Marathon Trials - Quick Recap, Player by Player

Yes. The CJ interview was hard to watch. He went through the full range of emotions during it. For those who haven’t seen it, he didn’t realize he was so close to third (that everyone else had slowed) until 1200 to go. He also couldn’t process whether he had PR’d.

Kudos to 39 year old Rotich and 40 year old Elkinah.

Abdi has no business being on the front line.

Shoutout to debutante Marybeth Chelanga in 2:33:33

I think your analysis on Mantz run is pretty harsh. He literally just became an Olympian and U.S. trials champ for the first time. Clearly Young had more in the tank, but this is at least an A performance to easily get on the team and deliver under high pressure.

How was Sisson an underwhelming performance when she ran 3 minutes under the previous Olympic Trials record? That’s the problem with being a AR holder- people expect nothing but perfection. Sisson admitted she didn’t feel great early on, but she still was able to run 2:22 in hot temps. Probably equates to around 2:20 performance in a championship style race- which makes sense as Alastair and Amy said they thought O’Keeffe was in 2:20 shape.

yeah I don't mean to diminish his achievement, I had him as a lock for the team, I'm just thinking forwards now. He's run 4 marathons: 2:08 CHI, 2:10 BOS, 2:07 CHI, 2:09 ORL and in 50% of those he's looked very close to bonking - by his own admission today he said he thought he was going to collapse coming down the finish - so I had just hoped for a stronger execution or even more of a pick up towards the end as he's someone I want to see push on towards 2:06 and more

I'm not judging him by normal standards, I'm judging him as someone I hope and expect to go on to be America's greatest ever Marathoner

8) Josh Izewski - Good run after being seeded 20th. Zap Endurance had a good day I thought. Colley put himself in contention and his wife Tristin Van Ord finished 17th.

13) Conner Winter - Tinman guys had a good day. Connor brought his PR down from 2:15 to 2:13.

14) Futsum - Slightly dissapointing. Was hoping a 2:09 guy on an upward trajectory would've been more of factor. Had a hell of a closing 5k at CIM a couple years ago, but struggled final 5k today.

49) Nico Montanez- Expected more from a 2:09 guy here as well. Ended up splitting 1:04/1:15.

What happened to Sam Chelanga?

What happened to Fauble? I tuned in just after half and he was gone already while a big pack of 15 or so was still together.

I think this was the fastest marathon time in Florida for men's and women's. Anyone know of a faster one?

2 cents here but I would bet my fanciest hat Young was worse off than he let on but was able to go into full euphoria endorphins mode in the last 2 miles and put on the show.

Mantz did a lot of the work on a direct sun, increasing temperature marathon, Young sat in there on him and everyone else. understandable he was cooked, but that’s good practice for humid ass Europe in summer.

Shout out to Molly Grabill, who finished 13th, in 2:30.16. Not a PR, but I'll always have a spot in my heart for her. After experiencing a horrific injury from someone who threw a rock at her from an overpass when she was at Oregon she's managed ro stick with it, and while not breaking into the top group she keeps at it.

ZAP had a good day?? I think Colley, Pennel, Tuxbury and Macon are still running!! One ZAP coach picked Van Ord, Colley and Pennel to all be top 5! Josh did well, probably because he marches to his own drummer.

ZAP had a good day? I think Colley, Pennel, Tuxbury and Macon are still running. Josh did well, probably because he marches to his own drummer. One ZAP coach picked Van Ord, Pennel and Colley to all be top 5!

Fantastic summary.

i agree - mantz was cooked. Young may have been playing the screen a bit, but it surely look like he had some in the tank at the end.

gutted for CJ.

gutted for Hall. Both great runners that are even better for our sport.

Okeef and Lukeworm - so cool.

all in all: fantastic race. I believe we are sending two strong teams. Stronger than last time.

Des ran 2:28:04, not 2:30. I don't know why you think she's being unrealistic on her pod. She was already talking about Boston and joking about skipping the trials. And wishing she had 2 more weeks. And talking of her chances as existent only if people are overcooked from training and fade hard. She's super consistent so she ran pretty much what she thought. That would've been good enough in LA heat 2016.

I was rooting for Galen and I don't think I'm that patriotic. Like I would root for Bekele in a marathon more than anyone (besides CJ). He just grew on me and was a proven baller unlike most everyone else.

Chelimo looked so uncomfortable from the beginning. I don't think he has the stride or the temperment for the marathon. Maybe the stride doesn't matter anymore, with these bouncy shoes but I don't know of he can adjust the antsyness.

100% agree on the 'antsyness' of Chelimo. You can't race your best marathon constantly looking around, trying to do something with your hands, trying to engage with other competitors. Mile 2 and he was trying to share a bottle with Gidabuday just to be DOING something because he cannot just relax and space out while he races.

Des seems at peace with her best days being behind her and not lasting forever, but as long as she keeps qualifying for the trials and as long as she is able to do majors with an appearance fee, why retire? Sara Hall just lowered the masters American record but not so much that it wouldn't be potentially achievable for Des in the right situation, so there's still goals to chase. When she gets tired of doing this, she'll move on.

My issues with your appraisals have already been addressed.

-Mantz ran very well and who cares if he looked exhausted at the finish—the marathon is hard. You understand he ran 2:06-low pace for 15 miles from 5 to 20 on a warmer than ideal day? The way I see it, he’s executed in 3 of his first 4 marathons, and the “failure” was a 2:10:25 in Boston after running an absurd 2:04 pace with the leaders through the half. Sure, it would be great to see him run the AR one day, but he absolutely delivered in Orlando. He had a femoral stress reaction like 9 weeks ago!

-Sisson didn’t look thrilled after finishing, and I suppose that makes sense for two reasons: 1) O’Keeffe looks like frightening competition going forward 2) Sisson had a different kind of pressure coming into the race as the AR-holder and presumptive favorite, so she was probably more relieved than exalted. But she ran very well, she was just beaten by an incredible, eye-opening performance. She ran her 25th mile in 5:10 and actually closed in on O’Keeffe from 24 to the finish, and safely qualified by 2:49 over 3rd place.

-I imagined Rupp would finish 4th or 5th but the thought that he could make the team had nothing to do with patriotism. He ran 2:08:48 less than 4 months ago, which was the 3rd fastest time by an American in 2023. He won the last two OT marathons and had qualified for the last four Olympics. I’m still not willing to say that Houston showed us the writing was on the wall, since marathoners run subpar halfs while in heavy training before running quality marathons all the time.

-And yeah, I don’t listen to Linden’s podcast so I lack context, but she ran 2:28:04 which is pretty solid for a 40 year old in suboptimal conditions.

"Sisson didn’t look thrilled after finishing, and I suppose that makes sense for two reasons: 1) O’Keeffe looks like frightening competition going forward 2) Sisson had a different kind of pressure coming into the race as the AR-holder and presumptive favorite, so she was probably more relieved than exalted. But she ran very well, she was just beaten by an incredible, eye-opening performance. She ran her 25th mile in 5:10 and actually closed in on O’Keeffe from 24 to the finish, and safely qualified by 2:49 over 3rd place."

Yep, I think it's a totally different thing to run with a target on your back, especially given all the press and attention that comes with it. Getting it done in "clutch" fashion demonstrates a certain athletic maturity and confidence. It's been talked about a lot, but a lot of people struggle to get it done when expectations are placed on them.