciation Here

Les Myles wrote:

I enjoyed at article, too. I do, however take exception to the author characterizing Meb as 'arguably the greatest American marathoner ever.'

Meb is great and nothing should diminish his great and honorable career. But without question, Frank Shorter is the greatest American marathoner ever. Olympic gold and silver (beaten by a drug cheat) along with three world #1 rankings.

Shorter may also be the most influential as well. His Munich victory is considered by many to be the start of the running boom in the United Stated.

shorter's marathon PR is 2:10:30. the greatest american marathoner ever should be able to break 2:10. the fact that his competition was sub-par doesn't make a 2:10+ guy better than much faster americans who have run against and beaten much better competition. take your "exception" elsewhere. it was a great read from start to finish.

Meb's Father and Mother should be immensely proud of their parentage. I am so impressed with Meb and all of his brothers and sisters. The American dream come true. Mike Cassidy hit a home run.

Who the "greatest American marathoner ever" is, is irrelevant in this discussion. Meb is a great marathoner by any definition, however what is more important is he is a great person who lives up to his convictions, faith, love for country and family. I was also extremely impressed with Mike Cassidy's insight on running being a "self-absorbed" pursuit by definition, but that the relationships we develop are truly most important. Great article and something we could hear more about in our self absorbed American culture! Meb stands in stark contrast to many other professional athletes who have bigger "names".

Nice job, guys wrote:

Honestly, it got me all choked up.

I hope it gets a lot of exposure. It's one of the best pieces on running that I remember reading.

Yeah, wasn't expecting to be straight up crying yesterday morning. Very inspirational and a great reminder that we all go through rough patches, no matter our fitness level.

Super impressed with Mike and Meb both.

Amazing article. Very nice to remember all that is good about running. Well written Mike. Congrats to you and Meb on your efforts that day. Inspiring!

I don't want to take anything away from Meb. He is a great runner, and from what I've read, an even greater person.

However, he is not America's greatest marathoner. To suggest that Shorter should somehow be disqualified because he never broke 2:10 is ridiculous. Shorter's PR came when the world record was just 62 seconds faster. And Shorter beat that world record holder in Munich.

So much for Shorter running against inferior competition.

Greatness must be measured by how the athlete compared to his contemporaries. Steve Prefontaine doesn't even make the list of top 25 Americans. Would you suggest Pre is not one of America's greatest runners?

You may be too young to know this, but Shorter dominated the marathon in a way that only Bill Rodgers comes close to matching. Shorter won the two medals in the Olympics (the only American to ever do so). He won two Olympic Trials. He won the Fukuoka Marathon ( then considered the unofficial world championship) 4 years in a row. He ranked #1 in the world 3 times.

Meb is a great runner but he's not America's greatest. Shorter is and I bet Meb would agree.

weak article, Guy trying to put a positive spin on shitty performance

You, too, are wrong. Greatness is NOT measured by how the athlete is compared to his contemporaries in a sport like running where the clock is all that matters and one's contemporaries are inferior. Using your faulty logic, James Clark is the greatest marathoner of all time. His credentials? He dropped the marathon WR by 5:53 all the way down to a speedy 2:46 in 1909. Nobody before or since has ever dropped the marathon by that much. Shorter may have won more and bigger races than the runners today but he was running against vastly inferior competition and would be an also-ran today. Being the tallest midget in the room doesn't make one a giant.

Get over yourself and your Shorter fetish that has caused you to attempt to hijack the thread. The thread is about what a great article Cassidy wrote and what a fantastic runner and person Meb is.

You, too, are wrong. Greatness is NOT measured by how the athlete is compared to his contemporaries in a sport like running where the clock is all that matters and one's contemporaries are inferior. Using your faulty logic, James Clark is the greatest marathoner of all time. His credentials? He dropped the marathon WR by 5:53 all the way down to a speedy 2:46 in 1909. Nobody before or since has ever dropped the marathon by that much.

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James Clark would be the best according to your logic (clock).

Great article Mike!

This is the type of articulate expression of the sport that we read from the likes of a Kenny Moore. It does the sport good , the people in it , people on the fringes and those on the outside.

I think we go a step further and ask for this type of expression and quality of writing from our friends here at letsrun.com. No , not every piece or race report can meet Cassidy's script , but have him write that periodic piece that gets the smile back on faces of what once was or could be in the future….

made for a great read. well done.

Now that's the sport that I signed up for! Thank you Mike Cassidy. Thank you Meb.

Read this, Ryan Hall.

Awesome. I ran with Joanie at the Houston Half back in 2012. She was my idol (and still is) when I began running and she helped me to my goal time in Houston.

Les Myles wrote:

Frank Shorter is the greatest American marathoner ever. Olympic gold and silver (beaten by a drug cheat)

Careful buddy. Cierpinski never tested positive. There is also no proof he ever took any forbidden substances, only rumors spread by a certain German journalist claiming he saw his name in some kind of document.

Unless any new evidence comes out (and it may), Cierpinski must be considered as one of the two greatest Olympic Marathon runners. The other one being Bikila.

Randomly linked again on the front page. Still a great story...Meb is the man, and Mike Cassidy can write.

Les Myles wrote:

I enjoyed at article, too. I do, however take exception to the author characterizing Meb as 'arguably the greatest American marathoner ever.'

Meb is great and nothing should diminish his great and honorable career. But without question, Frank Shorter is the greatest American marathoner ever. Olympic gold and silver (beaten by a drug cheat) along with three world #1 rankings.

Shorter may also be the most influential as well. His Munich victory is considered by many to be the start of the running boom in the United Stated.

Ben L Wrong wrote:

Read this, Ryan Hall.

nognognog wrote:

Meb is not a real American. Stop pretending like he is. You white guilt filled fan boy!

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB-UMP!!!!!!

As inspiring as this was to us, this action must have inspired Meb to not give up at all. What a time to drop a major win.

Bump.

As NYC will be Meb's last race, I thought this would be good for anyone who hasn't seen this to read through. Original story link:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2012/11/long-run-pain-a-staten-islanders-view-on-why-the-marathon-should-not-have-been-cancelled/

Final Race wrote:

Bump.

As NYC will be Meb's last race, I thought this would be good for anyone who hasn't seen this to read through. Original story link/

Whoops, that was the wrong link! Here's the right one.