To the REAL Jealous Boy,
Speak for yourself dude! It has not changed my attitude toward what is acceptable for American marathoners, but it has obviously changed yours. And for the record, I never claimed to be faster than any of these guys, so that arguement won't fly.
Verran ran on 2 different World Championship Marathon teams because our best didn't want to. As to why he finished 5th in the marathon trials, it's simple. People go all or nothing in the trials. If it's not happening, they drop out. In his case, place has nothing to do with it, time does. Running 2:14 over and over is fine, but he's not a top American Marathoner when the best have always been about 5 minutes faster on average. Think about it. It's NOT bashing, it's reality. Time doesn't lie.
You can't call him anything but a 2:14 marathoner because that's his best. In addition, I'm sure he works hard, very hard in fact, but he doesn't have the talent to go faster or please explain why after all these years he hasn't. You can't. I wish the guy could run 2:11 or 2:10 or heck even 2:12 and join the higher ranks of America's real top marathoners, but that's not going to happen. Heck, Ryan Hall ran 2:08 his first time out and his best time is about 8 MINUTES faster than Verran's all-time best, and that happened in his SECOND marathon. Yet................people have bashed Ryan Hall, can you explain that?
Verran is a decent runner, but he's not one of America's top marathoners or even close. I doubt one person on this site would back me, but.............I don't care because I speaketh the truth!
p.s. Which 30 minute collegiate 10k runner has had a better career over the last decade, who cares? That's not the point pal.