U.S. XC Championships

Hall will repeat his performance of last year. When he decides to put the hammer down early like yesterday, the results will be the same regardless of how Ritz feels. I see Hall winning easily with Ritz 40 seconds back...bank on it!!!

I see Ritz lying on the frozen tundra of Boulder. Having bombed the last 1k. Comming in behing Hall, Goucher, Abdi and Dan Browne.

I would say most people agree that Hall should be the clear favorite for this race. However, since it is a race that you only have to finish in the top 6, (is it still only 6 going?) that he will put the hammer down the entire way. He will run to win that is for sure and may wait before the last 3K to push it. To many things can go wrong if the weather is cold, but, he proved last year in New York the cold won't stop him.

NEVER leave Goucher out of the picture to take the title.

I leave nobody out....as you can see, I said that he is the clear favorite, I don't say he is the clear cut winner. I like your assessment, running at home, at altitude, and in the cold....

xpert wrote:

Hall will repeat his performance of last year. When he decides to put the hammer down early like yesterday, the results will be the same regardless of how Ritz feels. I see Hall winning easily with Ritz 40 seconds back...bank on it!!!

you mean in a cross race he would only be 8 seconds behind bekele, i doubt it. moron

Is Bekele in the race???

force recon wrote:

xpert wrote:

Hall will repeat his performance of last year. When he decides to put the hammer down early like yesterday, the results will be the same regardless of how Ritz feels. I see Hall winning easily with Ritz 40 seconds back...bank on it!!!

you mean in a cross race he would only be 8 seconds behind bekele, i doubt it. moron

Another thread noted that Hall's dad was interviewed on flocast and said Ryan was "looking at" the LA marathon on March 4.

Let's assume he now getting a decent appearance fee from LA making it difficult to say no ....

Can he run a marathon on March 4 and bounce back three weeks later for the XC nationals?

Or, has his "break through" mean he "moved beyond" the XC nationals to only races that give him appearance fees?

I may be mistaken but arent XC nats in Boulder taking place on Feb. 10th, making the race abour 3 weeks before Halls marathon and a perfect tuneup for that race? My only concern about Hall is that he is jumping into this spring marathon idea to quickly... he just ran a great half, but the 13.1 vs. the 26.2 are two totally different beasts... I hope he is fully prepared for the full 'thon as Id love to see a debut in the 2:09-2:10 range which should be more than doable.

LA has a crappy course.

If Goucher is healthy, he can give Hall a run for his money. Especially, if there are sloppy conditions negating Hall's picture perfect form.

No clue why Lincoln isn't a better XC runner. He's very good, but it seems like he should be great.

ritz stayed right with webb last spring in the 10000m. ritz will not let hall pull away from him without a fight. if hall even runs he will have a better chance of pulling away from ritz if the ground is firmer. ritz will stay with hall better than goucher.

Come February in Boulder...

1. Dathan Ritzenhein

2. Ryan Hall

3. Jorge Torres

4. Abdi Abdirahman

5. Matt Tegenkamp

6. Fernando Cabada

7. Adam Goucher

8. Fasil Bizuneh

9. Ian Dobson

10. Jason Hartmann

11. Max King

12. Andrew Carlson

13. Josh Rohatinsky

14. Chris Solinsky

15. Dan Browne

Ritzenhein was able to hang with a 26:53 10k runner in Edinburgh through a 9.2km race in mud. Hall ran like 26:53 10k runner on the roads for 21k. They both train at altitude and will have experience sloshing through the snow on long tempo runs. I think it'll be a good race.

If he really thinks his best shot at making the US Olympic team is in the Marathon, then a Spring Marathon would make sense to test the waters. Then he will have one Marathon under his belt before running the Trials in NYC in November.

If this is the case, then I would think that London would be the best choice, given the fast course, cool weather for optimum running and plenty of competition, regardless of what his time goal would be.

It sounds like he have been doing enough volume to run the Marathon, perhaps lacking long runs though.

You have to think that if he runs conservatively early on, he could run 2:10-2:11 easily.

With sub 60 minute speed for the Half, he is certainly capable of running 2:07 if everything went right for him. But we all know that those first Marathons can be tricky, learning to address fluid and fuel needs in the Marathon takes some experience.

everyone forgets about Torres, Jorge will win and Eduardo will finish in the top 8.

Please do not try to predict what any runner can run for a marathon based upon what they ran for a half. It is 2 completely different animals. Food for thought. Hall just broke Mark Curp's record in the half. How did Mark fair in the marathon? I believe 2:14 is the answer. Todd Williams ran about an hour flat for a half marathon (on a not recognized for records course) and has run considerably faster than Ryan for 10k. What was his best marathon? 2:11 I believe. My point is that they are 2 different event and one is in NO WAY a predicter of another.

I don't think that Curp ever ran a marathon did he?

You present an excellent point. It wasn't very memorable.