Thoughts from Stanford 10k invitational

What was Solinsky's target, and what did he hit? 13:10 / 13:14?

13:40, hit 13:44.

It was definitely slower than that. That pace would mean they ran the last 5k in 14 minutes. it was proably closer to 13:35 or 13:40.

Aw f*** me I did the mental math wrong.

You got it right , in a normal surge filled , warmer weather 10k , they would be scattered on the track wondering what the he'll just happened.

If and whoever makes the 10k team nobody outside of tonight's rabbit through 5k will make the final for the Americans.

More than that, it was amusing that the Flotrack commentator couldn't quite believe that Karoki would make such a big move. To a large extent Americans are still in disbelief that East Africans can achieve such performances. I'm know because I'm one of them.

That was an Old School Kenyan move, like Henry Rono or John Ngugi would make.

[quote]ryan foreman wrote:

More than that, it was amusing that the Flotrack commentator couldn't quite believe that Karoki would make such a big move.

[quote]observer of things wrote:

I was at the race and everyone in the stands started laughing in disbelief...it was such a "squirty" little sprint. No one took it seriously because in person it looked like he just started sprinting...not a strong surge...a full out sprint with I forget how many laps left to go. Which looked sort of ridiculous and it appeared that the field didn't quite know what to make of it. To everyone's surprise, the initial burst evened out to a strong surge and then stuck. And Karoki got a strong applause in appreciation every lap after that.

Has anyone considered that those guys stayed in the pack because tonight was about getting the A standard....

Nothing else, just getting standard. What if they chased him down and won? Do they get a medal? A gift certificate?

No, they wanted to get A standard and...suprise, they got it. Go to sleep.

Have you considered that professional runners maybe want to win races? I get it up to a point that the runners were probably running conservatively to assure of getting the A standard. In another circumstance they may have tried to chase him. But they didn't do that. And the didn't largely because they couldn't. For runners in that race they probably still don't even have the notion of training to do that. A previous poster was right. That was very Henry Rono-like. On the broadcast he had one split at 62 seconds. It epitomizes the big obstacle Americans have to compete with East Africans. Because a lot of times Americans stick with them a long ways into the race. They feel good about themselves because they are running 65s. Then suddenly the East African leaders lower the hammer and run a couple 62s and it is over. Doing something like that is still largely out of the scope of the best American distance runners. Though Solinsky and Rupp are gradually working to that point.

Just being Intelligent wrote:

Has anyone considered that those guys stayed in the pack because tonight was about getting the A standard....

Nothing else, just getting standard. What if they chased him down and won? Do they get a medal? A gift certificate?

No, they wanted to get A standard and...suprise, they got it. Go to sleep.

Teg needs to shut his mouth, his post race interview about being too comfortable, saying he should have and could have covered the move etc etc

No Teg, you didn't because you couldn't, not only that, but other guys that didn't cover it still beat you. Stop trading off your 12.58, the gap is closing, just cause you are a sub 13 runner will not stop guys like Curtis beating your ass at the trials or worse if your not careful.

Just being Intelligent wrote:

Has anyone considered that those guys stayed in the pack because tonight was about getting the A standard....

Nothing else, just getting standard. What if they chased him down and won? Do they get a medal? A gift certificate?

No, they wanted to get A standard and...suprise, they got it. Go to sleep.

Maybe Americans should think about racing a race. It is this, I am just going for the XYZ standard i swhy peopple like Ryan Hall, Solinsky and Teg will run some fast times, but will never win a medal against me and my brothers.

just run baby

G. Mutai wrote:

Maybe Americans should think about racing a race. It is this, I am just going for the XYZ standard i swhy peopple like Ryan Hall, Solinsky and Teg will run some fast times, but will never win a medal against me and my brothers.

Solinsky is closing that gap, I wouldn't count him out as someone who can kick you and your brothers ass in the coming years.

seven sigma certified wrote:

G. Mutai wrote:

Maybe Americans should think about racing a race. It is this, I am just going for the XYZ standard i swhy peopple like Ryan Hall, Solinsky and Teg will run some fast times, but will never win a medal against me and my brothers.

Solinsky is closing that gap, I wouldn't count him out as someone who can kick you and your brothers ass in the coming years.

You can get back to me when he actually does that.

I think it is great progress when we are the point of criticizing a race where three Americans ran sub 27:30 and the top three Americans were not even racing there.

toro wrote:

I think it is great progress when we are the point of criticizing a race where three Americans ran sub 27:30 and the top three Americans were not even racing there.

Because of this mindset, we are behind the E. Africans. Sub 27:30 is not anything to woo over. How many sub 27:30 guys are there in Kenya? Ethiopia? We need to raise our standards with the E. Africans so we can actually be competition and hopefully medal.

I'll take credit for being the only one to say beforehand that Karoki was going to crush the rest of the field. What a run. Sub-27 is in the cards any time he wants to run a serious effort.

I pretty much just said that the standards and expectations have risen.

But we are behind the E. Africans because they are faster not because of improper cheerleading.

My mindset doesn't matter. I am someone who used to run.

The mindset of those running now is what matters.