Congrats to Andrew Epperson. Epperson ran a 2:13:11 marathon (that only placed him 18th) in Oita in February
Congrats to Andrew Epperson. Epperson ran a 2:13:11 marathon (that only placed him 18th) in Oita in February
It's just like the old Wetmore philosophy of being able to do anything with a 9:30 2 miler. you have a bit of fitness and the right mentality for growth and great things can happen over time
Congrats, but he was a 14:09/29:48 guy in college so it's not like he is a nobody.
More impressive is Jonas Hampton, who barely broke 15 minutes and 32 minutes in college. Never went all-conference, let alone all-american. He's now run 2:14:19 in the marathon and has qualified for 2 Olympic Trials (2020 and 2016) while working full time as an engineer.
Rojo you should really do a profile on Jonas Hampton. You won't find a more blue collar runner.
New England Guy wrote:
Congrats, but he was a 14:09/29:48 guy in college so it's not like he is a nobody.
More impressive is Jonas Hampton, who barely broke 15 minutes and 32 minutes in college. Never went all-conference, let alone all-american. He's now run 2:14:19 in the marathon and has qualified for 2 Olympic Trials (2020 and 2016) while working full time as an engineer.
Rojo you should really do a profile on Jonas Hampton. You won't find a more blue collar runner.
Are you stupid? The thread is about his high school times. Not even recruitable to a world championship team.
whid wrote:
It's just like the old Wetmore philosophy of being able to do anything with a 9:30 2 miler. you have a bit of fitness and the right mentality for growth and great things can happen over time
Yeah, except this guy was nearly half a minute away from even being a 9:30 guy.
Who else will represent the USA?
Woah. I remember talking to that guy at the Club Nationals after-party.
jamin wrote:
Woah. I remember talking to that guy at the Club Nationals after-party.
Wow! That's incredible!
Maths wrote:
whid wrote:
It's just like the old Wetmore philosophy of being able to do anything with a 9:30 2 miler. you have a bit of fitness and the right mentality for growth and great things can happen over time
Yeah, except this guy was nearly half a minute away from even being a 9:30 guy.
Anyone want to bet that the guy didn't train much in HS. The story of just about all these guys is they run like 30 mpw and they take seasons/summer off. Or they just came out for track outdoor of senior year:) You don't find these guys that have been cranking out 50mpw for 4 years and then get to college and turn into studs.....
New England Guy wrote:
Congrats, but he was a 14:09/29:48 guy in college so it's not like he is a nobody.
More impressive is Jonas Hampton, who barely broke 15 minutes and 32 minutes in college. Never went all-conference, let alone all-american. He's now run 2:14:19 in the marathon and has qualified for 2 Olympic Trials (2020 and 2016) while working full time as an engineer.
Rojo you should really do a profile on Jonas Hampton. You won't find a more blue collar runner.
Great. Top 250 in the nation while working as an engineer. Sooo impressive.
The track Olympic trials is filled with people with full time jobs, pretty much everybody not in the top 10 or 12. I've coached a few myself.
Good for that guy for improving himself, really. It's tough working full time while training at that level. But let's not pretend like this is unusual, only the very top get enough to not work.
asdfdasfdas wrote:
Maths wrote:
Yeah, except this guy was nearly half a minute away from even being a 9:30 guy.
Anyone want to bet that the guy didn't train much in HS. The story of just about all these guys is they run like 30 mpw and they take seasons/summer off. Or they just came out for track outdoor of senior year:) You don't find these guys that have been cranking out 50mpw for 4 years and then get to college and turn into studs.....
Brian Sell, Nate Jenkins, Sage Canaday
whid wrote:
It's just like the old Wetmore philosophy of being able to do anything with a 9:30 2 miler. you have a bit of fitness and the right mentality for growth and great things can happen over time
Its always about the mentality.
Physical ability is common. Mental fortitude is not.
99% of the posters on this board will never admit it, nor will they understand it. Its an intellectual exercise to them, a session planning process. And all the time bemoaning the talent they think is lacking.
