Where does Rupp go from here? I'm thinkin' retirement

This is correct. He is not a graduated cylinder.

Well, he ran 2:09 after stopping briefly and he probably has a bulging disc in his back. That said, he’s still the fastest American marathoner at the moment. He definitely doesn’t want to go out like this. He’ll probably race pissed off at least once more for one last competitive result.

Shoe companies won't allow a marathon focused group to train together. There aren't enough runners sponsored by any simgle shoe company to make it work.

The US needs a state-sponsored training group. It's the only solution.

Ran 206 9 months ago in the heat. Looked great through 20. If he can solve the sciatic issue has a few in him....

Lol, 2:09 isn't washed up. You, BadWigins, carmine, Yawn all need to go form your own little society where you can validate the alternate realities you live in instead of trying to push them on everybody else.

He has a couple options

1 - Try to resolve the issue with his back so that he can train and compete at an elite level.

2 - Retire from competition and move on to the next phase of his life.

If he retires, there is no doubt that Nike will take care of him. He is one of the most decorated runners in American history. Nike will sign him to a contract/ legends endorsement deal (a la Joanie and Alberto). I am sure they would let him coach or work for the company if Galen wanted to. But Galen has probably made many millions running over the course of an 18 year career as their top-paid American distance runner that he can elect to sit back and focus on being a parent for a few years.

Also, while Galen secluded himself and does not appear as openly as Meb did in his prime years, Galen is still a huge name. If he does a photo/autograph signing at a major marathon expo, the line will be around the hall to see him. Because he’s Galen Rupp.

It is possible he can recover from the back issue. The only question is whether there will be ongoing nerve compression preventing him from training 100%. He could elect to have surgery, but once you start cutting, he will ultimately have these same problems re-appear down the road. If he lets things heal naturally (which he should try to do), there’s no telling what the final outcome will be on ability to perform at an elite level or how long it will take to get back there.

Nevertheless, I wish him the best. I’ve always loved and respected Meb because you know if he toed the line he was going to leave it all out there. But I feel like with Galen, when he toed the line, it felt like he was going to do something really special. I mean - he sat at the starting line in Atlanta patiently waiting for the race start, knowing he was going to destroy everyone in that field. He was so far and ahead better than everyone else it’s not even comparable.

This.

If the Champs were anywhere else in the world, he'd probably have scratched. Even so, he looked really smooth and solid through 20 miles.

Certainly not washed up.

Kind of sad, though, that we have all these full-time professional runners and our 3rd guy in the race is a full-time financial analyst (though that's obviously super badass for him!).

I think Fisher will be a great marathoner but would love to see other super talented runners move up sooner and to 2:07 or better. We certainly have the depth at 5,000...

As the reigning Olympic silver medalist, Meb looked broken and done at the 2007 trials. He went on to win NY and Boston after that, in his late 30’s.

I think Galen still has some good marathons in him, if he he wants it. 2:09 on a day he looked injured, shows he’s still got some game.

Like being the tallest of Snow White's room mates

Join Alan Webb at ave maria

Totally agree with you about Shalane now, but I took the post to mean that Rupp would be going into coaching with a cloud over him, unlike Shalane who had the cloud develop her after she began coaching....when she got I to it I don't think there were any controversies about her, right?

It will depend on whether he can be injury free and whether he still wants to do it. The dude shows up in every race. His championship record doesn't have a blemish on it. I think if he can keep producing results he will keep going, but he has certainly earned respect for this record:

2009: 8th 10000m

2011: 7th 10000m, 9th 5000m

2012: SILVER 10000m, 7th 5000mm

2013: 4th 10000m, 8th 5000m

2015: 5th 10000m

2016: 5th 10000m, BRONZE Marathon

2021: 8th Marathon

2022: 19th Marathon

Somehow I left off:

2007: 11th 10000m

2008: 13th 10000m

the brah is obviously a fierce competitor, he'll be back. I think many of you are overlooking how savage he is, don't let the awkwardness fool u, he'll be back to clipping the heels of kipchoge in no time.

What I think will happen:

Rupp will retire and live a comfortable life raising his family. He will rarely make public appearances.

What I wish would happen:

I wish that with the pressure of competition lifted he would blossom into an ambassador for the sport. Especially in the HS and youth competitions.

I doubt that will happen because he has always appeared to be a quite, shy, private person that just happened to be able to run very fast.

Retirement is da bomb! He should retire.

Why would he retire? He has made good money, but not gobs of it. He is good enough and well known enough to still pull sponsorship dollars and compete at Majors, even if his days as a competitor on the biggest stages (Olympics/World's) is done.

And who's to say even that is true. Other marathoners come in to their own at an older age than he is now. Maybe he can hack it, maybe not, but he won't know if he retires.

He is still likely to be the best American for a few more years, at least...and that is not insignificant.

Does anybody think he could coach? Clearly he has to have the Salazar philosophy down to a T. I was not surprised Ritz turned to coaching with his methodical logging of work outs and the number of coaches he had. Could Rupp help up and coming runners?