OFFICIAL 2013 Chicago Marathon Play-by-Play Thread

hip tips wrote:

Bill Rodgers ran 2:09:55 in 1975....

On a downhill course with a tailwind. Double Olympic marathon medalist Frank Shorter never broke 2:10, closer to 2:11 I think. Ritz got fifth place, which is pretty solid for any major marathon these days. Sounds like cramping is still an issue for him. Can't believe they haven't figured that out yet. He should've gone out in 1:03:30; probably would've fared better. Nonetheless, he is in the twilight of his career. Maybe one more year on the track and a few more marathon paydays, culminating with a 2016 appearance hopefully... He's had a long and prominent career already.

ritz might be clean

if he is his 207 might be WR

chew on this wrote:

What I mean by sticking to the track is this...

Yeah I understand what you're saying, and I sorta feel the same way myself, i'd love to see him put together the perfect 5k/10k race at exactly the right time. But I think given his injury history and his age and time to next olymmpics, the safer career move at this point is marathoning. Plus, dawgonnit, I can't stand it when my predicted marathon time is way off my relative 5/10k time and he and Salazar are probably thinking the same. He's a small light guy compared to e.g. Teg, he should be much faster at the marathon.

If prize money goes a bit deeper (Chicago not that great for 5th), it seems a good tactic to go into a race hyped with WR expectations, causing the East Africans to run too hard the first half with most dropping out (kudos to Mosop for hanging in there) and then the Americans can pick up 4-6th. Happened in Boston, can happen in other races as well. Not a way to fame, but a way to make a living.

I agree that Ritz probably could've mixed it up in cross country and should've stayed on the track after that 12:56. But his best years are likely behind him. I would still love to see a sub-27:00 10,000 to punctuate his career, but I don't put strong odds on that. It's possible, not probable. It would be great to see next summer leading up to Chicago again, though he ran his 12:56 coming off of the London Marathon. Maybe he should take that approach. I still think he was in 2:07 shape during London, but his opening 14:37 for 5k killed him.

RITZ = World Record 2:09:36.4 Derek Clayton Australia December 3, 1967 Fukuoka Marathon IAAF,[40] ARRS[41]

TEG = World Record 2:12:12.2 Abebe Bikila Ethiopia October 21, 1964 Tokyo, Japan IAAF,[40] ARRS[41]

Abebe Bikila ran faster then Teg 49 years ago

Ritz has guts and went for it as always. At present, correct me if I'm wrong, but he has run right around 2:10 or slower in virtually all of his marathons other than Chicago last year (2:07:47). 5000m-half are his best distances, though not so lucrative.

Fall of 1999 Ritz won his first national title in xc.

14 years later he posts on of the top american marathon times ever. 14 years in the spotlight, multiple injuries, and significant scrutiny and doubters. On top of this, he has a personality and interviews well.

Dathan Ritzenhein will UNDOUBTEDLY be considered on of the greatest american distance runners of all time at this point in history; top 5 at a minimum.

I want to "be like Ritz."

wake up wrote:

300 Swedish Teen girls raped by Muslim Immigrants so far in 2013...

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=103&artikel=5612131

and only 90,000 rapes by American's last year

Show me some examples of people predicting a win. Maybe a few people were joking around with the survey ont the front page. Nice straw man argument.

His half marathon medal that year was just as impressive as his 5000, maybe more so. A lot of guys who have a HM PRs like his have done well at the marathon - no reason not to try. Or maybe Tadesse should give up too.

He might have run - PR today. And I don't care for the 'suicide pace' arguments. People are training for a marathon. You run to get to the finish line first. You don't get extra credit for getting to 30k really fast. Btw, when Ritz set his 5000 pr, he finished third and passed ... a bunch of guys who went out at a faster pace.

Wilson Kipsang Kipkotex

Big Picture wrote:

5th place is meaningless when you're a mile behind.

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You're comments are meaningless when you don't look at the big picture. Look at the list of entrants, would you have predicted Ritz to beat top 5? He earned good money today, a good day's work overall. Cramps killed him, but he still wouldn't have finished much higher. Look at Moses Mosop talking 61 half, what was his second half split? What about Tadesse, how much money did he earn?

