24 Hour Later Update on Ritz: "I do love the marathon but I think I love being good better"

I hope Dathan runs 26:45 and changes his mind this summer.

He's strong as hell right now. Gonna see big things.

Good to hear that he isn't as down. Ritz is my favorite American runner and it was definitely tough to see him so demoralized Saturday.

I really think he can do good things in the 10k (sub 26:40-26:50) and am excited that he is injury free and hopefully will have a great buildup to make London 5k/10k.

I noticed that he overstrides a moderate ammount with his right leg still. Has anyone else seen this? His former poor form is what maybe got him so injured, it is better now but it could be improved still. When he does this, he will be injury free.

I really think what would be best for him is to get back to basics and step away from too much anaylsis, planning, and technology, find that love of the sport again, "find the Quan".

I would love to see him just race more often, run IAAF cross country, jump in multiple road races on a whim, run track races. Then if you feel right in September, what the heck run a couple hard long runs and jump in a marathon. Basically have the marathon be a bonus at the end of the season rather than the focus of the whole year. This is how the men in the 80's did it. Look at how many times a year Meyer, Salazar, Lopes, Decastella,your random 2:11 american marathoner, would race, for gosh sakes even Khanoucchi.

It would have been interesting to see what Ritz could have ran for a full marathon instead of his world half bronze. This might have been the best marathon shape he was in because he raced a lot previously and was getting stronger because of it.

RItz is tough as nails and is so enjoyable to watch race, I just wish he did it more often.

PS. Ryan Hall should do the same.

"The marathon is the pinnacle event"

I hate the marathon. It sucks away all the best American runners for one or two races a year that have big prize purses on account of the 1,000's of people willing to pay $150 a pop. All to brag to their coworkers that they ran a marathon, albeit in 4:45.

Then, later, your Auntie who knows you've been running a lot asks you if you've ever run a marathon, and you have to tell her no as she goes on about amazing Joe at the office and his most recent marathon.

Ritz' 4th place finish is truly a blessing in disguise. Here's a guy who has been reportedly hammering American 10k record holder Galen Rupp in workouts, and who also previously held the American 5k record. And all of this without really focusing on track.

There has always been more money in the marathon than on the track.

The unspoken fact is that he got into the marathon for the money when he ran NYC the first time. He will continue to chase the marathon because that is where he is paid the most. It's perfectly acceptable to have this motivation. He has a life and family to think of. I just wish he would cite the money rather than the "mystique." It's not as if he will be any more competitive on the world stage in the 5k or 10k.

Run track this summer and the do marathons starting in the fall and get paid.

The Kenyans that don't run in the Olympic marathon may make more money this year than the Kneyans that do run in the Olympics this year.

what reports are those?

I'm glad that he is going to focus on the track while he's still in his prime, but it is still a possibility that Ritz will figure out the marathon (this pr was small) and run times corresponding to his track and 1/2 marathon bests. I know people who have had their breakthroughs not until after twenty or more marathons and without changing their training significantly over the years. And Meb ran yet another pr, his second in a row, at this late stage in his career, after many marathons. Even Meb hasn't had the breakthrough in time that you'd expect from a guy who has run 2:09 at New York, a tough course, and only a few seconds faster at Houston on a flat course. So, Meb might just get his 2:07/2:08 at London still.

toro wrote:

Run track this summer and the do marathons starting in the fall and get paid.

The Kenyans that don't run in the Olympic marathon may make more money this year than the Kneyans that do run in the Olympics this year.

BS. The Kenyans will win, may it be Makau or G. Mutai. But they will win. An OG medal will bring in so much more $ to come....

Yeah I think in this case, Ritz's toughness could actually be a bad thing. For instance, the guy is so tough that he doesn't want to walk away from the marathon, he wants to keep trying at it. While this aspect of mental toughness is admirable, it is also making it a lot harder for him to walk away and focus on 5k and 10k. I think if he wants to do a marathon in the future, it should just be a fall one as a strength builder for cross country and track.

Ritz will be super fit, so the task is to stay healthy and work on the kick. We know that Ritz and Rupp can stay with the big boys in a 10K on the track, they just need to pull out a world class kick. Rupp showed flashes with his 1:52 closer in the US qualifying 10,000, and really stepped up a notch last summer when he out-kicked Merga in the Birmingham 5000. So, Al, here is the question. How do you get these guys on track, literally, to run a 53 point 400 at the end of the Olympic 10,000 meter run?

I'm looking for the right closing rush on a certain day.

And this occurs to me, some very good runner(s) will not make the 10K team. Solinsky, Ritz, Rupp, Tegenkamp. It's gonna be interesting.

It needs to be said that the main reason Ritz didn't make the team is because Abdi had an unexpectedly good day. It's not like Ritz had a crappy race.

