Ritz could have beat Meb

VIPAM wrote:

Normally Letsrun does a pretty job of selecting threads to highlight on its front page; however, to pick this one is a huge slap to Mebrahtom and his group. There has NOT been an American winner in 27 years and then Mebrahtom goes out and does it with few believing in him and this website promptly post a stupid topic to detract instead of properly celebrating his accomplishment for at least 24 hours!!!!

I'll have to agree with this. Props ALWAYS go to the guy who ran and won, not to someone who didn't run.

Meb2 wrote:

Ritz will be the greatest American marathoner of all time within a few months or so

Just thought I\'d let you know.

Yeah. But he didn't.

A lot of people would have predicted that Hall would have beaten Meb. And perhaps he could have. But he didn't.

A lot of people would have predicted that Cheruiyot could have beaten Meb. And perhaps he could have. But he didn't.

I'm thrilled that Meb won, but honestly, if I were a betting man, I would have put my money on Jaouad Gharib. On some other day (not every other day, but on the right day) he probably could have beaten Meb. But guess what happened yesterday? He didn't.

If the race had played out differently yesterday, and Cheruiyot or Gharib had won, I doubt anybody would have even dreamt of posting "Ritz could have beaten Cheruiyot" or "Ritz could have beaten Gharib." Maybe he could have, but he in fact didn't, and somehow, that's not too hard to accept.

Meb ran an absolutely phenomenal race yesterday. If you haven't watched a video of the race, I seriously recommend that you do. When Meb made his move, he put Robert Cheruiyot away in about ten seconds. If Ritz or somebody decided to force the pace and managed to pull away from Meb and company earlier, then who knows what would have happened, but I'm pretty much convinced that Meb would have blown away absolutely anybody who was still with him at mile 24 yesterday.

So Ritz will win 9 major marathons in the next few months? That will be impressive.

Meb2 wrote:

Ritz will be the greatest American marathoner of all time within a few months or so

Just thought I\'d let you know.

I honestly don't think Ritz would've beaten Meb on Sunday. There, I said it.

The Monk wrote:

The guy has just won the jewel in the crown of world and American marathons.

Pure American arrogance. New York marathon is no longer the jewel of world marathons. It may have been once upon a time, but is no more as this field suggested. Meb ran a superb race and deserves all the credit he gets but the race was not worthy of major marathon status with this year's mens field. Soz.

I'm not American.

Meb2 wrote:

Ritz will be the greatest American marathoner of all time within a few months or so

Just thought I'd let you know.

(Half Marathon Time * 2) + 10 minutes = Marathon Time

(1:00:00 * 2) + 10:00 = 2:10:00

This formula works exactly for Ritz. So the OP is wrong. 2:10 would not have won the NYC Marathon.

On his best day he will never be as good. But what he can do is try to be a successful as Meb,and then he will have done something he can be proud of !

shrewd observer wrote:

Why are you comparing two Americans to an Eritrean?

Salazar - born in Cuba

Shorter - born in Germany

Do you discredit their wins and their AR's?

You folks are just jealous. Most of the people in this country have families who came here from soemwhere else,YOURS included! This country was founded by people who were being mistreated somewhere else and came here to avoid that. He is an AMERICAN who came up through our system who's family came form somewhere else, now move on and get over it.You are one of those people who has accomplished nothing in your life aren't you, you can admit it. No matter who you are or where ever your family is from we would still respect you,even if you have done nothing worth mentioning in your life.

No one cares where Meb is from, wish he wasn't such a whiny snot though.

