I would not make such judgments about anyone's achievements on a message board.  We have no idea how long he's been running or anything about him.  For instance, if my grandfather (RIP) I had come on here 10 years ago and said he'd just  water skied a lot of people would have the same reaction.  They wouldn't know that he was around 70 and had just come off chemo.  
12/6/2012 11:56 PM
You'll never get better at anything if/when you think you've done your best.
12/6/2012 11:58 PM
Posted by therewas47 on 12/6/2012 11:16:00 PM (view original):
To a degree I agree, but time and place need to be accounted for.  I really like to encourage people when they are starting out in something so that they have a love of that activity.  For instance, if a new coach asks me to evaluate their first class i'll tell them good first effort and encourage them to keep improving before later going in to greater detail.  I remember growing up that I was the only one in the family with basketball talent.  I only played freshman ball but I always liked it better than baseball even though I was very talented at baseball.  I hated ever baseball game though because I could pitch a no-hitter and still get heavily scrutinized.  

But 47, what if the rookie coach didn't have a good first class?  What if his class was horrible?  Do you really still tell him it was good or do you break the news to him that he really messed up?  Might as well give it to him straight instead of him being content with what he now thinks is a good class and have him recruit the same trash next season.  I don't know, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. 
12/6/2012 11:58 PM
Posted by therewas47 on 12/6/2012 11:56:00 PM (view original):
I would not make such judgments about anyone's achievements on a message board.  We have no idea how long he's been running or anything about him.  For instance, if my grandfather (RIP) I had come on here 10 years ago and said he'd just  water skied a lot of people would have the same reaction.  They wouldn't know that he was around 70 and had just come off chemo.  
That's true, but look at the title of thread.  He's patting himself on the back and started a "look at me, look at me" thread, only for us to find out that he really didn't do anything that exceptional.  He did okay, yes and good for him, but did it really warrant a "Congrats to Myself"?  I'd be a whole lot more impressed if the kid started the thread to let everyone know that he had gotten straight A's every year of his life and wound up with an academic scholarship to MIT.  If he's old enough to get on here and post, he's old enough to accept it if some posts are made that aren't to his liking.
12/7/2012 12:06 AM
Some pretty ridiculous soapboxing going on here.
12/7/2012 12:06 AM
Posted by colonels19 on 12/6/2012 11:55:00 PM (view original):
Erik, you're awesome dude...lol
Yep, not in the best of moods tonight.  Can you tell?
12/7/2012 12:06 AM
Posted by isack24 on 12/7/2012 12:06:00 AM (view original):
Some pretty ridiculous soapboxing going on here.
Then why even post? 
12/7/2012 12:07 AM
I said point out the positives.  I'm not a give everyone a medal type of guy, but I try to give judgment in a way that displays whatever positives there are before going into the negatives.  Be it HD, calculus, or running there's a lot of work to be good at it and I think a lot of people would give up without any initial confidence being instilled in them.  When I coached kids i'd tell them what parts of their games I liked and then said,  but to get better work on this.  
Maybe it's just different philosophies, but I think you can be positive while being realistic.  
12/7/2012 12:09 AM
Posted by colonels19 on 12/6/2012 11:55:00 PM (view original):
Erik, you're awesome dude...lol
Haven't heard from you in awhile Trevor, how have things been going?
12/7/2012 12:10 AM
Posted by therewas47 on 12/7/2012 12:10:00 AM (view original):
I said point out the positives.  I'm not a give everyone a medal type of guy, but I try to give judgment in a way that displays whatever positives there are before going into the negatives.  Be it HD, calculus, or running there's a lot of work to be good at it and I think a lot of people would give up without any initial confidence being instilled in them.  When I coached kids i'd tell them what parts of their games I liked and then said,  but to get better work on this.  
Maybe it's just different philosophies, but I think you can be positive while being realistic.  
Okay, I see where you're coming from and I can totally agree with that philosophy.  The way I read it was that, good or bad, right or wrong, he was going to get a good evaluation of his recruiting regardless.  I'm with you on your outlook there.
12/7/2012 12:12 AM
Now when it comes to adults with experience I am brutally honest as evidenced by some thread on here awhile back.  
12/7/2012 12:20 AM
Posted by emy1013 on 12/7/2012 12:10:00 AM (view original):
Posted by colonels19 on 12/6/2012 11:55:00 PM (view original):
Erik, you're awesome dude...lol
Haven't heard from you in awhile Trevor, how have things been going?
Decent I guess, how about you?
12/7/2012 12:25 AM
That wasn't the infamous Fred Paull thread, was it?
12/7/2012 12:25 AM
Posted by colonels19 on 12/7/2012 12:25:00 AM (view original):
Posted by emy1013 on 12/7/2012 12:10:00 AM (view original):
Posted by colonels19 on 12/6/2012 11:55:00 PM (view original):
Erik, you're awesome dude...lol
Haven't heard from you in awhile Trevor, how have things been going?
Decent I guess, how about you?
Despite how it would seem based on my posts tonight, pretty good actually.  Don't see you around the forums much any more.  I actually don't visit often either.  It's just not the same without a thread going where the whole HD community is against the Colonel!
12/7/2012 12:27 AM
Posted by emy1013 on 12/6/2012 10:31:00 PM (view original):
Posted by ryrun on 12/6/2012 9:43:00 PM (view original):
Posted by emy1013 on 12/6/2012 9:34:00 PM (view original):
Posted by andrew5975 on 12/6/2012 6:36:00 PM (view original):

24:00 isnt too bad...especially if you dont run regularly. 5k is 3.1 miles...so you ran a little under 8 minutes/mile. your profile says you are under 18...if thats so...a few guys on my high school x-country team used to run slower times than that...perhaps you should think about joining! ;)

8 minute miles is what we used to run in formation in the military.  Sorry, but that isn't anything special, it's just not.  Even for a middle schooler.

