Elite, but not glamorous

The life of a distance runner is by no means glamorous. When you are young and poor, you start out road racing, share hotel rooms with other runners just to hope to make a few hundred dollars. It’s even tougher now with the wave of foreign athletes that come race the USA road running circuit and aren’t subject to out-of-competition drug testing like the rest of us. It’s really nice when US road races offer American-only prize money as a way to support the American athletes. Even the Big Sur Half Marathon in November does a nice job trying to bring in some American elites.