By the way, I love it when pros do super small races. I cracks me up to see them running against schlubs like me. I lost a Holiday 5km to Chris Solinsky one time...
Which gets me to my question. Which retired pro do you think is in the best shape? If we had a "charity event" like the golfers do, who could still put up a pretty good time? Meb? Rupp? Who would you pick?
Imagine being pressured by your boss to do some corporate challenge because “you’re one of those runner guys.”
you reluctantly craft some kind of peak, throw in some speed work, your coworkers are cracking jokes about how you’d better win because you’re so skinny
You toe the line and next to you is THE GREATEST TACTICIAN IN HISTORY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST CENTRO.
around the mid 2000s, I found myself lined up against a largely retired Marcus O'Sullivan. I was actually leading the race at 1 mile ( 5:06 or so). I knew he was racing so I was a bit surprised to be out there in the lead. I slowed quite a bit and was overtaken by him and one other guy, they finished in 16:40-ish (he outkicked for the win). I ran 16:50 or so. I was thinking if I really was able to hold that sub 5:10 pace I might have won that day.
By the way, I love it when pros do super small races. I cracks me up to see them running against schlubs like me. I lost a Holiday 5km to Chris Solinsky one time...
Which gets me to my question. Which retired pro do you think is in the best shape? If we had a "charity event" like the golfers do, who could still put up a pretty good time? Meb? Rupp? Who would you pick?
Rupp. He's not retired. He ran a 2:14 marathon last year.
The NYC race (different course, same distance; Chicago is likely flatter) is generally much faster—mid 16s and below. Once all the JPMCC city races are run, Centro will be lucky to be in the top 40 on the leaderboard. Disappointing—I expect more from him.
The course was long... more like 3.7. They had to change it from 2 yrs ago when it was 3.3ish and times were inflated.
No it wasn’t, I was there and also assisted with course setup. GPS track is terrible due to Lower Wacker (in addition to the usual urban canyon GPS effect). However, it was fairly windy (and, as others said, Centrowitz seemed to be racing tactically here).
Not sure why folks are surprised at his fitness, though - he already confirmed he was running the Chicago Marathon again this fall and I doubt his goal is “just to finish.” He’ll either be back pacing the professional women (most likely) or else running a 2:high teens marathon. This race was nothing spectacular (except, you know, it involved a gold medalist!).
Imagine being pressured by your boss to do some corporate challenge because “you’re one of those runner guys.”
you reluctantly craft some kind of peak, throw in some speed work, your coworkers are cracking jokes about how you’d better win because you’re so skinny
You toe the line and next to you is THE GREATEST TACTICIAN IN HISTORY OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST CENTRO.
Alyeska is run by Anand Parekh and he actually was a big funder of a local masters running team for awhile. (Chicago has a competitive club scene). As an example, he would fly his group to the Berlin Marathon on a private jet. He also has a daughter who runs at Stanford and a son at Michigan. The Chase Corporate Challenge often has hired dogs and their is rumored to be side betting between different hedge funds. Alos, the course is often inaccurate and more like 3.4 miles vs. 3.5 miles.
1. Chicago's club scene is boring 2. "Hired dogs" aren't allowed at JPMCCC, you have to be working at the company for a set amount of time to be eligible for scoring. I've gotten people disqualified by complaining 3. I can confirm betting occurs 4. The organizers in Chicago revamped the course a few years ago and lied about it being USATF certified 5. Never forget that there used to be a global championship race that Chase quietly discontinued 6. Never forget that during the pandemic Chase spent millions designing an app for a "virtual" corporate challenge in which they hired Kevin Hart to shout encouragements as the runners progressed. The app didn't account for elevation (or if you were on a bike/car) and it stopped your run if your phone locked while you were running.
