Fair our Foul: Two-time Olympic medallist Nick Willis just won a $20 shoe voucher at an all-comers 800 race

Was the time he had to run over or under 1:58???

Which would you rather have: $20 or bragging rights saying you ran against Nick Willis and finished 2nd.

Good for him. Our sport has enough problems with visibility and participation. It would be good for the sport if more elites jumped in their local all-comers meet. To put it in perspective I recently told a co-worker that I am racing a 5K on the track and they were so confused that I had to explain it to them. They didn't even realize there was such thing as running track outside of high school.

It's $20. I really wouldn't care at all.

well actually wrote:

Good for him. Our sport has enough problems with visibility and participation. It would be good for the sport if more elites jumped in their local all-comers meet. To put it in perspective I recently told a co-worker that I am racing a 5K on the track and they were so confused that I had to explain it to them. They didn't even realize there was such thing as running track outside of high school.

Reminds me of when Weldon came back from Mt. Sac or Stanford or somewhere and had finally achieved his goal of breaking 30:00 in the 10,000. A co-worker who kind of was into sports was always talking to him about his running and knew weldon had beaten thousands of people at the St. Paddy's race.

He knew weldon had flown to California for a race so he asked him on Monday. "Hey man, how did your race go?" Weldon was like, "Amazing."

The guy was like, "Oh did you win?"

Weldon was like, "No."

"What place did you get? How many people were in the race."

I can't remember what weldon said but he didn't have the heart to tell him he had no idea what place he got or how many people were in the race as he didn't care. It was him versus the clock.

For the record, it looks like he was 11th when he first broke 30:00.

The way Nick is running lately he's going to need shoe vouchers to keep himself shod.

rojo wrote:

All I can say is let's hope Nick gave 2nd place the voucher.

Good news to report.

Let's see if he answers our questions:

rojo wrote:

What's the appropriate reaction?

All I can say is let's hope Nick gave 2nd place the voucher.

-Rojo

;)

Do you even have to ask? I bet he already gave it to some random kid.

rojo wrote:

PS. It reminds me when I ran (and won) the intramural mile at Princeton as a senior. A couple of the young studs on the track team showed up and were way ahead mid-race. I yelled out, "If you beat my ass, you're in trouble." They dutifully slowed up and let me take my deserved glory (there was an actual rule that varsity athletes couldn't score points in intramurals).

This is a sad brag post. A mildly embarrassing situation that you’re actually somehow proud of. “Look at me, I won an intramural race by whining at my much better opponents until they let me win! Pretty cool, huh?”

Depends how quick second was, a few seconds slower, fair game, 45 seconds slower, bit of a different story

foul

solo TT that stuff if you're an elite pro. I don't believe anyone ever went sub 3:30 clean, anyhow.

Bad Wigins wrote:

I don't believe anyone ever went sub 3:30 clean, anyhow.

In the 800m?

rojo wrote:

Imagine you've been training all spring/summer for the local all-comers 800 where first prize is a $20 shoe voucher. You are peaked and ready to go

I'd rather just quit running if I'm at this point

How would I feel if I got second place to Nick Willis? Itd be a highlight of my hobby jogging career!!!

I'd tell you to suck it up. .. It's $20. LOL.

What does a $20 voucher buy? A portion of a shoe? 20 packets of Gu? Crappy a$$ race award if the first place voucher doesn't even cover the cost of the race entry.

Congrats to Nick for staying in shape.

I did! wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

I don't believe anyone ever went sub 3:30 clean, anyhow.

In the 800m?

Wiggins is pretty dumb!!!

Flounder wrote:

What does a $20 voucher buy? A portion of a shoe? 20 packets of Gu? Crappy a$$ race award if the first place voucher doesn't even cover the cost of the race entry.

Congrats to Nick for staying in shape.

Yeah and after his agent and coach take their cuts he's only left with $16

Who sponsored the $20 shoe voucher?