Because of Ritz's recent success in the 5k and 1/2 marathon, at first it would seem like he would be dominant when he returns to the marathon, but then when you think about why he had such success in the 5k and 1/2 marathon, a large improvement in his marathon times doesn't make that much sense. It was Ritz's marathon training that helped his shorter races because it focused a lot more on strength than training for those shorter distances typically would. I think Ritz was in very good shape this summer and if he ran a marathon it would probably have been a P.R., but I don't think it would have been an equivalent to his 12:56. Ultimately Ritz did better in the shorter distances because he changed his training for them. To argue that he is now significantly better at the marathon is not unreasonable, but it is most likely faulty because he did not (and probably will not) change his training for the marathon like he did his shorter races. Ritz's times this summer shows that he has much more potential than most of us recently thought, and I think he will someday be a lot better in the marathon than what his previous times suggest, but not for a few more years.

First off, why are you guys cutting on Meb? Give the guy credit, he beat solid a field. Who is better Ritz, Hall, or Meb??? I say line'em up, along with anybody else who is up to the challenge. Then we will find out who is the best.

Nice try troll; 0/10 for your stupidity. Why does LR attract such unimaginative boneheads?

Stone Bold wrote:

No one cares where Meb is from, wish he wasn't such a whiny snot though.

We cant play the what if game. Its like saying if Bill Rodgers was still running at his prime he would be able to be Meb.

The truth is we forgot about Meb (Sorry). We get caught up in the hype of the NOW distance runners. If you dont produce on a consecutive bases, you fall down the path of no return. The more recent your accomplishments are the more credible you become.

Now Meb, after this it wont happen again, except maybe 4 years down the road if this would be the last major thing you accomplish

BYC > NYC wrote:

The Monk wrote:

The guy has just won the jewel in the crown of world and American marathons.

Pure American arrogance. New York marathon is no longer the jewel of world marathons. It may have been once upon a time, but is no more as this field suggested. Meb ran a superb race and deserves all the credit he gets but the race was not worthy of major marathon status with this year's mens field. Soz.

Jaouad Gharib - 2:05:27 PR, Olympic silver, 2x marathon WC, 3rd London

Martin Lel - 2:05:15 PR, 2x NYC, 3x London champ (yes I know he withdrew)

Patrick Makau - 2:06:14 PR, 58:52 half 2nd all-time

James Kwambai - 2:04:27 PR (3rd fastest all-time), 2nd at Berlin (to Geb's WR!), Rotterdam, Boston

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot - 2:07:14 PR (on an easy to screw up Boston course, see Ryan Hall 2009), 4x Boston, 1x NYC champ

Hendrick Ramaala - 2:06:55 PR, 1x NYC champ, 2x half marathon WC

Ryan Hall - 2:06:17 PR, 59:43 half marathon AR

Marilson Gomes dos Santos - 2x NYC champ

And for American interest, throw in Meb, Abdi, Sell, Jorge Torres's debut, and how could you not think this would be a good and watchable race? I don't watch a race just to see the rare world record set or even just a fast time. There is a lot to see when the field is fast and competes against each other.

London and NYC are probably the 2 marathons that most would consider the ultimates (Olympic marathon every 4 years too) with the other races on a level just below. I would also state that my bias is that it's NOT just about fast times either, otherwise a race would be great if it just had Geb in the elite field.

I can see where my statement could have been misinterpreted, it was hastily done.

I'm not disputing that fact that Meb is an American, because he is, I agree with that statement 100%. But lets look at the word "American", What does this actually mean? To say your American is to make a claim about your nationality. Meb has U.S citizenship and identifies himself as American, therefore, his nationality is American.

I believe America is very rare in that our countries population is very diverse, whereas the disparities in African countries are much more subtle. So when i made the statement "Why are you comparing two Americans to an Eritrean", i thought what i was saying would be understood, but looking closer it's obvious i should have clarified and said, "Why are you comparing to white guys to a black East African?".

It is a well known fact that East African runners have been dominating the sport of running for decades, whether this success is because of better and harder training or biological superiority nobody really knows. I think the general belief (corresponding with mine) is that East-African runners are in fact Biologically superior. That's why i think it is ludicrous to compare Caucasian runners with East-African runners, its like comparing cheetahs with lions.

According to this Geb can run a 52 minute half-marathon.