Honesty like that is going to get railed upon on this board but its true.
Honesty like that is going to get railed upon on this board but its true.
There were 7 local guys under 51 minutes. How does that compare with other years? I think it's better than all of the archived results on the Cherry Blossom web site (it goes back to 1999).
Can anyone post results from years prior to 1999?
Hodgie-san wrote:
1986
12 Americans 3 foreigners in the top 15
2007
2 Americans 13 foreigners in the top 15
That stat is meangingless as exactly NO 'elite' Americans ran the race this year.[/quote]
Bezerker,
Why meaningless? Some folk's might find it interesting to know that many "elite" American runners competed very well here, once upon a time...
Make of it what you will.[/quote]
I get your point. My point is that it's useless to even list this year's stats due to the fact that it was solely local US guys in the race (with the exception of Young). Not sure if this is a scheduling conflict for the US elite, or if the race director just isn't putting much effort into getting them. It's a shame since the course is fast and there are plenty of fast guys to run with. And its a great time of year to visit DC, what with the cherry blossoms blooming, etc. Back in the Enclave days, we (the US) would usually get a few guys top 15 every year. Even then, it was all local talent.
an honest old timer wrote:
Hodgie-san wrote:You realize that 2:12 on a given day is still getting top ten in many major marathons though you would not be in the top 100 times in any given year.
Not good enough for you?
I respect your attitude toward competition, did you not have the will to just achieve your best?
First let me say that I said I HATE TO ADMIT IT. I am just being honest and I somewhat feel guilty for feeling that way. Back then no one was running under 2:09. So you always felt like you were in the race. I watched Boston last year with great interest and Culpepper finished 5th in 2:11 but he NEVER was in the race. He never had a chance to win it. Now Culpepper is much better than I was and as good as any of the top runners in the world back then, and he is not in the race today. It is fairly obvious where the depth has gone. The depth realizes that they can't compete.
I would not say that he was never in the race or that he never had a chance to win it, there is always a chance, perhaps a slim one.
That is how I thought when I was a young runner and barely in the ballpark of 2:08. (WR at the time)
My naivete (or stupidty) kept that belief alive and helped me to achieve my modicum of success.
I believed I had a chance to win the Boston Marathon when the record was 2:09 and my best was 2:28.
If I were a 2:12 runner today I would most likely feel ther was room for improvement, perhaps great improvement. For a competitive athlete there pretty much always is, right?
The Reebok Enclave was a joke.
I agree with Hodgie, you always believed you could be better. You sought out the competitive races hoping to reach a new level.
I went to Cherry Blossom as a 22 year old back in 1980 because that's where the comp was and i wanted to go after them. I slept on a friends floor the night before the race. Went out and pr'ed from 3 miles on in to finish 12th. Respected everyone in the race, but felt like i was knocking at the door.
The training back then was different, put in 112 that week, like always.
It was a good day for us Brits.....
Enclave Days wrote:
The Reebok Enclave was a joke.
Care to elaborate? Let's see... Holman, Rich Kenah, B. Woodward, J. Troutman, A. Downin. These are all names of Enclave guys who were either national champions or Olympians. Not to mention a slew of other guys who ran 3:3X for 1500 and 13:20s/30s for the 5k.
You're right. What a complete joke.
How do you know the training was different back then? How do you know the guy who finished 12th this year didn't also log 112 or more miles that week?