The Ryan Hall Story Really Pulls at My Heart

So these 2:04-2:05 guys are cruising along at 2:10-2:11 pace shaking in their boots cause of Ryan Hall. And then Meb takes off at 2:09.xx pace and they figure, better save it for Ryan Hall, he's the tits. And let this other famous elite runner start getting out of view so they can hang back on 2:10 pace and chill with Hall?

Makes sense, front running Africans probably figured they couldn't hang at 2:09 pace. Far too fast for their legs.

So a 2:05 guy is out of gas after running 2:06 pace for a 1/3 of the race? Excellent argument. Surely you're helping prove the point that he shouldn't have run out of gas in pristine conditions or would have *GASP* known there were hills in the course and should have followed Meb on 2:09 pace before the hill so he wouldn't have to drop to a solid minute behind his PR pace.

So in your theory this American on his PR pace in Boston for the big race decides to just start coasting because he wants an American to win the race and knows that if he tries to run any faster other people might beat him or the other American.

And my theory is more insane to you.

And to top it off the Africans that were keying off Ryan Hall magically start keying off each other mid-race because well Hall sucks and we can just forget about Meb.

The Americans that could have picked up the pace??? B.S. It is strongly implied that "these" other Americans were going to suddenly take off and run at such a fast pace but didn't to let Meb win and thus sacrifice their chance at a personal pr of their own.

I believe 100% that Ryan Hall said what he claims to have said, but I don't believe any of the other Americans were just floating along effortlessly and then going to start dropping 4:50 miles to catch Meb...bullshit with a capital B.

That implies that the other Americans would have all set pr's and ran soooooooo much faster. Yeah right, Nick was going to go 2:09 but decided to back off. No, he may have came up to Hall's side, but he wasn't going to blow by him and start leading the pack in an effort to chase down Meb as they weren't going to catch him and those "other" Americans are not even sub 2:10 marathoners.

I'm so selfless i run 3:13! No way I'm helping the africans! If they want to win, they'll just have to run and hour and 5 mins faster on their own.

madmandoc wrote:

I'm so selfless i run 3:13! No way I'm helping the africans! If they want to win, they'll just have to run and hour and 5 mins faster on their own.

You better slow down just in case. Do it for Meb.

I agree. Hall may have said these things... But it means nothing more and nothing less than that. The africans still had to have very bad days to lose (or not be as fit as they've been for other races), and the other americans were already basically on PR paces so doubtful they were going to do anything different anyway. Nothing more, nothing less. Meb did the hard part and a perfect storm aligned.

Word.

Run slow for Meb or you hate America.

Most people complain when the Kenya's run team tactics and whine why can't American's do the same. Well they finally did, stop complaining, it led to an American winner.

This is gonna be a great segment for the Ryan Hall documentary movie. LRC basically wrote the story for them. Ha.

ConspiracyTheorist wrote:

And my theory is more insane to you.

I know this is hard for you to grasp. You really like your conspiracy theories and all. You know, like 9/11 was an inside job, the Kennedy assassination was done by the Illuminati, all that stuff.

You know what else is a conspiracy? SILVER F***ING MEDALS!

Meb 2004

Rupp 2012

Maznano 2012

Symmonds 2013

4 silvers in 9 years. That's no coincidence. No bronzes. No golds. Just silver.

If you write Meb, Rupp, Manzano, and Symmonds in Word on separate lines with center alignment, it makes a pyramid. Coincidence? Or conspiracy? I think I know which you'll choose.

In case you didn't know: NIKE IS ILLUMINATI

Bobby1 wrote:

Most people complain when the Kenya's run team tactics and whine why can't American's do the same. Well they finally did, stop complaining, it led to an American winner.

How did team USA do at the Boston Marathon? They won the team competition? How does one get on the US team for Boston?

Troller of trolls wrote:

ConspiracyTheorist wrote:

And my theory is more insane to you.

I know this is hard for you to grasp. You really like your conspiracy theories and all. You know, like 9/11 was an inside job, the Kennedy assassination was done by the Illuminati, all that stuff...

I know this is hard for you to grasp. You really like to believe that nobody in a position of power or influence ever abuses that. You know, like Nixon was totally innocent, Pete Rose never gambled on baseball, Lance Armstrong never used PEDs, all that stuff...

See how that works?

Recognizer of Lame Posts wrote:

I know this is hard for you to grasp. You really like to believe that nobody in a position of power or influence ever abuses that. You know, like Nixon was totally innocent, Pete Rose never gambled on baseball, Lance Armstrong never used PEDs, all that stuff...

See how that works?

In every case you cited, there was intense self-interested motivation of the person orchestrating the cheating.

The analogous instigator of the Great Boston Marathon Fix would be Meb. Are you saying what I think you're saying? Yes I think you are.

MEB IS ILLUMINATI

Bobby1 wrote:

Most people complain when the Kenya's run team tactics and whine why can't American's do the same. Well they finally did, stop complaining, it led to an American winner.

Most people can't understand what you're trying to say because you randomly put apostrophes into plurals.

NE Coach wrote:

I am an official in the chute system. As Hall was coming through the finish area, he kept asking, "Who won, who won?" Nobody was answering (the medical people probably didn't know). I went up to Hall and said simply "Meb won".

He flashed a huge smile and started pumping his arm. I thought at the time that it was one of the classiest things I've seen in my 40+ years in the sport.

What was particularly classy about that????????

Troller of trolls wrote:

In every case you cited, there was intense self-interested motivation of the person orchestrating the cheating.

The analogous instigator of the Great Boston Marathon Fix would be Meb. Are you saying what I think you're saying? Yes I think you are.

MEB IS ILLUMINATI

Not a single person has claimed Meb was in on the fix or that it was some elaborate plan. The only speculation I've seen is that the foreign men were told to tank or hang back.

But you're so scared that anyone would suggest your sport is impure that anyone challenging the results believes in aliens, the illuminati, CIA plots. Despite not a single person saying anything about those topics. Because you're trying to discredit any theory by lumping it in with totally unrelated topics because you can't comprehend that fixing a sporting event is entirely plausible and doesn't require the CIA or a grand conspiracy.

ConspiracyTheorist wrote:

Not a single person has claimed Meb was in on the fix or that it was some elaborate plan. The only speculation I've seen is that the foreign men were told to tank or hang back.

But you're so scared that anyone would suggest your sport is impure that anyone challenging the results believes in aliens, the illuminati, CIA plots. Despite not a single person saying anything about those topics. Because you're trying to discredit any theory by lumping it in with totally unrelated topics because you can't comprehend that fixing a sporting event is entirely plausible and doesn't require the CIA or a grand conspiracy.

Ahhh going on the attack, are we? Feeling like someone has caught on to the ploy, have we? Trying to distract from and invalidate a counter proposal, eh? This all points to one thing.

CONSPIRACY THEORIST IS ILLUMINATI

Nick A. who was interviewed first and the top american finisher is the first person to mention anything about Ryan Hall telling the lead American's to keep the pace and not surge. I actually believe it, especially since it was reported before he (Ryan Hall) actually confirmed it. In the end it doesn't really matter, Meb ran an excellent race, and deserved the win. I just hope that Ryan has one more good one left.

Can I have a little of what you are smoking?[/quote]

ConspiracyTheorist, why are you being such an arse? Why is it so hard to understand that an American man wanted an American man to win a race and knew how to mess with some cocky Africans? Maybe it is all fabricated just to have a feel-good story for the USA, but I'm gonna have to say the chances of that are microscopic.

I'll put things in a different perspective. In cross country a few months ago, my team was going up against a county powerhouse. These guys had a state-champion 4x800 team a few years ago and they had a ton of studs who could all do sub-4:40 miles. These kids were killing everybody in our league; they were getting in their first 10 guys before the other teams would get their first one in. Me and my brother are the two fastest guys on the team but we both knew a win was going to be impossible. However, we knew these guys were cocky, and we knew they played games with the other runners when they ran. So raceday is here, and we line up at the line and the gun goes off. Everybody is running out and it's just me, my brother, and a pack of probably 8 kids from the other team. Me and my brother are leading the race for the first half mile when my brother darts up one of the hills and gets an early lead. He keeps darting up the hills and the lead is slower getting bigger. When I was halfway on the course the other team's pack is still on my back but my brother has a 30 second lead on all of us. I was running an honest pace but I knew the drill. The other team started talking to each other, saying how they still saw my brother through the trees up ahead and they were gonna push with 1 mile left. I knew in my head that we had a set of crazy hills on our course just ahead, so I slowed a little bit and they still stayed on my back. The hills come, and they're still on my back, but once we reach the last hill they sprint up it and they're going in for the kill. The only thing is it's already over. After those hills you have probably a half mile to go, and they underestimated that distance. They thought there was much more to go and they could catch my brother.

My brother ended up winning by 15 seconds. At the time he had never ran faster than 4:54 for the mile and 10:42 for the 2 mile. That day had been his fastest time for a 5k on that course ever. Not a course record, but still a respectable time. All those studs from the powerhouse underestimated the course, my brother's will to win, and their athletic ability. They're still incredible runners but today was not their day.

This is almost identical to Boston. My brother was Meb, I was Hall, and the other team was the Africans. The Africans got cocky, thought they could reel him in later, waited too long and blew the chance. Hall knew how these guys raced, perhaps from his time in Ethiopia, and he waited back. Hall couldn't take those Africans - let's be honest, there was no chance he could beat them on Monday. But just like me, he played his role in that race and did something for the better good. I couldn't take those guys either so I held them to a weak pace and they were stupid enough to take the bait and wait. Hall telling the other Americans not to push because the Africans would follow is totally believable. If it can happen in high school, you bet it could happen in the pros.

The Boston Marathon is not a team event. There are no teams, no team medals, only individual places. But it isn't hard to see strategic racing and people looking out for somebody they'd rather have win. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend", and on Monday an American wanted an American to win on American soil rather than an African just there for the cash. I was okay with my brother beating me if it meant the other kids weren't going to win.

Sometimes you just know the gravity of the situation and when to give in to the greater good...