Steve Shuman wrote:Boston, at four months, is too quick a turnaround -- the trials, for either the men or women, are too competitive for the athletes to give much less than full training and effort for the trials and then to have to be at peak again in four months is tough.
We talked about this in 2008. If you look at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon, almost all of the top finishers ran spring marathons.
1. Wanjiru - ran London
2. Gharib - didn't run anything
3. Kebede - ran Paris
4. Merga - ran London
5. Lel - ran London
6. Rothlin - ran Tokyo in February
7. Asfaw - ran Boston
8. Asmerom - ran Otsu, Japan in March
9. Ritz - I don't think he ran one
10. Hall - ran London
On the women's side:
1. Dita - ran London
2. Ndereba - nothing
3. Zhou - ran a pre-Olympic marathon in Beijing in April
4. Zhu - ran the same pre-Olympic marathon
5. Komu - ran Paris
6. Yamauchi - ran Osaka
7. Timofeyeva - Hamburg
8. Simon - Osaka in January
9. Ait Salem - London
10. Kosgei - London
So, of the 20 top finishers, 14 ran a marathon in March or later.