So now the USA does not have one sub-2:10 Marathoner!

Unfortunately, that's about it!

Go ahead and run sub 2:10, then.

Don't know what you mean by the present time, but it sounds like you mean the NY marathon, Hall ran a sub 2:10 at Boston in the spring.

Rupp.

But the USA has a cryosauna! Isn't that more important?

Didn't both meb and hall run under 2:10 at boston?

niarun wrote:

Didn't both meb and hall run under 2:10 at boston?

They did. And Gotcher ran 2:10 at Houston.

The IAAF says the US has two sub 2:10 marathoners this year.

Why did you create this thread?

niarun wrote:

Didn't both meb and hall run under 2:10 at boston?

that is an ingenious point which defeats the premise of this thread. just because they weren't PRs doesn't mean they weren't sub-2:10.

You seem to be missing my point - granted the USA had a couple of sub-2:10 guys back in the spring, but turning the clock forward to today, and after NY (at the present time)it seems that the US no longer has a sub-2:10 marathoner. One would think that a country of 300M people would consistently produce sub-2:10 athletes.

The guys mentioned in my OP (Meb and Hall) were sub-2:10 calibre earlier this year (Ritz has never been) but not anymore for the reasons stated. And, it looks like there is no one of real talent up and coming to replace them. Meaning no one with the talent to race fast marathons on the flat courses or to compete for podium finishes in major marathon events.

It's brutal, but ya gotta love it!

The idiocy fo saying that two guys who ran sub-2:10 about 6 months ago are no longer capable of running 2:10 again speaks for itself.

Using your logic, which is crazy, only 2 countries have sub 2:10 marathoners. Why aren't you in school today?

Gotta Love It wrote:

One would think that a country of 300M people would consistently produce sub-2:10 athletes.

What would make one think that? Would one think that Asia, with a population of 3.8 billion people, would be able to produce one man who can break 20.00 for 200m?

You would think that out of 6 billion people that don't come from Kenya or Ethiopia the rest of the world would even more consitently produce sub-2:10 athletes.

It really is a numbers game. What I see right now is that we are starting to see a "critical" mass of 1500m runners that can make a major championship final.

5000m we may see three in the next world champs that can go sub 13. 10000m is also heading in the right direction.

As these "slots" fill up with better and better runners the 28 min 10000m runners should be turning to the marathon sooner and sooner. If enough 28 min guys train properly we should see some new sub 2:10 guys emerge. That is where the numbers come in. There are guys that never broke 28 mins on the track that have gone on to run sub 2:10 marathons.

On a side note:

Things I think are wrong with American marathoning

1) Lack of racing and racing experience.

2) Too many 20 mile time trials. If you see a runner post about a 20 mile time trial you can pretty much cross them off your list of favorites for race day.

I am a bit curious where the 20 mile time trials came from. I thought the standard used to be ~15 miles at MP. Or if you want to make it hard something like run 10 miles and then do 12 at mp pace.Did people just decide if 15 was good 20 is better? Or are these 20 mile runs in place of doing races?

racetraining wrote:

On a side note:

Things I think are wrong with American marathoning

1) Lack of racing and racing experience.

2) Too many 20 mile time trials. If you see a runner post about a 20 mile time trial you can pretty much cross them off your list of favorites for race day.

toro wrote:

http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=2010/sex=M/all=n/legal=A/disc=MAR/detail.html

The IAAF says the US has two sub 2:10 marathoners this year.

Why did you create this thread?

I think the better point is that for each sub 2:10 performance from a US runner, there is a bus load of E Africans who also ran sub 2:10, only faster.

Gotta Love It wrote:

Meb's career highlight was NY last year,

Maybe its just be, but I'll bet his career highlight is his Olympic medal.

Well if you're so keen on America becoming a powerhouse of distance talent once again, get out there and train yourself up. I'm trying, but I doubt I have the raw talent for it.

Anyone else?