Alan Webb 4:06.11 in last race

Asdfghjkkl wrote:

Video?

Here:

Alan was the greatest. Pre a good second.

What did Webb do to his head? I thought he had gotten a hair transplant years ago. Was he wearing a toupee instead?

A long, long, long, long time before someone matches his times over that range of distances. Shameful, the lack of a proper sendoff last night at Millrose. T & F fans are SO lame. That place should have been belting out his name after his last race until he came out for a curtain call. As a New Yorker I've now got to put up with 10 frigg'in months of Derek Jeter dominating all the sport's news while he receives a gold-plated Rolls Royce at every ballpark the Yanks play in. And we couldn't give Webb one standing 'O' ??? LAME We get exactly what we deserve in this sport as fans,... next to nothing.

I wish he'd had a more satisfying career, and that he'd had more of a head for racing, but if all he had done was break Ryun's record -- something I honestly thought no one would ever do -- he'd be long remembered. Add his AR mile and his range from 800m to 10k -- well, are there any of the LR posters who wouldn't do almost anything to have that kind of talent?

Alan, thanks for the memories and I hope you truly are at peace.

I'm glad he retired as a miler. His heart has always been at that distance so I think it's better he tried to do what he could in the mile until he was done instead of trying a marathon.

He would have had a proper send-off at Hayward.

buddy puddy wrote:

Rupp will never run 3:46. You gotta have 1:45 800 speed for that. It would severely damage the sport if he ever ran 3:46. A very bizarre chapter in our sport's history, to say the least. Especially if he did a workout afterwards.

I know this was intended to be comical, but a good part of me thinks that this scenario could actually happen, down to a post-record workout. *shudder*

Sad thing is Nick Willis, who is only a few months younger than Webb and was at Michigan around the same time is still going strong. This is what happens when you are impatient like Webb was and mismanage your career.

4:06 book ends his career. His 4:06 as a sophomore at South Lakes was my introduction to the ex-age group swimmer and he goes out with a 4:06. Fitting enough bookends to an uneven but often brilliant career.

I think of it as a testament to how good he is that 4:06, a time that most of us will never even approach, is horrible for him.

He ran 13 seconds faster in high school.

spiderman98 wrote:

an uneven but often brilliant career.

And never boring. He has given more to the letsrun crowd than any other runner.

It had to have been either a toupe or medication (finasteride and minoxidil) I suspect that he was on finasteride and minoxidil, and his medication hampered his running performance. In a lot of Alan Webb's interviews he mentions his "condition" or he says " well, I guess you can call it my injury"; I believe he may have been referring to his hair loss as his condition/injury. Anyways, even though he running slower, he was not willing to give up the hair loss meds, I also suspect that he left college early because he was made fun of in college and might not have been getting laid because of his hair loss. He left college to run professionally where he thought his competitors would be more mature and ignore his hair loss. He wanted his hair/youthfulness more than his athletic ability, which I completely understand. He most likely stopped his medication when he was trying to have his child. Finasteride can potentially cause birth defects in male children. I think webb realized this and for the sake of his child he gave up finasteride. Fortunately, his wife gave birth to a girl so she will most likely grow up to be a fast normal baby. Anyways, Alan Webb will always have a special place in my heart since we are both bald runners. RIP Webb's running career

Webb looks like he may have progeria in those pictures.

MY CHEMICAL ROADRACE wrote:

Webb looks like he may have progeria in those pictures.

bahahaha lol hence the name "Alien Webb"

A healthy Wheating basically tied Webb's PRs.

Webb is in the back, baby!

1955 wrote:

I wish he'd had a more satisfying career, and that he'd had more of a head for racing, but if all he had done was break Ryun's record -- something I honestly thought no one would ever do -- he'd be long remembered. Add his AR mile and his range from 800m to 10k -- well, are there any of the LR posters who wouldn't do almost anything to have that kind of talent?

Alan, thanks for the memories and I hope you truly are at peace.

I would do very little for that talent. Look what it did to Alan Webb.