Molly Huddle article on Slate - She flew middle seat to ATL and raced in flats that were worn down

She had to run in shoes that already has 100 miles on them because of disruptions to the supply chain in China.

Editor's note. The poster is incorrect. Huddle wrote, "I also had to race on some shoes with maybe 100 more miles on them than I’d have liked, as the fresh pair of Saucony flats I ordered a few months ago were coming directly from the factory in China and production had already been shut down when I tried to do my usual pre-race order about five weeks out."

cloudcover wrote:

She had to run in shoes that already has 100 miles on them because of disruptions to the supply chain in China.

Jordan can take note of this type of blameshifting. As far as I know this unprecedented at virus + shoes + foreign entity. Just enough intersectionality to swirl some headlines. Also, well timed for a boring Monday.

She said she had to race in shoes that had maybe 100 more miles on them than she would have liked. Not the same thing.

She also had to sit in a middle seat for a flight. Wouldn't you plan ahead?

Not the best idea to write an article like this at the present time -- especially for a general interest site like Slate.

cloudcover wrote:

She also had to sit in a middle seat for a flight. Wouldn't you plan ahead?

That's what I was thinking. It sounded a bit like amateur hour to me. I was shocked by a) how she flew middle seat and b) how she didn't have decent shoes.

You are a professional athlete. Your sponsor can't get you a fresh pair of flats? Ok coronavirus was hard to predict. But doesn't a single store in America carry the flats? Buy them online. If not, then it's even a better reason to wear the Vaporflys (now I know she says she's not a responder but how well was that tested?)

Update. I've since learned that she runs in a custom flat that must be ordered online. And that when she tried on Saucony's carbon fiber plated shoe it caused her pain in her foot

As for the flight, don't you have a ton of airline points? Pay for an aisle seat or use points to fly first class.

Sadly, I could imagine myself doing the same thing back in the day. When I go to book, all the window seats are taken and I'm too cheap to triple the price to go to 1st class.

Whatever happened to athletes being responsible for themselves? She knew well in advance that she was going to the Trials so why not have extra gear in reserve. Back when I ran on paltry equipment only deals, I always stocked up on extra spikes/flats in the event that something got lost or suffered a workmanship failure. I imagine that Saucony provides her far more equipment support that I ever received at my lowly "local hero" levels of sponsorship.

Middle seat? Unless your flight was some 12+ hour journey from an overseas training camp, this is a super lame excuse. The average business traveler now laughs at the "toughness" of elite runners.

rojo wrote:

doesn't a single store in America carry the flats? Buy them onlin. If not, then it's even a better reason to wear the Vaporflys (now I know she says she's not a responder but how well was that tested?)

I believe the wall street journal article said her results came back at 2.2% in a short test and they caused instability that made her uncomfortable/susceptible to injury. "Run in something that makes you uncomfortable" is great advice. And yes, I doubt a single store in America carries these, her preferred marathon shoe:

I agree with you.

No stores carry her flats because they are custom.

Saucony sells a version on their website, but must not be exactly what she wears.

Personally I’d have 4 new pairs in the closet.

Portland Hobby Jogger wrote:

Middle seat? Unless your flight was some 12+ hour journey from an overseas training camp, this is a super lame excuse. The average business traveler now laughs at the "toughness" of elite runners.

Did you read the article? She wasn't using it as an excuse for poor performance. She's tiny. I'm sure she didn't ordinarily care, she was only saying 'I booked the seat not caring, but once the virus news came out it did make me a little anxious to be totally surrounded by people right before a big race.'

Overall, it's a just human interest piece about how the coronovirus affects the life of a pro runner, as part of a series about how the coronovirus affects people of different walks of life. it's not meant to be an excuses article, and only oversized men are complaining about the middle seat.

It's like you people go into these things looking for a reason to poo poo all over highly successful women.

Rojo's response: NO he had never read any of the articles until today saying Huddle got injured in carbon fiber plates.

My mistake - it was runner's world:

"But unsteadiness was still a problem for marathoner and 10,000-meter American record holder Molly Huddle when she attempted to transition to Saucony’s similar prototype. Five-minute tests in the shoe company’s lab showed they boosted her economy 2 percent—putting her on the lower end of responsiveness, but still offering an advantage.

