Well that big deal is being signed tomorrow at Nike HQ in Beaverton.
I expected that to happen. She's in Oregon for about two weeks with NCAAs and the Trials taking place there and her family is also there staying in an RV. Finish the deal while she's in town and let her make her pro debut in a Nike uniform at the Trials.
All upside and no downside. She‘ll almost certainly win. And if she runs under 14:52, her contract would be even greater. And if she wins in a worse race that won’t hurt
All she has to do is abstain from eating at a Portland burrito truck.
Seriously, she seems a bit naive. She better be careful who has potential access to her food and drink, and who she even touches. Because that is unfortunately the nature of this ‘entertainment business’, and insidious entrapment by the power broker stakeholders may lurk around the corner. The Shelby Houlihan story, amongst others in their history, does not pass the pure smell test, my opinion.
What an idiotic response. Why wouldn’t fans be interested in any news. If stichmo doesn’t have any more than what HE already volunteered here, then so be it.
All she has to do is abstain from eating at a Portland burrito truck.
Seriously, she seems a bit naive. She better be careful who has potential access to her food and drink, and who she even touches. Because that is unfortunately the nature of this ‘entertainment business’, and insidious entrapment by the power broker stakeholders may lurk around the corner. The Shelby Houlihan story, amongst others in their history, does not pass the pure smell test, my opinion.
On the bolded point, here is maybe the most important production from the German journalist that broke the Russian doping scandal:
Positive after the briefest of touches: An alarming experiment shocks athletes and challenges the global anti-doping system. A documentary by Hajo Seppelt and the ARD doping editorial team.
That news could potentially have devastating consequences to this ‘sport’, and seemed to have been buried. Nonetheless, I think all ‘athletics’ pros should be aware of it.
What an idiotic response. Why wouldn’t fans be interested in any news. If stichmo doesn’t have any more than what HE already volunteered here, then so be it.
Yeah it was idiotic. Yours was aggressive and angry.
Something I hear more and more from NCAA athletes is that they're taking it day by day. A few NAU guys have brought it up, saying they just focus on doing everything to the best of their ability on that specific day, and not worrying about the future. Trust the process. After winning XC, Mike Smith said no one even mentioned nationals until regionals. I think that was also where some of the hesitation on letting Nico chase the 10k standard came from. Valby mentioned it too in her post 5k interview, saying she was just taking it day by day, and she was focused on getting a lot of recovery in tomorrow (meaning the day between the 5k and 10k).
I think the idea is that you should only focus on today, and maximizing what you can do today, and if you do that every day, you'll get better results than if you're constantly worrying about doing things perfectly every single day for the next 6 months. There's probably something to be said for not worrying about a race that's a few weeks or more away, particularly when you have 30+ laps to race before that. Wastes mental energy, causes unnecessary stress, etc. Let your coach worry about the long term plan. Trust that your coach will make the right plans for you. Focus on executing that plan today.
Small side tangent, but that's made me give some more grace to the pro athletes who aren't doing ideal things to qualify. There were a bunch of athletes upset about XC qualifying you for the 10k, and there were a bunch of people upset at athletes for not just doing a couple of easy races and getting a qualifier. But from an athlete's perspective, they have full faith in their coach (and people here often say that you have to trust your coach) to do what's best for them, and their coach probably doesn't want them to worry about qualifying, because in the long term they'll do worse. Realizing that made me more sympathetic to the athletes, and also harsher on the coaches lol. I could be wrong though idk tbh,
This seems like an attitude for a previous era if you want to make a US team. If she's made the decision to not worry about the Olympics this year and just focus on her collegiate season, fine. But if the Olympics are a goal, you cannot just go about your season with blinders on and trust that if you race well, things will work out. The standards are too hard and the points system too complicated to just trust the process and assume things will fall into place if you race well.
On the other hand, consider the possibility they actually peaked her perfectly for the upcoming show.
On the bolded point, here is maybe the most important production from the German journalist that broke the Russian doping scandal:
That news could potentially have devastating consequences to this ‘sport’, and seemed to have been buried. Nonetheless, I think all ‘athletics’ pros should be aware of it.
"The researchers administered small amounts of various anabolic substances to 12 test persons via the skin using a carrier substance - by briefly touching the hand, neck or arm. The initial analysis of the samples by the renowned Cologne doping control laboratory revealed, in all 12 test persons, massive suspicion of doping. Traces were detectable in the laboratory up to 15 days after the administration of the extremely low doses of anabolic steroids."
