Galen Rupp goes home DEVASTATED!!!

This was a setting where distance runners were able to experience the same challenges as other sports like football, rugby and hockey. The fun of playing in the mud, wind, snow and cold can be really exhilarating and rewarding. Distance running, especially the marathon and cross country, should be better than the snow flake events like the soccer players who fall down, cry and hold their knees to draw a penalty when someone has breathed on them too aggressively.

This was a good day, a newsworthy, an athletic day for athletics.

And here we have a bunch of dudes who are runners making weather excuses about running 26.2 miles in the cold rain all while claiming that they would crush Ranger School! Too funny!

areusure? wrote:

He proved once again that he IS a 2:04 guy!

Good call. I think he's still a 2:04 guy but the DNF indicates he was probably in more like 2:05 shape today. So he should not be devastated. Nothing wrong with going home as a 2:04 guy in 2:05 shape with a sub 2:10 PR and a DNF. He should hold his head high. He'll be back soon shooting for a sub DNF.

Victor Alexander wrote:

happens all the timez wrote:

Umm......

2017 US Outdoor 10,000m - 5th place? Unless you expected him to finish 5th.

2 months after running Boston? Yeah I expected him to not even get fifth.

Big deal. Yuki K runs a thon a month. Oh and he has a better PR.

Asked my Dad, month ago, if his PR was his goal. Its like 3:27:49. He said he was gonna beat Rupp. I told him if he, Ritz and I ran legs with Ritz running first 24 miles and me and my Dad doing miles 25 and 26 as legs...Rupp still would beat us. This is how this set up, as he had a tactical plan. He loves Rupp and of course, he is just kidding with all this. My Dad is a huge kidder and never misses a joke. Next I expect he will want his tombstone to read, Loving husband and Doting father, Defeated Rupp at 2018 Boston Marathon. Just so he could make me laugh every time I'd come to that cemetary. Been doing this since I was three. I been so lucky.

If not certified, Rupp fails wrote:

Teen Wolf (1985) wrote:

Post of the day.

Exactly! Kinda like Rocky IV. Rupp is like Ivan Drago but looked like Peter Pan, controlled weather conditions, sterile environment and white lab coats. Rocky trained in the harshest conditions, outdoors, blue collar training indeed. Rupp wilted like a Peter Pan begging for pixie dust.

Hajaja nice try.

Galen still made more $$$ by showing up today than you make in a year.

zxcvxvxc wrote:

Hypothermia I can understand. I am surprised that asthma would be an issue in low 40s and rain.

Exactly. Asthma would get worse in the heat/pollen. Not in cold conditions.

I know everyone thinks I hate Rupp but what I really hate is idiocy.

Let me defend Rupp.

1) I'd much rather run in Calgary in February than Boston April 16, 2018. There is NOTHING in the WORLD than 30 degree temps and rain (ok, today was high 30s/low 40s -worse would be about 34-35). I did a long run once in Ithaca where it went from rain to snow to rain. I MUCH preferred the snow. And then my body shut down. I thought I was going to lose my hands as I didn't have proper gloves.

2) Rupps asthma? Yes, I bleieve it's real. I can't remember who told me this but someone told me this spring that Rupp didn't run the NYC half specifically because he wa fearful it might be bold and he doesn't do well in the cold due to his asthma. A few people have pointed out one of the few races that Rupp has bombed besides today was Manchester. What does that race and this race have in common? Cold.

You nailed it.

1) I've never understood why people hate DNFs. When I was coaching, it didn't bother me at all. This isn't 2nd grade where you get a participation award. By bagging it before mile 20, Rupp could go run somewhere else this spring. I imagine he will. I think there is little chance Salazar wastes his fitness in the next 6 weeks.

2) I've always said running in really hot weather is like a totally different sport. Same thing with cold and rain. I wrote Ross Tucker this morning to ask him what type of body type might benefit in these conditions. He said those with higher body fat percentages.

Guesss what? Two relatively stocky people - Kawauchi and Linden have way stockier legs than most elites - got the win.

I 100% agree. Win a major again? I don't think they'll be competitive in a major again. And by competitive I mean finish top 3 in a non-fluke year.

Les wrote:

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

His asthma has caused him problems in cold races in the past, but they have generally been unimportant or shorter races, so it wasn't a huge deal to slog it in to the finish in 10th place or whatever. It's a little different in a 2+ hour race.

