OFFICIAL WOMENS MARATHON THREAD

gelena is the cousin of gezahegn abera..olympic champ in 2000 .. no mention made of that

flanagan and goucher should have stayed with the 10000 m, probably could have been 7th and 8th.

,wtf, wrote:

flanagan and goucher should have stayed with the 10000 m, probably could have been 7th and 8th.

Marathon is where the money is these days, so it makes financial sense to move up. Millions of people run marathons and follow the sport, not so with the track.

To bring shorter distances back into popularity, you'd have to forget the track altogether and have athletes compete solely on the roads.

i am surprised by shalane's performance. i really expected her to be up a bit higher, 3rd would have been very good, top 5 good, but 10th is a bit of a disappointment for her no doubt. on a different note, who was that russian that got 3rd?

Definitely disappointed in her 10th finish (for her), but she should be proud. It wasn't until she finished that you could really see how much she had been suffering. She was running backwards the last 3k. Something went wrong that was beyond her control... and that is the marathon in a nutshell.

i am a proud American.

someone had to do it wrote:

on a different note, who was that russian that got 3rd?

Steeplechase silver at Osaka in 2007.

Previous marathon PB was 2:25:53 at Dubai in 2009.

someone had to do it wrote:

i am surprised by shalane's performance. i really expected her to be up a bit higher, 3rd would have been very good, who was that russian that got 3rd?

The runner you were hoping Shalane was today

You would have been ecstatic if you were born in her country.

As for Goucher and some of the others "holding on" they really didn't fall off the pace at any time and even ran a slightly negative split. That is different than going with the faster runners, falling off pace, and then coming back.

just the wrong country wrote:

The runner you were hoping Shalane was today

You would have been ecstatic if you were born in her country.

As for Goucher and some of the others "holding on" they really didn't fall off the pace at any time and even ran a slightly negative split. That is different than going with the faster runners, falling off pace, and then coming back.

Just curious was all. And the reason I feel indifferent towards her is precisely because of what country she is from, her countrywomen haven't done her any favors.

If she is clean (hopefully), then congratulations to her on a great race.

I wouldn't try and sugarcoat Shalane's race. It was pretty disappointing, and she definitely should have been in that 5th spot. What perplexes me is that she was running mid 5:30s comfortably, but then couldn't inch that up to low 5:20s for the last 10-11 miles and hold it together. The way she came apart in the last couple miles would have been much more understandable if she had tried to stick with 5:00-5:10 pace, not 5:20-5:25.

Nice race by Gelana. She timed it well and her huge PB gave her the confidence to be patient.

long sox wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatyana_Petrova

Steeplechase silver at Osaka in 2007.

Previous marathon PB was 2:25:53 at Dubai in 2009.

Incorrect. Previous PB was 2:25:01 for 5th at Berlin last year. I.e. faster than Flanagan's best. Not much surprise at their relative finishing order.

Awesome marathon. I got up at 4am and watched the last 17km of the race, then went back to bed.My favorite was Tiki Gelana after seeing the way she destroyed the Rotterdam course, and outkicked a 2:19 guy down the long stretch to the finish.Awesome running by everyone. Good for Petrova coming back and finishing 3rd.It is NOT surprising that Keitany faded. The conditions, cold rain, were NOT good for a marathon, especially the leaner the runners, losing heat which tightens the muscles. There would have been several under 2:20 with better conditions. Flanagan runs very stiff, and pumps her arms too hard, isn't smooth and wastes too much energy. Goucher has a very nice form and style for the marathon.

Joan Benoit's time of 2:24.52 from LA lasts another Olympics as our fastest performance.

Great race for Shalane and Kara. Both did what they had to do by staying in contention at the front for as long as they could. Winner got the Olympic record. On a course with lots of turns, and less than ideal conditions top 11 finishes are fantastic.

And no surprise that a 2:25 runner pops a big one to beat a bunch of 2:18-22 women....

troof be told wrote:

Not much surprise at their relative finishing order.

The Russians get loads of drug positives among their women every year and we know that they have a long history of systematic, nationwide cheating, so it would be ludicrous to grant them the presumption of innocence. Not a bad race from Goucher and Flanagan, quite respectable, but I am surprised that they or at least Flanagan were not contending for the medals. Both certainly seemed to have that kind of upside and Flanagan medaled at world xc after previously medaling on the track at 10000m, so she seemed to have enough to run sub 2:23.

great race ruined by NBC coverage and the on air work of Craig masback

Will pass on watching the mens race

i wrote on the 10000m trend that the euorpean push us to concentrate on road race and we east african give you a lesson.

The conspricy work on 10k but still we black are strong on athletics period!!!

I'm curious what people thought of the marathon course. So many twists, turns and narrow spots. It looks really challenging and might require a conservative approach. Notice the leaders that fell off and other runners that came from behind. It might be that early jockeying for position can take a toll. Different courses favor different runners.