Canaday announces retirement. Good for him

Too soon wrote:

It happens sooner or later to all of us.

https://youtu.be/xsMRlV9MLws

Retire from what??

blogging and youtube???

Jog-racing?

Moving back to the track for some race walking??

Maybe with all his new found extra time he can enlighten us on the benefits of 10 k repeats @ 12 minute pace.

Duh 2.0 wrote:

April Fools, obviously

This ^^

Sage is an unbelievable runner who is making a living from running, like the rest of us wish we were.

Although he was joking, he did pretty much nail his problems with regard to sub-optimal nutrition, i.e. not eating any meat.

Patience IHOPPA...

huzzah wrote:

How does that even work? Eat a pancake every 40meter?

Only 3 guys will make the Olympic Team. Maybe a dozen have any chance on that day. To qualify is a big deal. To do it as many times as Sage is attempting to is "pretty cool".

To participate in the trials and have your family and friends come out to support you is "pretty cool". Sage can still train to break 2:19 and still be very good at doing other things. I get your point, but he can do both.

I've never met Sage but my kid and I are pulling for him big time to qualify at Boston in less than 2 weeks from today. His videos are both informative and funny, at least to us anyways.

A lot of guys run 2:15 and never improve because they don't have the potential to run 2:10. But it's still fast and to qualify for the Olympic Trials is a big deal.

Sage is a good dude that found his niche. Back in his Hansons days he was a top 50 in the US marathoner. He probably would of been a top 25 marathoner if he would of remained focused on the event. He decided that it wasn't worth the work and focused on a different route. It has worked for him, but he always wonders what would of happened had he remained focused on the marathon. This dilemma brings him back to the marathon where he is now no better than 150-200 in the US.

He treats the marathon like the prettiest girl in the school. He is extremely curious but when he gets rejected he says I was never really interested anyhow.

If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't be training for it with a goal in mind. If the weather is at least average, I'd say he'll get under 2:19.

Swooooosh.

Right over your head.

He already has the prettiest girl in school. He just needs to stop calling her "My Girlfriend, Sandi." She's a human being with an individual identity outside of her relationship with you, Sage ;)

Best wishes in Beantown! Always rootin' for you!

He’s still faster then you!! Haha

Smoking something wrote:

He’s still faster then you!! Haha

He is also not a virgin, unlike most people on LRC.

REAL Marathon wrote:

Swooooosh.

Right over your head.

or his post was under yours;)

I think he answered you rather fairly, but you just didn't get the answer you wanted, typical letsrun wanna be know-it-all;)

Go Sage, most of us on here are with ya!

The boy can't say good bye to the marathon. He will always wonder what could of been.

No shots taken at the Ultra community.

He left the marathon at a young age and was improving.

The question Is does he get his pancakes from IHOP on 28th St in Boulder or Zeal on Pearl St? Does Anton Krupicka join him there? Does he then go to Avery?

REAL Marathon wrote:

The boy can't say good bye to the marathon. He will always wonder what could of been.

No shots taken at the Ultra community.

He left the marathon at a young age and was improving.

COULd of*** what? ?

Smoking something wrote:

He’s still faster then you!! Haha

Then**** what happened?

REAL Marathon wrote:

The boy can't say good bye to the marathon. He will always wonder what could of been.

No shots taken at the Ultra community.

He left the marathon at a young age and was improving.

Ummmm...everybody already knows that, but your argument is pure conjecture that could be said about anybody. Most likely Sage had very little improvement left to make any kind of a real difference. If he dropped 2 minutes, what would have changed? Big payouts, huge shoe deal, Playboy models within touching range, etc... Look at the guys who have run "around" 2:15 flat. He ran for the Hansons and had a very good run for how many years? How much "real" improvement was left? Tell me who's doing better. Sage made a great decision and is hopefully prospering from it. Like the others, I too wish him well and now I really hope he breaks it.

Okay I'll bite. Obviously the video about me "retiring" was April Fool's joke. I love this sport of distance running! I love #AnySurfaceAnyDistance. I want to compete at a high level for as long as possible. I've been very, very fortunate to be in the position I am in now thanks to sponsors and the generous support of the running community. I don't take a single day for granted and it has been a "dream job" that has turned out better than I ever imagined.

On the "bashing ultra runners thread" people like to complain that we ultra guys move up in distance because we like to "duck competition." Well I am "moving down" in distance. (Sure I won't move down to a track 10km because I suck on the track though and it would be really embarrassing!). But don't say I'm ducking competition when I'm doing races like the Boston Marathon and trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials. If I hit sub 2:19:00 at Boston I will for sure go to compete at the trials. It's a really cool race to take part in and you get to see exactly where you stack up against the nation's best. No hiding. If I miss the standard then I'll keep trying, but I do have a summer of mountain-racing planned regardless. I am sponsored to be a pro mountain-ultra-trail runner....not a road marathoner of course!

As far as "talent and ability and depth of competition goes" I think like this:

When I toed the starting line at NCAA DI XC, or the Boston Marathon or the Olympic Trials Marathon I knew I had a 0% chance of winning. I was going for "top 40 or top 20" or just sub 2:19:00. When you run these times on a road and track (and place where you do in these types of races) you know exactly where you stand. I know I don't have the talent to run a 2:10 marathon and I never did....even a sub 2:19:00 is enough of a challenge now...but so is finishing UTMB or Western States well.

I have no regrets in the the road marathon. I would be perfectly satisfied if my half and full PR's remain at 1:04:32 and 2:16:52. Actually I do have one "regret." I regret that I didn't run 12 seconds faster at Boston in 2015 when I got 16th place with a 2:19:12....but I think even if I knew the standard was 2:19:00 at the time I couldn't have gone any faster (it was a very good race for me...a performance that I consider "on par" with my 2:16:52 personal best).

The fact of the matter is it really doesn't help my career (esp. financially) if I run 2:15 or 2:18. I greatly respect those that have trained super hard with a marathon focus and maximized their ability to run a sub 2:15 or faster. I've seen what it takes. I had my shot right after college and I couldn't do it... However, I am quite satisfied racing in the mountains. There are some really beautiful places in the world and some really great trail-mountain races (and don't say I duck competition there or I won't enter races ultra races like Comrades, UTMB, TNF50 San Fran, or even Transvulcania). I like the big-time races with the most competition. I love the sport of distance running in general. I love trails/mountains, but I still love smashing pavement on the road for 26.2 miles.

If I can get back to the Olympic Trials in 2020 that would be great. I would race my guts out and try to improve on my 44th (or 43rd or whatever it was) place from my last Trials in 2012. If I miss the Trials again so what? I'd be disappointed of course but again I'm an old and slow ultra-trail-mountain runner now.

REAL Marathon wrote:

Sage is a good dude that found his niche. Back in his Hansons days he was a top 50 in the US marathoner. He probably would of [sic] been a top 25 marathoner if he would of remained focused on the event. He decided that it wasn't worth the work and focused on a different route. It has worked for him, but he always wonders what would of [sic] happened had he remained focused on the marathon. This dilemma brings him back to the marathon where he is now no better than 150-200 in the US.

He treats the marathon like the prettiest girl in the school. He is extremely curious but when he gets rejected he says I was never really interested anyhow.

I like your analogy, but I'd say it's more like he's just trying to get a dance with the prettiest girl in school. However, unlike the rest of the idiots at the prom, he knows he's not going home with her.