Sara Hall blogs about her marathon debut

It also appears that her coaching has her confident in spite of a bad day. She'll bounce back and has already learned from it. She knows she's fit and does the work. A bad day happens. I'd bet on her to succeed.

bootsie wrote:

I actually have more respect for Sara after reading that. I had a particularly bad Boston Marathon back in the 90s and came very close to dropping out due to the hurt pride that would come with a time so far behind my goal, but I gutted it out and in hindsight, realize I made the right call. She showed character and guts by finishing, even if it was a poor performance, and it polarizes her completely from her husband who is clearly so absorbed with his pride that it has dissolved whatever guts he had back in the late 00s. He seems to have become a delusional quitter, whereas she seems to have gotten stronger over the years. It will be interesting to see how Ryan deals with it if she makes the '16 team and he doesn't.

Sara seems pretty awesome at this point. Your comment the polarization between Ryan and Sara seems spot on. Sara was asking Ryan for marathon advice going into LA, maybe next time Ryan will be asking Sara for advice.

It was warm and hilly. Cut her slack. Anyone on here had a bad marathon day? It's like summit day on Everest--a lot of variables, some of which are beyond control. She's tenacious and has a nice stride.

I found sara hall's blog post enlightening. Pretty honest about some pretty tricky psychological stuff - should I finish this and leave a terrible time on my resume? Will I be running as fast as my mom at mile 24? I have run faster than this in my training runs...

We associate top runners with their success that is usually beyond us. Once the success goes, we rarely hear much, or want to hear much. We're like, "oh, I could've run that! now you're like me, not so special. Haha! Now I'll treat you like I and some others treat my own talents!"

to summarize the criticism on the boards.

1. grammar (it's her blog, lots of people with lots of intelligence spell things incorrectly; she's not necessarily proof-reading or having an editor, shut up)

2. should be worried about feeding her family and her lack of success as a pro (not everyone needs to be worried about feeding their family at all times. it's ok to reflect on life while not in a state of hunger-induced urgency. you're suffering from anxiety-related envy. plus, hall is a successful, versatile pro who doesn't need to worry at every moment about her contract)

3. sara should be teaching her good-for-nothing husband how to finish races (2:04:58, 2:06:17, 2:09:02, 59:43, do your research, shut up)

4. should have prepared for heat and hills more specifically. (yep, I think this is the best point.)

5. sara hall is hot. (thank you again for your contributions, and for lrc for their board-policing policies)

6. their christian religion is to blame for all perceived problems (actually, this was one of the best blog posts i've read by a pro marathoner, and it seems the post was inspired by, rather than made poorer by, a sort of commitment to praying and reading the bible. Maybe try a little nuance?)

When you completely bonk and are reduced to just finishing, the time does not matter. Sometimes your first thon can go really bad and is no indication of your capability.

TrackCoach wrote:

When you completely bonk and are reduced to just finishing, the time does not matter. Sometimes your first thon can go really bad and is no indication of your capability.

Agreed, you go out a couple minutes fast and you end up running 10+ minutes slow. There's no need to analyze dumb equivalencies with marathons.

could be an indication of ability (or lack thereof) to properly prepare for the distance tho. whether it be specific training, nutrition, or both.

She doesn't seem to have made the connection between the downhills and her sore quads?

I try (try...) never to disparage anyone's religious beliefs to their faces, but in print it's different... When I read "I felt God encouraging me to keep going" I winced. "I felt God encouraging me to resist that second dessert." "I think God told me I should pick up some extra cash for the weekend." "God suggested I write a thank-you note to my grandmother." "God reminded me to pick up my wife's dry cleaning." Seriously. Doesn't "God" have better things to do? A "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" can be a wonderful thing, I suppose, but I find it seriously trivializing when you imagine "God" encouraging specific actions in a frickin' road race. After all, what would Brian Boitano do? (I'll shut up now because I know I should.)

a skeptical agnostic wrote:

