*#*#*#*#* TOKYO MARATHON 2009 OFFICIAL THREAD *#*#*#*#*

Why does LetsRun turn a thread about an interesting international marathon into a childish argument about the merits of two C-list runners?

Young has run 213. He was 3rd fastest marathoner in 2008.

What qualifies as a B list? Ritz's 2:12?

He was the 3rd-fastest American marathoner of 2008.

kustin young as of today has the fastest marathon time by an american in 2009.

The Olympic rials were in 2007 so most guys took a breather in 2008. But there was a race where some of the B guys got a chance to race each other. Twin Cities. How did that go for Justin? That is a far better reading of where he currently sits amongst american marathoners.

Has noone commented on the photo of the guy in the lead pack with the comedy oversized forehead mask on??

http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2009/tokyo0322/imagepages/image6.html

No, but I've been busy with some Herman's Hermits residuals and appearance proposals. But why wait for my comment when it was mentioned back at the beginning of this thread, during the race?

O.K thumbs up to you

It has been mentioned on the 1st page but now the picture is out. Pretty funny, especially if he is a good runner!

Looks like he ran 2.25. Wonder if he did that with the mask on all the way.

Yes he did. Here are his splits:

Point Split Lap Time

5km 00:15:01 09:25:01

10km 00:32:11 0:17:10 09:42:11

15km 00:49:16 0:17:05 09:59:16

20km 01:06:07 0:16:51 10:16:07

25km 01:23:12 0:17:05 10:33:12

30km 01:40:26 0:17:14 10:50:26

35km 01:58:14 0:17:48 11:08:14

40km 02:17:14 0:19:00 11:27:14

Finish 02:25:38 0:08:24 11:35:38

If you want someone to bitch, moan and complain about, then complain about ME. At Tokyo I was more than 20 minutes off my PR, horrible in light of 28:36 for 10km last year.

Justin Young ran his a$$ off on Sunday. The conditions were not good at all: Swirling winds from the start to 15km, then the good part was a tailwind for much of 15km to 27km, then more swirling winds from 27km into the difficult part of the course from 36km onwards, and STRAIGHT INTO a fierce headwind from about 37km to 40km. It was by far the worst climatic conditions that I've ever seen in my 20 years of marathon running.

Justin Young is an extremely talented marathoner and will improve over time.

The performance of the day belongs to Mizuho Nasukawa, 2:25:38 in that mess, but she was sheltered by a couple of "white beasts" throughout.

Jason

Because the trials were in 2007 has nothing to do with how people raced a marathon in 2008. A spring marathon would be 5-6 months off the marathon trials. You can argue it was a down year all you want, but at the end of the day everyone had the same opportunities.

So you think Young is 55-60th best US marathoner?

Give me a break.

I'm guessing you're the same guy he called out on this board, under a different name...

Here is what we know. Heads up competition amongst other marathoners on the same course the same day.

Twin Cities Marathon

Place Name Age City St Time

===== ======================= === ============ === =======

1 Fernando Cabada 26 Gray TN 2:16:31

2 Matt Gabrielson 30 Minneapolis MN 2:17:38

3 Edwardo Torres 28 Boston, MA 2:17:54

4 Mike Morgan 28 Rochester Hi MI 2:17:58

5 Mike Sayenko 24 Bellevue WA 2:19:18

6 Trent Briney 30 Flagstaff AZ 2:19:57

7 Chad Johnson 32 Rochester Hi MI 2:20:47

8 Fazil Bizuneh 28 Concord MA 2:20:52

9 Joshua Eberly 28 Gunnison CO 2:21:40

10 Celedonio Rodriguez 27 Flagstaff AZ 2:21:55

11 Chris Lundstrom 32 Minneapolis MN 2:22:09

12 Chris Olinger 26 Portland OR 2:22:31

13 Dan McLean 26 Tacoma WA 2:22:44

14 Levi Ashley 25 Lincoln NE 2:22:51

15 Josh Moen 26 Readlyn IA 2:23:16

16 Antonio Vega 24 St Paul MN 2:23:41

17 Carlos Handler 26 Chino Hills CA 2:23:44

18 Michael Wardian 34 Arlington VA 2:24:01

19 Ryan Sheehan 25 Rochester MI 2:24:27

20 Nicholas Stanko 27 Haslett MI 2:24:42

Now this marathon did not include any of the top 10 marathoners from the trial except Dan Browne who dnf. So there is at least 30 American marathoners that are better than Justin Young. If I am wrong, feel free to list all of the quality marathoners that Justin has beaten in the marathon on the same course on the same day. Thanks for playing along.

You're a major idiot, end of story.

Not a very strong list on your part.

For the record, here is the trials. The other heads up competition.

