Re: t-and-f: Creating Good Distance runners in the US

[Robert Hersh]

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>I was a NY/NJ tough guy and moved to Florida, where if it's 70 it's
referred to as "chilly" and morphed into a pansy.  I do agree with the
theory, however that the harsher conditions in some locals tend to breed
tougher runners.
<

My father used to say that this was true in other contexts.  "How many
Nobel Prizes in the sciences have ever been earned by people who lived in
warm climates?"  (Please don't answer that question literally--for one
thing, this conversation dates back to the '50's and even then, I'm sure
there were some.)  His believed that it is difficult to be intellectually
disciplined if you live in paradise.  He felt that the rigors of cold
weather were part of what it took to function at the highest level and,
conversely, that warm weather softened you.  I never fully bought into this
theory, but I never fully dismissed it, either.

Bob H