unbeataBULL wrote:according to "Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide" by Gregory S. Paul, tests have been done on lizards to prove that gracility and long-limbs doesn't actually make one faster. what it does is allow one to run with less energy.
for fast sprinting, one requires a lot of muscle. 100 metre champions look very different from marathon runners. like ewoks, they are stout, with strong legs and powerful muscles.
just look at grizzly bears. they can out sprint horses, yet have a short-limbed, plaintigrade stance, contradictory to the general idea of fast animals.
And yet, by your own admission, animals with long legs expend far less energy running, therefore are better suited for a running lifestyle. Bears can run as fast as a horse for very short distances, but very rarely do they ever use this ability because they aren't animals who are designed for running.
And BTW, long legs are very related to speed because of stride. If you have longer legs, you'll have a longer stride, which ultimately allows you to cover more distance per stride than someone with short legs, and therefore run faster, even if you have the same number of strides over a given ammount of time.
And your generalization about runners is just that, a generalization, there can, and have been plenty of short sprinters, and can, and been plenty of tall marathoners. Your hight doesn't determine the running style you'll be best at.