Results

View: Results | Splits

Place Bib Name Age Hometown Affiliation Finish

1 2 Ryan Hall 25 Mammoth Lakes, CA Asics 2:09:02

2 9 Dathan Ritzenhein 24 Eugene, OR Nike 2:11:07

3 5 Brian Sell 29 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:11:40

4 1 Khalid Khannouchi 36 Ossining, NY New Balance 2:12:34

5 47 Jason Lehmkuhle 30 Minneapolis, MN Team USA Minnesota 2:12:54

6 127 Daniel Browne 32 Beaverton, OR Nike 2:13:23

7 20 Nathaniel Jenkins 27 Lowell, MA Saucony 2:14:56

8 4 Meb Keflezighi 32 San Diego, CA Nike 2:15:09

9 126 Josh Rohatinsky 25 Portland, OR Nike 2:15:22

10 24 Jason Hartmann 26 Boulder, CO Nike 2:15:27

11 128 Matthew Gonzales 26 Albuquerque, NM Nike 2:16:14

12 15 Mike Morgan 27 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:16:28

13 38 Fasil Bizuneh 27 Flagstaff, AZ New Balance 2:16:47

14 125 James Carney 29 Boulder, CO New Balance 2:16:54

15 92 Steve Sundell 25 Redwood City, CA New York Athletic Club 2:16:54

16 87 Christopher Raabe 28 Washington, DC 2:17:01

17 28 Nick Arciniaga 24 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:17:08

18 11 Clint Verran 32 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:17:10

19 46 Matt Pelletier 28 Warwick, RI Running Heritage 2:17:17

20 14 Chad Johnson 31 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:17:58

21 23 Joshua Ordway 27 Dublin, OH Columbus Running Company 2:18:10

22 27 Jacob Frey 26 Oakton, VA Saucony 2:18:19

23 42 Joe Driscoll 28 Blowing Rock, NC ZAP Fitness 2:18:22

24 53 John Mentzer 31 Monterey, CA U.S. Navy 2:18:23

25 99 Allen Wagner 27 San Diego, CA 2:18:25

26 65 Patrick Rizzo 24 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:18:30

27 132 Sergio Reyes 26 Los Osos, CA Asics Aggie Running Club 2:18:31

28 22 Patrick Moulton 25 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:18:35

29 58 Mikhail Sayenko 23 Bellevue, WA Brooks 2:18:35

30 49 Donovan Fellows 28 Woodbury, MN 2:18:45

31 21 Miguel Nuci 28 Turlock, CA Transports Adidas Racing Team 2:18:47

32 32 Michael Reneau 29 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:18:51

33 109 Macharia Yuot 25 Chester, PA 2:18:56

34 34 Dan Sutton 27 Madison, WI Wisconsin Runner Racing Team 2:18:59

35 102 Nicholas Cordes 28 Ashland, OH Brooks 2:19:01

36 52 Teren Jameson 30 Taylorsville, UT New Balance 2:19:05

37 31 Chris Lundstrom 31 Minneapolis, MN Team USA Minnesota 2:19:21

38 88 Eric Post 28 Centreville, VA 2:19:25

39 77 Matthew Folk 31 Canfield, OH Team Good River 2:19:47

40 41 James Lander 28 La Habra, CA Brooks 2:20:09

41 108 Michael Cox 32 Princeton, WV 2:20:12

42 95 Greg Costello 26 Chicago, IL Nike Central Elite Racing Team 2:20:28

43 18 Luke Humphrey 26 Rochester, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:20:34

44 43 John Lucas 27 Eugene, OR Team XO 2:20:48

45 103 John Service 27 San Jose, CA Asics Aggie Running Club 2:21:12

46 123 Adam Tribble 27 Fayetteville, AR 2:21:21

47 89 Todd Snyder 30 Shelby Township, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:21:30

48 26 Nick Schuetze 25 Portland, OR Team XO 2:21:36

49 121 Alan Horton 27 Knoxville, TN 2:22:03

50 90 James Nielsen 28 Palo Alto, CA Transports Adidas Racing Team 2:22:11

51 100 Robert Cannon 24 Toms River, NJ 2:22:23

52 117 Daniel Ellis 24 Birmingham, AL 2:22:26

53 36 Paul Petersen 28 Logan, UT 2:22:34

54 39 Steve Meinelt 24 Winchester, MA Reebok 2:22:40

55 83 Christopher Zieman 35 Chapel Hill, NC West Valley Track Club Inc. 2:23:04

56 50 Justin Young 28 Superior, CO Reebok 2:23:06

We all know you're the same guy as Met at the Ridge or whatever handle you originally used to bash Justin Young. Young is 29 years old, and just developing as a marathoner. It's an up and down road, literally, and it never goes perfectly. With that said, there are only a handful of US marathoners that have matched Young's personal marathon best - whether it's heads up or on American soil or whatever - that's a fact and can't be argued.

I can also say that his 2:18 in Tokyo this past weekend was worth 2:12-2:13 on a good day. I was in the race and it was very difficult conditions. There were moments where I was put at a standstill, not moving at all. Most US runners (and I don't mean to be critical here, but...) would have crumbled under the bad conditions and dropped out completely. Young has finished EVERY SINGLE MARATHON he has started - whether it was going well or not. Who, I ask you, has had the guts to take a bad time and swallow it, when it could be a lot easier to just drop out like Fasil or Carney or all the others who just drop out when it could affect their image.

If you believe Young is not a top 50 US marathoner - GOOD FOR YOU. Who cares? He has still run 2:13 marathon. Since my PR is 2:42 -- and since I appreciate hard work and ability -- I can say he's doing quite well...

Whoever you are being so critical -- You're a very jealous, bitter person. It's not healthy. It really isn't...