| Positivity |
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I'm interested to see what people think he should do, obviously he's facing a pretty good dilemma. -There are only 3 Olympic team spots for Kenya -Patrick Makau has essentially locked up one with his marathon WR -Abdi will likely take the other for running World Champs after so many others turned Athletics Kenya down -Geoffrey Mutai and Emmanuel Mutai are also vying for a spot and are arguably both capable of breaking the WR if they had perfect weather/course/pacing like Makau did at Berlin. -Geoffrey Mutai has beaten Mosop head-to-head (albeit by only four seconds in Mosop's debut) All of these factors would indicate that, if Mosop wants any chance to make the team, he needs to go out at a solid, near-WR pace and decimate the field in order to prove his worth. He has time on his side as G. Mutai will be running New York, where there is virtually no chance he will be able to hit the kind of times Mosop will hit in Chicago and may very well be beaten by somebody in the stellar field. That being said... -Chicago is projected to be mid-70's -There aren't really any other marathoners in the "upper echelon" of the marathon world here, which could make it difficult for Mosop to run a great time. -However, this lack of top-end competition means Mosop should win fairly easily -Canova says that Mosop is not quite 100% in shape due to an injury So if you're Mosop, what do you do? Go all out and hope for a killer time that will boost your Olympic selection resume, or play it safe and hope that winning one of the Marathon Majors (in addition to an aided Boston time) will prove to be enough? |
| WGEGA |
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If by abdi you mean Kirui, then yes, him and Makau have both been awarded spots already. There is one spot up for grabs. Id say he needs to go out quickly, but not quite WR or quicker pace. If he can win this in a CR i think it gives him a very good shot, especially if Mutai were to falter at NYC |
| den bosch |
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I don't think sub 2:05 will happen. Too hot. If he can win in a time quicker than Sammy last year though and maybe even get a course record hopefully they take note of that. |
| Aged Road Racer |
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Normally I would think a course record would do it, but E. Mutai and G. Mutai also set CR's at London and Boston, respectively, earlier this year. Damn I wouldn't want to be the person who has to pick the Kenyan Olympic team. |
| Troll Hard |
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It's a crappy situation. If it was me...balls to the wall WR pace. But I'm an idiot who blows up racing 90% of the time. |
| wwrhd |
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I say toy with the field for about 20 miles, then try to beat them by 2 minutes over the last 10K. Also, he should point and laugh at Ryan Hall at some point. |
| troof be told |
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Start fast, push the middle, surge at 30 km and then kick at the end. |
| Ben B. |
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I say just go for the win...the olymics will be tough enough for the two kenyans already selected...a plus if mosop doesn't gain an olympic spot is he gets to clean up at a fall marathon in 2012. |
| Lone Lobo |
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With a name like that I'd whip out my staff and part the finishing tspe with it while roaring in a Charlton Heston-esque voice. |
| WTH? |
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The premise might off - how do we know his ultimate goal is to make the Olympic team? It's only his second marathon. That said, as the big guy in the race he'll undoubtedly have some say regarding pacemaking, so he should roll to 25K or 30K with the pacers and push thereafter. |
| temptivity |
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Actually in the mornings, Chicago's temps have been in the mid-high 50s. There is a good chance they will only spend a few miles (if any) running in the 70s |