Today was Ritz's worst finish Since....

What race was he in today?

nyc half. finished 14th. 1:01.52

Yes, his place wasn't great in an extremely deep/fast field. He still ran under 1:02 on a challenging course and was only 11 seconds behind Meb, both of them coming off of marathon training and the trials. Neither of them were upset with the race, neither of them should be. I doubt either of them expected to be running under 1:01.

In last year's race Ritz would have been 10th.

Judging by today's performance, Ritz is no farther behind Meb than he was in January--perhaps even a little closer. Granted, Ritz needs to start winding down toward running shorter races soon, but Meb's planning the same thing. At this point I think Ritz is fine. I don't know of three other guys who I think are in better shape than he is at this juncture for a track 10,000 come summer. Rupp obviously, but who else? And we didn't see Abdi out there today, did we? Where's he at right now? It would have been a nice payday for him, too.

Agree.I would say Derrick may be better off right now but I assume Ritz can get to 27:40 by OT if healthy. Derrick may get close to that but can he peak again that late?. It's not clear if Nelson , Teg or Solinsky are close to 27:30 either. Curtis and Bauhs were off today.

Blistering wasn't that bad at world XC. I saw pics.

Ethiopians and Kenyans have gone top-ten in that race barefoot.

---

which riz it wrote:

point of the thread....Ritz rarely, RARELY ever finished this high in a race.

---

Rizt will make the 10k team relativly easily that's always been where he shines. If he would only race it more often.

American a lot of the time run the wrong distance. How long will it take for Ritz to realize he is a 10k track runner and not a road racer. How injuries does he have to suffer before realizing the half and full marathon are not for him.

Obviously the Olympic Trials Marathon. To him, getting 4th in that race must have been the WORST finish ever.

Does anyone really think Ritz will be in anything worse than 27:15 or so 10k shape this summer?

I think you meant he never finishes this low in a race.
When the number that you place is a high number it means you finished low.
When the number you place is low, like one or two, it means you finished high.


It's like turning "up" the A/C to a lower temperature.

On a bad day, Ritz should make the 10K team. We have about a half dozen guys capable of running in the 27:35-45 range, but Ritz is one of only 2-3 guys that can run a 27:20 pace and crank out a sub-60 last 400. Even though the NYC half was not a great race for him, how many Americans could have run faster.

What's the big deal?

If Ritz' goal is to make the OT then his odds of success are very good and nothing about the NYC half changes that picture at all.

If his goal is to medal at the OG then his odds of success are virtually nil and the NYC half simply reminds us of this fact.

Ritz is like a roundhouse kick ready to explode on someone's dome. When he is on point Chris Brown would even be able to beat Ritz.

if your house burns up or if you burn your house up the end result is houselessness

I'm sure this was just a good payday, nothing more, nothing less.

---

dineroooooooooo wrote:

I'm sure this was just a good payday, nothing more, nothing less.

---

You really don't think he made anything simply by running by either the NYRR or Nike?

---

upsidedown wrote:

---

dineroooooooooo wrote:

I'm sure this was just a good payday, nothing more, nothing less.

---

Indeed... $100 for 14th.

---