Why is it that there is only one Galen Rupp in the US ?

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:In my JR High, there was no 5:00 flat guy in PE and I was the fastest at 5:30. I loved sports, but sucked at baseball, so to be naturally the best(within my PE class) at something was intoxicating and I went on to be a 9:30 2-miler and the best at my HS school. Unless he disguised himself as 7:00 miler in PE, there was no more talented guy than me that didn't run track/XC.

Ummm... would you have chosen running if you had been better at baseball or any other ball sports?

You are essentially proving other people's point.

I was far more talented in running than other sports. Like most skinny guys, I wouldn't have been able to make the team in any other sport. Competing in a more popular sport is not an option available for most runners. Soccer is a possibility,

though not for me with my 60 400 speed, but it's not nessarily more popular than track in HS.

Again, why did so many LRers choose to run in HS if they could have competed in another sport or smoked copious amounts of pot. Why did all these count less guys with 26:44 ability choose not to compete? Why do you think running is so undesirable?

Because Al Sal found the guy and didn't look too hard for another.

The opportunity to be coached by Salazar with full Nike facilities and support (and not just training fodder for him, or the international star that helps him get better in workouts and serves as his friend) is the key.

There are plenty of guys out there who can run easy 28s or 30s for 200 in workouts during soccer, which was where Sal found Rupp. You could easily have hundreds of Rupp level runners, as Kenya and Ethiopia have since he emerged on the scene, awkwardly saluting the crowd, if running was a priority in this country.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Les wrote:

There are probably dozens of people with his talent, but they are doctors or lawyers or work corporate jobs. White, upper middle class people like Rupp do not look on running as a career. If Rupp had not been spotted playing soccer he would probably be doing the same. In poorer countries like Kenya or Ethiopia, running is a viable career option. Poor people in the United States look for careers in basketball or football to escape poverty.

So when this Rupp-like runner is invited by the coach to join the XC team, he responds with, "No, I'm planning to be a lawyer"? And if he does run in college, he decides not to go pro after running 27:33?

How many NCAA distance champions can you name that didn't continue running after college?

Nnena Lynch

You believe Ritz didn't push himself as hard as Rupp does? The difference between Rupp and others is talent, unless you believe he is cheating.

Whether he is cheating or not, I don’t know, but that did not enter into my reasoning. Rupp is clearly talented. I am only saying that there are without a doubt others in America like him, but they chose different sports or were too lazy to put themselves through the discomfort to truly unlock their talent.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Out of a population of ten of thousands of HS runners that did compete, Rupp is the best, but Mike is claiming that out of the population of those who didn't compete, there are dozens of Rupps. Assuming dozens means 24+, that would come to 480+ over the last 20 years, but only one went for it. If running is so repulsive a sport, why did any of us run in HS? Why did the guys on LR that did run not choose a more popular sport?

Good encapsulation!

Riiight wrote:

That's why frank shorter was food because he had such a stable childhood. And Lopez Lomong. Gebreselassie. And on. Their cushy childhoods made them great.

Frank's life on the outside might have appeared good with all the Ivies and stuff and credit is due, that's more comfortable than a lot of people's lives. But he also had a horrible, abusive father who tormented his siblings, mother, and him. I think all the pain he endured from that made him the runner he was.

Felix the Cat wrote:

Riiight wrote:

That's why frank shorter was food because he had such a stable childhood. And Lopez Lomong. Gebreselassie. And on. Their cushy childhoods made them great.

Frank's life on the outside might have appeared good with all the Ivies and stuff and credit is due, that's more comfortable than a lot of people's lives. But he also had a horrible, abusive father who tormented his siblings, mother, and him. I think all the pain he endured from that made him the runner he was.

Gerry Lindgren had a similar father. I read about Gerry getting smacked at the dinner table and constantly being belittled.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

I was far more talented in running than other sports. Like most skinny guys, I wouldn't have been able to make the team in any other sport. Competing in a more popular sport is not an option available for most runners. Soccer is a possibility,

though not for me with my 60 400 speed, but it's not nessarily more popular than track in HS.

Again, why did so many LRers choose to run in HS if they could have competed in another sport or smoked copious amounts of pot. Why did all these count less guys with 26:44 ability choose not to compete? Why do you think running is so undesirable?

