smd wrote:
Remember JennyB? wrote:That fall, she finished 163d at the NCAA XC championships. She never ran that poorly again, BUT she also didn't PB again until 2014. That's FIVE years. And for most of that time, she wasn't even close to her PB.
This is accurate but incomplete. During the stretch when she didn't PR Simpson won one gold and one silver at world championships.
Thanks. You are very right.
Would you agree that Simpson's success at the Worlds, and her failure at the Olympics, and her PRs in 2014, prove that:
1) PRs are only one component or measure of success. As you point out, Simpson's record a the World's shows that it's possible to succeed without PRing, and not PRing is not a sign of failure;
2) Even the best runners can have uneven careers -- Simpson's successes at the Worlds bookend a very disappointing Olympics, and her multiple PBs in 2014 came after five years of not coming close to a PR. .
3) It's easy for fans to develop unrealistic expectations for runners who have early success -- anyone who said that Simpson didn't succeed until 2014 is being silly.
4) And of course, a lot of it is luck -- you can't really talk about Simpson without talking about Morgan Uceny.