After the amazing results in London, the interwebs exploded again in allegations of doping. While we've danced around this topic a few times, in this episode we dive into the deep end. While we don't have any answers or novel suggestions, we do have opinions. But you know about opinions & assholes, right? It seems we'll really never get to the bottom of this topic but we hold that as fans it's important to focus on the Good, the True & the Beautiful. We refuse to be jaded & sarcastic about the sport. Sure, there are reasons to be skeptical but that skepticism frequently turns sour & infects public perception of the sport by focusing on the cheaters & not on the epic performers & performances. Even when there are performances that are untainted by actual doping bans, the well has been poisoned. But why even fucking care? If one is always thinking the game is rigged, why even pay attention? This has never sufficiently been explained, in our minds. You are either in or out, we say. You can make yourself miserable & nihilistic, but we are not falling for that bullshit. Instead, we will focus on the beauty of competition, of failures, of pain & suffering.  We honor the intent of runners across the globe to endeavor to test themselves against time & distance; against other men & women; Against the inevitability of death. This running journey is a journey of self-discovery & self-transcendence, not a wallowing in a morass of "getting real" or "being naive". Because if we are going to "get real" we will all realize that the whole sport is really entertainment. It's a game. But when the sport, the pursuit, becomes something more - something deeper & higher - it becomes a way of living, a practice. A practice for what, you ask? Being human. & as more & more signs are pointing to humanity's disregard the lessons of empires of the past, perhaps what we are really training for is collapse. Maybe our real pursuit is outrunning the destruction of the world. But it's not all doom & gloom in this episode we call Drugs, Beauty & the Apocalypse...there is a light at the end of this tunnel: follow beauty. Until next week my friends, godspeed.