Zurich 5000m

DonMolière wrote:

But I can't believe how Bekele win is overshadowed on that message board by an american finishing third in a good time.

The reason nobody is commenting on Bekele's win is because it is like the sun coming up in the morning, we all expect it to happen.

But when Ritz took third in a new AR, that was unexpected. Like watching the sunrise and realizing that there is a bit of the sun eclipsed by the moon. You don't tell your friends, "the sun came up this morning," you tell them about the eclipse. No matter that the size of the eclipse is dwarfed by the size of the sun. So indeed Bekele was overshadowed by Ritz today.

The rabits were not on the pace of the WR anyway, as they said it right before the race. Bekele is logically tired after having to run a fast 10 000 and after the 5 000 at the world championship.

Being tired and still being light years above a golden league field while doing a season best is good, no matter how tou want to see that.

Ritz running a 12:56.27 is equivalent to Bekele running a 12:34.xx. Even though Bekele won this race, I have to give up for Ritz today. But I do agree with you on one point though. Bekele>the rest of the world in distance running.

DonMolière wrote:

The rabits were not on the pace of the WR anyway, as they said it right before the race. Bekele is logically tired after having to run a fast 10 000 and after the 5 000 at the world championship.

Being tired and still being light years above a golden league field while doing a season best is good, no matter how tou want to see that.

DonMolière wrote:

The rabits were not on the pace of the WR anyway, as they said it right before the race. Bekele is logically tired after having to run a fast 10 000 and after the 5 000 at the world championship.

Being tired and still being light years above a golden league field while doing a season best is good, no matter how tou want to see that.

Who would argue with this?

But what you previously stated is that Bekele's peformance was greater than Ritz's. That would mean that Bekele's performance was phenomenal, and being over 15 seconds off his personal best and looking tired is certainly not phenomenal for the G.O.A.T. While he should be somewhat tired from worlds, the 5K's were not fast for him. This is a guy who has doubled and won world cross when they had short and long courses. He has also broken 12:45 and 26:30 on mulitple occassions.

Surely Dieter and his toothpaste is equivalent to Ritz being coached by Stray-Gunderson, oops I mean Salazar?

Bekele is only human so of course he was going to tire. I bet you if Ritz did the 5k world champs in Berlin and had to run the zurich meet afterwords, he wouldn't have broken 13:00 today. To put it bluntly, 13:40 and coming back in 13:05 to run 26:46. Than running 13:19 in the prelim while coming back running 13:17 to win the 5k gold. Than five days later running a 12:52 with a world leading time. All within two weeks while Ritz had a weeks worth of rest. Not to take anything away from Ritz because he ran a PHENOMINAL race today but other than Soi, he was well rested than the majority of the competitors. Especailly Bekele. But awesome race though. (P.S, he's only broken 12:45 two times).

where is craig mottram? what was his best time ???12.52????

it is good to see guy like Ritz. also it is good to see an american record? but it is not big deal.

there are lots of kenyan, ethiopian who can kick with that kind of time but he will not win in any major championships

captain oblivious wrote:

Ritz can't close in 60 after a hard 4600, sorry.

He may have set a nice PR in the 10K but the 5K is a different animal. I say 13:14 at best,or 9th. Mark it down.

I just did.

music is happiness wrote:

Ritz will finish 8th but in a new AR 12:57, and the world will be so awed, Ritz will be awarded the jackpot!!!

Wow, I was joking with this post. He exceeding all of the wild expectations except for stealing the jackpot from Bekele.

All aboard the Ritz bandwagon!!

without the 2 5000m races at Berlin, he would have been fresh and gone 12.40 in Zurich.

Pointer-outer:

Your inquiry is really well written...and funny.

But, geez dude, Paranoid much?

I take Flagpole at his word.

another "Scandanavian" wrote:

without the 2 5000m races at Berlin, he would have been fresh and gone 12.40 in Zurich.

I agree with you. Racing the way he races takes alot out of you physically and emotionally. I don't know how he does it. If you look at all the other guys (other than Ritz and Soi) those guys were drained. Bekele was looking tired too but he powered through and still won. Put anybody else in his shoes, they would not have run a 12:52 after 12 days of racing. Tough S.O.B. But like I said and I'll say it again, Ritz was the man yesterday. So you got to give some credit to him too.

Flagpole wrote:

2) To comment on the piano thing, I do happen to be a gigging musician and have played in blues and rock bands for 20 years (keyboard and guitar and some singing). My best instrument is the keyboard by far. Pretty much I'm a mediocre guitar player and just an ok singer. I started out as a classically trained pianist and was playing very complicated classical pieces and regularly in church by age 9. I considered being a piano performance major in college but decided I wanted it to be my hobby rather than my vocation. As it is, I've played in bands for money for 20 years, have done session work, and could eke out a meager living as a full-time musician if I wanted that life. I don't.

Can you please stop with this already? You sound like the fat guy at work who said he ran a 4:15 mile in high school gym class but he liked baseball better so he never went out for track. Trust me, to those of us who actually do make a living in music, this is how you sound.

mesfin wrote:

there are lots of kenyan, ethiopian who can kick with that kind of time but he will not win in any major championships

I agree that Ritz will have a hard time winning any major championships without a faster kick. (Since Lagat can't beat Bekele in a kick, I doubt anyone else can either.)

However, there are not that many Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes "who can kick with that kind of time."

Here is a list of the 12 fastest 10k runners over the last three years with their best 5k time (note that most of these times are two years old):

12:49.53 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 28/07/2007

12:50.16 Sileshi Sihine ETH 14/09/2007

12:50.38 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 14/09/2007

12:50.55 Moses Ndiema Masai KEN 01/06/2008

12:50.72 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro UGA 14/09/2007

12:51.00 Joseph Ebuya KEN 14/09/2007

12:51.95 Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa KEN 14/09/2007

12:52.45 Tariku Bekele ETH 01/06/2008

12:55.03 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 28/08/2009

12:56.27 Dathan Ritzenhein USA 28/08/2009

12:57.56 Abreham Cherkos ETH 01/06/2008

12:58.49 Yusuf Kibet Biwott KEN 14/09/20077

FLAGPOLE PLEASE STOP COCKING UP ACTUAL RUNNING THREADS WITH YOUR PROCLAMATIONS AND YOUR F'ING RESUME

Flagpole and I are looking real good on our predictions.

Have a look back on page 1

Flagpole wrote:

I don't see it this time. 13:10 though if the race is right for it? Perhaps.

Have another look. Your wingman crashed and burned.

Flagpole wrote:

I did actually call for a 13:11 in this race