From a random and unknown high school cross country coach …
There is a growing tension between how coaches want to develop youth athletes as calm, collected, and confident … and “influencer” / internet culture. Below are some thoughts directed to Truett Hanes regarding his public goals – to cut his 2:29:x marathon PR to 2:15:x and qualify for the Olympic Trials – from the competitive runner, dad, and coach in me:
First off … some common ground:
- I love the jeans-running. I’ve aced a half marathon in jorts. I ran shirtless in -38 degF in jorts. Keep it up. Be wild. Be fun.
- I love the cause you bring awareness to. Keep it up. Build your platform for good.
- I love you and your dad’s media. I’m 15 years old than you & 15 years younger than him. I’ve created media. I love this stuff.
- I love the confidence and fully realize ego and goals are part of sports …… BUT …..
I’m sure people will call any kind of pushback “hating”, but here’s another perspective …
I get it. We have and want big personalities in sports, but youth are watching and … influenced. Hence the term “influencer”. The math of shaving 14 minutes off your marathon PR (while being very vocal and very public about it) … 14 min improvement over ~42 km is exactly 20 seconds per km.
I’m a high school XC coach and if I heard one of my runners raving on social media about how it’s going to be 14:50 this year or bust when he’s only run 16:30, I’ve have a few words for him to put up or shut up.
We run with our legs, not our mouths.
What about college? 15:05 5k’ers would be laughed out of the locker room if they posted they were going to qualify for the OT with a 13:25 in the near future. They’d probably be told to STFU by the 14:10 guys.
What about professionals? If a 2:14 marathoner starts to post about breaking the WR (2:00:x), expect just as much pushback. Allegations of doping to follow.
Truett, your approach is really only seen or taken seriously with adolescents and on the internet in our current influencer culture. It’s either cockiness, attention-seeking, business-savvy, doping, or any combination of all of the above.
I know you’re putting in a lot of work and if you honestly reach your goals I’ll be incredibly happy for you. It’s a cool time to use media with fitness (I do it too), but talking about big results publicly before it happens is different. This is the only thing I’m picking on.
This isn’t really “haters gonna hate”, it’s more just trying to preserve the joy and love of the sport, personal growth, and not letting ego lead the way. All love to you. I hope to see you both meet the standard and be humbled.
❤️👖 -Adam
Adam Condit 