"If the samples had come from athletes, we would have had suspicions that we would have investigated and would very likely have had to make a positive finding in many of the samples taken," said laboratory director Mario Thevis: "Then we would have had an anti-doping rule violation here, which would also have been sanctioned accordingly. The athlete would definitely be punished, possibly for up to four years."
"The evidence that doping attacks can be carried out and athletes made positive in a simple way shakes up a cornerstone of the global anti-doping system: strict liability.
"Whereas in criminal law the accused is only considered guilty when intent and culpability have been proven beyond doubt, in sports law even a positive doping test serves as proof of guilt."
Ya know, it wasn’t until astro became such a pest that I considered he was coming from a position of projecting. So I considered the possibility maybe Tuohy’s presentation to the public was a bit contrived and planned (with the assist in social media presence from semihaze, the puppy dogs and soda-pop for high schoolers). So then she goes Darth Vader and hooks up with the ‘Nick Bare supplement illusion’ guy and I’m thinking ‘you gotta be kidding me’. But consider maybe now she has an ‘out’ if she ever gets busted; she can have the CEO of the supplement company verify that they got a bad batch out of China.
Something I hear more and more from NCAA athletes is that they're taking it day by day. A few NAU guys have brought it up, saying they just focus on doing everything to the best of their ability on that specific day, and not worrying about the future. Trust the process. After winning XC, Mike Smith said no one even mentioned nationals until regionals. I think that was also where some of the hesitation on letting Nico chase the 10k standard came from. Valby mentioned it too in her post 5k interview, saying she was just taking it day by day, and she was focused on getting a lot of recovery in tomorrow (meaning the day between the 5k and 10k).
I think the idea is that you should only focus on today, and maximizing what you can do today, and if you do that every day, you'll get better results than if you're constantly worrying about doing things perfectly every single day for the next 6 months. There's probably something to be said for not worrying about a race that's a few weeks or more away, particularly when you have 30+ laps to race before that. Wastes mental energy, causes unnecessary stress, etc. Let your coach worry about the long term plan. Trust that your coach will make the right plans for you. Focus on executing that plan today.
Small side tangent, but that's made me give some more grace to the pro athletes who aren't doing ideal things to qualify. There were a bunch of athletes upset about XC qualifying you for the 10k, and there were a bunch of people upset at athletes for not just doing a couple of easy races and getting a qualifier. But from an athlete's perspective, they have full faith in their coach (and people here often say that you have to trust your coach) to do what's best for them, and their coach probably doesn't want them to worry about qualifying, because in the long term they'll do worse. Realizing that made me more sympathetic to the athletes, and also harsher on the coaches lol. I could be wrong though idk tbh,
This is an age old concept (taking plans day to day). They all understand that injury, illness, or any other unexpected event can alter your goals in a single day. It's really a way of coping with the stress in a healthy way.
Maybe she is just enjoying racing healthy? In the 5k if we limit the rankings to 3 per country she would be 28/29(removing one of the Americans ahead of her) with 1195 points. Her most recent result would replace her SEC 5k time (1160 pts) so 1178+70 = 1248 bringing her average to 1225 which is 21st/22nd place. Plus she could get a score surpassing her result from NCAAs last year at the US Olympic Trials. The benefits of the 10k is that it only needs two good results so she might be banking on USAs being reasonably fast to get her a good ranking score along with a top 3 finish so she didn't bother having her NCAAs time count though if she had run the same time with legal shoes it would've been worth 1221 and put her in 19th/20th in the rankings with the 3 per country limit. I'm not a pro with the ranking system and I don't know how high you have to be on the rankings list to be confident in making it.
Parker Valby goes into the upcoming Trials segment with nothing to lose. She has the tools to compete with the best and get the standard(s). But if she doesnt, meh, $66k/monthly, the next Olympic cycle and the 2024 summer ahead to have fun.
I suspect she knows she can’t compete on the world stage yet and is enjoying her current successes. Good for her. This seems like a healthy and balanced approach. Good for her. It’s likely the best approach for her “brand” as well . Cash in in potential while the iron is hot. She has one plenty of time to be humbled by the African runners in the coming years.