I try (try...) never to disparage anyone's religious beliefs to their faces, but in print it's different... When I read "I felt God encouraging me to keep going" I winced. "I felt God encouraging me to resist that second dessert." "I think God told me I should pick up some extra cash for the weekend." "God suggested I write a thank-you note to my grandmother." "God reminded me to pick up my wife's dry cleaning." Seriously. Doesn't "God" have better things to do? A "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" can be a wonderful thing, I suppose, but I find it seriously trivializing when you imagine "God" encouraging specific actions in a frickin' road race. After all, what would Brian Boitano do? (I'll shut up now because I know I should.)

Yet you kept on reading, Sara can think for herself , with her own convictions,

but your mind was unable to make a choice to close the browser after the "multiple wincings" that the blog gave you? Just because you think about Brian Boitano , doesn't mean she has to.

That was the only winceable moment for me. I'm usually unwinceable.

a skeptical agnostic wrote:

I try (try...) never to disparage anyone's religious beliefs to their faces, but in print it's different... When I read "I felt God encouraging me to keep going" I winced. "I felt God encouraging me to resist that second dessert." "I think God told me I should pick up some extra cash for the weekend." "God suggested I write a thank-you note to my grandmother." "God reminded me to pick up my wife's dry cleaning." Seriously. Doesn't "God" have better things to do? A "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" can be a wonderful thing, I suppose, but I find it seriously trivializing when you imagine "God" encouraging specific actions in a frickin' road race. After all, what would Brian Boitano do? (I'll shut up now because I know I should.)

Aye mate, take a chill pill. She is an outspoken Christian, big whoop.

a skeptical agnostic wrote:

A "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" can be a wonderful thing, I suppose, but I find it seriously trivializing when you imagine "God" encouraging specific actions in a frickin' road race.

^ And that is why you are a skeptical agnostic. If God exists, then the being that is God (however that is) is omniscient, infinite and eternal. If God exists, then He has to be (it is not optional) at every specific action, at every moment, at every place in the cosmos. If He wasn't, then why would we want to believe in such a thing?

a skeptical agnostic wrote:

I try (try...) never to disparage anyone's religious beliefs to their faces, but in print it's different... When I read "I felt God encouraging me to keep going" I winced. "I felt God encouraging me to resist that second dessert." "I think God told me I should pick up some extra cash for the weekend." "God suggested I write a thank-you note to my grandmother." "God reminded me to pick up my wife's dry cleaning." Seriously. Doesn't "God" have better things to do? A "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" can be a wonderful thing, I suppose, but I find it seriously trivializing when you imagine "God" encouraging specific actions in a frickin' road race. After all, what would Brian Boitano do? (I'll shut up now because I know I should.)

How are your beliefs any different from someone's religious beliefs? You believe that God has better things to do, they believe God doesn't. So what? We all need to believe something, that's what we all have in common. No matter where we are, who we are, what we are doing, even the most common bum in the streets believes something. They might believe that they won't live to tomorrow but it's something at least. Anything that's positive makes you stronger. So how is her belief negative then? Hey, if something higher power is going to make you win then you really beleive it. And if you beleive it you make it happen, right? You have to back the power of your beliefs with actions, otherwise it might not mean anything.

14-flat wrote:

Her wiki page says she has run 52:54 for 10 miles, she should be able to run 2:35 in average conditions on an average course (which this is). She also ran 32:14 on the road just last Fall and a 1:10:50 half-mar just 2 months ago.

Faster I would think. Those times are pretty close to my pr's and I ran a 2:27.

Hazycosmicjive wrote:

14-flat wrote:

Her wiki page says she has run 52:54 for 10 miles, she should be able to run 2:35 in average conditions on an average course (which this is). She also ran 32:14 on the road just last Fall and a 1:10:50 half-mar just 2 months ago.

Faster I would think. Those times are pretty close to my pr's and I ran a 2:27.

Are you a guy?