Oregon Runner Celebrates To Early, and Promptly Blows A 10 Stride Lead

Business Insider- After the race, Runner Space interviewed Pepiot, who said he didn't know how close Simon was behind him.

"I thought I was by my self, like, far in front of the second guy," Pepiot said. "I saw [Simon] on the screen, I tried to pick up, he just got me on the line. I'm not proud of myself right now, but it's a good lesson for me, I think, not to do this in the future. Next time I'll just run the whole final stretch and celebrate in the victory lap."

This is as much of an indictment of the current state of other sports as it is of the state of our youth. Football player's dropping the ball short of the goal line or getting tackled at the 5 because they slowed down to celebrate. Baseball player's and their bat flips only to have an outfielder catch it at the warning track. Coach Riley told me "it's not worth winning if you can't win big". That seems to be lost on kids these days. Now the prospect of rubbing your competition's nose in the dirt is enough to sacrifice thorough domination for a reputation crippling loss. I don't want to sound like a wet blanket. I love a good celebration. Bat flips are like 33% of the reason I watch baseball highlights. Give me all the 'Nae-Nae's', all the 'Stanky Legs', all the fist pumps, all the backflips. I almost shed a damn tear when the NFL prohibited Jimmy Graham from dunking over the goal post. I have no problem with crushing your opponents will to live by celebrating a victory right in his face. However, step one is to make sure you have something to celebrate.

We just going to ignore the elephant in the room? Yes, by elephant I mean the black kid that closed in on some vulnerable white pussy faster than Bill Cosby. The fact that this kid thought he had an insurmountable lead when there was a black kid in the race is pure comedy. If that were me I would have sprinted an extra 60 yards just to be safe. Can never be sure when Simon from Washington is going to hit his genetic turbo button and turn you into a viral laughing stock. 

Take a lesson Tanguy, you can finish the race and still do an admirable job of insulting your opponent. Simon proved that when you finally caught a glimpse of him and he was already on his second of three fist pumps. Running isn't like other sports in that there is a lot to learn. I'm pretty sure Chapter 1 in 'Running 4 Dummiez' is titled "run fast" and the second chapter is titled "through the finish line". Two chapters and Tanguy couldn't even finish the assignment. Like most kids these days he had to learn the hard way, by failing the test. 

Someday they'll learn...