An Amateur Calls out Elite runners

rojo wrote:

I enjoyed the read. Didn't seem very disgruntled, probably just opened the eyes of many.

I enjoyed it as well. It's always good to thik

A few thoughts.

1) When you are focused on the sport and at a very high level, the thought of other stuff being more important is hard to comprehend as it takes a near-singular focus to be great. I remember when i was training a lot after college a fellow runner friend of mine said training was "narcissistic". I couldn't believe she was saying we were self-asorbed.

Some people here are likely upset to hear that for the first time.

I'm guessing you think this post had some kind of interesting take on the nature of narcissism and how it relates to the kind of intensity necessary to compete at the highest levels. I'm also guessing that's why you picked it as the quote of the day. (At least I hope so.) But you are completely misreading the piece. When this guy says someone is "narcissistic" he means they talk about themselves and don't credit God in their interviews. That is not an interesting or even unique take on the sport.

Greentexter wrote:

stopped reading when he started talking about runners' lack of God.

If anything shows that the Elites are smarter than a lot of people if this were true- But actually I think elites are *more* likely to believe in God so... Don't see his point

I think it is disappointing that this was the quote of the day. From what I can tell, Clay talks out of both sides of his mouth by criticizing elites and then wanting people to know how much he knows about them and that he's talked to some. This is the same guy that put on Twitter that "Even a pro runner I know, told me he witnessed Rupp inject adrenalin before Olympic" and "Ask Solinsky... Or ask what Teg saw before the Olympic 10000m"

He wants to have it both ways by throwing out baseless info to seem he's connected to elites and then criticize them. I'm not sure why LetsRun gave this guy the time of day with a QOD.

DARKHORSE1 wrote:

WILL HE COME ON LRC AND SHOUT AT US IN ALL CAPS?? JUST WONDERING.

I wish the old Dyestat boards were archived. Plenty of his material spewed over the playground.

Clay ran at OSU and then OU. I imagine most of the runners he's talking about were big recruits who thought they were amazing, didn't train particularly hard in college but were all-american etc, then are complaining about not getting sponsored. It makes me glad I left OK for college. I was shocked to find out that most of the OSU and OU athletes had never run super high mileage and jogged on their easy days. I have so much more respect for runners that push to their max in training and don't rely on talent

Yeahhhhh wrote:

Greentexter wrote:

stopped reading when he started talking about runners' lack of God.

If anything shows that the Elites are smarter than a lot of people if this were true- But actually I think elites are *more* likely to believe in God so... Don't see his point

+1

That was painful. It reads like a teenager’s diary. It’s dramatic and judgmental and filled with cringe-worthy introspection, wild generalizations, and half-baked conclusions.

The whole argument is built on a completely idiotic premise—that elite runners have a responsibility to be selfless. It would be easier to wrap my head around it if he’d just said, “everyone, in every profession, has a responsibility to give back.” But by singling out runners, who are by no means a wealthy, financially stable demographic, he’s outing himself as being on a personal crusade to attack that specific population.

What’s his motivation? Well, it sounds like he spent a huge portion of his youth trying to achieve “greatness” and failed, and the only way he can handle that failure and everything it represents is to condemn those who have achieved it. The kid has regrets, and this is his poorly constructed and poorly argued manifesto. I imagine a jealous kid who can’t get a friend’s toy saying, “I don’t want that stupid toy anyway; people who have that toy are dumb.”

Unfortunately, people with this type of delusional, holier-than-thou attitude tend to be incapable of entertaining ideas that are at odds with their preconceptions. He's got beef with whiners and narcissists? I'm surprised he hasn't been crushed by the weight of the irony.

Greentexter wrote:

stopped reading when he started talking about runners' lack of God.

me too

Well put. I would like to add that the poor quality of his writing is distracting. It illustrates why kids should be taught at the earliest age possible that if you ever, later in life, want to write a blog post insulting a sizeable group of people, at least make sure it's well-written. Otherwise, you don't just come across as a dick; you come across as a dick AND a douche-bag.