I'm looking at the big picture and I stand by what I said. It is YOU who are not looking at the big picture. You are only looking at a specific narrow aspect of Ritz's performance. I'm looking at it including the context that it was achieved in. By definition, my picture is bigger than yours. Ritz was a mile behind the winner.

It doesn't matter who he beat especially when all of those guys have run faster in other races. Theynare clearly on a level above Ritz. They weren't even racing Ritz in this race. They were going for the win and some of them blew up. Ritz was out of the race before 2 miles.

You are right, although English is an official language in Kenya and is supposed to be used at all school levels(Swahili is official too but it is also the national language). However, some schools (mostly rural ones) tend to let kids use their native languages at school and even to teach. While this may help some students to understand concepts, by the time they leave school, the speak poor Swahili and poor English. This rarely improves unless they go to a good high school.

I think there is also a cultural component in the way Kenyans give interviews because even in Swahili, there is not much more insight. Another way to tell is by looking at some Kenyans like Lagat who have gone through the American system and are more comfortable speaking about the sport.

oosk wrote:

Wondering Again wrote:

Ritz didn't totally blow up. His second fastest marathon ever, I believe.

He had a good (if not quite perfect) race. 5th place in Chicago is nothing to sneeze at.

5th place is meaningless when you're a mile behind.

Not so meaningless when u get the prize $$!

The big three - Hall, Ritz and Webb - all graduated HS the same year.

All three have certainly had some highs and lows. Like all runners it is a fine line between setting records and being a mere mortal. Any serious runner with experience understands this.

Already Webb is done - chalk it up to maturing early and peaking at a very young age. Not too unlike many African runners.

Hall is not what he used to be and may have a last gasp at New York. My money would be on a DNF or DNS right now. If he were to run under 2:10 I would be very surprised based upon his more recent performances.

Ritz is really the only one still running well. So I have to really hand it to him. He made the big move to go train with Salazar pretty late in his career and you have to admire his dedication.

Yo yo; Dude you forgot that Ritz got dragged/paced in both of the last two years Chicago 26s by his HS teammate. Bill Rodgers ate mayo out of the jar in the middle of the night when he had hunger pangs. I might add no drugs from uncle AlSal, cryogenic saunas, underwater treadmill or Ultra G workouts. I'll stand by the 2:09:55/2:09:27 of 75' & 79' anyway you want to serve it up.

Sagarin wrote:

hip tips wrote:

Bill Rodgers ran 2:09:55 in 1975....

On a downhill course with a tailwind. Double Olympic marathon medalist Frank Shorter never broke 2:10, closer to 2:11 I think. Ritz got fifth place, which is pretty solid for any major marathon these days. Sounds like cramping is still an issue for him. Can't believe they haven't figured that out yet. He should've gone out in 1:03:30; probably would've fared better. Nonetheless, he is in the twilight of his career. Maybe one more year on the track and a few more marathon paydays, culminating with a 2016 appearance hopefully... He's had a long and prominent career already.

insightlessness wrote:

Wondering Again wrote:

Speaking of newsflashes, here's one for you. Ritz is incapable of winning or even medaling at any major track or road race. You wish he would have stuck to the track? Good for you. He would never win there just as effectively as he will never win a major marathon.

Ritz is a great guy and a great runner. But thinking that he could be a world beater at any distance is living in a fantasy world and does a disservice to his actual capabilities and accomplishments.

Yeah like that bronze at the HM World's

Ummm...2009 called. It says it is time for you to wake up and realize this is 2013.

fgfg wrote:

Abebe Bikila ran faster then Teg 49 years ago

faster than (if...then)

Yup yup wrote:

Show me some examples of people predicting a win...

From the Ritz/Teg/Chicago thread:

"Not sure whether he sets the American-born AR or not, primarily because I have no idea as to conditions, but Ritz wins the whole thing. He has all the tools and plenty of heart, and seems to be healthy."

racetraining wrote:

Ritz is really the only one still running well. So I have to really hand it to him. He made the big move to go train with Salazar pretty late in his career and you have to admire his dedication.

Why did you single Ritz out on this point? They've all made recent coaching changes at the same point in their careers. Do Hall and Webb not have admirable dedication too?