When she watched video of her gait, however, her left foot appeared to flop and twist, a sensation she could feel in her ankle and back. In December, she developed sharp pain and swelling in her ankle. An MRI revealed degeneration and tearing in her left peroneal tendon, which wraps behind the ankle bone.

The shoes may not have caused the injury—she sprained her ankle years ago, and knows her left leg is longer than her right. But Huddle and her team believe her asymmetries don’t align with the way the shoes function. “I don’t know if it’s the plate or the height or what, but it’s definitely exacerbated by a thick, rigid shoe combination,” she told Runner’s World.

In the end, experts can only speculate on injury risk, leaving each runner to perform his or her own individual calculus.

Huddle eventually decided the 2-percent advantage didn’t outweigh the harms, especially with the clock ticking on the Olympic Marathon Trials later this month. She’ll likely race in the MH1—a racing flat combining two existing models and named after her—or the yet-to-be released MH2, which blends two different soles (one Type A8 and one Fastwitch) with an upper from a third model (the Freedom ISO)."

yes, she's got a type A8 sole on one foot and a Fastwitch on the other. Definitely not a Dick's Sporting Goods purchase. Likely has a long lead time to get them made. Likely hard to predict a factory shutting down due to pandemic.

https://www.runnersworld.com/gear/a31027015/will-magic-shoes-work-for-you/

Yeah I don't see what the outrage is here. It's an article from an elite distance runner talking about what it's like for professional runners. I'd like to see more of these articles.

Rojo wildly misreads what Huddle wrote, but that doesn't stop him from criticizing the actions of a woman

custom shoes are hard to buy at Dick's wrote:

And yes, I doubt a single store in America carries these, her preferred marathon shoe:

https://www.saucony.com/en/mh1/39375W.html

I think a lot of people didn't realize how entirely normal it was for pro athletes to be racing in custom shoes. Often it was simple stuff like mixing uppers and midsoles from different shoes, but sometimes it was pretty major, like including a spike plate in a standard racing flat (which Nike, Adidas, and even Fila did for a long time).

Now the barrier for getting a custom shoe is going to be a lot higher. It's not, "are you worth the time to do a one-off?" It's, "are you worth doing a complete run of shoes (even if small) to sell online so that your custom shoe can be legal?"

If I were the IAAF, I would clarify that using different uppers doesn't make a shoe a prototype. It's mostly a fit and comfort issue, so it's not that different from Asics having their totally bespoke shoes made to fit the feet of their elites.

She needs an entourage to attend to the logistical details of getting to the starting line with the proper footwear. I blame Saucony for letting her down. Never blame the athlete. Don't cancel the Olympics, just because of a little virus.

T.M.A.D.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

Woah woah woah, you mean professional runners in America don't fly private or first class? What kind of third tier sport is this?

Next thing you're going to tell me is that the TV coverage sucks and they'll break away from the US Olympic Trials Marathon for a White House press briefing.

I think the excuse she was looking for was that the other women who beat her were fitter and better than her on that day.

custom shoes are hard to buy at Dick's wrote:

rojo wrote:

doesn't a single store in America carry the flats? Buy them onlin. If not, then it's even a better reason to wear the Vaporflys (now I know she says she's not a responder but how well was that tested?)

I believe the wall street journal article said her results came back at 2.2% in a short test and they caused instability that made her uncomfortable/susceptible to injury. "Run in something that makes you uncomfortable" is great advice. And yes, I doubt a single store in America carries these, her preferred marathon shoe:

https://www.saucony.com/en/mh1/39375W.htmlhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/as-olympic-marathon-trials-loom-nike-competitors-race-to-the-finish-11582639200

She had a minimal response to the Saucony attempt at creating a super-shoe. She didn't say if she had tried the Vaporfly's. I would guess that she is like everyone else and responds really well to the proven super-shoe

I agree with you on all of the points. In my first year of running post college I learned everything you need to know about taking care of yourself. Molly has way more resources than I did and she has been at this for nearly a decade.