Had me until
having no religious affiliation or true faith in anything,
Had me until
having no religious affiliation or true faith in anything,
An All-Dyestat top 5 of the best five 5k runners from the old Dyestat boards would be pretty impressive.
Chris Derrick
German Fernandez
AJ Acosta
Steve Finley
Clay Mayes
I'm sure there are others unnamed who used to post on Dyestat who were faster than 14:18. Still, a 14:18 for your number 5 guy is pretty good. By going from team Dyestat to OSU, did Mayes actually take a step down in team depth?!
Nice guys don't win. End of thread.
Isn't blogging just about the world's most narcissistic choice, Clay?
The Animal Within wrote:
I ran on the Farm Team back in the day. I found the "A" runners to generally be kind an welcoming (along with being self absorbed, but you have to be a little putting in that kind of work). However the "B" runners were generally rude a-holes who were fighting for table scraps. Fairly nice on an individual level as soon as you got a few together the pack mentality set in and every insecurity and self-absorbed behavior came to the surface.
Great post, Animal. You could just as well be talking about the LetsRun forum.
Shawn H wrote:
The Animal Within wrote:I ran on the Farm Team back in the day. I found the "A" runners to generally be kind an welcoming (along with being self absorbed, but you have to be a little putting in that kind of work). However the "B" runners were generally rude a-holes who were fighting for table scraps. Fairly nice on an individual level as soon as you got a few together the pack mentality set in and every insecurity and self-absorbed behavior came to the surface.
Great post, Animal. You could just as well be talking about the LetsRun forum.
Of which you are a textbook member.
If by "textbook" you mean a 52-year-old semi-talented former high school and college "also-ran" with a lot of good and bad competitive memories, who now runs for the pure love of the sport, you got me. But I think "textbook" would be more appropriate in referring to the typically rude know-it-alls and big talkers who don't know much and haven't yet figured it all out yet.
I feel like his piece is directly at guys like AJ Acosta.
Dude is always making back handed comments on TrackTalk about not being sponsored. How he is entitled to one.
My gosh, how did this piece make the quote of the day? And especially THAT excerpt? As I said already, "9/10" having no religious affiliation? Totally untrue. I'm INTENSELY disappointed the brojos made it their quote of the day. What this stupid blogger says is not only untrue, but the OPPOSITE is VERY true and nobody is talking about what needs to be talked about and the criticism that needs to happen.
One example, but certainly there's countless more:
runners constantly spouting their Christian affiliation and Jesus b-llshit while, in reality, having zero social justice consciousness, willingly ignorant and blind to iniquity all around them and daily endorsing and participating in corrupt wayward institutions, and, overall, being selfish and greedy. Abominable. Although most of the population does this, not just runners.
Runners are no more narcissistic than the general population. If you think otherwise, you're completely blind to countless injustices and problems with our institutions in America today.
Grrr
Shawn H wrote:
If by "textbook" you mean a 52-year-old semi-talented former high school and college "also-ran" with a lot of good and bad competitive memories, who now runs for the pure love of the sport, you got me. But I think "textbook" would be more appropriate in referring to the typically rude know-it-alls and big talkers who don't know much and haven't yet figured it all out yet.
Unfortunately the phrase "you can't beat them if you don't join them" is most apropos for letsrun.
found most elites to be bright, personable, and able to think of things outside themselves...ie community etc.
go to any other major sport and its not even close
I believe that a runners, in this case an elite runner, will inherently be more community minded bc 1) you wont make any money at it 2)you share the roads with everyone else.
Neither LeBron nor Messi share a field with the regulars
Bonkers wrote:
3. He strikes me as a guy who was pretty good in high school, but went to college and discovered he wasn't God's gift to running, and he still has some lingering disappointment. Now, because he can't be elite himself, he's criticizing the elite lifestyle and talking about how he's a better person than them because he has broader interests.
Isn't that basically all of LetsRun?
there are kernels of truth wrote:
For the vast, vast majority (and I include myself, a 4:08 high school miler), competing in track and cross country at the college level or beyond makes little sense. While I was privileged to have a track scholarship, and certainly put in the effort, competing at the Division 1 level made no sense given my academic goals. Yes, I was able to finally achieve the academic goals, but college athletics added 4 or 5 years to my adolescence, and it caused me to start later pursuing activities which made sense for the remainder of my life. My perspective may be skewed - I was a very good student - but then again, there any number of very good students who post here with the same kind of skills.
