Boston Mile: Russell Brown Wins Easily (3:54), Webb, Verzbicas, Manzano All Above 4:00

Russell basically just ran what is equivalent to a 3:52 outdoors. He is a potential 3:50 miler, which will only help add depth to US mile running. Is he the next next Jason Lunn or Alan Webb. Will he be just very good are truly world class. It is always interesting when unknowns win big races. I never heard of this guy, but I will remember his name this spring.

orbitboy wrote:

As usual, I agree with malmo. Especially in regard to Manzano and Verzbicas.

Of course, this begs the question: If someone like Manzano is so unfit, why is he there? I guess the answer is that these guys race for a living, and some guys like to race themselves into shape. Leo's not race fit right now, obviously; but barring injury, he'll be toward the top when it counts.

If you watched the interview, Manzano didn't see too perturbed with his performance. Translation: "Yea, they just threw me a solid chunk of change, and a few extra bucks would let me go out to dinner more during winter training, so I figured what the hell? I haven't seen snow in awhile, and it would be nice to catch up with some of the other miler folks on the continent."

When Webb and Hunt set their times (3:59.86 and 4:02.7)when they were in high school, were they racing against elite men or other high school boys? I'm just wondering if it is actually fair to compare times. Its easier (if you have the ability) to race faster with faster people.

micky wrote:

Russell basically just ran what is equivalent to a 3:52 outdoors.

No, it is not a 3:52 equivalent outdoors, it's a 3:54.

There is no conversion.

There is no decided advantage to running a mile outdoors.

Some even run better indoors.

Example- Eamonn Coghlan's mile PR indoors is 3:49 where is best outdoors is 3:51. And we're not talking about a man with a short career. And he ran 3:58 indoors at age 41.

Most people run better outdoors because their training is pointed towards running well at that time of the year.

Oh, congrats on a nice race by Russell Brown. By any measure that is a fine performance and it shows how deep American miling has become.

malmo wrote:

wejo wrote:

Employee #1 just called. Said Russel Brown looked great and won convincingly. The results were pretty shocking to say the least.

Nice runs up front, but then Webb, Verzbicas, and Manzano all came up short of 4.

Why do you feel that Webb, Verzbicas, and Manzano came up short?

Verzbicas is the #3 HS schooler ever now.

Webb and Manzano's seasons don't start until May/June and will continue through August/September. A little perspective goes a long way.

why do you insist on deliberately misinterpreting, like, everything?

malmo wrote:

Why do you feel that Webb, Verzbicas, and Manzano came up short [of 4]?

Possibly because the results say so? This isn't really a matter of opinion.

short of 4 wrote:

malmo wrote:

Why do you feel that Webb, Verzbicas, and Manzano came up short [of 4]?

Possibly because the results say so? This isn't really a matter of opinion.

Don't you think that pointing this out is a bit redundant at this point in the thread.....

Simple as Easy wrote:

He said "short of 4." Which is correct.

Ah yes, I see.

Let me put it another way. When Wejo ran his 28:06 in 2003, did anyone denigrate his PR performance by saying, "Nice runs up front, but then Wejo came up short of 28"?

The statement is, in fact, true. Weldon didn't break 28 minutes. The difference here is that Weldon's run was far from one of the best 10ks ever, but on the other side of the coin, Verzbicas ran the third fastest indoor mile by a US high schooler.

The phrasing here, 'Verbicas came up short [of 4]' seems quite a bit of a distortion from that really happened.

Do you see the point here?

Well, Lukas, Webb and Leo were all disappointed. So, no, I don't see your point. They came up short in terms of what they were looking for and in terms of running 4.You're just wrong, it's ok to admit it.

malmo wrote:

Simple as Easy wrote:

He said "short of 4." Which is correct.

Ah yes, I see.

Let me put it another way. When Wejo ran his 28:06 in 2003, did anyone denigrate his PR performance by saying, "Nice runs up front, but then Wejo came up short of 28"?

