OFFICIAL 2013 Chicago Marathon Play-by-Play Thread

e-s-t-r wrote:

krispy kremlin wrote:

I want to "be like Ritz."

Saying you want to be "like Ritz", is like saying you'd look towards Lauren Fleshman for "marathon advice", because she's run a marathon. I'm sorry but Ritz underperformed by 3-4 min. relative to his recent best 5K, and has only run 1 decent marathon in his career, which was still an underperformance relative to his ability. I'd rather "be like" Ryan, Khalid, Paula, Deena, Desi, Bill, Steve Jones, or any number of athletes who overperformed in the marathon relative to their talent. These are the athletes that I want to know how they eat, sleep, train, repeat.

The point of my comment was that Ritz has had a 14 year career and has kept pushing when others would have given up. During this time he has run great 5k-10k-HM and M times. In a sport that so often sees athletes for only a couple years (or seasons), Ritz's longevity is admirable.

He was 5th today in a near-WR race. Simply incredible for a man raised with the western economic endowment we all enjoy racing against some of the most desperate people in the world.

oosk wrote:

I'm looking at the big picture and I stand by what I said.

My picture is bigger than yours, nyah nyah :)

Sorry, have to disagree. I see the big picture as 4 things: his passion, his job, his family and his friends/training-mates. It doesn't matter that much (in the big picture) that he was a mile behind the winner, he's still working towards and attaining all the big 4 things in his life by finishing 5th today. What's bigger than those things?

He's been doing this for many years, if he had quit after his first marathon because he was a mile behind, or 100s of metres behind in a 10000m, he wouldn't have had the interesting life he's had today, and we wouldn't be writing about him right now. That's big enough for me.

To sum up: The Africans were better runners than the Americans, and Rojo was a better commentator than Joanie.

All that being said, if Ritz's sponsors drop him and/or he retires after this race (which a part of me thinks is ever so slightly possible) then I concede defeat and admit you're right! But I'm pretty sure London 10000m and this race, are a bridge to Rio marathon in 2016 and the big picture is still in place.

summer of ups wrote:

To sum up: The Africans were better runners than the Americans, and Rojo was a better commentator than Joanie.

I'd tweak it to say the "Kenyans" were better runners than Americans. No one outside Kenya beat Ritz. The women were a different story.

Octa wrote:

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.

Octa,

You could be smart!

The Truth Shall Set You Free wrote:

The truth is out there wrote:

The difference is in the training. Mutai/Kipsang simulate 2:03 -2:04 pace (for almost the entire distance) in training whereas Tegenkamp is running 5:10 pace for half of his long "tempo" runs and then 4:50s the rest.

How the hell can you compete with guys running 4:42-3 miles for 26.2 miles with that kind of super conservative training? Our training methodologies have not caught up with the current racing scene.

Yeah, either that or Teg is not capable of either the training or racing paces that Mutai and Kipsang are capable of.

Get a clue please.

Yes, I'm now going to go out and start training with 4:30 miles. That should for sure get me the world record next year. Good call "Coach".

Yup yup wrote:

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.

Tedesse should give up the marathon. He's terrible and isn't improving and isn't young. That's called real talk from a real running fan. Not some rose colored glasses fanboy. Tedesse is the best ever at the half and a helluva track runner but he sucks at the marathon and needs to quit.

No it's not incredible but what is incredible is that you think his time is somehow incredible. The dude has run a 60:00 half marathon and sub 13:00. All of his marathons have been disappointments. That's the truth. Stop being an apologist. Because he didn't grow up poor he can't be a good runner? What kind of p*ssy are you? Grow a pair you loser

rojo wrote:

1:11:45 at halfway for employee 1.1. Again, if he beats my pr, he's fired so if you need a job, please email.

Is that the same way you coach?

rojo wrote:

Stat of the day from Chicago:

Splits From 30k to 40k

Rita Jeptoo: 32:05

Teg: 32:12

Ritz: 32:34

40k to Finish Split:

Jeptoo 7:00

Ritz 7:16

Teg 7:39

So From 30k to Finish

Jeptoo 39:05

Ritz: 39:28

Teg: 39:51

I love it. :)

Wondering Again wrote:

insightlessness wrote:

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.

Well.. The Jerk Store called, and they said they're running out of you!

Only saw the end and what an end ! So apparently Kimetto dropped out at 21k, what about Biwott ?

An article from Kenya here :

https://citizentv.co.ke/sports/kenyans-second-best-as-rupp-dibaba-rule-chicago-marathon-177706/