Writing in the Wall Street Journal last week, lawyer Cameron Stracher said,
The demise of the American runner was hastened by the success of the first running boom in the 1970s and the embrace of running as a “pastime” rather than a sport.
Stracher has some impressive finish times in races, but this attitude he’s copping won’t win him any fans. Yes, U.S. runners are pokier than they were in 1979, and that’s because they/we are a lot OLDER than they were in 1979, and there’s no next generation in their teens or twenties that’s catching the running bug. But it makes no sense to blame the recreational and/or average runners who provide the money to support all of the road races, and the running shoe industry.
A month ago I said I’d be looking for a different running shoe, and I’ve found one. It’s the Asics GT-2150.
Not quite! Your niece Molly has joined her high school’s cross-country team, and has already been pegged by the coach as having “excellent form.” True, the numbers are WAY down from past year, and he has lamented this out loud to the team. She and one other girl are the only female runners in the team of about 13, and this is the BIGGER of the two Mifflin County high schools! When I first moved to Mifflin County in 1987, you’d see DOZENS of kids running along the street every afternoon, but sadly, that is no longer the case.