was Hall's move a mistake?

you do realize he won, right? Isn't that the point of a championship race?

If it was the Olympics with the same results would you still say he might have made a wrong move?

what more fo you want from the young man?!?!?!?!?!

0/10

Hall was perfect today.

You, on the other hand, have a ways to go.

What the hell are you talking about?

If he feels the need to hammer, even after he knows he's won, then all the power to him. He has balls.

This isn't about "trifling" with the marathon or experience. This is the exact opposite -he's showing respect for it.

Why should anyone go to the Olympics if they aren't willing to put anything on the line?

And besides, even going by your logic, he apparently didn't hammer enough, he looked absolutely amazing at the finish. Don't tell me he didn't have anything in the tank.

It would have been a mistake not to go. Hall runs 100+ miles a week, he knows what he can do.

Obviously it worked out this time, but that is only in hindsight. He also could have blown up with 2 miles to go and not qualified. The goal is to qualify, not win by 2 minutes (although that is nice too).

If you shoot yourself in the head with a gun but make a full recovery, it is still a mistake.

how hard is it to understand????? he didnt shoot himself in the head so there was no mistake...he knew that he could make it or atleast he had the guts to see...you on the other hand would probably have sat back and waited until it was too late...or atleast thats what you'll do in your local turkey trot.

someone wrote:

you do realize he won, right? Isn't that the point of a championship race?

If it was the Olympics with the same results would you still say he might have made a wrong move?

what more fo you want from the young man?!?!?!?!?!

We know it worked out great.... and obviously the threadstarter does too. But go beyond that and understand what he's saying. Everyone says the marathon is very tough to master and to know. Knowing that he'd be fine in another 9 miles is a lot harder than making a move with 800M to go. Remember that he made that move because KK was moving up. If Hall was positive that he could handle it, then he would've made the move regardless of KK.

But given these points, Hall's attitude to 'go for it' and control the race, is probably his greatest strength.

Towson exile wrote:

It would have been a mistake not to go. Hall runs 100+ miles a week, he knows what he can do.

Tell that to Geb, or the hundreds of other amazing high-mileage runners who have lost it at the end of a marathon here or there. Running 100+ miles a week doesn't guarantee anything in the marathon

Nothing's ever guarenteed in any race. That's the way running is. Ryan Hall had a strategy, and that strategy worked magnificently. I have a sense he knows more about what he can do than you do.

Are you kidding? This is like the ultimate letsun parody.

The premise is that 'typical stupid letsunners' (and yes I crack up everytime I see that screenname) armchair quarterback with 20/20 hindsight and find anything and everything wrong with what an elite does and why they blew it. This despite obvious and undeniable degrees of success.

In this case, the degree of success attained (and the level of talent of course) are so far beyond question, that the post cannot be considered anything other than parody- but hey- high level trolls are not to be trifled with... LOL!!!

He probably hammered until the finish to prove to all the Let's Run trolls that he could... you know, all the people that said he couldn't lead this race? Yeah, you...

I bet you feel stupid now.

reason wrote:

...why did he continue to hammer after it became clear that he was running away from everyone?...

reason, he may have been hammering, but he wasn't straining. At this point 4:50 pace for Hall seems to be quite manageable and after the slowish first half he seemed to be running under control the last 7 miles. Just because he's dropping the field and then continuing to build the lead doesn't mean he's getting himself in trouble, he's just that much betterthen then the rest of the runners right now and capable of running appreciably faster than he did today. He obviously had plenty of left at the end.

I think he had some left at the end.

http://skylon.smugmug.com/gallery/3765074#216818581

seriously, dumbest thing I've ever heard. I think it was a good idea for him to hammer. There was no way Ritz was going to catch him, so why not see what else he had in the tank? Now, as he said in the post-race interview, he still knows he has a couple more gears he can hit. His move was so on the money, calling it a mistake is complete stupidity.

Ryan Hall ran a magnificent race, and I think that he has a good chance of a medal.

Jason

Only with hindsight was Hall's move perfect. How many of the other top finishers had cramping & muscle problems (Ritz, Dan Browne.....) on that undulating course.

However, only Hall knew his body conditions, so it appears he didn't make a mistake.

Imagine how many posters would be crusifying Hall right now if his muscles had cramped up the last two miles and he got pasted by Sell and got 4th. The post would then read, "Hall's (stupid) early move costs him a spot in Beijing."

yours truly,

armchair marathoner

I think it was absolutely necessary for Hall to hammer like he did. Why? Now he can go to Beijing with confidence.

It would not be easy to line up with the Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Japanese, knowing that he had just barely won his puny little US marathon trial race. But now he knows he's head and shoulders above the other Americans, which puts him possibly within a head and shoulder distance of Geb.

If you dont risk it you wont win it - At some stage you have to have the balls to make a move.

This is not a sport for the faint hearted and neither is it one for stupidity. I dont think he is either.

Popeye the Sailor Man wrote:

I think it was absolutely necessary for Hall to hammer like he did. Why? Now he can go to Beijing with confidence.

It would not be easy to line up with the Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Japanese, knowing that he had just barely won his puny little US marathon trial race. But now he knows he's head and shoulders above the other Americans, which puts him possibly within a head and shoulder distance of Geb.

precisely.