What's in a Name?

While Usain Bolt takes gold with a new world record at the 2009 T&F World Championships in Berlin, (that's five world records in five major finals so far,) Caster Semenya of South Africa rivals his publicity by taking gold in the 800 amid rumors of her being not-entirely female. The best coverage of this controversy, as well as extensive analysis of the event, itself, can be found on The Science of Sport.

Now, the guys from The Science of Sport are doing a great job with their coverage, and they are objective and professional, as always. With their pursuit of scientific understanding of the mechanics of athletic performance to their experience dealing with the politics of the South African world of athletics, perhaps no one can rival their expertise on the issue. They are spot-on in their assertion that the ASA (Athletics South Africa) are to blame for not having tested her before allowing her to compete in the World Championships. However, they may have overlooked something really obvious.

The crux of the issue is that there are rumors (and only rumors) surrounding the South African runner about her possessing secondary male characteristics, i.e. hermaphroditism. Now, the question obviously isn't whether she's male or female - that can be discerned easily enough with the Crocodile Dundee crotch-check method. The question is what makes male athletic physiology superior to female athletic physiology, which is very tricky, and if she possesses enough of these male qualities to render it unfair to compete with female athletes. Now, she does look less feminine compared to the other women she is running against, but she is nowhere near the size, muscularity or speed of elite male runners.

Since the ASA has allowed her to compete, her performances will be clouded by controversy until adequate testing can be done, and then she may have her medal taken away (with fourth place receiving bronze, third receiving silver, etc.) The only argument to defend ASA is that the rumors alone weren't enough to instigate thorough testing. And to that, I say, really? With a name like Caster? I'm not sure if Caster is a popular girl's name in South Africa, but in the world arena, it's just not going to fly. And you don't EVER name your girl Caster if your last name is Semenya.

Caster Semenya. There's a transvestite porn name for you. It's worse than Beau Breedlove. She should really go by Cassie, or even Suzy or Venus. There's just no way that the IAAF is going to let a female athlete with a name like Caster Semenya take a medal without questioning it. And so, even if Caster Semenya eventually proves to be adequately female, the response to her performance, in the meantime, is going to be as vicious as this scene from Austin Powers.

not quite everything you knew about running is wrong...

Jon Stewart interviewed Christopher McDougall, author of Born To Run, on the Daily Show. The promo promised that "everything you thought you knew about running was wrong."

It was a fairly good interview, and sounds like a good book about the Tarahumaras, but it didn't quite get to the part where "everything I thought I knew about running was wrong." I haven't read Born To Run yet, (there is a great review coming out soon in the Oregon Distance Runner), but the gist of at least part of the book is that these Tarahumaras can run for so far and for so long because they run naturally. In part, they run well not despite the fact that they wear modest sandals, but because they wear modest sandals. And so the bad guys are the giants of the shoe industry who sell these "technologically advanced" running shoes to the dim-witted American masses.

Well, that's partly right. Nike, of course, started the techologically advanced athletic shoe industry, spurred forward by Bill Bowerman's waffle iron. They wanted to design shoes with as much support possible with the least amount of weight - the better the shoe worked, the less of it you would need. Even durability was not important, as Bowerman claimed the perfect shoe would distentegrate just after finishing your race - any more would be too much, and slow you down. So, you look at shoes worn by world-class runners today, and no matter what brand they are, they will all be light, solidly built, very functional shoes designed by athletes for athletes.

The problem is that all these running shoe companies took the new material and new construction methods born in the 1970's and 1980's and started designing them for the masses - athletic shoes for non-athletic people. And that's how you get crap like Air Max. They may be OK for walking around in, but they were not designed for running. So, a large percentage of shoes put out by Nike, adidas, Puma, Saucony, New Balance, Asics, Reeboks, etc, etc, are crap - shoes designed to "correct" a person's running problems - those people who haven't yet learned how to run. The "athletes" are seen as a market, so to sell to non-athletes, (additional markets), they have to dumb-down the shoes in an attempt to get people to run, and that's where runners get achey joints and tendons.

Nike and other shoe companies have known about the Tarahumaras for years, and have designed shoes based on the Tarahumaras, and based on running barefoot or near-barefoot. There's a lot of great shoes out there, and the running shoe companies are making some really great products. But, they're also making crap. It's like car companies that make some really, really great cars, but they also make crappy cars, as well. Why? Because some people might want a cheaper alternative? Crappy shoes usually cost about the same as great shoes, and they certainly cost the same to make. And, wearing bad shoes costs much, much more in the long run.

Running barefoot is good, and I do so once in a while. But, running in good shoes is better than running in bare feet all the time. In any case, I'd rather run barefoot than run in bad shoes.

West Linn Wild

The West Linn Wild 5 & 10 Mile Run/Walk - Sunday, October 18, 2009, is Run With Paula's newest race. This event begins at Portland Running Company in West Linn, Oregon and runs on roads and trails along the Willamette River to Lake Oswego and back. Choose either the 5 mile or the 10 mile distance. This event is very challenging and is hilly but the river views are amazing. Come out and help the Three Rivers Land Conservancy join the pathways between West Linn and Lake Oswego. What a fun way to end the running season!

Up next: The Crawfish Crawl 5K - Saturday, August 8, 2009 in Tualatin, OR. Grab your relay team and warm up together with this fun community 5K through Tualatin City Park and Cook Park. Cool long sleeve technical running T-shirt with entry. Sign up for the West Linn Wild and the Crawfish Crawl today at www.runwithpaula.com.