#Official Chicago Marathon Thread#

this is great, can we get more results postings?

Not sure if you are being sarcastic. I just took it off of the leaderboard.

http://results.chicagomarathon.com/2012/?&lang=EN_CAP&pid=leaderboard

You can also track individual runners from the links at the top of the page.

no, sorry, didn't mean it to come off that way. thanks!

zero chances for US born wrote:

With all due respect to Ritz and his 2:07 time, kudos to him, but when you have East Africans debuting at 2:05, what chances are Americans going to have on winning major marathons?

PresMustache wrote:

G. Rupp.

LOL.

snapshots of the lead pack and of the chase pack (ritz) at about mile 14.

runnerdave wrote:

Something should be said about Ethiopia passing on Kebede for the Olympics. Go with 3 unproven younger runners when Kebede had a great career and shown toughness in some great contests. How stupid do they look now?

True,

Kebede must be rejoicing at his country's decision.

Ethiopian federation heads must be ruing their decision.

Lilesa is also a very good runner.

Ethiopia relied on fast times only and disregarded experience and for that, they'll always be asking "what if...?".

iiiii wrote:

What were you expecting, a 4 min PR and an AR? Obviously Ritz has figured something out in order to drop 2 min from his PR. And now he's the #2 US born marathoner ever, and #1 has gone to lalaland. Why wouldn't he or any other sane person try again?

If Ritz takes anything away from this, it should that developing track speed can lead to a fast marathon. I, for one, hope he runs only one major marathon per year, in the fall coming off of a decent track season... the obvious caveat being that he needs to stay healthy. A breakthrough 2:07 is great for him, and I think many of of us thought he had this capability, but he still has yet to negative split a marathon. If he learns to do that, I think he can go faster yet, as he has done on the track.

If Ritz takes anything away from this, it should that developing track speed can lead to a fast marathon. I, for one, hope he runs only one major marathon per year, in the fall coming off of a decent track season... the obvious caveat being that he needs to stay healthy. A breakthrough 2:07 is great for him, and I think many of of us thought he had this capability, but he still has yet to negative split a marathon. If he learns to do that, I think he can go faster yet, as he has done on the track.[/quote]

Yeah I 100% agree with this. I'm really hoping Ritz realizes he needs to keep his roots on the track in order to run a good marathon. If he decides to run London or Boston in spring, then I think today will be his PR. If he puts in a solid track season, then he'll run much faster (probably 2:05 mid next fall).

At the very least, hopefully this race gets rid or any mental blocks he had in the marathon. I don't think he'll have any more problems with fueling, cramping up, etc after today.

Nice shots. But wtf are those black things on the Japanese dude? Slow release epo patch?

Yea, weird.

And ritz's form looks even worse than usual next to the perfectly upright japanese guys.

computer.com wrote:

Nice shots. But wtf are those black things on the Japanese dude? Slow release epo patch?

The Japanese love their Phiten products!!!!!!!!

xkjlghs wrote:

I thought the woman commentator was annoying until I learned it was Joan.

SO EVERYBODY SHUT THE F UP!!!

Do you know how retarded that makes you sound? You WERE annoyed by her, but when you learned it was Joan you felt somehow guilty. You managed to contradict yourself in one short sentence.

I just have to echo this. I'll never forget her marathon during the 1982 Olympics in the women's marathon debut. She is a legend and a beast of a runner.

runnerdave wrote:

Anyone dissing Joan Benoit Samuelson is either too young to know or too stupid to live.

Chicago bystander wrote:

And ritz's form looks even worse than usual next to the perfectly upright japanese guys.

Unless they have a tailwind that's ~20km/hr (I know there *was* a tailwind at various stages), if the Japanese guys are "perfectly upright" then their form is NOT a model.

Here's why. Assuming you're moving at an even speed, with no tailwind, you will be (in effect) be facing a headwind. As a matter of physics, your body *as a whole* will be leaning forward to offset the effect of that "headwind"; the only question is how your body parts are distributed.

If (in the no-tailwind situation) your torso is bolt upright, then your body is "bending" somewhere. In most cases, it will be at the hips: the legs will be "tilted" extra-forward to create the overall forward lean that the torso is not contributing to--and that *must* take place as a matter of physics.

Typically, this means that the pelvis will be tipped forward, rather than level. A level pelvis makes it fairly easy to raise the knees; a tipped-forward pelvis makes that harder, and also encourages having the footfall be more in front of the center of gravity. That introduces an extra braking force in each step, and also causes the legs more to pull (which they don't do well) than to push (which they're designed for) in accomplishing each step.

Look at most of the top EAfrican marathoners--again, assuming they don't have a tailwind that approximates the speed they're going--and notice that they maintain a good strong body alignment (no "break" at the hips), and that their whole bodies exhibit the slight forward lean that has to be there.

Any good underdog performances? I have not checked the results

BOOOOOOM!! wrote:

Any good underdog performances? I have not checked the results

Former D1 soccer player (Penn State) and then pro soccer player turned steeplechaser and now turned marathoner, Stephanie Pezzullo, made her marathon debut in 2:32:42 for 10th place giving veteran Dot McMahon (9th) a great race.

I don't think that was expected by anyone so I would call that an underdog performance.

Not too many pro soccer players (none that I can think of other than Pezzullo) go on to place in the top 10 in Marathon Majors.

You meant the '84 Olympics.

And another 2:04 runner, this is getting the norm. Crazy result by Kebede, showing once again what a great runner he is. I have to admit about Ritz that I didn't think that a 2:07 was possible right now (or ever?!). One minute improvement from there and he can run for top places.