I'm a former D1 runner from a competitive program and have been waiting to write out my thoughts on this for a while. I bit my tongue for the longest time as people on LRC -- and amongst the running community as a whole -- went on and on about "young guys not being as tough as we used to be back in the day" and not being able to handle coaches that scream at and abuse their athletes. I noticed this when guys like Metcalfe, Pat Henner, Matt Centrowitz, etc. were forced into retirement and people that never ran for one of them (hint hint: I did) came to their defense on these boards and criticized the athletes that suffered from eating disorders, mental illness, etc. largely because of these coaching styles. This old guard of running thinks that embracing the treatment of your athletes like cattle is the best method of coaching, yet they ignore the increase in success that many of these programs have had with shifts to younger coaching staffs. I understand that many older runners were treated like garbage by their coaches and ran very well despite of it, but it's pretty undeniable that those time periods also coincided with the lowest points in American running ever so... take that as you will.
My other issue is with how the older generation treats athletes that embrace social media as a way to let people in to their lives and training. I don't think Tinman Elite is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I think Sage Canaday has had his fair share of disappointing races that warrant critique to his training, etc. But athletes like this have embraced a new age of online presence and the sport is MUCH better off for it. I understand that there are many runners that embrace the sport so heavily because they so sorely lacked skills outside of running. By keeping track as an exclusive cult, they can continue to feed into this notion that they're impressive specimens who do things that nobody else would even DARE to try (and in many cases, that is indeed true). But if you think people like Galen Rupp--who is a very nice guy but also the driest piece of toast to talk to -- are the best faces of this sport, then don't act shocked when NBC cuts to the shot-put every other lap of the 5k.
I worked in a running store for 8 years and have seen so many HS aged athletes that came in after seeing guys like Centro, Drew Hunter, etc. on social media and think running is actually a cool sport that they want to pursue. I've also seen countless older people that found the likes of Sage, Scott Jurek, etc. online and fell in love with marathoning and ultra-running because of it. These athletes are bringing people into this sport more rapidly, and the more we trash talk people that just want to put out their training/lifestyle on social media, the more our sport will continue to stagnate. I understand that many of you see their posts as just some cocky young guys trying to showboat about how tough their training is, but isn't that the same thing the older generation does when telling all of their "back in my day" stories to anyone that will listen? Grow up, embrace the change, and be happy that we have the opportunity to leave this sport on a higher pedestal than when we found it.