Congratulations, Galen Rupp

So Chalenga pushes the pace and gets bashed in 08 XC Nationals. Rupp pushes the pace and he is treated as a hero????

How does this make any sense at all.

He never shook Solinsky's hand, he gave him a half assed pat on the back. He clearly didn't mean it. This was supposed to be Rupp's race and Rupp's record. When he didn't get the record he acted like a little kid. You know when you're five and somebody takes away your favorite toy.

Isn't the idea in a race to finish before everyone else? Isn't breaking records secondary to winning? Reminds me of the duffer in my high school league who I saw checking his splits every 100m when he was about 75 meters behind the leader in a DMR.

At any level, the priority needs to be to win the race. When you can beat everyone else in the race without a doubt, then you can worry about running against the clock.

idontthinkso wrote:

Isn't the idea in a race to finish before everyone else? Isn't breaking records secondary to winning? Reminds me of the duffer in my high school league who I saw checking his splits every 100m when he was about 75 meters behind the leader in a DMR.

At any level, the priority needs to be to win the race. When you can beat everyone else in the race without a doubt, then you can worry about running against the clock.

If this had been Rupp's attitude, there would not have been a new AR, let alone a sub-27 clocking.

As a person who lived in OR and graduated from U of O...I am wondering if you know anything about the running scene there or do you speak from like 5th hand experience all the time? First as people pointed out Rupp did look spent and dazed after the race (ie hunched over after immediately finishing) so the fact that it took him a second to get over there is a non-issue. Secondly, Chris was swamped by other people and media...so it was kind of difficult after the minute had passed to get over there. Finally, the Salazar group and Schumacher group are both in the same area and at times they talk and work together...so to think that Galen snubbed Chris when he probably sees him more than a handful of times in a year is just silly. As all have pointed out both ran awesome races (as well as a lot of other guys in the race). Maybe you should just let it be and not try to start a fire where this is not one.

Citizen Runner wrote:

The credit for the victory almost certainly is due to Solinsky and his alone. To think that he (or anyone else in that race) could have gone out and soloed the American Record is idiocy.

Yeah, that's why people race; I never said he could do it as a solo run. Everyone runs faster in a race against other people. To single out Rupp and say Solinsky OWES him a big thank you though is a bit much.