Comment I hate being slower than George W. Bush. (Score 1) 110
I like your points. I don't know enough about sports physiology to know whether this high-tech approach to running [arguably the lowest tech sport ] will succeed--I guess no one does. At the very least it signifies that the US distance running culture is turning its attention to the marathon and not just whining about it as much.
The racially-based arguments around why 'Americans' get their asses kicked at long distances are pretty absurd. In the US, we have a deep, deep gene pool that should pretty well ensure that certain individuals of any generation could be competitive at the marathon distance. To over-hype the genetics of Kenyans is to diminish the personal achievements of the runners themselves. Currently the men's world record is held by a Moroccan-born American citizen. As of last year, when he got his citizenship, Khalid Khannouchi has as much "American" genetic material as anyone, and probably as little Kenyan genetics as most.
People who complain about the physical genetic superiority of a race they don't belong to (e.g. excuse-spewing complacent white slackers complaining that blacks are stronger) need to either hit the gym more often, hit the track more often, or shut up and eat their potato chips. In the '30s these racial arguments were put forward to explain the higher than expected numbers of elite Jewish basketball players. Shaddup already.
'American' marathoners got handed their asses time and time again by smart, highly-motivated INDIVIDUALS. Even the 8k mentioned in the article is a race demanding not just technical ability, physical gifts beyond muscle-twitch [gait and other factors], but strategy--strategy about how to get yourself through 4.97 miles fast. You need to know a lot about your body to run 8k fast, you need to be able to monitor the body's telemetry closely and respond accordingly. I've never won an 8k, but I've beaten certain snide individuals in the 8k, and you need to know a certain amount about what their bodies are capable of as well. To toss this all off as genetic disposition is to miss most of the race.
Lastly, in response to the "why bother doing this" mentality, I'd format a proper response, but I've got to work on overclocking my processor so I can eke out a few more meaningless megahertz, then I've got to figure out why Eterm's transparency stopped working.
The racially-based arguments around why 'Americans' get their asses kicked at long distances are pretty absurd. In the US, we have a deep, deep gene pool that should pretty well ensure that certain individuals of any generation could be competitive at the marathon distance. To over-hype the genetics of Kenyans is to diminish the personal achievements of the runners themselves. Currently the men's world record is held by a Moroccan-born American citizen. As of last year, when he got his citizenship, Khalid Khannouchi has as much "American" genetic material as anyone, and probably as little Kenyan genetics as most.
People who complain about the physical genetic superiority of a race they don't belong to (e.g. excuse-spewing complacent white slackers complaining that blacks are stronger) need to either hit the gym more often, hit the track more often, or shut up and eat their potato chips. In the '30s these racial arguments were put forward to explain the higher than expected numbers of elite Jewish basketball players. Shaddup already.
'American' marathoners got handed their asses time and time again by smart, highly-motivated INDIVIDUALS. Even the 8k mentioned in the article is a race demanding not just technical ability, physical gifts beyond muscle-twitch [gait and other factors], but strategy--strategy about how to get yourself through 4.97 miles fast. You need to know a lot about your body to run 8k fast, you need to be able to monitor the body's telemetry closely and respond accordingly. I've never won an 8k, but I've beaten certain snide individuals in the 8k, and you need to know a certain amount about what their bodies are capable of as well. To toss this all off as genetic disposition is to miss most of the race.
Lastly, in response to the "why bother doing this" mentality, I'd format a proper response, but I've got to work on overclocking my processor so I can eke out a few more meaningless megahertz, then I've got to figure out why Eterm's transparency stopped working.
