Ritz running NYC marathon this fall

Maybe he means Bob Kempainen

Here's two things. First of all, there's more money in marathoning, for Ritz and for Brad Hudson, than there ever will be in having Ritz run 10ks. It's not close.

Second, no American in the current crop is ever going to medal in a major championship in the 10,000. With the widely varied conditions in marathons - and the strange tendency of a country like Kenya to hardly ever send its best people - a U.S. medal in the marathon is often a possibility. I believe we saw that recently.

here's what im thinking: Ritz will use the summer to fine tune his 10k/5k p.r.'s, with this being a non championship year. then maybe around the end of August start getting ready for New York. i think he wants to get his feet wet in the marathon to possibly run it at the 07 World Championship and give him more of an idea whats best for him before Beijing. only problem i have with Ritz going up to the marathon this fast is if he does, you can pretty much kiss is XC running over. because newyork is in early Nov. and he will rather be injured or not racing again till early march. and thats when World Xc's are. and Ritz still hasnt got a all cylinder burning shot at World XC 12k yet

got to be hands down the stupidest career decision any american runner has made in the history of the sport. he's too young, too fragile (yes he's fragile) and now he's decided to debut in a very difficult course that has beat up many an athlete. his coach and agent have bowed down to financial urges, and it is sad that such a talented runner is having his career manipulated by small minds with selfish, egotistical intentions. I feel so bad for this guy. I just want to go up to him, shake his hand and tell him to tell his coach to kiss off. Then he could start competing in the 10k, where he belongs at the moment.

HE HAS PLENTY OF TIME FOR THE MARATHON. It takes many years of physical/mental maturation to be able to approach a marathon. Hudson is a mental midget. Just plain DUMB

Talk about his coach setting his athlete up for failure. 4:45 pace? Him and tergat are gonna battle it out for the world record?!? Give me a break...Please, somebody talk some sense into him and get him a real coach...what an idiot!

Let me get this straight. Hudson thinks Ritzenhein, a runner who has struggled staying injury free and healthy, is born to run 2:04.32 for the marathon...? I want everyone to let that settle in a bit and then tell me in all sincerity that he is not a moron.

I agree that his head is way ahead of his frail body, but more power to the little dude.

Oh My wrote:

4:45 pace?

Cut Hudson a little slack. He was just making a point.

It's also not a bad move. Didn't Meb set the U.S. 10K record as a marathoner? At the same time, how can we believe Ritz can handle marathon training?

Flagpole Willy wrote:

No flagpole willy prediction yet?

Prediction made in the other Ritz NYC thread.

2:09:48[/quote]

No chance. I'll take the 2:11-2:13 time slot.

atomic punk wrote:

Flagpole Willy wrote:

No flagpole willy prediction yet?

Prediction made in the other Ritz NYC thread.

2:09:48

No chance. I'll take the 2:11-2:13 time slot.[/quote]

But i'd love to be wrong. I hope he stays healthy and runs a fast one...

Irishguy wrote:

Wow, I am surprised at how much everyone thinks he is gonna do at New York. First of all, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but the chances of him actually being healthy when the NTC marathon date rolls around is about 50-50. Secondly, I don't see how anyone can think he is going to run 2:10-2:12 i his first marathon. If he does, that would be absolutely fantastic and I certainly will be rooting for him to do it, but I don't think he will. I think if he runs anywhere from 2:15-2:20 that would be a very solid marathon debut, especially on the New York course.

I was going to read all the posts, but stopped after seeing that nobody had predicted a realistic time yet and then I saw this idiot's post.

You may not have a long history in running, so I will give you a pass, but think 26 years ago: Salazar was a senior at Oregon and was not entirely healthy leading up to the US Olympic Trials. He runs the 10k AND the 5k and gets third (behind 27:45 - Virgin and 28:03 - Fredericks - ??? I think) in 28:10 a PR. He goes to Europe and runs a series of races, the highlights being 13:23 and 27:49 (both PRs) and then hurts his hamstring somehow (can't remember). This is around September 5th or so and he has to take a week or more off. He starts back up with 110 mpw of slow running. then he decides the leg is good enough and starts training in earnest for NYC and runs 2:09:41 in his debut.

The next year ('81) after making it known that he will go for the WR he runs 27:41 at the World Cup for third and doesn't improve his 5k that summer and he runs 2:08:13 ... throwing in a 4:35 at about mile 17 to shed the last guy.

I could go on and on with examples from Salazar, but consider this: Rudy Chapa ran 2:11:13 in his debut when he didn't have that great form on the track to demonstrate. Todd Williams ran 2:11 in his debut.

I could give you more...

But the point is that Ritz has only run poorly when things are going wrong. He has run 13:27, 13:25, 13:44 in high school, 27:38 and 27:35 in his only two 10ks and has a dozen other great performances to back those up with.

He was definitely a model of consistency and durability before being coached by Wetmore.

Ritz will surprise you naysayers. If he isn't in good shape he won't run. If he runs he will run with the leaders or he may win it. He will run 2:08 or 2:09 as long as the weather is decent and not a hindrance.

And if he doesn't and he blows it I will be the first one to say that I am retarded and know nothing and that you guys are geniuses.

ttc wrote:

Cut Hudson a little slack. He was just making a point.

It's also not a bad move. Didn't Meb set the U.S. 10K record as a marathoner? At the same time, how can we believe Ritz can handle marathon training?

1) NO Meb did not. Probably his most telling result before his 27:13 AR was a 13:11 5k that I think was a full year before. The marathons came later. I think Meb's AR was set in 2000. That is a long time ago now.

2) If you knew anything about Ritz you would know that he was the hardest training high schooler in America in his junior year and senior year. As a soph he was merely the hardest training soph. He was miles ahead of Torres in that area. The only person that was probably close was Sage, and Ritz beat Sage.

As a fan, I find the prospect of Ritz marathoning very exciting.

But for Ritz's sake, I do wish he would have waited a couple more years. He won't progress much more on the track if he's running road races for big paydays.

i really think that ritz should wait a few years and concentrate on the 10,000, but this may be a good move for him, at least for experience. ritz is an awesome guy and fricking fast when in shape, lets hope he can go without getting injured.

maybe he needs to move to oregon, salazar did wonders for injury prone goucher, think what he would do with ritz

I can't remember who it was, maybe Culpepper, said he wished he had started marathoning when he was running his fast track times (27:33 10k). I think Ritz should give it a try when he is young-- he doesn't have to fully devote himself to it just yet, but giving it a try when he still has good speed over the shorter track distances is a worthwhile experiment.

Will he get injured again?

Who knows...maybe he will pull a Paula.

prediction: 2:08:55

bring a stretcher for his ass at mile 20.

my best guess is that he either gets injured and doesnt start or busts a big one. what an incredible talent! i hope he can have a string of 2+ years with good health. god only knows what this guy could do if he stayed healthy enough to make it through a couple of years of training.