So Rupp is serious about Marathon Trials

i have to say - the coolest, badazzed thing Rupp could ever do with his professional track career would be to double 10k and marathon. I can't even express how wicked cool that would be.

+1

That would be MANLY. Talk about an instant image changer. If he could just grow a 'stache...

Yeah, because nobody has ever done that before (eye roll). Would not placing in the top 5 in either still make it "badazz"?

Link to the full article:

http://trackfocus.com/featured/galen-rupp-still-undecided-over-trials-marathon

good lord wrote:

Yeah, because nobody has ever done that before (eye roll). Would not placing in the top 5 in either still make it "badazz"?

Who has - recently - doubled in the olympics at 10/marathon and done well in both?

yeah- if it blows up in his face it would be a black mark on him. But his argument is that he would be fresh for the 10k, and then have 8 days to recover from that.

His training might be different for a double than a single, but not a whole lot.

(I'm assuming there are no heats for an Olympic 10,000 - is that right?)

In the end, Rupp sounds genuinely excited to run the marathon in London - that psychic buzz is incredibly important - gives you huge momentum.

Doubling would be stupid. The marathon at the Olympics will never again be a tactical championship style race. Wanjiru ended that. In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good. It will take sub 2:06 to have a shot at a medal and probably sub 2:05 to have a shot at a gold. In the best of all possible worlds, Rupp might be a sub 2:06 guy and have a shot at a medal, but not after running a 10k final.

Four Kenyans at 62 flat. Is there a way we can bet on this. I'll even give you odds.

Precious Roy wrote:

Doubling would be stupid. The marathon at the Olympics will never again be a tactical championship style race. Wanjiru ended that. In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good. It will take sub 2:06 to have a shot at a medal and probably sub 2:05 to have a shot at a gold. In the best of all possible worlds, Rupp might be a sub 2:06 guy and have a shot at a medal, but not after running a 10k final.

8 days after what's likely to be a tactical final, Rupp should be fine. Say he runs 27:30 - A 26:50 guy should be good to go within a few days. Viren did the double well, and that was with heats.

Freelove wrote:

Viren did the double well, and that was with heats.

and a 5,000 with heats

Precious Roy wrote:

In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good.

How stupid are you? Four Kenyans?

He prolly is very serious and don't forget, he could change his mind during the race if things aren't going his way and it'll be a long training run for his track prep.

Personally, I hope he makes it and then does the 10K also. I like Rupp and the haters bug me.

Precious Roy wrote:

Doubling would be stupid. The marathon at the Olympics will never again be a tactical championship style race. Wanjiru ended that. In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good. It will take sub 2:06 to have a shot at a medal and probably sub 2:05 to have a shot at a gold. In the best of all possible worlds, Rupp might be a sub 2:06 guy and have a shot at a medal, but not after running a 10k final.

That is about how it went down at the World Championships this year, so it seems almost certain to happen at the Olympics.

Hah! Four Kenyans! You so funny.

I don't think the double is a terrible idea. Don't think of it as him thinking he can win it; think instead of him as feeling like he's the dominant American distance runner and that if anybody should get the experience, why not him?

He'll focus on the 10k likely. Maybe he can qualify here in January with this long run and not stress much while he resumes 10k training until the summer. Then he does his 10k that he poured his heart into. Eight days later why not run a marathon against the best competition in the world for the experience and then take a good month off once it's done?

It was like the double he did this summer. It reduced his odds in the second event, but he's still just about the best American out there, so why not do it if he wants to do it?

Sarcasm Detector: On wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Doubling would be stupid. The marathon at the Olympics will never again be a tactical championship style race. Wanjiru ended that. In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good. It will take sub 2:06 to have a shot at a medal and probably sub 2:05 to have a shot at a gold. In the best of all possible worlds, Rupp might be a sub 2:06 guy and have a shot at a medal, but not after running a 10k final.

That is about how it went down at the World Championships this year, so it seems almost certain to happen at the Olympics.

____

Don't be so sure - take a look at bronze medal winning times from the last several championship marathons:

2011 Daegu: 2:10:30

2009 Berlin: 2:08:35

2008 Beijing: 2:10

2007 Osaka: 2:17:25

2005 Helsinki: 2:11:16

not so impressive, eh? Maybe the marathon surge in 2011 means 2012 London will be much faster, but maybe not.

If Rupp is truly a 2:06 marathoner - and I think he is - he has a shot at a marathon medal. Probably a better shot than in the 10,000 if you ask me.

agip wrote:

Sarcasm Detector: On wrote:

That is about how it went down at the World Championships this year, so it seems almost certain to happen at the Olympics.

____

Don't be so sure - take a look at bronze medal winning times from the last several championship marathons:

2011 Daegu: 2:10:30

2009 Berlin: 2:08:35

2008 Beijing: 2:10

2007 Osaka: 2:17:25

2005 Helsinki: 2:11:16

not so impressive, eh? Maybe the marathon surge in 2011 means 2012 London will be much faster, but maybe not.

If Rupp is truly a 2:06 marathoner - and I think he is - he has a shot at a marathon medal. Probably a better shot than in the 10,000 if you ask me.

1984 Los Angeles: 2:09:58

Grape Crush wrote:

Four Kenyans at 62 flat. Is there a way we can bet on this. I'll even give you odds.

Precious Roy wrote:

Doubling would be stupid. The marathon at the Olympics will never again be a tactical championship style race. Wanjiru ended that. In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good. It will take sub 2:06 to have a shot at a medal and probably sub 2:05 to have a shot at a gold. In the best of all possible worlds, Rupp might be a sub 2:06 guy and have a shot at a medal, but not after running a 10k final.

I would give even more time to Precious Roy to see four Kenyans even close to that fast.

haha YO wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

In 2012, there will be four Kenyans who will go through 13.1 in 62 flat if conditions are good.

How stupid are you? Four Kenyans?

While unlikely, that doesn't really make him stupid...and if we're being honest, you have the 4 Kenyan entries, and the other 10 Kenyan entries running for other countries.

haha YO wrote:

How stupid are you? Four Kenyans?

Only FOUR Kenyans? I think not. Check out the Qatar Olympic Team:

Track & Field/Athletics

Ahmad Hassan Abdullah

Rashid Shafi B Aldosari

Thamer Kamal Ali

Mohammed Essa M A Al-Thawadi

Daham Najm Bashair

Samuel Adelebari Francis

Abubaker Ali Kamal

Felix Kikwai Kibore

James Kwalia C Kurui

Ibrahim Babikir I Mohamdein

Yousf Othman Qader

Essa Ismail Rashed

Gamal Belal Salem

Mubarak Hassan Shami

Sultan Khamis Zaman

The there are the Bahrain "Kenyans":

As far as I know, none of those are sub 2:06 guys.

I'd be willing to bet that the Kenyan team will all be together at half way, and it will be 62 or faster. Assuming they send Kirui, G Mutai and P Makau, those guys all know that all they need to do is to hit half way in 62 and they will be virtually assured of only having to worry about one or two non Kenyans. There is no way Olympic Marathon reverts to a tactical race this time.