Ritz is going to get rocked at Boston

Anyone know how Ritz has been training? He had plantar problems before Chicago, and usually he posts something on his Twitter page about his condition, but not since then.

should "lose" the invites for the African for just one year

like they will when rupp debs

like nfl does with pocket passers

pretend manning and kelly are best qb's to put bums in the stands

Always admired Dathan's talent and grit, but his PB is the 14th best on that list of entrants. I can't think of the last time I thought the 14th best at anything would beat out all of the other 13 in simultaneous competition.

The cliché among high school coaches in the U.S. is that there is a state champion walking the halls of your school, not on your team, recruit him. It appears that in Kenya or Ethiopia, there's a guy in every school walking around who can beat Ritz's 2:07:47. The seventh fastest PB is 2:05:27. Amazing.

Counting To Fourteen wrote:

Always admired Dathan's talent and grit, but his PB is the 14th best on that list of entrants. I can't think of the last time I thought the 14th best at anything would beat out all of the other 13 in simultaneous competition.

The cliché among high school coaches in the U.S. is that there is a state champion walking the halls of your school, not on your team, recruit him. It appears that in Kenya or Ethiopia, there's a guy in every school walking around who can beat Ritz's 2:07:47. The seventh fastest PB is 2:05:27. Amazing.

This is true, and it's not a knock on Ritz. I'm a big fan of Ritz as a fellow Buff, and he's the #3 American marathoner of all time. There's just a huge number of really good runners from Africa, so whatever race you're in, it's really hard to beat all of them. Not to mention the guys like Meb who don't have spectacular PR's, but still have a good chance to beat you on any given day.

So technically he's better on the track

Extremely deep field. I'd love to see him kick some a** though!

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Boston Marathon Releases Fastest Field Ever For 2014 Race

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Three Thoughts About The 2014 Boston Marathon Field

So the press release makes clear that Boston rather than London has claim to being the premier spring marathon. Last year's winners were the class of the year. Kudos to Boston for having an eye for talent rather than glitz, and props to their continued support of elite American runners.

Don't go by times people have run so much. Remember how Hartmann did?

On the contrary, I think Ritz is made for Boston. He is a great cross country runner, and the hills will be no problem for him. I think he could place top 3 honestly(obviously if he is fit and not injured)

gonna go out on a limb here

I bet at least 2 of the Americans will not even make it to the starting line

I imagine Tim Richie, who is BAA athlete, will be running. He won't contend, but his 62:00 in Houston is worth mentioning.

ITBS wrote:

Don't go by times people have run so much. Remember how Hartmann did?

On the contrary, I think Ritz is made for Boston. He is a great cross country runner, and the hills will be no problem for him. I think he could place top 3 honestly(obviously if he is fit and not injured)

Bill Rodgers excelled at Boston and yet the only good Cross Country race he ever ran was on a pancake flat course in Morocco.

I don't know that there is really that much of a connection between the two.

When was the last time Ritz did well at Cross?

ITBS wrote:

On the contrary, I think Ritz is made for Boston. He is a great cross country runner, and the hills will be no problem for him. I think he could place top 3 honestly(obviously if he is fit and not injured)

This "he's a good cross country runner" stuff is crap. At the marathon distance he's had extreme cramping from fueling problems in pretty much every race except Chicago 2012 -- you don't think that'll be exacerbated by late hills/changes in terrain?

What do his "great cross country" credentials really have to do with anything? You don't think all those 2:03-2:06 guys are also good cross country runners?

Ritz's 3rd in jr world cross all those years ago has to stop counting for something in his chances now. You people are delusional.

(All that said, despite his struggles, I love Ritz. I hope he does well. I'm just complaining about your terrible logic.)

The Single Voice of Reason wrote:

This "he's a good cross country runner" stuff is crap. At the marathon distance he's had extreme cramping from fueling problems in pretty much every race except Chicago 2012 -- you don't think that'll be exacerbated by late hills/changes in terrain?

What do his "great cross country" credentials really have to do with anything? You don't think all those 2:03-2:06 guys are also good cross country runners?

Ritz's 3rd in jr world cross all those years ago has to stop counting for something in his chances now. You people are delusional.

(All that said, despite his struggles, I love Ritz. I hope he does well. I'm just complaining about your terrible logic.)

Well, since you are the single voice of reason then I suppose it follows that I do not exist. So be it.

Your post is spot on. Ritz is a great guy and has had some tremendous successes. Why so many people do not respect him for what he has done and what he is actually capable of, but rather these folks have to get all delusional, is beyond me.

I'm rooting for a fantastic performance from Ritz. Something like 2:08:XX for 5th place would be AWESOME!

Brojo Basher wrote:

So the press release makes clear that Boston rather than London has claim to being the premier spring marathon. Last year's winners were the class of the year. Kudos to Boston for having an eye for talent rather than glitz, and props to their continued support of elite American runners.

Disagree. Feyisa Lelisa is highly highly overrated, he got lucky by racing low class marathons with not great competition. The only legitely astonishingly good marathoner in that field is Dennis Kimmeto, who in my opinion is the big loss on the London field. Boston has Kimetto, London has Farah, Kipsang, the two Mutais....Plus Jelian(who I don't think will be a factor...) Americans are not first class marathoners at the moment, case and point, don't care about the elite field on the American side perhaps maybee Meb.

Watch Kimetto blow the field away easily....It;s too bad, he should be in London, which is the real marathon this year.

If you're going to try to pretend to be knowledgeable about elite marathoners, at least get your "Lelisa"s straight.

Feyisa Lelisa is running London.

Lelisa Desisa is running Boston.

fgfg wrote:

should "lose" the invites for the African for just one year

like they will when rupp debs

This.

Like they did when they tried to get Hall on the podium. Not that Hall obliged.

ITBS wrote:

On the contrary, I think Ritz is made for Boston. He is a great cross country runner, and the hills will be no problem for him.

"He was a great cross country runner..." (fixed that for you)

What about Salazar's training screams "cross country" to you? The AlterG? Or the time in the pool?

Brighton born wrote:

--- wrote:

Disagree. Feyisa Lelisa is highly highly overrated, he got lucky by racing low class marathons with not great competition. The only legitely astonishingly good marathoner in that field is Dennis Kimmeto, who in my opinion is the big loss on the London field. Boston has Kimetto, London has Farah, Kipsang, the two Mutais....Plus Jelian(who I don't think will be a factor...) Americans are not first class marathoners at the moment, case and point, don't care about the elite field on the American side perhaps maybee Meb.

Watch Kimetto blow the field away easily....It;s too bad, he should be in London, which is the real marathon this year.

If you're going to try to pretend to be knowledgeable about elite marathoners, at least get your "Lelisa"s straight.

Feyisa Lelisa is running London.

Lelisa Desisa is running Boston.

My bad. But we'll see whos right come spring. Desisa is not in the same close as Kimetto, the two Mutais, Kipsang, or even Farah. Bookmark my post.