Ritz: "I'm probably the best American half marathoner ever,"

Actually his marathon is right in line with his 5000 and 1/2 marathon times. He just never fully developed his 5000 career, in part because of competition like Solinsky, Tegenkamp and Lagat. Easier to move up where there was a void.

His real underperformance was at 10000.

Ritz has had one good marathon relative to expectations set up by his combination of times and performances at 2M (8:11), 5000m (former AR 12:56), 10000m (27:22 in a warm tactical championships race the same year as his 5 and half pr's), and half marathon (60:00 (59:59.5) in a tactical relatively warm championship race, which could easily have broken Hall's record if it was cooler and less tactical)--a better performance with the bronze medal; 60:12 aided, and the other quick times). Marathon's never been his forte. 2:07:47 is a fine time, of course, but not for a 12:56 guy with limited speed (3:42? 1500m pr), and hence, excellent speed decay.

You missed the 60:12 of the great north run.

That's a long way of saying I'm right. His times line up, just with a negative slope from 5000.

jjjjjjj wrote:

Ritz has had one good marathon relative to expectations set up by his combination of times and performances at 2M (8:11), 5000m (former AR 12:56), 10000m (27:22 in a warm tactical championships race the same year as his 5 and half pr's), and half marathon (60:00 (59:59.5) in a tactical relatively warm championship race, which could easily have broken Hall's record if it was cooler and less tactical)--a better performance with the bronze medal; 60:12 aided, and the other quick times). Marathon's never been his forte. 2:07:47 is a fine time, of course, but not for a 12:56 guy with limited speed (3:42? 1500m pr), and hence, excellent speed decay.

A true statement!

From memory, it was kind of warm on the day Ritz ran 60 flat and he did it medaling in a World Champ.

It is funny how Ritz is discounted as a marathoner because he only has one good result but Hall is praised as a half marathoner with only 1 good performance.

One trick pony wrote:

It is funny how Ritz is discounted as a marathoner because he only has one good result but Hall is praised as a half marathoner with only 1 good performance.

Yeah, but didn't he set an AR in the 20K right before his AR in the marathon?

TrackCoach wrote:

A true statement!

From memory, it was kind of warm on the day Ritz ran 60 flat and he did it medaling in a World Champ.

Agreed. What other American runner has medaled at the WC for that event, and run faster times?

For example, let's suppose that Galen Rupp's 10K PR was slightly slower than Solinsky, but Galen still had his OG silver, wouldn't he still be considered the USA's best 10K runner, even without the AR?

Some guys just are meant for non standard distances .. wasn't there a guy who couldn't win a 400 or an 800 but was unbeatable at 600m?

Martin McGrady.

Who cares about the HM? I can understand if he could back it up with either best 10K or best Marathon, but Rupp and Shorter (in a year Rupp as well) occupy those positions.

Sdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Wtf. How can he claim to be the best American when Hall ran faster a few years before his Ritz's pr?

It is different if somebody runs nearly as fast 30 or 40 years before the current record. That is then a defensible argument. But to run slower than the American record, there is no argument to be made.

At the very least, he should be able to back it up with an Olympic medal, or something. But it's the half marathon, so that argument can't even be made. I really don't see how he can claim this. Plus it is so conceited to say that even if it is true.

Don't get me wrong, Ritz's half marathon record is fantastic. But he's only the second fastest, so second best american.

On the one hand, we could all "accidentally" say things that sound more conceited than they are. Or maybe he is. I don't know.

But, I think that, on the roads, he probably OUGHT to feel to feel like he's a good notch below Hall (and Rupp). Those are the only 2 American-born guys since....Salazar (???) [maybe Bob Kemp.?]....to compete with the world's BIG BOYS in the marathon. I'm suitably impressed by that, but as always, disappointed/surprised/amazed that our LARGE nation manages to produce so VERY few who can do so.

....and is there something about being from Michigan that makes one under-perform in the marathon? I had so much hope for Todd Williams after his impressive track/XC career. But nope. Never understood it. And then Ritzenheim. Nope, again. Kinda funny that the last to win a big one (I think, Boston '83?) was Meyer....from Michigan!

I'm not a big Hall fan but between 2007 and 2012 Hall had on average an excellent race each year and plenty of other solid races to back 'em up. Only Shorter and Meb are comparable.

One trick pony wrote:

It is funny how Ritz is discounted as a marathoner because he only has one good result but Hall is praised as a half marathoner with only 1 good performance.

I agree that Ritz has the most high-performance halfs of any American. That's all he's saying. He knows he doesn't have the record.

It's a shame half marathons aren't more popular. The pros can race about 4 times as many halfs as they can full marathons, which means it would be a lot easier to make money. Oh well. Instead we have to race far enough that eating and drinking are a major issue.

Of course, the real underperformance in the marathon is not the 2:07:47, his best--still several minutes off what you would have thought he could do in the right conditions--but all of his marathons around 2:10. Whatever the problem, he's had a terrific career at half and under.

Just wait for Rupp.

59:20.

Just wow... wrote:

Come on, man. The dude went sub 2:08!

sad facts need to be said wrote:

Outdoing Hall, Meb, Khalid...

It looks like what Ritz should actually be saying is that he is "the most under-performing American marathoner ever.

I'll be interesting to see if he can still run near the form he had under Salazar. Probably.

Dudes worse than him in the half (by his statement) did 2:04-2:05, and won Boston/NYC + Oly medals.

Ritz = massive marathon underperformer.

One trick pony wrote:

It is funny how Ritz is discounted as a marathoner because he only has one good result but Hall is praised as a half marathoner with only 1 good performance.

Yeah but Hall also only made the one serious try. Compare that to Ritz who has run like 10 marathons with 1 sub 2:09. Hall HM career is almost all speculation based on the US champ/AR races. Ritz's marathon career is based on 10 races where he struggles to break 2:10 and cramps up pretty much every race.