What will Ritz do now?

I agree running the 10 at Stanford was an odd choice, because he wasn't going to get the standard there: Payton Jordan had to be the choice. Nevertheless, he has been hurt for a good deal of the previous two years (!) and given Ritz wanted to qualify in the marathon, the window for the 10 and 5 was extremely limited. And although in retrospect, the injury that developed shortly after Stanford seems due to that race, we don't know whether he might have gotten hurt just training. And as for the NY half, as best I can tell that did not contribute to his injury--indeed, because Ritz and Salazar were worried about Ritz getting hurt they kept him off the track. On the related front, I don't think wanting to provide financially for one's family--wife and two young children--is being greedy--rather, it's being responsible. And one other thing to keep in mind: the Trials are nerve-wracking, but Ritz has always managed to qualify, whether it be the World or Olympic Trials.

ttc wrote:

For Ritz to not have the A-Standard now, is on Salazar. It's a large time window to get it, incl. in case he missed the 26.2 team. Whether not making the 26.2 team, being injured or missing the standard- it's on Salazar.

Certainly Salazar has a part in this, but, it is too easy to say it's all his responsibility.

Sometimes there is a little luck, call it happenstance that goes into it, i.e. Ritz's foot problem cutting down his chances to race. And Ritz has responsibility to Insist that he runs faster than "just on" A standard pace.

And sometimes stuff just happens.

you made a few good points...very observant

Ritz is more accomplished than Bob Kennedy.

guys come on now with the "nothing wrong with providing for his wife and kids" crap. Keep in mind ritz probably makes 6 figures just from nike alone. Not including his sponsership from gatoraide either. And in his contract im sure he gets a bonus for makin olympic teams, and time bonuses.

Not to mention even if he didnt run the marathon ritz could still get INCREDIBLY generous appearance/performance fees at road races less than half marathon. Fact is he wanted the big money and fame of the marathon and it took away alot of success in his shorter stuff.

Im a HUGE ritz fan, but he has frustrated me to no end past couple years with decisions.

Its hard to say what financial motivations Ritz had without knowing exactly what he made by running marathons.

If the difference was 100 vs. 120k... then he is a fool.

If the difference was 100 vs. 500k... then he did the right thing.

When your earning potential (from running) is effectively over at 35, you need to make as much money as possible in a very tight, 12-year window.

From a purely athletic perspective... I agree 100%. Moving to the marathon after so many disappointing performances was not smart.

Perhaps less smart was

1) Cutting a hole in his shoe and taping it with duct tape

2) Running a long hard indoor workout in spikes after not running indoors and in spikes for a while

objective coach evaluator wrote:

[quote]lol@tards.. wrote:

i'm just going off the top of my head, but in the last seven weeks i believe he has gone from 28:21 in perfect conditions to 27:50 in the heat... that, combined with the 13:14 at oxy make me think that he'll definitely be in shape to hit the standard at the trials...[quote]

lol@tards: Are you paid by Salazar to search for and defend against every word suggesting anything less than perfection on his part? Seems like it.

are you saying a guy who runs 27:50 in the heat in late may shouldn't be able to run under 27:45 a month later?

fwiw, i thought what salazar tried to do with ritz's form was ridiculous...