Here is the race where CJ finally put it all together and ran down in to the low 2:08s! This used to be the real elite status for American marathoners, and there still are really few that have run under 2:09 in total. He deserves huge kudos for fulfilling the promise that he has been showing for years in his attacks on the Boston course.
Its just that Ruth has, like Ayana in the Olympics 9 years ago, has made the cardinal mistake of taking the drugs and making it look tooooooooo easy. And pretty much everyone on this forum, at one time or another, knows what it feels like to run out of your mind and set a PR you never thought possible. But on the world class level, we know what happens when people run up against the limits of human ability, and this is off the scale.
I am a big CJ fan, he is one of the only pro runners I follow on strava because he is from my home state and I enjoy his unorthodox training. It is awesome to see him finally crack 2:10 and finally be in the conversation of best US marathoners, but I can definitely understand why his run in Chicago didn’t get much talk considering he was less than 2 minutes faster than the top female finisher. Hell, the top guy broke 2:03 and I don’t think I’ve seen a single thread about him
List of truly elite American marathoners who have broken 2:09 (from memory):
Salazar Beardsley Kempainen Ritzenhein Rupp KK Hall Meb Chelenga Abdi Korir Mantz Young Albertson
Don't kow if I missed anyone, that's by memory, but man, 14 men total.
I think you only missed the "slowest" guy under 2:09 -- Martin Hehir at 2:08:59.
Greg Meyer ran 2:09:00 at Boston in 1983 in a race where he did not push the last couple miles because his goal was to win and he had a comfortable lead.
List of truly elite American marathoners who have broken 2:09 (from memory):
Salazar Beardsley Kempainen Ritzenhein Rupp KK Hall Meb Chelenga Abdi Korir Mantz Young Albertson
Don't kow if I missed anyone, that's by memory, but man, 14 men total.
I think you only missed the "slowest" guy under 2:09 -- Martin Hehir at 2:08:59.
Greg Meyer ran 2:09:00 at Boston in 1983 in a race where he did not push the last couple miles because his goal was to win and he had a comfortable lead.
Bill Rodgers is an all-time great but was not a top college runner. He gave up running in college and did not return to serious running until his mid-20s. This is what I meant by pedigree — although he was a protege of the great Amby Burfoot who was himself a protege of the great John J. Kelley.
No he didn't. In practice he ran 4:55 pace around the block for 34 miles. He should be running 2:05.
You’re assuming he was targeting peaking for this race and not for NYC or not for next year. He ran over 100 miles the week of Chicago and he’s back doing speed work and 20 mile double days this week. I have to imagine he has a multi-year plan. Hopefully Nike or Addidas pick him up, better shoes could get him down to the AR
He is amazing and props to him for a great race! I was stoked to see that result!
The problem is that running results are relative and as such, he is just not "good" compared to the rest of the men's elite field.
I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. We don't care about "Best American" because we are conditioned to expect American runners to beat anyone in the world. Centro and Hocker won Gold! Therefore our marathoners should be able to wing gold as well, right? Maybe not. Maybe it is a totally different event and we just can't expect any American to run 2:02 or whatever...
Can we be okay with that? Sometimes you have to face the facts.