The statement is, in fact, true. Weldon didn't break 28 minutes. The difference here is that Weldon's run was far from one of the best 10ks ever, but on the other side of the coin, Verzbicas ran the third fastest indoor mile by a US high schooler.

The phrasing here, 'Verbicas came up short [of 4]' seems quite a bit of a distortion from that really happened.

Do you see the point here?

colloc wrote:

Well, Lukas, Webb and Leo were all disappointed.

So, no, I don't see your point. They came up short in terms of what they were looking for and in terms of running 4.

Really? You didn't listen to the interviews then, kid. Webb knew he wasn't ready, he just believe he thought he could fake it through this race. Was that disappointment to you? He understood the reality. So did Manzano. He knew that he was also short in training, but ran anyway to see exactly where he was.

As for Verzbicas, I don't know what he could possibly be disappointed about? He got a PR, and moved up to the #3 spot alltime on the indoor mile list. Did he, or anyone else really believe he was going to break 4:00? Get out of here.

I don't think that any of the three are going to lose sleep over nothing.

There is no distortion, as the time he acully ran was 'short' of 4. People expected him to run sub-4 and it said as much on the letsrun front page. He came up short, big deal, stop being ridiculous.

i was there man! wrote:

On the other hand, the men's 3k was such a great race to see live! The guy that won was so in control of himself for most of the race (at least his outward appearance was relaxed). It is too bad that he wasn't in control of both of his shoes. He lost one of them on one of the early laps and still out-kicked Mo Farah. It was truly impressive.

It was a great race. He went 12:53 last year in the 5k in a race where he had some left at the end and was outkicked by .10, and he's been getting a bit faster for several years now, so i fully expected him to blow by Farah with ease. He could be the one to watch this year if Bekele isn't back on his game.

and just why did he get beat? b/c I hung him out to dry, plain and simple. he only got 700m, then straight into 700m for himself playing rabbit, try that one sometime in Feb and let me know how it goes against 3:55 types....to do all the work and still hit 3:56 says something about how he could do if someone delivered him to 1200-1300 on 2:56....which obviously I failed miserably to do. nice to see him take the positive from getting out of his comfort zone, basically taking a race wire to wire and still being top3 and averaging 59's....oh, my bad, this is letsrun where anything less than a win in 3:54 in your second race is crap....dude-

ho hum wrote:I find this entire discussion ridiculous. Everyone (letsrun included! "The highlight was Russell Brown's surprising win in the mile over Alan Webb, Leo Manzano and Lukas Verbicas.") needs to realize that NICK WILLIS, OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST, ALSO GOT SMOKED.

Webb looked like a different runner from where we was maybe two years ago. Very glad to see. Just looks better - looks like a guy who has a shot at running fast again some day. I wouldn't have said that 18 months ago.LV came up short of nothing. He went after it, did exactly what he said he was going to do - hang on to the pack as long as he could and see what happened. Watching him after the race, he looked a little disappointed, and I'm guessing if he's disappointed in anything, it's that he didn't make a pass earlier as folks were getting jettisoned off the back of the pack. But he did a nice job following his race plan, and given his training to date, he's got a legit shot at breaking 4 outdoors.Manzano came up short of pretty much everything - that was worse than my lowest expectations. But wasn't he a late add? Don't you think the race organizers called and begged him after Webb dropped out last week? He's not in any kind of racing shape, but I think the organizers thought they needed one more name...But you know what? It was a wonderfully entertaining race: watching LV and Webb go after it, watching Willis blow up, wondering if LV would beat both Webb and Manzano, and watching New England homie tear it up for a big win. That race was everything one could hope for - so much more fun than a rabbited record attempt. Give me more of that please - I'll pay to see races like that (and Gebremeskel's awesome battle with Farah) anytime...

chucko wrote:

There is no distortion, as the time he acully ran was 'short' of 4. People expected him to run sub-4 and it said as much on the letsrun front page. He came up short, big deal, stop being ridiculous.