Chicago Marathon Live - Official Thread

hartman still under 2:11 pace

"Look at the footballs this guy's got!"

Wow... fun finish!

2:06:43 unoffcially, Kebede low 2:07, Lelisa low 2:08

Fantastic and fantastic announcing by Toni Reavis and Ed Eyestone. They worked great together and didn't allow no-nothings dominate the conversation.

BEST MARATHON EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an amazing gutsy race by Wanjiru! He kept falling back/catching up for a long time......credit to Kebede as well for speeding up every time Wanjiru tried to move on him. Perfect battle between arguably the 2 best marathoners on the planet. Only thing to make it better would be if Haile was right there as well.

CONGRATS WANJIRU! What an amazing performance!!!

2:06:23 to 2:06:42

6:00 wrote:

All those little surges by Wanjiru... must have been fakes, he never really lead until the last 500 meters or so... owned the race.

When I'm in a two-man race, I like to just push up on the guy's shoulder, repeatedly, forcing him to make the mistake of picking up the pace; it's mentally harrowing to keep thinking you have to kick, and never knowing if this is going to be the time that you have to hold the sped-up pace. That left Kebede drained for when Wanjiru moved. Of course, I don't think Wanjiru knew he could really roll until the final surge--I think each time he moved, Wanjiru only wanted to get right up there, not to take the lead, and then with a quarter to go up the hill he pushed all in and had a lot more in the tank--with the benefit of Kebede thinking god, I've already pushed all in three or four times, this guy must really have it.

greatest marathon I've ever seen-----and for those of you complaining about coverage, STOP!! we had a knowledgeable guy like Revis going crazy---great stuff

Lady "announcer": "This might be the first time both the men and women's champions successfully defend their titles in consecutive years."

Should have added "back to back in a row" there someplace.

live feed worked great....kudos to nbc chicago

Complain all you want about the early overage--but they stuck with the race when it mattered, caught the women's move when Shoubi-doo made her pass and the announcers were actually excited about the race. All in all, I was pretty happy with the coverage...

2:11 for Hartman

William Hunting wrote:

"Look at the footballs this guy's got!"

loved that commentator! he was the only one that understood anything. anyone else pissed off about how when the race was on the line they switch to some random charity plaque unveiling? at least show picture in picture

marathon finish of the year?

WANJIRU IS BACK!

And imagine, he didn't even get to train as well as possible because of a knee problem AND a stomach virus. My goodness. this guy is amazing!

Kebede may have known he had no kick in his legs and tried to make Sammy give up on him or give him some room. He gave fake surges early to try to avoid Sammy in the last 800m.

Look at how spent Wanjiru was at the end of the race.....you could tell he was hurting bad the last couple of miles but just hung in there....HUGE RESPECT.....tough tough runner

raptors88 wrote:

William Hunting wrote:

"Look at the footballs this guy's got!"

loved that commentator! he was the only one that understood anything. anyone else pissed off about how when the race was on the line they switch to some random charity plaque unveiling? at least show picture in picture

marathon finish of the year?

It was intense but to be fair the Berlin finish was pretty sick too, granted it was more of a dominant win as in not a lot of position changing but the marigin was still closer and the time was faster.

What affects the marathon more, rain or heat?

Reavis: Sammy'll need a forklift to get him out of bed tomorrow morning.