Webb is dog wrote:
By definition, Alan Webb is the most talented runner of all time.
He is someone who can be successful at anything in the world when he tries.
By what definition? Yours? He never won a world or Olympic championship or set a wr. How can that be the "most talented runner of all time"?
What does being short have to do with it??? Geb is short. Manzano is short. It doesn't limit anyone, maybe it's an advantage.
Webb was a real talent. 2007 was his great year of course, beating Lagat at USA, winning a big 1500 in Paris, and his US mile record. He says that his great 800 run injured him prior to Worlds.
Honestly, either he or his team mistimed his peak, in terms of Worlds. He woulda been on the podium if the peak was timed right I'd think. He was up against tough competitors, don't know that he would have won.
Note that Ramzi didn't get busted at WCs in '05 or '07 when he got medals...
So I conclude Webb was one of the best in his time. But he wasn't the best. I'm a fan without being a member of his cult.
Webb is great, but wait wrote:
What does being short have to do with it??? Geb is short. Manzano is short. It doesn't limit anyone, maybe it's an advantage.
Webb was a real talent. 2007 was his great year of course, beating Lagat at USA, winning a big 1500 in Paris, and his US mile record. He says that his great 800 run injured him prior to Worlds.
Honestly, either he or his team mistimed his peak, in terms of Worlds. He woulda been on the podium if the peak was timed right I'd think. He was up against tough competitors, don't know that he would have won.
Note that Ramzi didn't get busted at WCs in '05 or '07 when he got medals...
So I conclude Webb was one of the best in his time. But he wasn't the best. I'm a fan without being a member of his cult.
Think as you wish.
Webb should go down in history as a HELLUVA better runner and a HELLUVA better person that silly Steve prefontaine.
Even with Rupp in the picture, when the world thinks of American runners, alan Webb is really the only, only, runner that needs to pop into people mind. He's really the only runner worthy of long term recognition in global running history.
Jason Mason wrote:
Webb is great, but wait wrote:
What does being short have to do with it??? Geb is short. Manzano is short. It doesn't limit anyone, maybe it's an advantage.
Webb was a real talent. 2007 was his great year of course, beating Lagat at USA, winning a big 1500 in Paris, and his US mile record. He says that his great 800 run injured him prior to Worlds.
Honestly, either he or his team mistimed his peak, in terms of Worlds. He woulda been on the podium if the peak was timed right I'd think. He was up against tough competitors, don't know that he would have won.
Note that Ramzi didn't get busted at WCs in '05 or '07 when he got medals...
So I conclude Webb was one of the best in his time. But he wasn't the best. I'm a fan without being a member of his cult.
Think as you wish.
Webb should go down in history as a HELLUVA better runner and a HELLUVA better person that silly Steve prefontaine.
Even with Rupp in the picture, when the world thinks of American runners, alan Webb is really the only, only, runner that needs to pop into people mind. He's really the only runner worthy of long term recognition in global running history.
Were you only born this century? That's as silly a comment as I've read about Webb. There's a list of US runners longer than my or your arm who were Olympic champions or world record holders, or both - neither of which Webb achieved.
Lol nope wrote:
8. He did all of this growing up in severe desperate Appalachian poverty.
He grew in the rich burbs of Northern Va. Once the richest areas of the county.[/quote]
One of the truly amazing things about 430 is the fact that he is completely impervious to new information that contradicts his own preexisting beliefs and assumptions. At this point in the conversation, even the most stubborn people I know in real life would be like "oh, ok, I guess I was wrong about Webb's upbringing." I guarantee that thought hasn't even crossed 430's mind. It's like the man's lower processing centers have been trained to not even pass contradictory information along to the frontal lobe for conscious consideration.
Africans are not all black. White people are born in Africa. They too are Africans.
Not Jamin wrote:
Webb grew up in the wealthy suburbs of Washington DC. Not exactly Appalachian poverty.
He meant intellectual poverty, numbnuts.
We don't know for sure, but if he might have been the whitest non-African marathoner in the world.
Elvin wrote:
Lol nope wrote:
8. He did all of this growing up in severe desperate Appalachian poverty.
He grew in the rich burbs of Northern Va. Once the richest areas of the county.
One of the truly amazing things about 430 is the fact that he is completely impervious to new information that contradicts his own preexisting beliefs and assumptions. At this point in the conversation, even the most stubborn people I know in real life would be like "oh, ok, I guess I was wrong about Webb's upbringing." I guarantee that thought hasn't even crossed 430's mind. It's like the man's lower processing centers have been trained to not even pass contradictory information along to the frontal lobe for conscious consideration.[/quote]
+1
Les wrote:
Africans are not all black. White people are born in Africa. They too are Africans.
No, that makes them Europeans living in Africa.
the430miler wrote:
Dirtball wrote:
No way. He was built for distance running.
He practically ran an American record 10k at the Stanford invite, beat Ritz, with no training whatsoever and having never attempted that distance before.
He was over 20 seconds slower than the then American record in that race (which is now 50 seconds slower than the Rupp’s American record). One time Chris Solinsky ACTUALLY broke the American record on his first try. And yet neither of them made it to 30 as world class athletes.
Fairfax (which contains Reston) and Louden counties in Northern Virginia I think are on the top 10 highest per-capita income in the US--certainly the top 20. Not really Appalachin poverty
5'9" and 145 pounds when he set the current american mile record back in the summer of 2007. 5'9" 145 pounds is stocky?
I keep forgetting this is letsrun where most of the people who post on here weigh below 130
Webb was a distance runner with a high percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers. No way he could have become a world-class marathoner.
He has a great kick/anaerobic system, but it's of little use in a marathon.
Asking Webb to run a 2:05 marathon is like asking Bolt to run a 30 min 10k. They are incredible runners and athletes, but don't have to muscle fiber distribution / genetics to become world-class at longer distances.