regarding the Teg/5k comparison, it's apples and oranges. It's a lot harder for a lesser runner to get lucky with pace, positioning and kick in a 10k. The kicks are longer. You can be a 13:05 runner and do it against 12:55 runners with the right circumstances. But Rupp is a 27:20 type guy against 26:40-50 types. Too big a gap. As others have said, 7th-10th would be pretty darn good. Maybe 5-6 on a really good day.
Very odd that a good portion of the posters here believe Rupp is running the 5K. Where did that come from?
Fast mann wrote:
I'm feelin it!!!
Wait 'til next year. There is no doubt he is burned out by the college season despite what anyone says otherwise.
Rupp must find one african runner and set his pacing sights on him alone. If he does this, then he could possibly be in the top five.
Fast mann wrote:
I'm feelin it!!!
There are 12 people with faster PR's than him and 8 that run under 27:00 which is 33 sec faster than his PR. It would be an upset of Billy Mills proportions. I would love to see him do it but the chances of that happening are pretty much slim to none.
I wish Ritz had done another sharpening race prior to the WC, but, he sounds like he's rounding into form. My guess is he runs a barnburner of a 10k at some point AFTER the WC.
Sagarin wrote:
IF the race doesn't dawdle into a strategic sit-and-kick affair and the weather is nice, Ritz will break 27:30 and beat Rupp. Otherwise, that comes later in Europe.
I guess Ritz wasn't embellishing his blog. Good on ya Ritz. Hope he takes yet another shot later this year.
http://dathanritzenhein.competitor.com/deluded mann wrote:
Fast mann wrote:I'm feelin it!!!
There are 12 people with faster PR's than him and 8 that run under 27:00 which is 33 sec faster than his PR. It would be an upset of Billy Mills proportions. I would love to see him do it but the chances of that happening are pretty much slim to none.
FINALLT someone that actually follows T&F!!!!
` wrote:
Rupp will "smartly" go for top 10. In the last 800m, he'll realize he could have done much better if he had gone with the top group. By then it'll be too late, but he should make top 8, and everyone will call it a success.
Hey, look at me.
He needed to run more like Jenny B.
Dumb mann wrote:
Fast mann wrote:I'm feelin it!!!
Lagat has a shot at a medal for the 5. Rupp is just running the 10 and given the hip injury, I really don't see him in the mix at all. Until he can throw down 60-62 sec surges like the rest of the Africans, he will finish way back. Prediction: 15th place.
I was correct about Rupp finishing way back and he was never in the mix. Ha! All you jabronis who thought he was going to medal, get a clue.
His "Famous" kick?, lol.
Well, I think its more just that Rupp has been rightly given props for developing a kick over the past year. Rupp and Salazar were pretty clear that developing speed was the goal this past year along with winning the college races in the spring and early summer.
I think it will all start coming together for Rupp next year when he combines both endurance, speed, and total focus on the international meets.
I would be curious to hear comments from Rupp about this race. It was a relatively fast pace and it raised my eyebrows when I saw Rupp hanging with the front pack past the midway point. I'm thinking Rupp wanted to get a feel for what it takes to hang with the Africans even if it meant it killed him in the later part of the race. The idea being to having a visual memory of that pace as he goes into his offseason training.