Amy Cragg - 2:21:42 marathoner - pulls out of Trials with illness

Cough cough Jerry Schumacher

Meh. She’s had her day in the sun. Let others who haven’t experienced the Olympics or WC have their turn. Hope her illness isn’t serious though, and that she returns to health.

If you've read the few interviews the did in recent months then this does not come as a surprise at all. I don't know what exactly her issue was during late 2018/2019 but she cited being chronically fatigued and her body unable to function.

Let alone that she dropped out of Chicago twice in the last two years at the last moment also citing the mysterious "illness". If it was acute illness then 10 days out there would still be plenty of time to recover. But she also does not cite injury. Its all just so weird and the vagueness and her being basically in hiding (I mean she is not in a single pic of any of the Bowermann Babes IGs!) does not make me trust this story. She ran a 10k recently in like 34 minutes, right? Her body is just not cooperating and that is it. It happens. Then maybe she should just retire as hard as it probably is.

Could be mono? Strep? Bronchitis? If you have a severe illness that won't be healed in 9 days would you compete? Seems like a smart move especially if with the illness you have no shot to make the team.

She laid an egg in her half marathon last month so the writing was on the wall.

runningchick wrote:

...she dropped out of Chicago twice in the last two years at the last moment also citing the mysterious "illness".

She ran 2:21:42 at Tokyo in Feb 2018. I found one source (RW) where she says she had to pull out of Chicago 2018 due to a hamstring injury. Do you have another source that conflicts with that?

rojo wrote:

Illness?

Why do you pull out of a race 9 days out due to illness? I think a more elaborate description is needed. I know she hasn't been running well but what does this mean? I wish her the best and hope she just meant ilness hampered me from getting in the required shape.

She said she had very low energy for many months.

This is the downside of being on thyroid. It works until it doesn't.

Such a bummer. Won't be the same without her. I can't imagine how disappointed she must be, but she probably saw it coming from a ways off now. An incredibly tough competitor and loyal teammate. I'll never forget the way she handled that heat in 2016 and got Shalane on the team.

Knows Uncle Phil when he sees Uncle Phil wrote:

This is the downside of being on thyroid. It works until it doesn't.

Stop. You have zilcho idea what you’re even saying.

Sounds like a retirement speech to me. I suspect this is the last we hear from her with exception of a comeback attempt 3 years from now. I always thought she was cool, so I'm not trying to say anything bad, just think this is the end of the line.

If she can start squatting sets of her body weight, she should recover in 6.3 days. Reps should be 3 x 8 the first day; 3 x 10 the second; 3 x 13 on the third consecutive day. Repeat this until rest day. A max bench then squat the morning of the marathon will insure the sickness is out of her body. I predict she will finish in 2nd place with a time of 2:24:32 based on a temperature 58.4 degrees and a dewpoint at 49.6.

She was feeling good recently according to this;

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a30524919/amy-cragg-olympic-marathon-trials/

Of course there's a chance Amy is actually very sick. In that case, I am very sorry and hope she recovers quickly. But dropping out 9 days before the race almost certainly means that she was not ready to compete for a spot on the team and this is simply the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. If she had trained well for the past several months and was in shape to be competitive, she would have rested and done whatever she could to at least give it a go next week.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

She laid an egg in her half marathon last month so the writing was on the wall.

Yeah. After that I thought there was little chance she would start the trials let alone finish

We have more details. A source close to Cragg said her withdrawal is the result of adrenal fatigue as a result of the Epstein-Barr virus.

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/02/defending-champion-amy-cragg-withdraws-from-2020-us-olympic-marathon-trials/

all day i dream about shoes wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8zKUYeAhxs/?igshid=1utuu0773qwnk

LRC note. Cragg's post says the following.

Unfortunately, due to illness, I am going to have to withdraw from the US Olympic Marathon Trials. The Trials are the reason I have shown up every day for the last four years, so this has been an extremely difficult decision. Thank you to Nike, my support team, my teammates, my marathon training buddy and everyone who helped me get this close and continue to help me get back to my best.

I wish all my friends, teammates and competitors good luck in Atlanta.

LRC now has more info the withdrawal. A source close to Cragg said her withdrawal is the result of adrenal fatigue as a result of the Epstein-Barr virus.

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/02/defending-champion-amy-cragg-withdraws-from-2020-us-olympic-marathon-trials/

Perhaps a career in Real Estate

I had this illness for 18 months and it can become quite serious, it led to a compromised immune system for 2-3 years. I just couldn't do anything consistently. Work, run, even every day things like a trip into the city or a holiday would wipe me out. I would run for 2-3 days feel a little better then get sick again, constant sore throats, DOMS in the legs after short jogs. I think sometimes a big performance or a big spell of training can just put you in a hole.

I finally got over this after visiting a Japanese doctor who did a lot of acupressure, made dietary changes and tried to get my vitamin and mineral levels up. After a couple of months the difference was amazing. I'd been living in a physical and mental (low energy led to poor concentration like brain fog) fog for

A long time. I wish her well, this illness has finished plenty of careers or at least massively disrupted them

matt_lindon wrote:

If she can start squatting sets of her body weight, she should recover in 6.3 days. Reps should be 3 x 8 the first day; 3 x 10 the second; 3 x 13 on the third consecutive day. Repeat this until rest day. A max bench then squat the morning of the marathon will insure the sickness is out of her body. I predict she will finish in 2nd place with a time of 2:24:32 based on a temperature 58.4 degrees and a dewpoint at 49.6.

LOLWHAT