Drug Testing - is a hair cut really needed
Last night, I was wondering around on the internet when I stumbled across an article related to drug testing and Lance Armstrong. Unless you have lived under a rock or don’t know anything about sports, you probably know who Lance Armstrong is. And for that matter that he is probably the most heavily drug tested athlete on the planet.
In the article, it talked about his most recent drug test. Not only did they want the usual stuff but they wanted a sample of his hair.
This started me down the road of thinking. What if after the Shamrock race, Tim came up to me and said “hey, you are running pretty fast for a 44 year old man. We need to check and make sure you are legal i.e. drug free or drug clean. Plus in addition to the usual stuff, we need a hair sample”.
At this point, I would probably balk at his request. Not because I have precious little hair left and would like to keep what I have as long as possible. But because, what is the point. In my case, I am not getting endorsement deals or big pay checks. :) I am not running world record times. I am simply coming out on Saturday morning and running as hard and as fast I can for what distance the event might be.
Be the question could be asked “how do you know if someone is clean”. How do I know that the extra five beers Chris drank before his race didn’t help improve his time? Or if Cody has his oxygen tent set at 40 thousand feet where the oxygen molecules are so few that you can actually count them. Or what about Stan who uses a prerace meal of McDonald’s bacon egg cheese and then goes out and runs well for a 50k race.
I mean what do I really know. Maybe these guys are eating something or drinking some that gives them these great powers to run better.
Should we all be tested after every race? Thinking back now, maybe that kid from Wingate needs to be tested. He certainly looked like Usain Bolt flashing by me during our sprint to the finish.
In the article, it talked about his most recent drug test. Not only did they want the usual stuff but they wanted a sample of his hair.
This started me down the road of thinking. What if after the Shamrock race, Tim came up to me and said “hey, you are running pretty fast for a 44 year old man. We need to check and make sure you are legal i.e. drug free or drug clean. Plus in addition to the usual stuff, we need a hair sample”.
At this point, I would probably balk at his request. Not because I have precious little hair left and would like to keep what I have as long as possible. But because, what is the point. In my case, I am not getting endorsement deals or big pay checks. :) I am not running world record times. I am simply coming out on Saturday morning and running as hard and as fast I can for what distance the event might be.
Be the question could be asked “how do you know if someone is clean”. How do I know that the extra five beers Chris drank before his race didn’t help improve his time?
I mean what do I really know. Maybe these guys are eating something or drinking some that gives them these great powers to run better.
Should we all be tested after every race? Thinking back now, maybe that kid from Wingate needs to be tested. He certainly looked like Usain Bolt flashing by me during our sprint to the finish.
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