Small people can also do combat sports too, though again most don’t. I’d argue that most people don’t form a similar reason: it’s hard. Building an aerobic base takes several years of careful, often slow (relatively speaking) training. Most folks just don’t gravitate towards it.

East Africa has so many great distance runners not because of some mysterious genetic advantage, but rather (in my view) because they choose from the widest possible pool due to the popularity of the sport.

Its very possible that there are multiple Americans with Galen Rupp's talent and ability but they just never took up running or any other sport to see it come through. I would guess that it is largely the American culture for the reason that there are so few elite distance runners out of a population of over 300 million. Statistically if you lined up 10 random Americans, 7 of them would be either overweight or obese. Furthermore, even the people who are not overweight are most likely sedentary and have a terrible diet.

I would say that Ritz had more talent than Rupp, although there is the fact that Rupp has run 3:50.9i and 2:06 low, both considerably better than Ritz, because Ritz has hardly ever trained for more than a year without major injury and Ritz ran 12:56, two seconds better, during that one healthy season with Salazar. Ritz won two footlocker champs and could win a championship off of a couple months of training. Rupp gradually developed over many years of health.

Hardloper wrote:

He wasn't a once-in-a-generation talent. He was just the most talented guy at Salazar's school so he swooped him up early. There are probably a dozen guys more talented around his age.

He ran 13:44 in high school.

America's highest athletic talents will gravitate towards baseball (MLB). If you're talented, why not pursue the highest paid sport out there?

Riiight wrote:

Incidentally rupp will probably not be remembered as a legend because he has no story and no personality. Maybe in part because he has experienced so little adversity.

So far, he also hasn't shone on the world stage. I am not sure anyone I know who watches the Olympics knows who he is, but they at least recognize some of our track stars. Take Allyson Felix, for a shining example -- people recognize her, and she will probably be remembered, because she has shone on a world stage for years, quite brightly.

Rupp, at 5'11", 135 pounds would rock in MLB.

Of all HS senior baseball players .5% get drafted and only 10% of that number will ever make it to the MLB. I wouldn't spend that money just yet.

This denial of genetics in distance running talent is wild. Does it serve some psychological purpose to make humans think they are more in control of an out of control unfair world?

There was an experiment a British coach did where he went to that part of Kenya and randomly tested school kid who had never run before. They all ran incredibly fast times off the bat. If anything KENYA has a ton of talent who will never try running.

Rupp is a genetic outlier in a population orders of magnitude less talented at dishance running than East Africans. Also 99% of Americans are too fat to run fast marathons. Whether through birth culture or decades of drinking antibiotics for every cold. But that doesn’t help for sure.

Haha, “there was no one more talented than me”.

The logical fallacy is that you SHOULD err to the side of everyone “disguising” themselves as slower. No one tries hard in the PE mile except for people who already have tried running and like it. That’s why you tried hard, it mattered to you.

That’s why you never hear the story of elite runners being discovered in a PE mile.

Rupp would NOT be even a runner if it weren’t for Salazar.

Also, a lot of runners take up runninng after getting cut from other sports, what about the people that don’t get cut?

The fact that you ended up a 9:30 guy in HS tells me there were loads of guys more talented than you at your HS alone.

In any case, running is not even on the radar or most athletes.

Actually, I am not that young wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:I don't know about now, but when I was in HS, soccer was not a popular sport.

Are you over 50 by any chance? If so, you'd better join the 21st century. ;)

It may have to do with his other demographics. My HS could not field a soccer team or baseball team due to lack of popularity.

It was a 97% black school and EVERY KID tries out for two sports only — basketball and football.

Some residual ones run track but even then our track team was tiny.

Mikeh33 wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Out of a population of ten of thousands of HS runners that did compete, Rupp is the best, but Mike is claiming that out of the population of those who didn't compete, there are dozens of Rupps. Assuming dozens means 24+, that would come to 480+ over the last 20 years, but only one went for it. If running is so repulsive a sport, why did any of us run in HS? Why did the guys on LR that did run not choose a more popular sport?

Good encapsulation!

Lol. Only thing you forget to mention is that most of those HS runners and just about all HSers don't give a damn about giving it their all in running..or any other activity besides the ones they think are "cool."

There will be others like Rupp.

They won’t be frequent but they will come along.

Maybe Grant Fisher is the next Rupp. He has great range and untapped talent, racing savvy, doesn’t get injured, has been brought along slowly, and recently broke Rupps indoor 3k collegiate record.