Zach Panning… American Hero

Give me Lenny’s racing strategy as more heroic.

Where did he go to college and what did he do in college?

That wasn’t bad luck. That was the result of the strategy he chose. It is easy to run hard when you’re feeling good. It is a lot harder to be disciplined and not run those couple seconds too fast which results in you blowing up.

Y'all didn't like when he moved up throughout the race to finish 12th in Budapest. Now he raced to win and you don't approve again.

Have a link to this

We were standing next to him and his family around 8:15AM this morning. You can just tell he is a good guy. After watching the recording at home, I feel bad for him.

So in your world they only 2 strategies are to hang back and pick off people or go hard for 17miles in the middle and die? Seems a bit simplistic to me. And that is even before the difference between racing peers and dudes with PRs 5mins faster

I actually agree. He would have been a lock for 3rd place if he was patient. 3rd place and trying to get in via world ranking gives him a fighting chance at getting on the Olympic team.

There was a ZERO percent chance he was capable of running 2:08:10 solo. ZERO. Especially given the warm weather.

This wasn't brave, this was a man who let his ego get out of control.

Obviously, there are more than two strategies. I think it's clear what Zach's intent was here... to win. Now the execution and the strategy left a bit to be desired.

One of the dumber takes I've seen today. It's about making the Olympic team, not charity.

Panning ran a hell of a race. Young and Mantz took care of business.

People don’t like reasoned takes. They think there’s some kind of misguided nobility in running over your head for a large percentage of the race.

Or Albertson leading Boston for the first 20 a few years ago. It was good for the sport!

Yeah Korir is definitely a hero here. Panning ran a courageous race, props to him, but made a misjudgment that may have cost him a spot on the Olympic team. His move might have worked if it hadn’t been hot, but fading at the end there was predictable given the temps and how much leading he did at an aggressive pace early on.

Korir ran smart, kept himself within contention, and then dug deep to run the hell out of that last mile after deciding he wasn’t gonna let himself get 4th again. Gotta respect that.

All that said, looking forward to what Panning can do in the future, he clearly showed a lot of talent and guts in this race.

In spades! I was only vaguely aware of him before yesterday. That's changed for me and I bet for a lot of us. All the best to him and may he have a long and successful career.

Thats all fine and good in other marathons, but in the Olympic Trials, with all the chips on the line, patience is a virtue.

You will never be a good runner until you've taken your losses. There will be other days for Panning. This I'm sure of.

Panning paced the two fastest guys to victory and they literally thanked him for it. I don’t know what an analogous sports compression would be, like if a football team went for it on 4th down and threw an interception? Imagine the winning team thanking the other team for taking big risks allowing for their victory

But here's the catch. If he's too patient, the race opens up for Korir, Albertson, and Kibet. If they go through 18 @ 5:00, then Zach breaks, perhaps those three may have enough juice to outlast Panning in the final 8. We saw how they closed after absorbing a ton of 4:45-50s. Obviously 6 was too early, perhaps 11-12 would've been a great middle ground.

Hopefully the defeat and miscalculation spurs him to learn patience. After all, that's how we as humans learn... from our own mistakes.

Thats a big "if" all the way from way out left field. Being patient doesn't mean going the opposite direction.

Elaborate. Given your experiences in the Trials, what sort of patience would you exude?