Breaking: Bekele says that the state of the art sub-2 Nike shoes gave him blisters and cost him - adidas guy wins!!

- Crazy Talk, Not tracking !

- You first indicate that KennyB's "not throwing Nike under the bus ..." then you proceed to blame Nike and/or Adidas for both the blister and outrageous claims

I was talking to a ex pro cricketer recently and he explained in the olden days cricket shoes were horrid and took weeks of blisters to break in, nowadays he claims that they all come broken in (from NB, ASICS, Puma, Adidas). So it looks to me that Nike overlooked this one area.

blisters are reasons, not excuses. If you get a blood blister during a marathon, it will probably be painful long before the finish. If you wear the wrong socks or wear shoes that are not broken in, it is obviously your fault. But then you can barely walk for days after the race, let me tell you.

Bekele should spend more time on Runner's World. Every hobby jogger out there knows that you should never try a new shoe on marathon race day.

It's a blister. Rub some dirt on it. I have seen people win 100-mile races with sprained ankles. Prefontaine won a high-intensity race with a foot injury and fresh stitches.

Sure, it hurts. Then it sops hurting.

Bekele is still a great runner, who doesn't need any reason for not winning the London marathon.

Does anyone have a link to a photo proving he wore the Vaporflys?

love it wrote:

Has anyone pointed out that an adidas athlete - Keitany - also won the women's race.

It's been a tough last few weeks for Nike. Their star female - Sumgong - tests positive and now they have a major technology snafu at yet another major as adidas athletes win.

Except that it hasn't. 5 of top 6 finishers of men/women sides in Boston were Nike athletes- at an adidas sponsored major. Kind of depends on how you look at things, doesn't it?

hobby jogging expert wrote:

Bekele should spend more time on Runner's World. Every hobby jogger out there knows that you should never try a new shoe on marathon race day.

New shoes of the same model are fine. I've done it without issues. An entirely new shoe for the first time? That's nuts.

There's always a reason wig the Bekele. The dudes great, but the excuses are always fun after a shitty race too.

It's on Bekele to make sure he's OK with the equipment. He did not have to wear the vaporfly if he didn't want to. It wasn't long ago that almost every African elite racer (including Bekele) who were sponsored by Nike were wearing the 2011 Zoom Streak 3 because that's what they liked, even though the shoes were several versions old. I'm wearing a pair right now.

It was a great race, but I can only imagine the outcry on this forum if Rupp said he had to slow down at Boston due to a blister.

Bekele is always making excuses. Lame.

Bekele blew it, he trusted them. Hype was just bad science.

They don't know how to measure running economy and still don't realize it's an outdated concept, so Nike told the best lie they had, not too surprising.

Love the Boston marathon but it barely qualifies as a marathon major anymore.

bkrunner wrote:

rojo wrote:

Are you crazy? Did you watch the race? Can you imagine running a marathon with a blister?

Bekele was amazing today. It's not normal that you get dropped early in a marathon and nearly win it unless the leader blows up. Yet that's what Bekele did today. He just kept coming back - refusing to give up.

There is a whole other thread where people talk about how his form is different - maybe the shoes are partly responsible.

Rojo, you're wrong here. Making excuses about your shoes? That's junior high stuff. It's your job to make sure you're running in a shoe that doesn't give you blisters. Sure, Bekele refused to give up and made a courageous surge late in the race. That doesn't mean he's not lame for blaming the race on his shoes.

We ask athletes how the race went. Often there is nothing much to say, but sometimes a race doesn't go so well for a specific reason, like "I threw up", or "my feet were blistering." Its not making excuses to simply state what happened during the race. Its not an excuse, it just is what it is.

kjhg wrote:

Nike sucks, but I am thankful they support our sport.

They don't support anything.... they are making a profit. If they didn't profit from track, bye bye.

By promoting their hijab at this time in our country's history tells you that Nike doesn't care about the United States. They care only about making money. Good for them.... I choose not to support a company that capitalizes on a tragic problem on our home soil.

Let them stick to "supplementing" their Oregon robots, winding them up, and watch them go. Dahmer had the same mindset.

I counted him only 5 seconds behind at the 600m to go mark. He should have easily been able to switch gears and run the guy down. He wasn't racing against El Guerrouj or something. Obviously he threw the race.

0/10, tried too hard.

Rojo u spot on.

Get training time in with the equipment you will be using on race day. Rookie mistake by Bekele.

rojo wrote:

[quote]bkrunner wrote:

Rojo, you're wrong here. Making excuses about your shoes? That's junior high stuff. It's your job to make sure you're running in a shoe that doesn't give you blisters. Sure, Bekele refused to give up and made a courageous surge late in the race. That doesn't mean he's not lame for blaming the race on his shoes.

He didn't blame anything. I'm presuming a reporter asked him a question as to why he fell back and he answered it truthfully. It amazes me people think that's weak or blaming someone. What do you want him to do - lie?

So how do you propose he answer the following question. "Hey Kenny what happened there. You fell way back before 30k. Why was that?"

"Well Rojo, the thing is, I am a complete idiot and I never wore those shoes until I took them out of the box on race day. How was I to know that Nike did not make a shoe that would be absolutely perfect for me with no break in?"

Fixed.