Dathan hasn't been in any track races up to this point. Anyone know if he still intends to run the 10k at the trials. I assume he would need to get the standard and outside of Pre are there many chances to run a fast 10k?
Dathan hasn't been in any track races up to this point. Anyone know if he still intends to run the 10k at the trials. I assume he would need to get the standard and outside of Pre are there many chances to run a fast 10k?
He will make a run in the 10,000 and finish a respectable 8th. He will then return to a fall marathon and be the top American in Chicago or NYC. Life will go on. I have no insider information.
He pulled out of both the shamrock 8k and Peyton Jordan . I expect any day for him announce he's either 1. Retiring or 2. Forgoing trials to get healthy and train for a fall marathon.
Marathon = worst thing to happen to Ritz. Imagine if he never focused on the marathon and only 1500-half? 12:50? 26:40? 59:00? Probably... Always wanted the pay day, always underperformed/injured himself. Too late now but he should have forgotten about the marathon after his first few attempts. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Other options wrote:
Marathon = worst thing to happen to Ritz. Imagine if he never focused on the marathon and only 1500-half? 12:50? 26:40? 59:00? Probably... Always wanted the pay day, always underperformed/injured himself. Too late now but he should have forgotten about the marathon after his first few attempts. Hindsight is always 20/20.
He ran 8:11 (2miles), 12:56, and was bronze medalist at the HM. All of those performances are better than anything he's done at the marathon distance. I agree his career would be much better if he had focused on 5k-10k, xc, and one or two HMs each year. Hindsight is 20/20 though.
He has no intention of running track. That was just frustration talking after the trials. It is what the silly public want to hear.
Others that have taken the same route in an attempt to remain relevant.
Fleshman, Kara Goucher, Abdi, Luke Puskedra. I'm sure I'm missing a few others.
You're right: he has no interest whatsoever in trying to make a fourth Olympic team.
Just a lil burger wrote:
He has no intention of running track. That was just frustration talking after the trials. It is what the silly public want to hear.
Others that have taken the same route in an attempt to remain relevant.
Fleshman, Kara Goucher, Abdi, Luke Puskedra. I'm sure I'm missing a few others.
Agree. Imagine if he opted to follow the Jon Sinclair route. Selective road racing, yet still competitive on the track. Race distances from 1500 to 13.1 on the roads. Would have had the longevity to have many a pay-day.
Ritz has better track credentials than Jon did which would set him up for the roads. With this range Ritz should be able to compete with and beat anyone on the road scene.
Ritz career is a frustrating one as a fan bc. Writing was on the wall he had so much untapped speed but was afraid of training short/ fast in fear of injuries where marathon training has done more damage . Even in his 8:11/ 12:56 days ritz hasn't ran a 1500/ mile race since COLLEGE... And still has never broke the 4 min mile, something I feel most any runner if they knew they could would do. And ritz hasn't ran any indoor races since college.
One of the worst things ever happen ritz was getting 9th in Beijing bc it gave him the notion he was a "marathoner". Given ritz could go back in his career... After New York 06 debut disaster he'd concentrated rest of his career to medals at world cc and working on 5k/10k. Marathon been very unfulfilling to him.
I don't understand all the cynicism. Notwithstanding an injury-prone career, which MAY be partially attributed to overtraining in HS and too much hard track stuff, the guy has still managed to run 8:11, 12:56, 27:22 (hot, WC race), 1:00:00, and 2:07. Plus he has won three US xc championships, a NCAA xc title, a bronze medal as a junior in cross, and he made three Olympic teams. That is a remarkable career.
Interestingly, his best, longest, and most consistent stretch of training was his marathon training under Hudson before his underachieving 2:10:00 in London, which paved the way for many of those track PRs. The only thing missing from Ritz's resume is a higher finish at World Cross Country, and I, for one, wish he would've committed more to that earlier in his career.
He will likely finish his career as a road whore, which is totally fine.
runnerboy1 wrote:
Agree. Imagine if he opted to follow the Jon Sinclair route. Selective road racing, yet still competitive on the track. Race distances from 1500 to 13.1 on the roads. Would have had the longevity to have many a pay-day.
Ritz has better track credentials than Jon did which would set him up for the roads. With this range Ritz should be able to compete with and beat anyone on the road scene.
Ritz was never, ever a 1500m guy in his career. 2 miles and up is what we're talking. On the track, he never had the finishing speed those other 5000m guys had. I wish him luck.
Well just because your not a miler doesn't mean u don't need to run Mile races to work on speed and a kick for other events. Rule #1 in the running 101 playbook
Des Linden: "The entire sport" has changed since she first started running Boston.
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
Ryan Eiler, 3rd American man at Boston, almost out of nowhere
Matt Choi was drinking beer halfway through the Boston Marathon
2024 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion