Hello!
I just wanted to say what an amazing thread this is - I thought I was perhaps the only person wound up by so many of these running influencers. So great to see I'm not alone!
On the topic of online coaching mentioned earlier -when I first started marathon-ing a few years ago in 2019/20, I needed some help so enlisted the help of Lloyd Kempson of TPR (I hope it's ok to name?) who I found to be supremely arrogant, and had an awful time. Messages were unanswered for weeks at a time, and the final straw was when I had a bi-annual consultation call where I was put on loudspeaker while he was cooking his lunch, talked at me for 30 minutes not letting me get a word in and referred to me as an 'elder athlete.' And I was thinking 'WTF, I'm in my 20s
,' it being clear that he had no idea who I was. It's interesting that TPR seems like it's since had a massive overhaul in it's branding - whilst before it seemed to very much be promoting community in their marketing, it now seems to be focused purely on celebrating their fast sub-elite athletes and their times.
Does anyone follow Izzy Seidel (@isabelseidel) sister of Olympic Bronze medallist, Molly Seidel? She is apparently a full time content creator and seems to lead the most vapid existence imaginable; her content seems to consist of her showing off pretty outfits, going for runs and bike rides around NYC and showing off more outfits that she wears. Talk about someone milking their family connections...
I'm also not a fan of Runner Beans who is the most out of touch, privileged person I've ever had the misfortune of coming across on social media. Her carbon footprint is staggering, jetsetting to the US multiple times a month sometimes for the opening of an evelope. It's going to be interesting to see how she copes with combining her jetsetting lifestyle with mom life over the next year. I'm also curious to see how she gets on at her marathon in a few months and if she hits that BQ time she's been boring her followers about for years....