Boston buildup races: any big ones? Daily double
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In case some people only read the message board without reading other parts of this site, this is nice reporting by Rojo. He interviewed the Americans in the lead pack who told the story of how Ryan Hall held the other Americans back when the Africans slowed and some of the Americans wanted to push the pace. This allowed Meb to build what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
Hall must have watched some bike racing over the years...don't aid the peloton in catching your teammate. Agree on some nice reporting by rojo.
If I was in that lead pack and thought I could chase down Meb I would have told Hall to go F himself
Race2win wrote:
If I was in that lead pack and thought I could chase down Meb I would have told Hall to go F himself
I dont buy that theory either. You train your azz off, enter the BM and someone says "slow down for Meb" and everyone says "okay no problem" Highly doubt that one.
You know what completely sucks about that interview and this thread is it takes away from Mebs win. It's not that Meb won but the other Americans had to help him win. People should really learn to stfu and think before they speak. Is there any other rain on the parade that some fool would like to share?
Great reporting. Meb needed perfection to win - he ran gutsy as hell and he team tactics helped him outfox the studs.
Awesome reporting. Wonder if hall bad given this thought prior to the gun
Great job rojo
Tadpole wrote:
You know what completely sucks about that interview and this thread is it takes away from Mebs win. It's not that Meb won but the other Americans had to help him win. People should really learn to stfu and think before they speak. Is there any other rain on the parade that some fool would like to share?
Yep, Hall did not help Meb win.
The facts are that the Africans knew the gap was growing, and didn't see Meb as a threat(major mistake). When they decided he was a threat, they didn't have the legs to do anything about it. Meb did not win because of Ryan Hall or the other Americans, Meb won because he was gutsy and had the tools to win.
Amen. Most people don't realize the team tactics behind big marathons. Well done Ryan Hall1
"I think it’s a real testament to Ryan. I don’t (even) know how he finished up today. He knew maybe he wasn’t going to have it there over the second half and I think he was looking out (for Meb), ‘Hey let’s do this.’ It’s great team work.
That’s what I love to see - (especially since) Boston puts such an emphasis on Americans.
Hall, the fastest American runner in US history, has the stature with the other American runners that a team leader in the Tour de France has."
Actually, I helped Meb win more than Hall because I was at home shouting at the TV for him to hang tough and show all the Mof**ers who haven't given him his due all these years and who would rather pass him by to throw their endorsement dollars at people like Hall, who apparently now is partially responsible for Meb's victory. Go figure. I guess this means more endorsements for the 2:17 marathoner.
If there were Americans (besides Hall himself, who clearly didn't have it on the day) to beat Chebet and co., I would have agreed with you. But Arciniaga/Eggleston/Hartmann/ aren't on that level, so all they would have done is sacrificed themselves and Meb to make the pace quicker, and they were probably realistic enough to acknowledge that. I suppose Arciniaga could have gone to chase a PB, but the race was plenty fast for him anyway (1:05:04 first half in light of his 2:11:30 PB).
Tadpole wrote:
Race2win wrote:If I was in that lead pack and thought I could chase down Meb I would have told Hall to go F himself
I dont buy that theory either. You train your azz off, enter the BM and someone says "slow down for Meb" and everyone says "okay no problem" