Ritz- Best All-Around Distance Runner In U.S. History?

I thought he had run 3:50, but I couldn't remember right then that's why I put a "?"

TrackBot! VDOT 19:10 5K

VDOT for 19:10 5km: 52.3

Equivalent race times based on VDOT:

Marathon: 03:03:39

Half marathon: 01:28:04

15K: 01:01:10

10K: 00:39:47

5K: 00:19:11

3Mi: 00:18:29

2Mi: 00:11:59

3200m: 00:11:54

3K: 00:11:06

1Mi: 00:05:36

1600m: 00:05:34

1500m: 00:05:11

I am a bot. Info:

http://habs.sdf.org/trackbot

dasfdsa wrote:

Most of you are missing the point of this thread: Ritz's range, from a strictly time standpoint, tops all of these guys. Lagat doesn't have it over 5000, Solinsky's range only goes up to 10000, Rupp hasn't proven himself, from a time standpoint, over half marathon or marathon yet. Based on his personal bests, yes, he's the best all-around American.

No, that would be Alan Webb.

Can you guys using TrackBot here please move to one of the designated TrackBot threads if it's not relevant to the discussion? I don't really want to spam VDOT calculations here and give the bot a bad name if it has nothing to do with Ritz

I think you mean,

"Is ritz the best all-round distance runner in the history of US running ever of all-time?"

Please speak the lingo or the children here can't understand you.

dathan relative wrote:

Wrong. A 2:07+ is special, in contention or not. Dathan is running against some very rare athletes, with genes (among other things) that are freakish. To run a marathon in 2:04 flat or faster marathon has been done 7 times I believe. Rip his marathon pr all you want as even if he had run 2:06 flat, you'd still be ripping him.

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

Depends how much you value XC.

Rupps marathon win puts him way ahead of Ritz at that distance. (207 isn't that special if you are never in contention).

Why is Ritz given the benefit of the "what if?!" over 10k but Galen (with faster mile, 3k, 10k, 2 seconds slower over 5k, 30 seconds slower over 1/2) is not given the same benefit of the doubt over the marathon--a distance he has run once, a winning effort in sub-optimal conditions on a not fast course in a championship race...? I would consider Rupp a 2:09 marathoner at worst, and expect improvement.

Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers are underrated in this thread.

TrackBot! VDOT 17:43 5K

VDOT for 17:43 5km: 57.4

Equivalent race times based on VDOT:

Marathon: 02:49:40

Half marathon: 01:21:13

15K: 00:56:25

10K: 00:36:43

5K: 00:17:42

3Mi: 00:17:03

2Mi: 00:11:02

3200m: 00:10:58

3K: 00:10:13

1Mi: 00:05:09

1600m: 00:05:08

1500m: 00:04:46

I am a bot. Info:

http://habs.sdf.org/trackbot

The question that this thread really raises is:

Why does Rupp consistently underperform at 5K?

Have any of you heard of Craig Virgin? Half the runners you are talking about are not worthy enough to help carry his shoes to the starting line! Most are footnotes in US running. Craig is a living legend who was effected by politics.

I miss the time when US runners were competive on every surface, every weekend, under every condition. Salazar is underrated on how tuff he was and raced hard, raced often, raced on all surfaces (& weather) & raced at the highest level year round. Same said for Virgin...and several others from that era.

Stotans@yahoo.com wrote:

Have any of you heard of Craig Virgin? Half the runners you are talking about are not worthy enough to help carry his shoes to the starting line! Most are footnotes in US running. Craig is a living legend who was effected by politics.

I miss the time when US runners were competive on every surface, every weekend, under every condition. Salazar is underrated on how tuff he was and raced hard, raced often, raced on all surfaces (& weather) & raced at the highest level year round. Same said for Virgin...and several others from that era.

Yeah, Yifter the Shifter really lucked out on that one!

Evan Jager may end up topping this list when all is said and done. He's got a pretty good 1500 time, a decent5k time, and obviously the SC. Have to see what he does in the longer distances when and if he moves up

Stotans@yahoo.com wrote:

Have any of you heard of Craig Virgin? Half the runners you are talking about are not worthy enough to help carry his shoes to the starting line! Most are footnotes in US running. Craig is a living legend who was effected by politics.

I miss the time when US runners were competive on every surface, every weekend, under every condition. Salazar is underrated on how tuff he was and raced hard, raced often, raced on all surfaces (& weather) & raced at the highest level year round. Same said for Virgin...and several others from that era.

This really isn't the idea here. We're not talking about "the most globally competitive U.S. runner ever", but rather, the "best" U.S. runner ever. All of these 70s-80s guys like Virgin, Shorter and Salazar just don't have times that would even be close to competitive today. These are guys who were 40-50s slower than Rupp over 10k.

Too slow wrote:

We're not talking about "the most globally competitive U.S. runner ever", but rather, the "best" U.S. runner ever. All of these 70s-80s guys like Virgin, Shorter and Salazar just don't have times that would even be close to competitive today. These are guys who were 40-50s slower than Rupp over 10k.

I think you're confusing the word "best" with "fastest".

Check wrote:

Short and simple wrote:

Frank Shorter finished 1st in the Olympic Marathon and 5th in the Olympic 10,000 meters in the same Olympics. Until Rupp or Ritz does that, Shorter will be superior.

Shorter even came back 4 years later to earn a silver medal in the Marathon only losing to a doper East German.

Shorter was ranked #1 in the world 3 times in the marathon and #2 twice. He was ranked #2 in the World in the 10,000 meters twice and #5 twice.

This is better than Rupp or Ritz in whatever they consider their 2 best events.

Shorter is the greatest American male distance runner in history.

The problem is, Ritz or Rupp would clean Shorter's clock at literally any distance. Unless you're that kind of guy who thinks that Emil Zatopek is the greatest distance runner ever? In which case, sure, maybe Shorter's the greatest American.

So you're that kind of guy that thinks Frank Shorter is the 26th (?) greatest American marathoner ever?

TrackTy aka Tyler McCandless would DESTROY prime Ritz in any distance from the 1600 to the marathon.

Anyone who follows TrackTy on social media knows he's THIS close to going sub-2:14 in the marathon.

At the 2016 Trials he was obliterating the field....until..well.....yeah, obliterating.

Ackley wrote:

Check wrote:

The problem is, Ritz or Rupp would clean Shorter's clock at literally any distance. Unless you're that kind of guy who thinks that Emil Zatopek is the greatest distance runner ever? In which case, sure, maybe Shorter's the greatest American.

So you're that kind of guy that thinks Frank Shorter is the 26th (?) greatest American marathoner ever?