Ryan Hall Interview: "I wouldn't mind putting that time on a flat certified course"

If it was I would have quoted you

Yeah, can you believe last year's 2:05:52 winner ran a wind adjusted 2:10:43? He blew the f*ck up. That's like Brian Sell slow.

Should this me the new mile world record?

Americans just love themselves wrote:

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/09/sports/sports-people-a-sub-3-30-mile.html

Should this me the new mile world record?

Exactly!

Or, we could ensure that Michael Phelps is in peak condition and then have him officially timed swimming downstream in a white-water river!

A new WR!!!

In response to all on this thread: if you look at my time adjustments for everybody I was generous. I did not follow the most extreme scientific analysis posted on the Letsrun front page. I think Ryan would have run about 2:07 on a non wind aided certified course. Again, this is purely my speculation. Also, stop with saying he's 2:04. He ran 2:04.57 which is basically 2:05 (2 or 3 seconds off, round it up--credit to the poster who pointed this out earlier before me.. I knew this but thought it would be common sense). And, I think Mutai would have probably have run about a 2:05 on a non wind aided certified course. Though experts say the wind could have accounted for a 3 or 4 minutes time aid, I don't believe that. I tend to err on the side of like a 2 minute wind aid. Those boys ran their asses off and I am aware of that. I don't think the wind helped them 3 or 4 minutes cause Mutai is too good for that and so is Ryan. But even 15mph winds at your back is a great aid. I think for the field in Boston Ryan ran an alright race but in reality its more like 2:07 without the wind and I think even he knows that. So, I don't think Ryan's done anything that extraordinary other than finish almost 2 minutes behind the top marathoner in the world. And, yeah, he beat or came behind a few top notch runners but everyone knows they weren't at their top game or just let it go in the end. To be real, at the most, Ryan is still a low 2:07 to mid to low 2:06 runner at the present in most certified marathons. That won't cut it when the top guys regularly run low 2:05 to high 2:04 most of the time. I will give him top billing when he doesn't finish a minute to 2 minutes behind most of the top tier world class marathoners in a major marathon. Had he finished between 10 or 20 seconds behind Mutai, I would give him more props but he's got a long way to go before he can compete in a race like London or the Olympics. He can always get 3rd or 4th. But he will always be a minute or 2 minutes behind the real world class guys and nothing will change that til he proves otherwise.

As a caveat, Ryan could learn to be tactically brilliant like Meb in a major championship or Olympic marathon but I don't think he will ever know how to race like Meb when it counts. However, if he wins a major or gets a world or oly medal, I will give him all the props in the world and I hope he does achieve something spectacular for the good of our country. But, until then he's just another guy. Ryan is our Alan Webb for the marathon in the US. Yeah, Alan has the record for the mile but he ain't no Jim Ryun. And, as of yet, Ryan Hall damn sure ain't no Frank Shorter, he's not Alberto, and he can't even drink with Rodgers. I hope he will be at that level someday but for now he can shine Meb's shoes til he learns how to get it on the big stage. Thats all that matters in then end.

I always thought that flat courses at this distance were an impediment to fast times. That's why they had to make man made hills at Rotterdam.

It was so flat it pounded specific muscle groups to death without any transistion...

So, really a course that gives some muscle groups a break at ceetain times was the fastest.

No that means the winds improved, exponentially. Just think if they had to turn around at 13 and go AGAINST the wind for the last 13....I'd say a minimum of 3 minutes but possibly more.

The way at look at it is no one was able to run as fast as Geb on a pancake flat course with no tailwind so Geb on a net downhill with a tailwind and a couple runners to run with would have been perfect for Geb.

Actually, it 's too bad Geb wasn't in the race.... He would have run 2:02:58

Running Patrol wrote:

Actually, it 's too bad Geb wasn't in the race.... He would have run 2:02:58

Geb in his prime in that race and a few rabbits would have been the only chance to see sub2 in our lifetimes.

I wonder if Greg Meyer considers himself a 2:09 marathoner?

Or when we speak of Greg do we refer to him as a 2:09 marathoner?

Afterall, his breakthrough race was ALSO on a wind aided Boston course.

(save me the details of him winning. he DID NOT have the level of competition we have today)

The wind must be credited to some extent with helping Hall/Mutai/Mosop/Gebre etc - but it is naive to think that for 2:05 minutes it was consistently blowing 20 mph directly at the backs of the runners. The course changes directions and wind, by its nature perennially changes direction - I think that while its probably right not to grant the world record/AR to these guys, it is also kind of silly to apply an arbitrary 3-4 minute wind adjustment time. Calculating something like that would require some America's Cup weather teams and MIT's finest. I think we all ought to celebrate Ryan for a stellar performance and accept both the accomplishment and the fact that no 2 marathons will ever have remotely identical conditions.

I saw a summary elsewhere. You take 2 minutes off for slow Boston, but add 2:40 for the wind, so Hall might have run 2:05:40 on a paced Berlin course that day, except Hall also did a lot of the pacing in Boston, so he would probably have run a 2:05 on a paced Berlin course that day.

But nonetheless, Hall is now a sub 2:05 guy.

Wind pushes up hills as well. Just looking at their times...this is obvious. Ryan knows it. Felt like he was gliding there...

malmo wrote:

Where does ARRS publish their criteria. If it's for those who run <2:25 for men then it distorts the data, as (relatively) untrained club runners performances and elite blow-ups distort the data.

Not necessarily. Every marathon has blow-ups. If you take the sample over enough marathons then you can plausibly assume that their effect evens out.

Will someone please explain to me why most of the analysis of Hall's race on these boards is centered on Hall's time instead of his place and who he beat (or didn't beat). I'm not trying to be sarcastic or troll. I just know that when I saw the results, after I had recovered from seeing the wicked fast times, I immediately focused on where Hall had placed and who had finished behind him. It would seem that I'm missing out on the significance of his time. I'm not suggesting that time is irrelevant. But the fact is that most elite runners race to win, and if a good time comes with that, it's more of a bonus then the ultimate goal.

Bigups2hall wrote:

Will someone please explain to me why most of the analysis of Hall's race on these boards is centered on Hall's time instead of his place and who he beat (or didn't beat).

It's relatively simple: several people created threads (trolling or otherwise) that focused upon Hall's time being an American Record, when that's simply not true.

007run wrote:

I'm not going to do the usual and diss Ryan's faith or his craziness with god. I will leave that alone for a minute. What I'm saying is on a certified course Mutai and Mosop would have run about 2:05 and Ryan about 2:07. While Boston has had many great runners, its never had a field like London or Rotterdam. The top 2 or 3 are gonna be pretty good but then it separates a lot. Like he was 2 minutes from the winner. I think this is good for Ryan to hype (for sponsors and the American running community) but he is delusional if he now thinks of himself as a 2:04 guy so to speak.

So I guess Haile G can't really claim to be 2:03 guy.... you know, 2:03:59. He's delusional if he thinks of himself as a 2:03 guy so to speak. Especially with the pacers and the flat course and all.....

no, you need to get real. American runner ran under 2:05. That is something to celebrate.

'It was an alright race....' ....you are an idiot if you really believe that. Go out and run a hard race and then watch a rerun of the Boston and think about running under 2:05 for the marathon.