And then its America, where if you haven't met the milestones at certain period of your life, you drop out of the sport. High school. College then off to get a job and become a frustrated jogger.
Very few will do what the NZ twins did, and sacrifice their dreams and live in a straw hut like the first little pig
Cool story but here we are again celebrating mediocrity with typical LRC bias.
Why is he not sticking with the 100m?
Props to the guy for not giving up and sticking up on his passion; I'm sure making the USA team will be a story he tells for many years. But a 2:13 marathon is a joke in today's elite races. Can you imagine if the US named someone who ran 10.28 in the 100m to the team? Every one would be calling him a waste of a spot.
One of the issues with US distance running the celebration of mediocrity. 2:13 is a farce and this guy will be lucky to break top 30 at worlds, which is already a watered down affair. I'd be shocked if he ever breaks top 200 in the official world rankings his whole career. But other awful white runners who gave up on their dream will live vicariously through him. Believing that working full time someone makes 2:13 more impressive than a sub-2:10. (B/c all those sub 2:10 runners in the 80s obviously never worked full time while still ranning incredibly fast).
Stop giving attention to back up runners USTF selected to fill an empty spot cause no one else wanted it. Cause all runners need to do now for media coverage and sponsorship is say they work full time and run 2:15. There is zero reason to push actually fast times if the celebration is the same for the slow times.
whid wrote:
It's just like the old Wetmore philosophy of being able to do anything with a 9:30 2 miler. you have a bit of fitness and the right mentality for growth and great things can happen over time
Here's the thing- we had a local high school with a terrible distance coach- soccer coach, friends with the football/track head coach, got the job based on that.
Talented runners didn't do much in high school, went to college (D1 and 3) and improved like crazy.
SalmonRice wrote:
Props to the guy for not giving up and sticking up on his passion; I'm sure making the USA team will be a story he tells for many years. But a 2:13 marathon is a joke in today's elite races. Can you imagine if the US named someone who ran 10.28 in the 100m to the team? Every one would be calling him a waste of a spot.
One of the issues with US distance running the celebration of mediocrity. 2:13 is a farce and this guy will be lucky to break top 30 at worlds, which is already a watered down affair. I'd be shocked if he ever breaks top 200 in the official world rankings his whole career. But other awful white runners who gave up on their dream will live vicariously through him. Believing that working full time someone makes 2:13 more impressive than a sub-2:10. (B/c all those sub 2:10 runners in the 80s obviously never worked full time while still ranning incredibly fast).
Stop giving attention to back up runners USTF selected to fill an empty spot cause no one else wanted it. Cause all runners need to do now for media coverage and sponsorship is say they work full time and run 2:15. There is zero reason to push actually fast times if the celebration is the same for the slow times.
Then you go run 2:13, nerd.
high school times mean nothing
there are thousands of athletes in the NCAA that had horrible high school training but are now performing extremely well despite unimpressive high school marks. they were talented but severely undertrained in high school.
a 14:09 guy isn't an underdog story for the marathon.
Jonas Hampton has run fast by sheer force of will. Mad respect for that.
means nothing wrote:
Jonas Hampton has run fast by sheer force of will. Mad respect for that.
Oh really? Let's see him not run for 6 months and see how fast sheer will makes you.
I don't know his story but I don't think he developed will power after school. I am betting he trained a lot more and avoided injuries.
means nothing wrote:
high school times mean nothing
there are thousands of athletes in the NCAA that had horrible high school training but are now performing extremely well despite unimpressive high school marks. they were talented but severely undertrained in high school.
a 14:09 guy isn't an underdog story for the marathon.
Jonas Hampton has run fast by sheer force of will. Mad respect for that.
HS times mean nothing? How is it that only the guys with great times receive scholarships? How many of these thousands of guys with unimpressive HS times can you name? From my experience, it was far more common for 9:00 guys to struggle in college than for 9:30 runners to excel.