What do you think? ID say its even more impressive. He just refused to be broken by Kebede despite numerous attempts to do so. This combined with the fact that he apparently wasn't even 100% coming in to the race.
You could tell he was hurting REAL bad the last 2 miles but just hung in there. He even need to be scraped off the ground at the end! Im in awe right now.....that is a tough tough man
Balls...that was just balls.
"WHAT BALLS THIS GUY HAS!"
Tony Revis, king of the awkward pauses. . .
I thought he was hilarious. I mean he was the only commentator who seemed excited about the race
TheJerk wrote:
What do you think? ID say its even more impressive. He just refused to be broken by Kebede despite numerous attempts to do so. This combined with the fact that he apparently wasn't even 100% coming in to the race.
You could tell he was hurting REAL bad the last 2 miles but just hung in there. He even need to be scraped off the ground at the end! Im in awe right now.....that is a tough tough man
I concur!
Right now I am talking to a man in Nyahururu -via text. The reception is just over the roof.
This guy is just unbelievable. This tops Beijing by a mile.
A great confidence booster for the little man with a heart of a Lion. Give him six to eight more months and not only are we gonna talk about the unbeatable Wanjiru but a new World Record. Many would wonder how the outcome of Wanjiru Vs Makau(Rotterdam2010 and Berlin2010 winner). I think Wanjiru is fearless and would win a match up against anyone. That is what we need in this sport-gutsy runners would would run all the way to the finish line. It is sad someone like Deriba has not even broken 2:06 yet anyone would have been forgiven if they said he was gonna win this race. But his days are almost over. Anyway way to go to man Wanjiru. Kebede has to go back to the drawing board and find out what went wrong. His lack of ability to control the pace cost him the race.
I dont agree that Kebede needs to go back to the drawing board.....what did he do wrong? He broke everyone except Wanjiru, who apparently was not going to allow anyone else to win today. I dint know what he could have done better. I thought he ran a great race
Of course not. In Beijing he was unbeatable, not today.
Daniel Komen wrote:
A great confidence booster for the little man with a heart of a Lion. Give him six to eight more months and not only are we gonna talk about the unbeatable Wanjiru but a new World Record. Many would wonder how the outcome of Wanjiru Vs Makau(Rotterdam2010 and Berlin2010 winner). I think Wanjiru is fearless and would win a match up against anyone. That is what we need in this sport-gutsy runners would would run all the way to the finish line. It is sad someone like Deriba has not even broken 2:06 yet anyone would have been forgiven if they said he was gonna win this race. But his days are almost over. Anyway way to go to man Wanjiru. Kebede has to go back to the drawing board and find out what went wrong. His lack of ability to control the pace cost him the race.
Komen,
I think Wanjiru will break the world record. I truly hope he runs Berlin against Kebede, Merga, Makau, Haile and whoever else. This guy has a never die attitude.
AS for Kebede, do you remember that guy you could never beat in school in maths? That guy is Wanjiru.
He is marginally better and that is just how it is. IN running, when his burners are kicking, I don't care who you are, he'll ruin you. The guy is probably at 90% now and yet, he rises to the top. Great job.
I wonder what happened to Kiprono, the Boston 2010 winner. I had him as a potential winner. Actually, I had him or Kebede but not Wanjiru.
TheJerk wrote:
I dont agree that Kebede needs to go back to the drawing board.....what did he do wrong? He broke everyone except Wanjiru, who apparently was not going to allow anyone else to win today. I dint know what he could have done better. I thought he ran a great race
I agree, not too much he could have done differently. He probably should have worried less about Wanjiru's games when he had a 2-3 second lead for the OG champ (i.e., he kept turning around to see where Sammy was).
The last move was made at a slight uphill?
I think the commentators are idiots.
At first I did think Wanjiru would be broken; however, after the 3rd mini break and Wanjiru fought back the 3rd time and then he ran on his Kebede's shoulder.
After that I thought Wanjiru was trying to break Kebede because he saw everytime he went to front Kebede would retake the lead briefly by another surge. With less than 2 minutes to go Wanjiru did a strong but very brief 4th surge in which Kebede responded but he didn't look so good as his right arm had now begun a very noticeable circular motion.
You also noticed that from 22-25 mile Wanjiru kept looking back but once they reached mile 25 he never looked back again for the other Ethiopian. It appeared to me that Wanjiru formulated that tactic with one mile to go and it worked perfectly!
WHAT DID KEBEDE DO WRONG? For some reason he had to retake the lead as soon as Wanjiru got a couple strides ahead of him and with those 4-5 surges to retake he actually broke himself. At the 25 mile mark I think Wanjiru knew how much he had left and kept inching ahead because he saw Kebede's form worsening and Kebede couldn't hold his surges for long. Wanjiru wanted Kebede to keep surging that last mile because Wanjiru knew he had one last actually finish push that those surges was hurting Kebede more than Wanjiru.
Sammy's win today was:
a) One of the greatest marathon races of all time
b) A disaster for Sammy's chances to ever get the WR
c) Both of the above
I would say c) IF all those stories about him getting so out of shape/unmotivated earlier this year are true. What must Sammy be thinking over the next few weeks - "Hey, I can goof off, even start a beer belly, but still nobody can beat me if I just train for a few months."
Now, will he bother to train and take care of his body consistently for 3 - 4 years - which is what it would take for him to really put forth his best?
Time will tell. But I have my doubts.
A supreme talent. And a supreme marathon racer. If he turns out to be a supreme marathon trainer we will see some truly amazing things over the next four years.
Remember this guy ran the last 10km in London this year in something like 29:11. If he had done anything close to that, don't you think he could have had this race? Especially if he did the first half of the 10k in say 14:00-14:20. Not that wanjiru is not capable of running fast but Kebede did not seem to attempt anything like that. It was just surges and surges which are energy burners. I guess the presence of Wanjiru at the front especially after half and his reluctance to push the pace aggressively as he is known for kind of confused Kebede. He was talking about running faster than his PR and I think he was capable of it but I think Wanjiru played the mind game well. And it is good because if Wanjiru is not 100% healthy(in shape)and he managed to decisively beat a healthy Kebede, Kebede should forget ever beating a healthy Wanjiru.
This thread is worthless without results.
After this I'll stick with threads that have results in the title.
Great last mile but guys: he ran almost 3min slower than Geb on comparable courses.
TheJerk wrote:
What do you think? ID say its even more impressive. He just refused to be broken by Kebede despite numerous attempts to do so. This combined with the fact that he apparently wasn't even 100% coming in to the race.
You could tell he was hurting REAL bad the last 2 miles but just hung in there. He even need to be scraped off the ground at the end! Im in awe right now.....that is a tough tough man
I do think it's more impressive, because unlike Beijing, he wasn't the one dictating the race, and on top of that, he hasn't had a good 2010.
No doubt that Wanjiru is still the top marathoner, though I would never bet against Haile if they were to race against each other.
Any word on Wajiru's last 800m? Sub-2:10?
No. Unless the world showed up or he set a WR, no.