Breaking: Dathan Ritzenhein Retires at 37

WinnytheBish wrote:

edumacation rulez wrote:

One the GOAT's in high school XC. He had a few great races. I've always cheered for him.

But ..

My problem with Ritz is that he acts like he never went to Colorado. He always plays up his Michigan roots. Never seems to cheer on Colorado or talk about CU runners at all. He should've stayed at Michigan if that was the case.

Wetmore helped make him

Such a dumb post. A picture of him racing with a Colorado singlet on is like the second photo in his retirement announcement. Nice try dummy.

Wow... 1 picture in nearly 20 years you got me. I follow him on social media and I stand by my statement

shootpost wrote:

Giles Corey wrote:

Amazing how he could come back from injuries.

Nice career.

Who had the best career of the Big Three?

Webb, Hall, or Ritz?

Webb- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Hall- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Ritz- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals (1 bronze in world half marathon champs which ehhhh)

More telling the state of USA running. How pitiful these are our "Big Three"

WC and OG medals are the only measure of success?? It must be really, really pitiful to be you?

Is it just me or is it ironic that the first word used in the thread title was "BREAKING"?

Ritz will be back when we re-do the marathon trials for the fall 2021 abbreviated Olympic Track & Field Games.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Are you saying Michigan creates flawed runners? I don't follow what being from Michigan has to do with this comment.

Simple. Let me explain. It's called pre-determined bias. Hope that helps:)

Good point. Ritz didn't take the bait at beginning going out conservatively (4:11) and just kept getting stronger getting down to 4:0s.

Ritz as a person/competitor was a great ambassador. All of the races in Midwest Crim, Riverbank, and Chicago he wouldn't just hang out in Elite tent would go around asking midpackers how their race went. I think as late as March he was doing workouts(unlike trials prep) but the pandemic may have made decision. Thank you Ritz!

Grounded wrote:

shootpost wrote:

Webb- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Hall- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Ritz- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals (1 bronze in world half marathon champs which ehhhh)

More telling the state of USA running. How pitiful these are our "Big Three"

WC and OG medals are the only measure of success?? It must be really, really pitiful to be you?

I totally agree with this. There are only so few that can win a medal on any given day, doesn't mean that those who don't aren't great runners as well. Dathan ran an outstandingly smart race in Zurich, his half marathon championship race in 60:00, Great Manchester Race 2017, etc...He's had a fine career with the ups and downs that many athletes at his level have. Congrats Dathan!!!!!

Those are fair points but one thing that’s getting missed is THE EXCITEMENT of watching these guys develop from high schoolers into world class runners and the DISCUSSION, HYPE, SPECULATION, TROLLING that happened along with that.

Another thing that gets lost is during the ‘90s you were national class if you could run 4:10/9:10 and there were only a couple of kids hitting those times each year. Then we had Gabe Jennings who almost broke 4, won the 2000 trials and saw fear in El G’s eyes at the 00 games... Then the Big 3 came along and changed the game. 3 of the GREATEST American high schoolers of all time in the same graduating class!! Gabe who?? High Schooler Webb just ran 3:53.

The internet as we now know it was still somewhat new and this was one of only a couple sites where you could talk shop. It’s too bad the board switched in 2002 and we lost those old threads of their high school battles, college signing day, etc...And how about that 2003 D1 Natty Battle between Ritz and Hall.

In just and honest world, Dathan won that one.

Darby wrote:

Amazing talent stuck in a body too fragile for it.

He achieved a lot, but could have achieved so much more.

More likely he chronically ran his easy days too hard. And made poor choice in coaches after leaving CU.

He was a really special runner, glad I got to see him race.

Big Flops wrote:

shootpost wrote:

Webb- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Hall- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals

Ritz- 0 Olympic Medals, 0 WC Medals (1 bronze in world half marathon champs which ehhhh)

More telling the state of USA running. How pitiful these are our "Big Three"

Also note that none of them came anywhere close to OG/World champs medals. It wasn't like they spent their careers in the heart breaking position of 4th or lost medals to dopers. At no point did Webb, Hall, or Ritz have the ability to medal at a global championship. They were great HS and college athletes that had okay pro careers. People overvalue them way too much just because they broke a few American records. Medals is what matters.

So you’re really gonna tell me that not once did any of these guys, including Webb, EVER, not ONCE, had a shot at a global medal?

....ooooookay....

2/10

hardset nipples wrote:

Darby wrote:

Amazing talent stuck in a body too fragile for it.

He achieved a lot, but could have achieved so much more.

More likely he chronically ran his easy days too hard. And made poor choice in coaches after leaving CU.

He was a really special runner, glad I got to see him race.

I'm curious why he chose to go with Hudson after CU. Brad, as much as his enthusiasm and training philosophy were getting attention, hadn't proven himself capable of bringing athletes to the level Ritz was looking to achieve.

Christ, this thread has degenerated into a cesspool of accusations and comparisons. Remember what Thumper's Mommy said, people: If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the F*** up.

(I'm paraphrasing, of course)

Congrats to Ritz on a fantastic career and for inspiring a generation of runners and helping to lead a running resurgence in the U.S.

Along with Ritz breaking the 5K record, 2nd in 2008 marathon trials and a world half bronze, one of my favorite memories of Ritz is him making the Olympic 10K team in 2012.

After placing 4th in marathon. I was really rooting for him to make that 10k team and I believe he had to run qualifying time in that race because he didnt have it before then.

Grassrunner wrote:

hardset nipples wrote:

More likely he chronically ran his easy days too hard. And made poor choice in coaches after leaving CU.

He was a really special runner, glad I got to see him race.

I'm curious why he chose to go with Hudson after CU. Brad, as much as his enthusiasm and training philosophy were getting attention, hadn't proven himself capable of bringing athletes to the level Ritz was looking to achieve.

Ritz's college buddies/housemates Jorge and Ed were already training under Brad and Brad is a very friendly and persuasive person. He did pretty well with Ritz, though undoubtedly Vigil or Larsen would have done far better.

Ajax wrote:

Christ, this thread has degenerated into a cesspool of accusations and comparisons. Remember what Thumper's Mommy said, people: If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the F*** up.

(I'm paraphrasing, of course)

Congrats to Ritz on a fantastic career and for inspiring a generation of runners and helping to lead a running resurgence in the U.S.

Along with Ritz breaking the 5K record, 2nd in 2008 marathon trials and a world half bronze, one of my favorite memories of Ritz is him making the Olympic 10K team in 2012.

After placing 4th in marathon. I was really rooting for him to make that 10k team and I believe he had to run qualifying time in that race because he didnt have it before then.

One or two boneheads doesn't add up to a degenerated cesspool of a thread. Learn to avoid the thorns when pruning, then you won't let things get you so angry.

Dathan was a great runner, period.

Congrats ?

He probably couldn't even run half a four minute mile at this point.

He used L-Carnatine and was coached by Alberto Salazar.

I remember watching the Zurich race live. It was kind of unremarkable most of the race, then I remember doing the math with 800 to go and thinking it was getting kind of interesting. Then with 400 to go I was like "holy s#$# he's going to do this!!"

The 5000 AR was a huge deal at the time because of the drought since BK. Also, there were tons of threads for years debating whether Ritz could break 13. I was convinced he could do it because of his 8:11 2 miler. Flagpole was always a believer too.