If Salazar, Beardsley, Shorter and Rodgers were competing today and were in their prime, what kind of times would they be running in the marathon?
If Salazar, Beardsley, Shorter and Rodgers were competing today and were in their prime, what kind of times would they be running in the marathon?
206-207
Agreed. They wouldn't have bothered with New York and Boston, and have run Chicago, London, Berlin, Rotterdam instead.
Transfer Salazar and Beard from Boston and the "Duel in the Sun" to Chicago on a 50 degree day in 2004 and I think you have two guys going for the world record - sub 2:06 for certain. Maybe in the 2:04s.
I feel Beardsley due to lack of natural track speed probably ran as fast as he could running a high 2:08 as this was a direct hit race for him. Now on the rest of the guys there is no doubt that any of them could have run 2:06-2:07 range. The issue was that they were forced to run more races and marathons due to they needed to make money. No doubt in my mind especially with Bill Rodgers if he raced less he could have gone faster. Frank Shorter I have some reservation but maybe he would have run faster. Shorter was more of a natual 10,000m track runner so he had the potential to run 2:07 , but more likely to run 2:10. The Marathon is a different event and not always someones best event. Those are my thoughts from someone who knew all of them back in the hay days.
Probably three of the four would be running 2:15-2:20. That seems to be where non africans are happy to run today. Perhaps one would buck the trend and run 2:07 or lower.
Alberto would run 2:04 today. He was way before his time in his willingness to experiment with drugs. The problem in the early 80's is that the science wasn't very good so most of the drugs only caused problems. That is why a guy like Alberto walks like a 70 year old and has liver problems. His connection with BALCO came way too late. Todays drugs along with his willingness to experiment would produce some excellent results.
They ran as fast as they were going to run. There PRs would be the same. They'd be the fastest Americans and non-factors at the world level.
2:45-3:20 Hell they're all 50-60 years old!!!
Well, I'd venture to say that if they were running today, and in their prime, they'd run what they ran a while back, when they were in their prime.
A little knowledge= dangerous wrote:
That is why a guy like Alberto walks like a 70 year old and has liver problems. His connection with BALCO came way too late.
Alberto walked like an old man when he was 20. How do you know he has liver problems? Are you his doctor?
Alberto will still kick your @ss over a marathon. Not only that, he'd probably kick every American's @ss at Comrades.
I don't know a whole lot about Salazar. Did he train extremely hard? What is the story about him walking like a 70 year old. He sounds like a awesome runner and badass.
Alberto is the only American one looney enough to run comrades. You don't go on Prozac because you're sane.
Salazar ran a 27:30 on the track in a race against Henry Rono nine days before his 2:08 in Boston. Nobody, save Eddy, in American running today, would attempt that. And it probably didn't help Salazar's longetivity.
my favorite thing about Rodgers is that he is still running quite competitively which is very rare for former world class people i think. Im quite sure he could run well under 2:45 now for example prob more like 2:30 or under. It seems like he does mostly medium length races though- any recent marathons someone must know more about this obv.
The secret.... wrote:
Salazar ran a 27:30 on the track in a race against Henry Rono nine days before his 2:08 in Boston. Nobody, save Eddy, in American running today, would attempt that. And it probably didn't help Salazar's longetivity.
You are right it was realy weird. He seemed to recover at a rate faster than other athletes and then suddenly his body shut down. That is a mystery. Sorta like FloJo.
They are running today just not nearly as fast as yesterday.
No shit you idiot. What a stupid comment your just made. So I m making one back to you.
hannsen wrote:
my favorite thing about Rodgers is that he is still running quite competitively which is very rare for former world class people i think. Im quite sure he could run well under 2:45 now for example prob more like 2:30 or under. It seems like he does mostly medium length races though- any recent marathons someone must know more about this obv.
Rodgers marathon days are over for the time being. Five and ten k events will make up the overwhelming majority of his races, however, he is seriously considering the Chicago half marathon this fall. He races approx. twenty five times a year, and receives enough appearance money to make it well worth his effort. His rehabilitation for the broken leg is coming along well, yet he still has a noticible limp. He's able to run 50 miles per week, but the two a days are a thing of the past. If he was forced to run a marathon today, a sub three hour time would be difficult but possible: 2:54 in good conditions.