German Fernandez 13th in 4:17.81

Before the race, what kind of time were you expecting from GF?

Cmon boy, GIVE ME A TIME.

the most worrisome thing is the sort of indifferent attitude he seems to display toward competing when things are not going his way(meaning he is in total control of the race)---if you watch the 4:17, he made a few surges but never the definitive move, and as soon as the surges were covered he kind of fades ----maybe he had the shoe problem in the last 100 so the result looks worse than it was, but come on, at that pace he should have been right at the front before the shoe issue---it reminds me of some of Webb's races last year, where he seemed almost like he didn't want to be there--and for the record, I am both a Webb and German supporter, and want to be wrong, but you see what you see---

qwertyytrewq wrote:

Before the race, what kind of time were you expecting from GF?

Cmon boy, GIVE ME A TIME.

probably around 4:00 and a top 5 finish...whats your point

ive never said German had a good race

gogerman wrote:

the most worrisome thing is the sort of indifferent attitude he seems to display toward competing when things are not going his way(meaning he is in total control of the race)---if you watch the 4:17, he made a few surges but never the definitive move, and as soon as the surges were covered he kind of fades ----maybe he had the shoe problem in the last 100 so the result looks worse than it was, but come on, at that pace he should have been right at the front before the shoe issue---it reminds me of some of Webb's races last year, where he seemed almost like he didn't want to be there--and for the record, I am both a Webb and German supporter, and want to be wrong, but you see what you see---

German is a 5k guy who was in a 4:14 race with an olympian, a 1:43 guy, and probably about 8 other people with more footspeed than him...this was not a race he was going to win

but he still made a move to the front on the back stretch, pushed hard for the win, and faded down the back stretch for whatever reason...what do you want from him?

what can be criticized is why a strength oriented guy allowed a race to go that slowly, but from everthing ive heard I doubt his current fitness is good enough to run away from that field anyway (or ever good enough to run away from manzano)

My goal this year is to run 4:17. i think German did just fine, he is getting down close to 4:00, I mean we are only talking the matter of a few seconds, I think he'll get there.

good for him...stick him in the pro race and germans one shoed 4:17 beats him by 4 seconds

your man crush for German shines through in every post. Do you have his autograph?

no man crush, there are runners id prefer to see beat him and runners I enjoy watching him defeat...but no one gets more irrationally criticized than him so I have a habit of pointing out the idiocy of some of his detractors (aka your) arguments...

surest strategy of someone who has run out of anything of substance to say...call his opponents out for having a "man crush"

Hey I love German as much as the next guy, BUT much like the big ten mile, I hate watching people pussy foot around. Run, nut up, we all came for a show, put one on. But yes, I suppose it was a meaningless invite. Honestly, I hope he sets every single record next year, but realistically, I agree with the poster that said he looks disinterested. I watched indoors, same shiz. He can run well unless he thinks he can win. I think that is the bottom line. Whereas, Chris Derrick, his counter part, can run at the best of his ability relative to his level of fitness.

I laugh so hard at a majority of these posts because of how stupid they are. This was a tactical race. This meant nothing. You might as well say how bad Leo did (aka the guy who was a finalist at Worlds a couple of years ago).

Wait until Big 12s and if German can't come through then, well wait till next year. German is still VERY YOUNG. He's got a lot of time on his hands to do well. And to think you would compare him to Alan Webb? No offense, but I highly doubt he'll go through the issues Alan is going through now (btw, I hope Alan gets back to the old 2007 Alan Webb).

my 2 cents wrote:

I laugh so hard at a majority of these posts because of how stupid they are. This was a tactical race. This meant nothing. You might as well say how bad Leo did (aka the guy who was a finalist at Worlds a couple of years ago)...

This ^ is pretty much the way it is. Anyone who does not understand this does not understand the sport.

There is a lot to be taken away actually, Leo didnt just beat him by 3 sec, he beat him by 3 sec in the last 100m. German Gave up, just like at indoors. Hes done.

I'm not concerned about his time. I'm concerned by his horrendous placing.

my 2 cents wrote:

I laugh so hard at a majority of these posts because of how stupid they are. This was a tactical race. This meant nothing. You might as well say how bad Leo did (aka the guy who was a finalist at Worlds a couple of years ago).

Wait until Big 12s and if German can't come through then, well wait till next year. German is still VERY YOUNG. He's got a lot of time on his hands to do well. And to think you would compare him to Alan Webb? No offense, but I highly doubt he'll go through the issues Alan is going through now (btw, I hope Alan gets back to the old 2007 Alan Webb).

It doesn't matter. I am a vigorous defender of elites and BELIEVE ME I know how elites think and feel and understand they can have a bad race. However, he did finish 13TH OUT OF 16TH in a College meet.

The fact of the matter is it is still a race, and the fact of the matter is it does not matter if German was leading with 300m to go or 200m to go or 100m to go or 1m to go. It doesn't matter if he ran 4:17 flat pace the whole way and was in last place with no kick or up at the front kicking with 50m to go and then fading horribly and walking across the line. The fact of the matter is that AT THE FANISH HE ended up loosing. No exception, No rule against this. Championship races are often like this and if he can't perform up to plate....

I hope he starts performing and hope he can get a good contract out of College. But...You just can't keep defending him. Let him perform, let him do his own thing, and see how it goes.

I didn't see a single person yesterday run that mile race as fast as they could have. I saw a bunch of milers race a 400 meters.

To answer your question, yes, I would have liked to see the race spread out with a bunch of people in single file, sure, if it meant that most everyone in the race was running the fastest they could for the MILE.

Maybe you forget that the main purpose of the sport is to run as fast as you can for the distance you are entered in.

that was in response to people criticizing the field in general

no one can claim german had a good race, but no one with half a brain thinks hes done...

toodarnloud88 wrote:

I didn't see a single person yesterday run that mile race as fast as they could have. I saw a bunch of milers race a 400 meters.

To answer your question, yes, I would have liked to see the race spread out with a bunch of people in single file, sure, if it meant that most everyone in the race was running the fastest they could for the MILE.

Maybe you forget that the main purpose of the sport is to run as fast as you can for the distance you are entered in.

I mean youd be right if you werent completely wrong about what the main purpose of the sport is...

the main purpose of the sport is to get to the line first, what youre thinking of is the main purpose of time trialing (which also serves its purpose but is completely secondary to the goal of winning races)

once you lose your premise your entire argument sort of falls apart...

so by your logic probably 95% of the people running in the NCAA should quit because they will never be first??? THINK AGAIN

Joe Mama wrote:

so by your logic probably 95% of the people running in the NCAA should quit because they will never be first??? THINK AGAIN

I have absolutely no idea how my that idiotic statement is by my logic...