Are you inspired by Alex Vero's ambitions, or slightly insulted?

Finally, wise words on the nature vs nuture debate from the man himself:

"Along the way I have learnt that we all have genetic limits on how far we can progress in running"

Thing is, he's right in that the vast majority of us will never get near those limits for whatever reason.
Good article on the RW homepage about his project

On the general theme re 'vast majority of us will never get near those limits for whatever the reason', isn't that a large slice of appeal of running.....if you can stay injury free and have the time available then assuming the limits haven't been explored already (at a guess that's the vast majority of us) then you can still improve and beat Pbs when for nearly all other sports from 30s onwards it's all downhill.  

Whatever your take on him Alex Vero seems to be an example of what sort of improvement is achievable with application, and as such can only be an inspiration to runners?

the urbane loafer.

 True to an extent but if you know the stories behind a lot of the top guys they're equally or far more inspiring. There's really not a huge amount of appeal to people at seeing a chap who's not taken great care of himself, declare he's going to try and make an olympic team, train for a few years and realise that whilst he's actually moderately talented he's nowhere near the level needed despite concentrating on it full time.

 My friend worked hard at the sport as a junior, eventually dropped out for a while due to (I think) disagreements with coaches etc. came back about 4 years ago and started running on the local scene. BY working damn hard whilst working a demanding full time job (City) he is now scarily close to being at the sort of level where he could potentially look at 2012 if not Beijing.

Another chap. Was at the same sort of fitness level as Vero, bit overweight, not in great shape, same sort of times. Started taking his running seriously Dedicated himself to it and just bashing out the miles week in and week out, completely focused on improving himself. Has now had his first England call up.

There's hundreds of major success stories out there- it's just a case of looking even a little deeper as to be honest these guys are on the whole so damn modest you wouldn't even realise how good they were even if you talked to them for a few hours about running in general! That's why people get a bit annoyed at Vero- not because what he's doing isn't interesting - but because there are so many more interesting stories and fantastic people and runners. Running is a very layered sport, if you work and train hard you get the rewards and the recognition - not a single runner in the country bemoans Radcliffe, Twell, Farah etc. their rewards and respect, it's when someone before training hard and actually accomplishing anything starts shouting loudly and demanding that time and attention that people get annoyed.

 That said Vero is gradually growing on me, and I'm sorry to hear about his news and that he won't be able to run the London marathon or run for 4 weeks as after finally getting through my own injury hell I was looking forward to racing him.

He's dropped out of London? How you know?

Pug

Marshallini-

Are you actually Alex Vero?!

No, I found that posted on another forum.

Could be a made up for all I know. 

Harsh but true - if they dish it out they should be big enough to take the flak

Pantman - marathon target: Not sure but under 2:30 debut I think - achieved: zilch
Pugheaven - marathon target 2:36 - achieved: 2:51
Vero - marathon target 2:15->2:30 - achieved: 2:56

What these guys have in common is that they started running when fat (by their own admission) and, not surprisingly, they made great improvements in the early months as the weight fell off. The mistake they have all made is thinking that a high rate of improvement would continue after the weight fell off. What happened is that they all hit the same law of dimishing returns that non-fat people experience. Their projected improvement was distorted by the weight loss. In my experience, these people give up and drift away when they realise that it's a lot harder than they thought (with a lot less noise than they come into the sport).

To Hobbling Harrier, well though out  posting, i agree that Alex Vero isnt the only guy/girl out there working hard at their sport to get the best out of  themselves.....so what !!!

He was bold and stated his intention right from the off , set himself a truly tough target and went about trying to achieve it with dedication. He declared himself a sloth and wanted to get to the Olympics, in doing that he has marketed his product well, so what is so wrong with that. I dont see him as an egomaniac, I see him as a guy with ambition and drive.

Admittedly he may be guilty of being too optimistic but seriously, who would have given a s**t about his documentary about running a sub 2:30 at London. A declaration that he was going to make the Bejing team was what he required to catch the attention of us all and get the funding he needed to try to achieve his goal, and he did that. Well done !

Quoting your "There's hundreds of major success stories out there", fair enough, I am sure there are, but not in my running world, I am a jogger and I dont know any of them, this story for me is truly intruiging and inspiring, and for me and for the majority of part time runners (who make up over 90% of the running community may I add), this story unfolding in front of us is enthralling., he has even got you hooked as you say .... "I was looking forward to racing him. " (hinting unashamedly at your own ability !!!)

I continue to applaud this guy, he has seen an opportunity to pursue his dream and get paid for doing it, and somehow his quest is providing inspiration to many..

Gobi  "Around", as in, injured and not running!