Alan Webb Gets 4th at Drake, Boaz Lalang Wins

3:51 Webb would not have let himself get boxed in a 2:58 3/4 paced race. He would have pushed the pace from 1k or sooner. That being said, he was boxed until he slowed down to get behind 3rd and then went to the outside and finished basically even with 3rd: he was out of the box for maybe five or six seconds and had slowed down in order to get out. So, how are you going to come back from that? Webb will run quite a bit faster next time and hopefully he will be around 3:34 or 3:35 for Home Depot or whatever his next meet is.

Why do they say Lalang (who won) beat 4th place? Why not 2nd or 3rd place? They seem to randomly pick (on) people in this manner...Why not headline Lalang beats C.Smith by a mile!! Because he did!

LetsRun has a recap of the mile on homepage but I found this nice Des Moines Register article with quotes from Webb

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110430/SPORTS020406/110430015/Men-s-Drake-Relays-Wariner-coasts-in-400-Lalang-defends-mile-title

“I would have liked to been able to push harder. It’s one of the few times I literally could not run as hard as I wanted to, because there was somebody right in front of me. We had a pretty good weather day. It was real windy, though. I think I did well. All in all it was definitely a positive run."

Lalang seems to throw a bone to all of you, "I think it (all the talk of Webb) is something that really motivated me. When I was checking over the Internet, everything was about Alan Webb.”

More:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110430/SPORTS020406/110430015/Men-s-Drake-Relays-Wariner-coasts-in-400-Lalang-defends-mile-title

The rabbit cut out on the homestretch of the third lap. I was expecting Webb to go running past him there, but Webb actually slowed down as soon as the rabbit cut out. Either he was tired and so didn't want to lead - or else he just wanted them to lead so he could sprint past them at the end.

There was some wind all day, but it wasn't as serious as it could be because the stadium forms a U shape around the track and blocks a lot of it. The open end is on the north side of the track, on the curve with the steeple water jump.

wejo wrote:

Lalang seems to throw a bone to all of you, "I think it (all the talk of Webb) is something that really motivated me. When I was checking over the Internet, everything was about Alan Webb.”

Well, he's got a point. This is a guy who won a silver indoors last year, and ran 1:42.95 and 3:35 outdoors. Webb's not quite in his class now. Given the situation, if I was Webb and I ran a few tenths behind Boaz after beating him in the road mile, I'd be quite happy with the progress.

Webb did not run what Leo ran in Penn and there are others to worry about, but I think it's a positive step.

That's BS , he has more than enough experience to know how to get out of box or not get boxed in.

i know webb goes to drake a lot. but wouldn't it seem if he was still one of americas great milers he would have been invited to penn to anchor the dmr instead russell brown. i know browns having a great yr but look at someone like lagat. hes past his prime and moving up to 5k permanently but he's still throwing down 2:48 1200m legs. thats what i call a consistent runner. web is like 6 or 7 yrs younger than him and only 3-4 yrs older than these new up and coming guys. Theirs no excuse for this guy to not be running 3:50 in the mile right now. Unless he was doing something illegal in 2007 and the anti-doping agencies stepped up their game which forced him to stop using whatever it was that was going unrecognizable.

sads really wrote:

Slattery doesn't have anything else to do.

You mean like most people on LR?

all he has to do is run every race like a 3:47. he will win 95 times out of 100 this way. every american runner would.

BIG Webb fan wrote:

WEBB would have won if he was not boxed in -->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrihuxzASo

Webb is washed up, splitting from his coach is a sign of desperation. There is no way he will ever approach his previous times/performances. Lets stop talking about him and focus on some guys with a future.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz

Well put thank you.

I think we have to do a real CSI investigation to this once great athlete.

It might read like the tell all books we see today of the individual that reveals sexual abuse early young years. They come to grips with it later in life and as therapy talk about it.

Webs case ? The abuse started with his agent , no not sexual abuse , abuse of a innocent young athlete and coach. Neither had the knowledge of the world of international running nor the contacts. Money , fame , accolades all promises kept , blinding yes until things start to go south.

Over racing , mis guided running career path and greed in the end have hurt Mr.Webb. Blame the old coach , blame the new coach , blame the shoe company or you can get to core driver , the agent.

Mr.Webb will settle into a new space , get a shoe deal , excite us with a few more good races in the future. What is lost is what we all hoped for , the miler we all wanted him to be , the high school star that makes good.

The agent stole that from Mr. Webb and us.

I thought Webb was still with Nike, but in the recap it stated this was his first race without a coach and sponsor. Is this true?

You Webb jock lickers are now on year 4 of the excuses for this head case.

Webb is FINISHED. Deal with it.

Lalang probably started looking at letsrun when it was rightly pumping him up after he emerged from nowhere at Rend Lake College. So, naturally he'd be disappointed to see his blue collar appeal disappear so quickly. It must be the sub 1:43 that made us no longer consider him. And this thread has only two pages on it because we all know that Webb had more in the tank.

Dear Alan Webb,

Learn how to race......when you are in lane 1 with 2 wide in front of you down the backstretch.....you might want to start moving a little earlier then 80 yards out.

Sinceerely,

some guy.

Webb has never been too great tactically. His best races have been all-out efforts, AR Mile, 3:30 in a paced GL race in France, etc. I remember after the 2004 Olympics, he and his coach said they had no race plan beforehand.

The "rabbit"sucked! 2:58 at 1200 meters is not a rabbit. And as soon as he dropped out, Webb slows to a crawl for 50 meters. Pathetic race tactics. He's a head case. Runs like his wife.