Not aware of Rupp "slogging it to the finish in 10th place" ever. If you have an asthma attack you can't breath. You can't finish a race of any duration.

I am guessing you don't have asthma. It's not all the same. I have some exercise induced asthma. Doesn't really cause attacks, just makes it occasionally more difficult to breathe. It's never life threatening, at least in my case.

Also, you really think Rupp has won all of his races? He's had plenty of races where he's finished 5th-15th place. The one that comes to mind is that Turkey Trot he ran in 2016 where he was having some asthma problems.

Is low 40s and rain really all that different from what Galen likely encounters quite often during Portland winters?? To my knowledge, he wasn't training anywhere else for this buildup. Though conditions were extreme today, it seems like he would be better-suited than most to this kind of weather...

you went there, not us wrote:

lookharder wrote:

El Guerrouj hasn't been convicted of cheating, either. Nor Dibaba. Do you realize that people have different thresholds of evidence to come to a personal conclusion that someone has cheated?

you mean the difference between facts and opinions? (no evidence has been presented...)

No evidence has been presented? Do you live under a rock?

Bullet_Proof wrote:

lookharder wrote:

El Guerrouj hasn't been convicted of cheating, either. Nor Dibaba. Do you realize that people have different thresholds of evidence to come to a personal conclusion that someone has cheated?

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I am sure youd say that to a girl when she asks you how much money you make.

Que?

Bullet_Proof wrote:

If not certified, Rupp fails wrote:

Exactly! Kinda like Rocky IV. Rupp is like Ivan Drago but looked like Peter Pan, controlled weather conditions, sterile environment and white lab coats. Rocky trained in the harshest conditions, outdoors, blue collar training indeed. Rupp wilted like a Peter Pan begging for pixie dust.

Hajaja nice try.

Galen still made more $$$ by showing up today than you make in a year.

Very, very false. You neglected to remember that everyone makes $200k a year here with a hot wife.

you went there, not us wrote:

you mean the difference between facts and opinions? (no evidence has been presented...)

In contrast to El G, there is actually evidence for Rupp's wrongdoing. E.g., photo evidence for "testosterone medication", elevated testo levels, and his off score bringing him onto IAAF's likely doping list. Plus, the forbidden method (too large infusion), according to USADA.

seriously???? wrote:

jamin wrote:

Weather can't be a valid excuse. I know people who PRed today.

Look at the top 5 women today and their times? You think weather played no part? Idiot.

The weather sucked, but so did Eflie.

Based on Eflie's recent half marathon shape, he should be able to run 2:06-2:07. Let's add a full 10 minutes (over 20 seconds per mile!) for bad weather. That would be 2:16-2:17, good for 2nd place.

Instead, drops out when he was still competitive. Lame!

Also lame that Miss Pigtails didn't run because of a stress reaction in her heel. Imagine how many races have been won by runners who had stress reactions and didn't know or ignored.

desiyuki wrote:

Is low 40s and rain really all that different from what Galen likely encounters quite often during Portland winters?? To my knowledge, he wasn't training anywhere else for this buildup. Though conditions were extreme today, it seems like he would be better-suited than most to this kind of weather...

Yes, Rupp himself said that weather wasn't going to be a factor because cold and rain was normal in Oregon.

Rupp typically likes to run from the front. While that may work when you are having your best day and there is no head wind, with weathher like yesterday, you have to change your tactics. He should have just hid in the pack or sat on someone's shoulder the first 30-35k, then gone into beast mode. As for clothing, Kawauchi was the best dressed. When you're racing, you wear less, not more. Who wants to carry the extra weight or have the extra wind resistance. Not sure about the asthma thing so I don't have that.

Congrats to Yuni and Desi.

Boston 2004 almost killed me. I crawled to the finish line. My running was never the same. I should have dropped.

Sometimes if it's not your day, it's not your day. Hope Rupp recovers and comes back stronger.

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

Also, you really think Rupp has won all of his races? He's had plenty of races where he's finished 5th-15th place. The one that comes to mind is that Turkey Trot he ran in 2016 where he was having some asthma problems.

Not at all. On the track we was often outkicked but rarely, if ever, dropped. On the roads, the same. Rupp has never dropped out of a race as far as I know, except once indoors when he hurt his foot. If he has an asthma condition, it might affect his performance, but it doesn't cause him to drop out of races like he did today.