Allie Kieffer out of London Marathon

Why is she still a thing?

Time for her to hang it up. A flash in the pan.

Running Cult Member wrote:

She was definitely part of a growing wave that has risen higher and passed her by now. Laura Thweatt, Emma Bates, Kellyn Taylor, Jordan Hasay seem to be in the same boat: gained relevance in the post-Deena era but never quite got to that next level with Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, Sara Hall, Molly Huddle, Emily Sisson and now the new leader in the clubhouse, Molly Seidel.

Why in the world we would expect the 1st group (with the exception of Hasay who did get to that level) to get to the same level of the 2nd group.

With the exception of Flanagan, the 2nd group were all HS and NCAA SUPERSTARS. Throw in Hasay (2 time FL champ) and it makes sense. Goucher (top 10 as 10th grader) , Hall (FL champ), Huddle (4th) , Sisson (3rd FL) ,Seidel (1st FL)

I hate to kill off the dreams of my own audience but I've halfway seriously said to people in the past, "We shouldn't let anyone who isn't top 10 at Foot Lockers be a pro runner."

Yes non super talents can make Olmpic teams. But it's unlikely that they'll be world beaters. Monster talent generally jumps out at you,.

high school xc coach wrote:

She is a sub elite runner who reached the edge of elite for a very brief period. in all reality, she just isn't good enough. Most of us aren't.

Exactly, I've said for a long time she should train to be a 2:28-2:30 marathoner and run smaller less competitive races.

What does being a pro runner even mean?

like, anything posters think, when one do not define anything one can write anything one likes and belittle everybody while sitting in ones basement while the floor is wet from recent floods.

Why is this person brought up on the boards so often?

Because the marathon can equalize like few other events when it comes to high school and college superstars. Sure, more recently we've started to see more superstars go to the marathon at earlier ages than had been typical, at least on the women's side. On the men's side, last year we had a whole lot of younger runners who had been superstars lose out to old man Abdi. You're fractionally correct, those who rose to great performances at younger ages can be expected to continue that and those who hadn't will invariably hit a lower ceiling. It's not simply "monster talent" always winning out, that ignores other significant factors that the general public has trouble grasping. It goes beyond just physical talent, in nearly all cases.

I wonder what the nature of the potential injury is. We only have a limited number of years at peak fitness and have to take the chances we get.

The only injury is the one upstairs that keeps her from training like a sensible person. Also the delusion of having to run x time rather than just race. She probably has mommy and daddy money but you would think racing to win some money would be something of interest. Her time has passed and she will likely train hard, blow up at another race, change coaches, rinse and repeat.

Daniel Lincoln didnt do Sh*t and was a walk on at Arky before Coach got ahold of him ...

I have a TON of respect for Allie--why? She came out of nowhere and even non-runner friends I know are into running now a little bit because of her and Molly Seidel this year.

It's similar to how Sosa and McGuire got people I knew my age back in the '90s into baseball. I looked at golf at the same time due to a young Tiger.

Positive influence is a real thing!

Yeah a kid that goes out for XC his senior year and wins his state meet and then runs a 4:16 mile in the spring didn't do sh*t. Yes there are a few people like Lincoln, Brian Sell and a few other who didn't train much in HS and then make it. But not many. I am sure there are also one or two who missed the meet with injuries.

But the list of distance from Olympians who graduated HS post 1985 or so who didn't run well at footlocker or nxn is pretty short.

she is done.... over.....

re: the sosa/mcgwire comparison, i get what you're saying, but it's also a poor reference because baseball turned a blind eye on their steroid usage, in the interest of the HR race luring fans and casuals back to the ballpark. that opened the floodgates, and people like barry bonds - who was far more talented - decided not to stand idle any more.

She will be back

How is she even able to afford to train over there for several months? I don't believe she has a sponsor anymore. Where is all of her disposable income coming from?

She’s done

mofarah494 wrote:

She will be back

34 years old. probably not

it is nice that she is in a place in life where she train like this despite not making enough, solely as a runner, to pay for this sort of lifestyle.

she should do it as long as she can.

I had my best training ever during the peak 4 months of lockdown last year. an early taste of retirement, while my body was still high functioning.