Hall to run Chicago

Cool!

Maybe Meb and the strong American women (Flanagan Debut?) will follow.

At least we know for sure God will be watching the race!

This announcement is occurring during a publicity build-up to Boston. NYC is making some athlete announcement tomorrow, too. These World Marathon Majors don't seem to have that much respect for each other anymore.

So who is NYC going to throw out tomorrow. They said there would be two.... Geb/Wanjiru/Ritz? Radcliffe/Goucher?

This does seem strange. From the outside looking in it seems as though Hall is hedging his bets. A bad performance at Boston would decrease his marketability. Has he resigned himself to the fact that his training is not going well?

I really wish he would get back to the track.

As defending champ Meb will almost certainly be back in NYC. Wanjiru is supposedly running Berlin. I want Geb to run Berlin too, but I bet he skips and runs NYC or Chicago. Ritz should run Chicago too if he is healthy and ready to take a shot at a fast time.

Kinda weird timing though, Hall should be 100% focused on Boston and not making other plans. I hope this doesn't mean he isnt in great shape and wants to tie up a pay day now rather than bomb in Boston and hurt his fall marathon value.

lohalloran wrote:

Kinda weird timing though, Hall should be 100% focused on Boston and not making other plans. I hope this doesn't mean he isnt in great shape and wants to tie up a pay day now rather than bomb in Boston and hurt his fall marathon value.

methinks this is exactly what is happening.

so much for hall hitting the track this year.

he should bail out boston and run some track races in the summer to prepare for chicago

I think that when he is fresh, he would have a good shot at possibly winning it.

The teleconference is in 15 minutes announcing this. We got the email this morning.

This shows this is a BUSINESS. This is Ryan's job and he has to protect his financial interests.

By locking up for Chicago now, Ryan gets more money than if he bombs in Boston. Chicago hedges its best but gets some publicity.

The mistake seems to be what if it isn't in Ryan's best interest to run Chicago. Say he does horribly in Boston and decides "hey I need a break from the marathon." Likely he won't know that until after Boston.

However, then he could just pull out of Chicago. He no doubt gets some bonus for today's announcement and some bonus when he actually shows up to run, so today's announcement doesn't mean he has to run Chicago, it just really means he can't run another fall marathon instead.

But once he's signed on and looking at a six figure check to run, it becomes harder to say, "3 years from now it will be best for my career to pass up this immediate payday."

Plus Hall's move pre-empts Dathan from taking some of the money Hall may get this fall. If Ryan does so-so in Boston and Dathan announced he's doing a fall marathon who will everyone want to see? Dathan. Now however, some of that money is in Ryan's pocket.

It all seems a bit premature for me, but it's a business decision. Chicago's course is less taxing on the body than NYs. NY and Chicago are the two options for Ryan. If he knows he doesn't want to run NY but is unsure about Chicago, why not go ahead and sign on now?

Weldon, I agree with all of this, especially the potential mistake part. But it will be real hard for him to pull out of Chicago given the press release mentioning this: "Ryan will also announce his plans to launch a platform for runners to interact with him for this race."

That sounds like he's going to be an integral part of their pre-race media work for months. That would seem to greatly decrease the chance of even allowing as a topic of discussion post-Boston, "So, coach, what do you think I should do now?"

Here are some thoughts more from the inside-baseball perspective:

http://wpblogs.runningtimes.com/blogs/talktest/?p=357

This was probably sealed last year. I remember him and his wife being in town and meeting a training group. Seemed odd then because they had no connection to the race, now we know.

I bet if Ritz decides to do Chicago, Ryan will pull out. Ryan wants to maintain the top American marathoner status (more $$ from appearance fees).

SayItLikeItis wrote:

I bet if Ritz decides to do Chicago, Ryan will pull out. Ryan wants to maintain the top American marathoner status (more $$ from appearance fees).

Ritz and Hall have only gone head to head twice, and they're 1-1. Hall is the fastest current US marathoner, but that doesn't (or shouldn't, at least) make him the top US marathoner.

But Ritz will have to make it to the line healthy if he wants to take that title (which probably belongs to Meb for now anyway, since he's beaten Hall and Ritz in his last two marathons). Ritz beat Hall in Beijing, but how many marathons has Hall run that are better (in a purely subjective evaluation) than Ritz's best? Hall is definitely the better of the two in the marathon, and despite his accomplishments on the track, Ritz has a long way to go to get up to Hall's level in that event.

If I had to guess, I'd say NYC announces Meb and Deena tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I'd be quite surprised if the announcement is anyone else.

I am hearing Geb....

Good then he wont clog up NYC and they can get some good runners in.

I just asked my assistant if she knows who Ryan Hall is.

"Noooooooo." And then didn't even ask who he was or why I would ask.

Ritz will run Berlin. Wanjiru won't be worried about him at all. Geb will be somewhere else, citing a need to change things up.

Geb has looked great through 30km the last 3 marathons, at WR pace and faster even, but died over the last 10k. He doesn't want Wanjiru beside him at 30km on WR pace, so because of that I think you could see him at NYC. Along with Radcliffe.

I thought Chicago closed last week??