Ritz 9th in 2:07:47

Amazing depth. What's the fastest time ever for 9th place?

9th was 2:06:17 at Dubai earlier this year. Still incredible depth here today though.

Ritz is now clearly the second fastest "American" ever! Khalid Khannouchi was not born in the US nor raised as an American and did not attend school in the US and did not go through the High School and Collegiate systems! He may be a wonderfully nice guy, a super great competitor but he does not have the "American Record"! Ryan Hall is the true record holder at 2:06:17 with Ritz now firmly in second place. Khannouchi has the "FBN" Record - (Foreign Born National Record) It is not racist or bigoted to point this out or list it as such!!!!!! Same goes for Legat's times as well as others!!!

If an American were to go any place else in the whole World and run comparable times and set national records, they would be considered an "FBN Runner" in that host country for sure! Show or give me an example where this is not so!!!!! Suddenly now it's racist and ignorant to have pride in the US! BS!!!! Have we become so "Politically Correct" now that we can't even be honest with ourselves anymore!!!!

You would've had me convinced if you'd used just a couple more exclamation marks.

Help me out with something. Khannouchi could be governor of New York, or Secretary of State, but he can't be the American Record holder in the marathon because he moved to the US when he was 21?

Second Fastest Ever!!! wrote:

If an American were to go any place else in the whole World and run comparable times and set national records, they would be considered an "FBN Runner" in that host country for sure! Show or give me an example where this is not so!!!!! Suddenly now it's racist and ignorant to have pride in the US! BS!!!! Have we become so "Politically Correct" now that we can't even be honest with ourselves anymore!!!!

Not that I think your position will be changed by facts, but American born Tiffany Porter set the British national record over 100 meter hurdles in 2011. Sure there was controversy, but it was the official record until Jessica Ennis broke it this year.

Second Fastest Ever!!! wrote:

If an American were to go any place else in the whole World and run comparable times and set national records, they would be considered an "FBN Runner" in that host country for sure! Show or give me an example where this is not so!!!!! Suddenly now it's racist and ignorant to have pride in the US! BS!!!! Have we become so "Politically Correct" now that we can't even be honest with ourselves anymore!!!!

I Denmark Wilson Kipketer has the national record in the 800m. Nothing's ever gonna change that. Widely, he's not considered to be a FBN! I'm amazed Americans would think that, seeing USA is the kind of "free country" it is - the land of many, the land of opportunities.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

Help me out with something. Khannouchi could be governor of New York, or Secretary of State, but he can't be the American Record holder in the marathon because he moved to the US when he was 21?

But he couldn't be President.

And that is all that needs to be said about that.

EuroGuy wrote:

seeing USA is the kind of "free country" it is - the land of many, the land of opportunities.

I'm an American and I don't think that about the USA for a second.

vandalay industries wrote:

But he couldn't be President.

RItzenhein can't be president, either. So what?

Can I ask someone here what are the following personal bests of these two athletes: Bill Rodgers and Greg Meyer?

Thank you.

If Ritz ran a few ticks under 2:10 and finished 9th in New York would he be receiving this same praise? I say hell no.

Most people agree that Chicago runs about 2 minutes faster than NY on similar weather days, so what gives?

A little perspective tells us that Ritz ran a couple ticks under 2:08 on one of the fastest courses in the world on a perfect weather day. He finished NINTH on an Olympic year with none of the Olympians participating. He was 9th in Beijing 4 years ago against Olympians.

I know that Ritz is a nice guy that we all cheer for, but this was no realimprovement.

"The next step is for me to go out with them (the leaders). It was a huge jump from 2:09:55 and 2:04 and I cut that in half. The next step for me is to just go with it."

His quote proves his ignorance. LOOK AT HIS SPLITS. He could not hold the pace he went out at. He was not strong enough to maintain his pace and his solution is to go out faster next time. That will be a huge success.

KK is the American record holder in the marathon.

Ritz is the second-fastest native born American marathoner of all time. That fact speaks for itself. His time of 2:07:50 would have won the race every year until 1997 (more or less; there may have been one outlier race in there). It's a fantastic time.

It's not, unfortunately, quite a world-class time these days. So what? That's next. Ritz is under no illusions.

What the time does is dispel, for once and for all, the suspicion dogging Ritz that he just didn't have a powerplant set up for the marathon. The "fueling issue." That's gone now. He figured out what needed doing. He solved the fueling issue.

Anybody who would find any reason to greet Ritz's performance with anything less than "Job well done!" is living in fantasy-land.

Ritz ran 64:22 for his second half yesterday. The winner ran 61:43. How much slower would Ritz have run in the second half if he went out with the leaders?

You think that letting the leaders go, and running the second half almost 3 minutes slower than the leader, equals having his fuel situation figured out? WOW. So if it is not fueling you must think that his training sucks or that he just isn't that talented?

He is on the road to disaster, and his analysis of yesterday proved it.

Jeff Wigand wrote:

RItzenhein can't be president, either. So what?

You should have to be eligible to be US president to get a US record.

Born in the US and over 35.

I remember reading the negative comments about Ritz after his NYC debut. He has come a long way since then. While the marathon isn't his best event (even now) he pulled off a decent one and most of the haters are gone.

I agree that this was likely not a real improvement over his previous best, but he undoubtedly broke a psychological barrier and it may be a stepping stone for bigger things to come.

Remember when Hall ran 2:04:58 in Boston and everyone dismissed his race because he finished a half mile (1:56) behind the winner? Didn't Ritz just finish further than that (3:09) behind the winner?

This isn't intended as a bash on Ritz. I'm really glad to see him make a big step forward with his marathon PR and hope he does so again in the spring. This is a question for this board. I root for all our American distance runners. Hall would have gotten bashed for being out of contention in this race.