Dathan Ritzenhein will do well at the Olympic Trials Marathon

Agreed. I expect him to finish in the top 5, and I picked him to finish 3rd, behind Khannouchi(2nd) and Hall(1st).

I picked him 3rd also, behind Abdi and Hall. His 2:14 in NYCM last year was because he faded at the end and didn't take gels at the end. I doubt that'll happen again and he should be in contention to the end.

at the end

Dathan will finish in the top 3.

i pick ritz, abdi and rothaninsky in no particular order.

michigan high school xc finals are tomorrow. always was a good day for ritz, should be this year too.

scary to think the american record holder in the half marathon, last olympic's silver medalist, a former world record holder, and the defending champion could all be left off the podium tomorrow.

TPaine wrote:

scary to think the american record holder in the half marathon, last olympic's silver medalist, a former world record holder, and the defending champion could all be left off the podium tomorrow.

we are starting to feel like the kenyans

thats a good thing

Ritz will run well, but I am picking Webb over Ritz.

TPaine wrote:

scary to think the american record holder in the half marathon, last olympic's silver medalist, a former world record holder, and the defending champion could all be left off the podium tomorrow.

gfjhg wrote:

we are starting to feel like the kenyans

thats a good thing

True, and if we get a few more east africans like Meb and Abdi, and maybe some more north africans like KK, and possibly a Kenyan marathoner as good as Lagat is at the mile/5k to all move to the USA and become citizens then we will REALLY "start to feel like the Kenyans" ! (and since Abdi and Meb are from somewhat near Kenya, I imagine they do indeed, at least somewhat, "feel like a Kenyan", however that might feel. )

TPaine wrote:

scary to think the american record holder in the half marathon, last olympic's silver medalist, a former world record holder, and the defending champion could all be left off the podium tomorrow.

Not too scary. Think about when those races were run:

AR half - 2007

Olympic silver medal - 2004

WR - 2002

OT champ - 2004

All but Hall's notoriety came 3-5 years ago.

he looks kinda pale, stressed and depleted in that picture. He needs to learn to chill out.

if its really cold tomorrow, i think culpepper, ritzenhein, and hall will fair better - not necessarily the best, but they'll be able to take on the weather better than abdi, meb, sell, and others will, imo.

i know they're all pretty skinny, but culpepper, rohatinsky, and abdi are probably the skinniest - they better suit up wisely because without the muscle other runners like sell, ritzenhein, and hall have on their bodies, they'll lose heat from their bodies faster thus having to burn energy faster. remember what happened to abdi at world cross 2 years ago when hall won? totally faded.

all of the runners in tommorrows race will probably be skinny, its all thin scarcely muscled guys that finish high up in marathons.

dude I don't know what your smokin, but ritz is skinny as shit. Ptssss...all that muscle on his body, please.

yeah, you guys are right. i just think that since ritz, hall, and culpepper are use to running in the snow in the mountains they'd be more mentally ready for the colder elements, as opposed to abdi and kk who train in the desert. not that it doesn't get cold there, but i think it gets colder in colorado where it snows.

Individual Picks

1. Dathan Ritzenhein

2. Ryan Hall

3. Khalid Khannouchi

4. Alan Culpepper

5. Abdi Abdirahman

6. Brian Sell

7. Meb Keflezighi

8. Josh Rohatinsky

9. Daniel Browne

10. James Carney

Anyone that has Khalid finishing knows very little about the marathon.

or little about the khannouch? stop trying to sabotage the predictions contest. that $100,000 was destined to pay off my student loans.

irun wrote:

if its really cold tomorrow, i think culpepper, ritzenhein, and hall will fair better - not necessarily the best, but they'll be able to take on the weather better than abdi, meb, sell, and others will, imo.

i know they're all pretty skinny, but culpepper, rohatinsky, and abdi are probably the skinniest - they better suit up wisely because without the muscle other runners like sell, ritzenhein, and hall have on their bodies, they'll lose heat from their bodies faster thus having to burn energy faster. remember what happened to abdi at world cross 2 years ago when hall won? totally faded.

irun, of all the non-trolls on letsrun, you give without a doubt the worst, most inaccurate, completely stupid and flat just out wrong analyzations of anyone.