WTF: American Matt Richtman 2:07:56 to WIN LA Marathon

I asked a question about this after his TCM result last fall. And a teammate chimed in to say yes, he posts everything. Also if I recall correctly, he ran just one week above 100 prior to TCM, the first of his life. So not surprised to see he put in just 4 at that level for the buildup to LA. Crazy stuff all around, but awesome to see.

I ran this race today, and as soon as my wife told me “the American won in 2:07 something,” I thought of Conner and Clayton. This guy is right there with them. Look at the Boston profile, and then look at LA. Strikingly similar, but LA has even more vert. Let’s see what C&C do at Boston next month.

It is very good but you do understand that a woman has run 2 minutes slower than this time. Now maybe the woman would have only run 2:11:56 or something on this course in this fashion, but it places this in perspective. 2:07:56 in super shoes is very good but it is not competitive on the world stage. However it is a wonderful performance for him and he may improve.

This country for whatever reason has a complete lack of anyone you’d call a “natural” at the marathon distance. Feels like this guy might be the first in a while. Even our best guys rarely knock it out of the park, like Conner Mantz. I wonder if Alex Maier drops a 2:05-6 in Germany this spring (second marathon to be clear). Things like that happen for runners of other countries not just East African ones.

Not taking anything away from Matt's great run, but what does this mean America is back to?

Does this time mean that another one of America's marathoners has run another 2:07:00 to 2:09:00 time that has been achieved 25 times before by a USA runner? (not counting the 8 sub 2:07:00 times as part of that 25)

Does this mean U.S. marathoners are back to winning larger domestic marathons where none of the other entrants have run under 2:07?

His time was the 14th fastest ever by a US marathoner, and he is currently the 4th fastest US marathoner still competing.

Why? Is he a bad coach?

He is a natural at the marathon for sure, but this is relative of course. So he will likely never run faster than 27:30, and he may run 2:05, so he looks like a natural, like some Japanese runners, but his ceiling is probably 2:05ish, which is very good, but these days it doesn’t impress as much as a decade ago. However, he is a natural in the sense that he could possibly get the US marathon record without being relatively competitive at 10000m.

The last time an American won the Los Angeles Marathon was in 1994 - Paul Pilkington.

And he was the rabbit.

LRC can't believe this time. The bold title on the home page to this link states "MB American Matt Richtman Wins LA Marathon in 2:08:47"

One cannot offer a realistic appraisal without the mental midgets downvoting you. One has to salivate and praise, and lie to oneself and others, for the morons to upvote you.

Pilkington was the Energizer Bunny.

latimes.com

LOS ANGELES MARATHON : 'Rabbit' Simply Keeps Going, and Going . . . : Running: Utah's Pilkington was expected to set the pace and then drop out. But he couldn't find a reason to stop.

https://www.latimes.com/people/bill-plaschke

He was paid to run fast, but not too fast. He was paid to run far, but not too far.

Open link

This is that debunked argument that you have to run a 10k at a certain time . Remember Dan brown in his altitude house making this argument in the 90’s

Olga Appell won the women's race in 1994 and had just become an American citizen 9 days earlier.

Legal immigration, baby!

USA! USA! USA!

Training logs aren't supposed to be impressive. Preparation is the aggregation of the whole.

She was training like Jacob with all his “original” threshold training back in the 90’s. Her husband Brian appell was her coach and he said it was all German training

Feel your kung fu.

Is the most unexpected performance (non-Marathon Project) since Dick Beardsley’s 2:09:36 at Grandma’s 1981.

No not at all. It is really partially to be expected after a 2:10 debut. This is not shocking to those of us who have been paying attention. Remember this is over 7 minutes off the world record, whereas Beardsley’s time was within striking distance of the world record. So even taking into account that Grandma’s course doesn’t count for records, it is apples to something not quite apples.

My bad!

this guy running 2:08:47 on this course to win would have shocked me as much.

well-done!