Are we elitist snobs looking down condescendingly upon those not as "hardcore", as gifted, as focused as ourselves. Those who battle with their weight and lose, those who are just slow...????
OR
Are we practitioners of, and therefore defenders of, the virtes of discipline, focus, and high standards? Pursuing perfection at, perhaps, an unknown cost?
Is there a middle ground?
Apply this to coaching less talented runners. Is it too much to ask them to have the same discipline and committment to running as an all-american?
Demanding them to run high mileage and morning runs, eat healthy and keep weight down, not party every single weekend, put in solid training in the off-season.
The thing is for those with less talent the importance of all these aspects are magnified in relation to their competitiveness. But for many the best goal they may ever reach is scoring points in their conference meet.
Should coaches be easier on those who don't enjoy the immediate success and thrill of being a top dog?
I don't think so. If they don't want to be the best they can than they shouldn't be wasting their time and find something else to do.
When they are on their own and not for a team or school they can decide how much committment they want to put in it and then thats fine.
rxusa wrote:
Are we elitist snobs looking down condescendingly upon those not as "hardcore", as gifted, as focused as ourselves. Those who battle with their weight and lose, those who are just slow...????
OR
Are we practitioners of, and therefore defenders of, the virtes of discipline, focus, and high standards? Pursuing perfection at, perhaps, an unknown cost?
Is there a middle ground?
There?s no middle ground, because the two are not mutually exclusive extremes. We are the second. We don?t have to be the first at all. Many are not.
Let's not forget that most of us got into this sport because we discovered at a very early age that we were better at distance running than all of our peers.
For any of us who have discipline, focus, and high standards, they were developed AFTER the recognition of some talent (I could have better discipline, focus, and high standards). It is rare that someone stunk it up initially and then through the application of the aforementioned things, became stellar.
It is all relative. Scott Fry talks about being only a 5:04 1600 runner and 10:45 3200 runner as a freshman in high school and that he improved greatly from there. While those aren't stellar times, they are hardly horrible either. Most of the guys on my HS track team had 3200 times of 11:30 or so even as seniors (we had a lot of distance runners). I remember when one senior who had stuck it out for 4 years ran a 5:55 1600 in his last meet to break 6:00 for the first time, and he was ecstatic. Some posters here would think he was a loser. He did the same kinds of workouts that I did (not as fast though). He ran the same amount of mileage. He just didn't have the talent to go faster.
So, I don't think we are either. That guy from my high school team (Doug) put in all the work, got no recognition from anyone at school except for a couple of us on the team who were rooting for him to finally run a sub 6:00 1600. He did it to be in shape and to be a member of the team. He worked as hard or harder than I did and yet his name was never engraved on a trophy, he never was named to an all-league team, he didn't earn a varsity letter and was always listed as "participant" at the end of the year awards banquet. To me, he deserves more recognition than anyone blessed with a little bit of talent.
Bring out the violins and the cellos please?
If you happen to be an elite runner or perhaps a star musician, a doctor or the ceo of a multinational corporation then to have a need to draw a distinction between yourself and others or a need to defend the "virtues of discipline, focus and high standards" most likely you would be percieved by others as an elitist snob.
Grace can not be hoarded or posessed. It just is. It gives life meaning to those who experience it firsthand or for those who witness it through others. To attribute grace on yourself and not the action automatically destroys it.
The truely elite respect the effort of those less talented. I wish I had the heart of some back of the packers. If I could have taken that heart and the desire to prove to myself the importance of the effort what could I have really accomplished. They make me feel ashamed for some of my post race behaviors for only running 2:52 after a 1:11 first half. My mother who recently passed waded into a fountain to get my finishers medal and framed it. Little did I know it would be the only marathon race she watched. Talent is a gift be thankful and be happy to be humble.
This is a stupid thread.
Obviously any intelligent discussion is lost on you. Just go back to the Hottest runner girl thread.