Why is Ritz the "lead" American at London when Meb is in the race?

This just shows how good Hall ran last year in finishing 5th. And most importantly, he went out with the leaders and hung in there for quite a long time. This compares to the talk from Ritz and Meb about going with the second pace rabbit for 2:07:30 pace.

If Hall is running London, people will again talking about an "outside" chance for Hall to win, and breaking the AR record.

I hope Ritz and Meb run a good race and significantly improve their PRs. But they still have a long way to prove that they belong to today's world class marathoning.

DontFeedTheTroll wrote:If he's going to finish in the top ten then he's going to have to break more than 2:09

shindler swindler wrote:

one is black. other is white....i kid i kid....or do I?

It is actually not racist to suggest that. I absolutely consider Meb and Khalid "true" Americans, particiularly since they both made the choice to become citizens.

Having Meb, Khalid or Abdi as our Great Hopes, however, does nothing to support the argument / dream that "Americans" can compete with Africans. For that we need a good ol' native born, TV watching, cheez doodle eating hero!

MarathonMind wrote:

DontFeedTheTroll wrote:If he's going to finish in the top ten then he's going to have to break more than 2:09

Of the 12 guys faster than him, Rothlin is out and Ramaala is nowhere near his PR days. And in any case, at least one of the top guys always has a bad day so I would say it is more than likely Ritz will finish in the top 10.

Last year, 2:10 got you 8th place. 10th was Ramalaa in 2:11:44.

Exactly orbitboy, which is why Ritz will be top 10.

Weather should be good. I can see a high 2:08 out of both Meb and Ritz. That would be great!

orbitboy wrote:

Weather should be good. I can see a high 2:08 out of both Meb and Ritz. That would be great!

I agree with you. Meb is healthy for the first time in 3 years and Ritz should defintely should be able to shave 2 to 3 minutes off his PR.

I would not be surprised if they finish very close to each other and arrive there from different strategies. I think both will be in the top ten although it will be the tail end.

Khalid Khannouchi will win and set another world record.

He is BACK!!!! Don't underestimate him.

KK is supposedly running a half-marathon here in Chicago next weekend.

http://www.palosbankhalfmarathon.com/

shindler swindler wrote:

Having Meb, Khalid or Abdi as our Great Hopes, however, does nothing to support the argument / dream that \"Americans\" can compete with Africans. For that we need a good ol\' native born, TV watching, cheez doodle eating hero!

No TV watching, cheese doodle eating person will ever be a world beater (and never has been). Americans are genetically capable of world beating because genetics have much less effect on your physiology than your environment and because we are a more genetically diverse population anyway. So if we grow up not eating the industrial shit most people here do and not sitting on our lazy asses then we would start to see more results.

It is pretty funny as Meb - an Olympic medallist - beats Ritz and now there is an article up on Unvirsal about Ritz being disappointed in his race.

http://www.iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=50329.html

I think the reason is Ritz is younger and the supposedly the future and the reporter probably has a relationship with Ritz and not Meb.

Rojo don't delete this - but in all honesty and sincerity, Ritz and Hudson are not grounded in reality. If someone has unreal expectations, they will forever be disappointed in their racing and training. This is in part the reason why Ritz is always injured - his goals are not in line with his physical abilities.

So what are you going to say when he runs 2:06 or 7? To me, it's clear he's got the talent, it just hasn't materialized for him yet.

3200guy wrote:

So what are you going to say when (Ritz) runs 2:06 or 7?

Seriously? I will sit up in bed, rub the sleep out of my eyes and say "Wow, that was a funny dream!" I'm sorry Mr. Bayou Bengal, but other than THAT it is never going to happen.

The truth is that Ritz is a very good but not great marathon runner. He cramps in his races because he is not capable of running faster than 2:09. His body is simple not capable of being among the 5 best in a top international meet.

Hall may have quite a bit more talent.

joe85+5= Joe 90 wrote:

The truth is that Ritz is a very good but not great marathon runner. He cramps in his races because he is not capable of running faster than 2:09. His body is simple not capable of being among the 5 best in a top international meet.

Hall may have quite a bit more talent.

yep you're right...

also, Geb doesnt have the ability to break the world record

Tadasse (sp?) doesnt even have the ability to run a full 26 miles without stopping

lel cant keep up with the top 4 in the world due to the cramps he caught in the olympics

and meb cant physically run 26 miles without taking at least 3 bathroom breaks (last new york he ran)

oh wait...

dude people catch bad days, making blanket statement about his long term term potential based on one race when hes still as young as ritz is (25-26?) is just dumb...

Ritz isnt a 2:06 guy yet, but nothing about today proves with any type of certainty (or even liklihood) that he doesnt have the ability to break 2:09 someday

The bottom line is that going out in 14:37 for the first 5k for a guy who has demonstrated a lack of finishing prowess in every former marathon, whether it be attributed to cramping, energy management issues, etc., is suicidal. I'm surprised the guy could even finish as well as he did. But to say that he ISN'T capable of a 2:07 is silly. His workouts (as much as I disagree with some of them like the 24-mile runs with several miles at "race pace") suggested that he was precisely in that kind of shape. But he acted like he was in 2:03 shape. And the wheels, predictably, fell off.

Hall was in 2:06 shape and he ran the first 5K in 14:22 and eventually ran 2:06.Maybe you are suggesting Hall was in 2:03 shape in 2008.

Sagarin wrote:

The bottom line is that going out in 14:37 for the first 5k for a guy who has demonstrated a lack of finishing prowess in every former marathon, whether it be attributed to cramping, energy management issues, etc., is suicidal. I'm surprised the guy could even finish as well as he did. But to say that he ISN'T capable of a 2:07 is silly. His workouts (as much as I disagree with some of them like the 24-mile runs with several miles at "race pace") suggested that he was precisely in that kind of shape. But he acted like he was in 2:03 shape. And the wheels, predictably, fell off.

boston is not the same course as london, so draw your own conclusions.

2:10 flat is a good race and puts ritz up pretty high on the American lists. 1:03:33 and then almost 2:13 mpace in the second half. He'll get just under 2:09 in the next couple of years, but despite the 8:11 two mile a while back, this performance has to temper the enthusiasm that he has 2:06 potential.