Of course, speaking of badly written prose, it doesn't surprise me that Rojo called it a good, interesting piece of writing. It probably reads like James Joyce to Rojo.

Shut up about god, elites don't whine about not getting paid enough. They just point out that they bust their as'ses just as much as NFL players and make 1/20 as much money. This Clay Mayes guy is 1 accusing people of being jerks for not being religious 2 pretty much saying that hobbyjoggers deserve just as much attention, should get to act as self-important, and are better people than elites 3 expressing his jealousy of elites and making an excuse about them being so called as'sholes so that he can complain about not being as talented as them 4 saying that running should be an all-inclusive non-competitive hobby activity where the people who are competitive and want to win should be shunned from the sport and looked down upon 5 saying that elites are jerks for being better at running than douches like him 6 saying that everybody who's successful has a responsibility to help the weak people in life as opposed to looking out for themselves and helping other people with potential like them 7 saying that as a pro trackie/thoner you can be more financially stable by giving the prize money that you win at races to the charity that you founded

Greentexter wrote:

stopped reading when he started talking about runners' lack of God.

same here...yeah that's how you know who the real narcissist is!

dever

yeah

saw a picture of Bill Rodgers in his 60's duking it out up a hill with a bunch of fit local 36 min 10kers,

that's why he won in his day ...he would have run hard even if he was a 36 10ker

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?

nark , grammer guy ...

elites ?

has hall ever won an open race

I have a feeling Clay's article cut a few people a little more personal, to which, their egos could handle. I ran with Clay in college, and at first he came off brash, arrogant, and just awkward in his time at OU/OSU (I'd like to keep my identity to myself, it's what us letsrun'ers do best). However, towards the end of Clay's time on the team. You could already see the hamster wheel start to spin in his head. He changed. He went from not being able to make eye contact, to confident in his approach. He went from the awkward guy no one respected, to the underclassman seeking him for running, personal, and all kinds of advice. He went from keeping to himself and withdrawn from the world, to meeting with his runners 2-3 times a week, working with an unheard amount of runners. FYI, and as another poster noted, Clay really does have an ability to motivate runners. It's just the substance in his words that connect with people. Obviously, he's learned to do that with his simple blog post now. One thing to note about him, as many times as everyone's wrote him off with his running, he'll find a way to have a positive presence in the sport. Might as well get use to it. I friendly side note, you all are looking way too much into the christian subtlety in the article. That's one of the smaller points, his intended purpose is get the Elites to give back more. The focus group to attract popularity is in the sport of running is much different from Football and Basketball. You people need to get real with that. He points out why some elites are successful. Truth be told it does hold some truth to why they are.

turkey trot winner

This kid is a F**K, what an annoying little turd. I am boycotting letsrun for 24 hrs until they take down that stupid F**** quote. Dear god this kid is a deuschbag. Stuck up little brat, you think believing in the "LORD" makes you better than everyone else? Delusional little B@$tard

Alcatrez is real wrote:

I have a feeling Clay's article cut a few people a little more personal, to which, their egos could handle...

That is one of the most poorly-constructed sentences I've read in a while. The rest of your post is also filled with glaring errors. What's up with OK/OK State students being unable to write coherently? And please don't say anything about "grammar police" this or that - it's really difficult to read that crap, and it makes it virtually impossible for your message to get across.

"The focus group to attract popularity is in the sport of running is much different from Football and Basketball"

What the hell does that mean? Please, please learn to write properly! In all honesty, if teachers graded the way they are supposed to, you would never get a passing grade in freshman English with the kind of crap you are spewing.

Anyway, nobody cares how much Clay developed as a person while he was your teammate. He's clearly still got issues. You might be tempted to say something about how many posts this thread received, and using that as evidence that his message "resonated" with a lot of people. Bullsh**. Narcissism among elite runners is a non-issue. Some of them are a-holes, and most aren't. Big deal. People are just enjoying criticizing his diatribe because it is so stupid and easy to pick apart.