Ryan Hall second at B2B

When was Ryan's last win? Was it the OT?!? I'm glad he ran this, but, I agree with you; a victory would have been better. In my opinion he needs to do more of this sort of thing: run mid-level races at which he has a decent shot of winning. And he needs to keep doing it until he does.

Olympic Trials '08

actually hall won a game of settlers of catan just last night

That's what I meant.

You know, this is not really all that unexpected. It's been, what, seven eight years since Hall became a threat at the world level? That's about all you get, it seems. Think about guys from the classic era, guys like Viren Shorter or Rodgers. Rodgers became world class in 75. By 82, 83 he was good but he was never really again considered a threat at a top level race. Shorter's time at the top was even shorter (no pun intended). Same thing with Hall, same thing with Webb. You keep stretching that band, and, sooner or later, it breaks, or, it loses its elasticity. It might happen - it sometimes does, but usually only in cases where a guy has been injured off and on. Viren's an example although, really he won in 72 and was competitive but not victorious eight years later in Moscow. Ritz is another example. He might get another year or two because he missed time along the way over the last 8 years.

I'm a pretty big fan of Ritz, Hall and Webb. I'd love to see them winning big races again, but, realistically, their time up near the top has come to an end. In spite of what I wrote above, I'm going to stop posting critical reviews of their performances here. They've earned some appreciation in their sunset years. That class really brought US running back to respectability.

Sh-t! I'm watching it on bay area TV. Thought it was live.

Link wrote:(snip...)

Great thoughts - I agree.

My (onetime) coach, who ran the Olympic marathon many, many years ago, once made a similar sentiment. He also stated that he felt runners like me (some talent, competitive locally, take running seriously, but absolutely not fast in any meaningful way) are generally looking at around 10 years of improvement, so I guess a few more years due to much less stress on the body.

Anyone know his time? He's also racing again next week. Sad to say, but maybe he didn't care about the win, just went strictly on planned out pace.

winner was 35:0x, hall 35:40. 4:46.9/mi. didnt he run that half around 4:33 pace? for his sake, i hope this was a tactical race and this other guy just closed really fast.

Link wrote:

When was Ryan's last win? Was it the OT?!? I'm glad he ran this, but, I agree with you; a victory would have been better. In my opinion he needs to do more of this sort of thing: run mid-level races at which he has a decent shot of winning. And he needs to keep doing it until he does.

In comparison, I'd like to see a list of all the race victories by Rupp, Ritz, Solinsky, etc. They often post great times, but how often do they actually win? Obviously, Rupp won the 5 & 10 USATF champs last year, but besides that how often has he won a race? I don't think they won any of the races in which they went sub-13 or sub-27.

reed wrote:

winner was 35:0x, hall 35:40. 4:46.9/mi. didnt he run that half around 4:33 pace? for his sake, i hope this was a tactical race and this other guy just closed really fast.

Lol. I think there is a tiny little hill in the middle of the race.

[sarcasm]

he's just not near his half shape from Houston, but he's coming back from injury and he hasn't had a good non-marathon result in five or six years. I'm pretty confident that Canova can get a good performance out of him with health.

sjq wrote:

Sh-t! I'm watching it on bay area TV. Thought it was live.

lol

Good post. I agree with you.

Good night people, it's the guys first race since DNF'ing at the Olympics in August. Give him a break, he was 2nd place. It's not like he was jogging out there.

Give him some time.

I see him getting 2nd as a good result. Or is the Bay to Breakers race not as competitive as it used to be? I know the race has had financial trouble, so maybe the prize pool isn't what it was back in the day.

loler wrote:

reed wrote:

winner was 35:0x, hall 35:40. 4:46.9/mi. didnt he run that half around 4:33 pace? for his sake, i hope this was a tactical race and this other guy just closed really fast.

Lol. I think there is a tiny little hill in the middle of the race.

[sarcasm]

There is a hill (I've run it many times) but still not that fast a time.

For comparison, the last American winner, Ed Eyestone, ran 34:33 in 1986. Kitwara's record is 33:31.

35:01 is also the slowest winning time in 30 years. And conditions were "near perfect" according to news coverage.

You make really good points but one difference between Shorter, Rogers, et al is that they raced a lot more, esp Rogers.

I'm sure they ran some low key road races just to collect some under the table money. They also ran major races and lost.

Personally, I'd like to see some of our top runners run more races just to get their names out there. if it doesn't effect their longevity (as your post suggests) then it could be good for the sport.

I really think more people knew who guys like Rogers and Shorter and Dixon were than know who the top runners are now.

Ryan Hall only goes all out for marathons and the occasional half.

BTW, Meb Keflezighi ran 36:16 for 6th place last year.

This course isn't exactly fast. Ryan Hall is notorious for underperforming at shorter races in recent years, but he got 2nd against a pretty decent field. Last year, before taking 4th at the Olympic Marathon, Meb was 6th here. This is nothing but encouraging.