One of the things that most turned me off of competitive running in my personal life is when I realized that the lighter you are the faster you can run long distance. It just turns into an unhealthy feedback loop where all your training can be superseded by someone that just weighs less. I don’t want to do a sport that rewards anorexia and unhealthy body weights. Better to just run for fun and the health benefits.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_M%C3%A4ntyranta#Genetics_...
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/26/606039409...
And this has, in fact, affected actual (not merely theoretical) XX females:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/01/sports/caster-semenya-los...
Years ago, when I was an avid cyclist, I was turned off my first local race, a meaningless city race. Three guys, and two girls were doping in the parking lot. To this day I have yet to be at a single race where people aren't doping prior.
I should add, not everyone dopes though. My sport was relatively clean due to the amateur nature and the limited efficacy. Those of us who leaned toward technical competency were usually able to take on the roid-dudes without too much difficulty.
Are you aware that winning is itself a payoff for certain people? And they want to win at everything, at every level?
You may not sympathize with these people, or agree with them, but they are not difficult to understand. In fact, they are easy to understand.
When people ask me why there is doping in masters bicycle racing, I quote: "Why are University Politics so vicious? Because the stakes are so small."
People's desire to "win," and the lengths they will go to "win," are not tied to economic or power rewards.
Well, naturally if you look at it like that, then why cheat except possibly because you are curious about how far you can take your body with assistance?
But we are not the ones cheating, and the people who cheat do not look at amateur sports they way we do. To them, there is a top dog in everything, And it's meaningful to them to be the top dog.
No matter how small the pond, there's always somebody who cares very deeply about being the biggest fish.
Since everything is monitizible, we'll probably see cheating in many places we dont traditionally see it. It reminds me of the movie limitless, everyone successful was doing the drug
Wow. Surprised someone's willing to "go there" so to speak.
Yeah, a lot of these athletes are doping. And, well, let's just say that I think Mary is putting forth a narrative that renders herself in the best light possible. Everyone knows what NOP is about vis-a-vis drug use. Mary knew too, which tells you a lot about her.
But I also think this can be a cautionary tale for young athletes. (Though I'm not naive. I realize that very few will pay it any heed in the run up to Olympic trials.)
That wasn't known back then when she started the program in 2012. Per the NYT article on the NOP, Salazar didn't actually begin the illegally doping NOP athletes until late 2010 or 2011 (though he had begun experimenting on himself and his son by then). [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/sports/nike-oregon-projec...]
I guess I'm saying: you need a source for this or at least a cogent argument or STFU.
And while some rules (such as those governing the size of a basketball or the height of a volleyball net) could be adjusted to include some groups, other groups will be likewise disadvantaged.
I would also argue that notwithstanding your values, there are probably different optimums to achieve between the peak pro level and the community and youth level, but unfortunately people worship pros so much that at some point they would likely feel insulted if they had to continue with metaphorically shorter basketball hoops.
Relevant TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8COaMKbNrX0
Is there a running-related sport that doesn't care about who gets there first, but instead measures success like a gauntlet, where the last person to drop out of the race for just not being able to run anymore, wins?
Not quite like a multi-day ultramarathon, where the running is segmented. I'm talking more about something that measures who can muster the longest single-segment run, with most people being expected and encouraged by their trainers to drop out once their muscles start to fail them, lest they incur permanent damage.
I imagine light weight would serve no advantage in this kind of "race."
It's a 30 hour race through the woods if I recall correctly.
EDIT: I wasn't 100% correct, but this looks like what I was talking about: https://www.outsideonline.com/1924491/60-hours-hell-story-ba...
The actual count is 16 finishers and it is a 60 hour race so I am assuming it is done in legs.
There is a good documentary about it called "The Barkley Marathons: The Race that Eats its Young" currently available on Amazon Prime streaming. There are also some smaller pieces on YouTube about some other years.
Bonkers but utterly brilliant...
> The format is simple: Runners must complete a 4.16667-mile loop every hour until only one hardy soul is left. Whatever time they bank before the next hour begins is theirs. So it’s not a race of speed but rather a war of attrition where all but the winner DNF. Last year, a duel between Guillaume Calmettes and Harvey Lewis ended with Calmettes running 245.835 miles in 59 hours. The feat drew considerable attention for the race and attracted a highly competitive field for 2018.
Note I'm not saying "being fat is okay" or "exercise is bad for you".
NOP is well known for their athletes doping. This woman was basically as close to Salazar as an athlete gets, so I'm about 99.99% sure she was doping. Once PEDS get involved, all of the normal rules go out the window. So being lighter would not really give you any advantage over an athlete with a few pharmaceutical enhancements.
Mary Cain was a teenager when she started running the NOP in 2012. Based on all available reporting, Salazar didn't begin trying to dope the NOP athletes until 2010 or 2011.
Her performance at the NOP demonstrates emphatically that she didn't dope--she was much slower under NOP coaching than she was in high school.
I suppose it's possible that she was doping, though considering the circumstances, if I was an official, I might be a bit more lenient.