Ritz looked very strong and comfortable during the race. I believe that letting Ryan Hall lead at a 2'07'00 pace and everyone following was a mistake. If Meb, Abdi and Ritz would have run their pace, they would have out ran Ryan the last 10k. Ryan looked very flat the last few miles. Didn't even try to chase down Meb. The ones pushing hard were Abdi and Ritz. I think they could have ran 2'08's but the blistering pace Hall took them at really hurt them bad.

On this note, I think Ritz needs to get back on the track and chase some American Records. I believe he can still give the 5k and 10k AR's a try and he could possibly hold one or both records by the end of the year.

He looks very strong and comfortable at the marathon, a hard 10k should be a breeze for him. Hope he really goes after the records.

How do you possibly stop Hall from leading??

He must have meant they should have let Hall go and aimed for a 64-65 first half instead of a 63. Trafeh probably would have gone with anyone but I suspect no one in that lead pack regarded him as any more of a threat than Olinger.

I thought of a few things over the weekend that should end the discussion about him and the marathon vs. the shorter distances:

● Ritz is (as far as I can remember, at least) the only current U.S. distance runner (I ignore Lagat for reasons like his EPO “A” positive and hiding his U.S. citizenship in ‘04 that I won't keep repeating) who's won TWO medals in international championships: (1) Bronze at Junior World Cross and (2) Bronze at the World Half-Marathon Championships (in an outstanding 60:00 in the rain). Granted, those races aren't as deep or prominent as Olys, track WCs or Senior World Cross, but they also aren't subject to the three-athlete limit, either.

● Ritz's significant records are at 5,000 (12:56 AR) and 10,000 (27:38 CR). He also has the fastest U.S. 10,000 ever run in a championship race (27:22).

● He’s 3rd on the all-time U.S. 5,000 list, 6th on the all-time U.S. list at 10,000 (from his 27:22 at the WC’s; however, but his 12:56 and 60:00 clearly bracket near- or sub-27:00 potential but he hasn't run a rabbited non-championship 10,000 since his race against Webb at Stanford in 2006) and 2nd on the all-time U.S. half-marathon list. He's also 4th on the all-time U.S. list at two miles behind Teg (8:07), Webb and Kennedy, but it's actually basically a statistical dead heat between Webb (8:11.48), Kennedy (8:11.59) and Ritz (8:11.74) for second as all are within a .26 second spread.

● Multiple U.S. titles in Cross

● Multiple U.S. teams at 10,000 and World Cross.

● He had a winning record against 26:48 10,000 performer Rupp prior to his move to the marathon and de-emphasis on the 10,000.

Now, contrast that with Ritz's marathon credentials:

● Never won anything, even against U.S.-only competition, and has no records of any kind.

● Even when he was, by all accounts, in the best shape of his life and set a PR, he couldn't make the 2012 U.S. Olympic marathon team, despite making multiple U.S. WC and Oly teams at 10,000. Granted, he did make the U.S. marathon team for Beijing.

● His 2:09:55 PR puts him just 14th on the all-time U.S. performer list (13th if you disregard Kempainen's wind-aided 2:08:47 at Boston) behind Hall, Khannouchi, Bob Kempainen, Salazar, Dick Beardsley, Abdi, Greg Meyer, Meb, Bill Rodgers, Ron Tabb, David Morris, Jerry Lawson, Ken Martin, and Alan Culpepper.

● His 2:09:55 PR is just 33rd on the all-time U.S. performance list, tied with Bill Rodgers' 2:09:55 AR from Boston in '75.

● After multiple attempts, best two marathons are 2:09:55 (under nearly perfect conditions) and 2:10:00, times routinely beaten by runners at nowhere near Ritz's level from 5,000 (12:56) to the half-marathon (60:00); U.S. examples include Bill Rodgers (2:09:27/28:04/13:42) and even Alberto Salazar (2:08:13/27:25/13:11).

● While he was the highest-placing American in Beijing (9th) it took one of his best races to just barely beat Hall's worst race (by far), and his 9th is diminished somewhat by the three-athlete limit in the Olys. Majors can be even deeper than the Olys.

It's simple: Ritz doesn't have the gas tank for the marathon. That's not a knock, that's a conclusion based on objective data from multiple marathons over a period of at least five years. Some guys who are aerobic beasts just don't have the frame and/or gas tank for the marathon. Ritz is one of those guys. Not a criticism. The guy's a beast, just not a marathon beast. He's very good at the marathon but not nearly as good as he is from 5000 to the half-marathon.

I understand that his chances to medal at 10,000 are slim and none, but his chances to medal at the marathon are none and none. If you're in "the shape of your life" and you can't (1) make the U.S. team and (2) even crack the U.S. all-time top 13, that's not the event for you, and you have even less of a shot on the world stage than you do at 10,000.

Hall was right to move to test the marathon early in his career (though as I've said, I wish he hadn't stayed there exclusively like he did) and that test was successful. But Ritz's marathon experiment should be over. It just ain't there like it is from 5000 to the half-marathon and cross.