Rain... parade...

Everyone starts somewhere.  Keep at it.
I deleted my post initially because I didn't want the kid too feel bad, but since you decided to quote it and put it up there anyway, I guess I'll have to respond.  There's no need to sugar coat it for this kid, what he did was nothing special.  At all.  Since when did it become a rule that we're not allowed to "rain on anyone's parade" and always have to kiss *** in these posts.  Hey kid, you ran at an 8 minute mile pace for 3 miles.  Good for you, but the reality is that it's nothing special.  So if you want to call it raining on his parade, fine, that's your choice.  But I'm from the camp that doesn't think every kid should get a blue ribbon or a trophy just for participating.  Do something special and I'll be the first one in line to congratulate you.  Do something average and brag about it?  Well, I'll probably be first in line to call you out on it.

It's far past time to stop treating all these kids like they're perfect and can do no wrong.  I see it all the time at my boy's soccer games, parents telling their kids that they played a perfect or awesome game when in reality, they played like crap.  Keep coddling these kids and coddling these kids and you end up with a bunch of young adults who think they're entitled to something when they finally hit the real world and have no idea what to do when they take their first *** chewing because they've been handled with kiddy gloves their whole lives.  When it's time to make it in the real world and they can't because they've been sheltered their whole lives, what then?  Do they run back to mommy crying because someone said something mean to them?  Yep, I guess I rained on his parade.  Maybe he'll get ****** because I did and go out and train and train and become the best 5k runner in history and I really hope he does.  Or maybe he'll go sulk in his room because he didn't get praise from each and every one who posted.  But I'm sorry, I'm not going to prop this kid up and make him think he did something special when he really didn't.  And you can quote that if you would like.  Have a nice day.

Oh, and by the way, Deery I hope you do continue to run and train and end up lowering your time.  It sounds like you've found something you like to do, so stick with it.  And when you do come in first in one of your races, you can tell that emy guy to kiss your 5k running, first place ***!
You appear to just be in an argumentative mood, but whatever.  The last three sentences of that quoted post should be all you really needed to write, otherwise... or just nothing at all rather than just inviting responses.

I ran on a full scholarship in XC and track all four years at my college.  I wasn't fast in middle school - I actually was pretty below average, probably.  But I had a coach who really didn't focus on training us into the ground, he coached us to enjoy the sport so that you'd stick with it.  Middle school and, for the most part, high school running aren't for grinding out miles and pounding the pavement - they're for establishing an enjoyment of the sport... just as most any sport played at that age should be.  I had the exact opposite experience in other sports - coaches taking things way too seriously way too early and burning a lot of his athletes out before we were even juniors in HS.  I didn't take training seriously until I was a soph or junior in HS.  People used to ask if I wished I'd trained harder and taken it more seriously early on - and the answer is always no.  You push a kid when he doesn't want to be pushed and it becomes a chore - the maturity usually just isn't there for them to understand that they'll be better off in five years because you pushed them now.

The reality is that, very frequently, high school coaches have NO idea what they're doing when training distance runners.  You get the driver's ed teacher who ran a mile once coaching XC, just telling kids to go run until they can't run anymore - no speed workouts, no hill work, nothing in the weight room... just go run and don't get hit by a car.  Or worse, just go run laps around the track or the soccer fields while the coach sits in the middle and barks at them over a loudspeaker (seen it happen, more than once - even by one of the best HS teams in Illinois).  Hell, even a decent percentage of lower division college coaches really have no plan.  Aside from not being helpful for developing their talents, it's also just inviting injuries.

Honestly - do you think your criticism of him is really going to light some fire underneath him?  Like he's going to immediately close his browser, lace up his shoes and go for a ten miler, cursing this faceless "emy" guy the entire time while he blazes a trail through town?  What's the point?  Why not take a moment and try to make a kid (he's a KID) feel good about himself?  Or at least just ignoring the post and not needlessly telling him he's nothing special.  What's so difficult about that?  Yea, probably shouldn't have made a "look at me" thread... but again... kid.  It's not "sheltering" him to give him encouragement - nobody said "hey, you're on WR pace, way to go!" or that what he did was all that special.  One guy said to try out for the HS team - doubt he was dreaming of the 2020 Olympics after that comment. 

Oh, but you're the "tough love" guy, just trying to get the kid ready for the real world, right?  Or trying to motivate him to be better?  Just as there's no rule saying you're not allowed to "rain on anyone's parade", there's no rule saying I can't call someone an ****** when they're obviously just trying to be an ******.  If you want to get pissy about it, that's fine.  Have a nice day.
12/7/2012 12:31 AM
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