I look at the top 10 from high school class. All except me are involved with teaching, coaching (or a close variant thereof). I think that is fine so long as they are happy (and I believe they are). And everyone should not aim for, or desire, a big money, high prestige career. But in retrospect I really wish that running remained just a high school activity for me. Again, it would have been the right choice.
I don't think those striving to be elite
are by and large narcissists. They are single minded, well, because you have to be. I do think that if those pursuits mean living off your parents, well, ugh. I was on my own since age 18 and did not have any such option, but just the thought of it makes me recoil. Heck, if running is a means to express yourself, fine - but there is no better way to express yourself than by becoming an independent adult, as soon as possible.
You think that maybe your scholarship allowed you to achieve your academic pursuits? Seems to me you had an obligation to your university, coach and team. I'm thinking you must have struggled in D1 competition.
I just read the kid's whole blog post. The kid's a loser. Bitter at the running world he awkwardly obsessed over:
"and the top Masters women were like second moms to me. Everything they said, I absorbed. Every bit of advice they told me, I wrote down in a notebook."
The quote above is just weird. Those ladies always freaked me out. Something was wrong with this kid to be that into it.
Want to see what this kid has going for him now that is so great. I hope that he at least parties like a rockstar now, but based on all the God talk, I'm guessing he doesn't.
Anyone defending this guy should take a quick peak at his twitter feed.
This is all a thinly veiled attack on runners who don't talk about God in every interview they do.
I think it's better to point out that the true theme of that "open letter" has a broader meaning that isn't even really running related, yet the author is still to narcissistic in his own beliefs to even see it.
Most people complain about their unimportant jobs and their lack of compensation for the work they put in. That mentality isn't singled out to striving elite runners. The problem with your post is it's pretentious nature. The real theme should be, "hey, to each their own, but being elite isn't for me."
I look at at an industry that makes in the billions of dollars per year and am appalled that elite runners make what they do. I'm kind of surprised that anyone who hasn't threatened a world record or won a national title by the end of college even continues on the quest, as being a professional anything is usually worth more than a professional shoe contract.
So they complain about not having enough money, that's been a camaraderie issue with professional distance runners since forever. Since Harold Abrams, Bill Mills, Steven Prefontaine, etc... it's almost accepted as a right of passage to be elite that you're a poor struggling athlete, except lately, when you see how massive the pie is and you're left out for no other reason that you're owned by the people who make the rules... I don't think the deserve criticism for that. I think the shoe companies do.
The point being, if you want to take your life in a direction that gives you personal meaning, or follow a cause that provides you with the satisfaction that eases your soul, go for it, but don't judge others on shooting for the same dream, even though the means to their ends don't align with your own.
Wisdom is different than knowledge... when you grow up, hopefully you'll understand that difference and recognize you lacked one of those when you wrote that letter.
The Biw wrote:
WEJO can we get an ipaddress check for 4-5 of the last 6 posts?
They're oddly eerily similar, 4 of which posts came within a short time frame.
I'm also worried for the last poster, as his grammar is atrocious and astoundingly bad. Where are Letsrun English majors at?
They are working at Starbucks and are too busy to respond...
2 things:
First: I'm not sure this dude understands how interviews work. When elite runners are interviewed they talk about themselves because they're being ASKED to talk about themselves.
Second: Kinda ironic that this guy is criticizing others for being narcissistic, when he can't go an hour without tweeting or blogging. Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
The Biw wrote:
WEJO can we get an ipaddress check for 4-5 of the last 6 posts?
They're oddly eerily similar, 4 of which posts came within a short time frame.
I'm also worried for the last poster, as his grammar is atrocious and astoundingly bad. Where are Letsrun English majors at?
WEJO can we get an ipaddress check for The Biw? He seems to have a very large ego and needs it deflated.
Ryan Hall created a hospital in Kenya,
http://www.simpleregistry.com/worldcompassion/and Clay included a link to help fund orphans in Burma. He also coaches high school kids for free.
Perhaps I missed it, but tell me, sir, what have you done besides share your colorful taste in vulgar words with the internet population?