How did this dude train, work, and only sleep 3-4 hours a day?

Foster never worked in a factory he was a Chemistry teacher in a high school and that was only until 1974 I think. After that he worked 10am-4pm in a job in the 'culture and leisure' dept. Of the local council. His was a very 'normal' routine in that period. If you think it's unusual you need to read the books of Ron Hill, Jim Alder, Bill Adcocks and pretty much any pre 1980 uk distance runner.

kod3200 wrote:

HRE wrote:

I don't know if you're trying to be funny or if you really believe this but if it's the latter you should be ashamed of yourself. If you read the article and know what he did day after day for years on end to make himself a good runner and to earn a decent living and can only make some demeaning comment like that you should take a hard look at the sort of person you are.

Do I hear troll bite?

As I said, I don't know if the guy is serious or not and I don't care. Yes, there are times to ignore some jackass' post because he's probably looking for attention and it's better not to give it to him. But I think a post like that should be taken down regardless. Doping is a curse on the sport and a degree of skepticism about the influence it has on people's performances is understandable and probably good in many cases. But this business of attributing any kind of success that seems greater than you think it should be to cheating is also a curse. I'm betting "Test him" knows nothing about Darrell General aside from what he's read here. If I'm wrong, if he knows General and has some information that could connect him to doping, that's one thing. But simply coming on here and "explaining" General's ability to get by on 3-4 hours of sleep and qualify for five OTs is crap and I don't think it belongs on a website that exists to promote the sport of distance running. If you want to promote the sport, putting General's story here is a great way to do it because it shows that you can accomplish a lot as a runner even if your circumstances are far from ideal if you really throw yourself into doing so. Letting some stupid little turd trash someone like General because he thinks it's funny only devalues the sport.

wake up and realize that he's a liar

millenial falcon wrote:

Basically by not being a whiny little b*tch.

You scrawny, skinny fat "athletes" need to whine less.

XFit_Guy_the_Real__1 wrote:

millenial falcon wrote:

Basically by not being a whiny little b*tch.

You scrawny, skinny fat "athletes" need to whine less.

True, but you guys need to actually do a real workout from time to time.

Around 2:14:41.

Derek Clayton was a Civil Enginner full time and ran 2:08:30 marathon. I think Brendon Foster was a Parks employee and ran to and from work. Lasse Viren was allegley a cop before the 1976 games.

ck3237 wrote:

Derek Clayton was a Civil Enginner full time and ran 2:08:30 marathon. I think Brendon Foster was a Parks employee and ran to and from work. Lasse Viren was allegley a cop before the 1976 games.

John Walker worked in a freakin quarry and Emil Puttemans was a feckin gardener, with no thoughts of world travel or getting $$$, when they were on their way up in the sport.

Some people are genetically gifted outside the norm. Look at Bo Jackson, who also only slept 4 hours a night.

As for this man, I can only say:

I salute you Darrell General.

(See what I did there?: salute/General, aw fergit it)

General deserves praise but can we stop making him out to be the everyman’s hero? You don’t run 2:14 on pure dedication alone. The guy had some serious talent and obviously put it to good use. I’m much more inspired by the guy or girl who narrowly qualifies for Boston after many years of smart, consistent training and responsibilities on the side.

broken arrow wrote:

I support crackheads wrote:

I wonder what times this guy would have run had he been allowed the best coaching and training facilities, along with a sound sleep schedule, etc.

Yes....you have to think he would have run at least 2:11, maybe faster. But in the article he felt as if he was in 2;12 shape at some point. Still 2:14 is incredible considering his work schedule.

Glad he is getting some wide spread recognition now.,

Runwashington and Letsrun are widespread recognition?!

Yes.

I think he was a little deluded about some things, but maybe he needed to be to get what he got out of running. For example, he says that he initially expected to quality for seven Trials. That would have put his last one in 1992, the year he turned 46. Not completely bonkers, but extremely unlikely as no man that old had ever run in a Trials (and still hasn't).

I know some very good runners who get by on very little sleep and not always by choice -- they just have a very hard time staying sleep without the kind of drugs that would probably interfere with training.

I guess if he enjoyed it wrote:

Sir runs a lot wrote:

http://www.runwashington.com/2017/10/19/general/

That's an awful lot of work and sacrifice to not really have anything to show for it.

You just stumbled on what life is. Do what you want. None of it will matter to you when you're dead.

Discipline, dedication and strong work ethics. Something you obviously lack.

too hot wrote:

General deserves praise but can we stop making him out to be the everyman’s hero? You don’t run 2:14 on pure dedication alone. The guy had some serious talent and obviously put it to good use. I’m much more inspired by the guy or girl who narrowly qualifies for Boston after many years of smart, consistent training and responsibilities on the side.

So you want people to stop calling him everyman's hero because you think he had too much talent?

Then there are people who may think he is praised too much for a guy who never came close to making an Olympic team.

Man. Tough crowd.

Organic Ding-Dong Addict wrote:

I think he was a little deluded about some things, but maybe he needed to be to get what he got out of running. For example, he says that he initially expected to quality for seven Trials. That would have put his last one in 1992, the year he turned 46. Not completely bonkers, but extremely unlikely as no man that old had ever run in a Trials (and still hasn't).

I know some very good runners who get by on very little sleep and not always by choice -- they just have a very hard time staying sleep without the kind of drugs that would probably interfere with training.

Your math seems off.

doctorj wrote:

Discipline, dedication and strong work ethics. Something you obviously lack.

To a hobby...

too hot wrote:

General deserves praise but can we stop making him out to be the everyman’s hero? You don’t run 2:14 on pure dedication alone. The guy had some serious talent and obviously put it to good use. I’m much more inspired by the guy or girl who narrowly qualifies for Boston after many years of smart, consistent training and responsibilities on the side.

I don't think anyone is denying he had talent.

@doctorj wrote:

doctorj wrote:

Discipline, dedication and strong work ethics. Something you obviously lack.

To a hobby...

Did you miss the part of the article where it mentioned that he worked two jobs and coached?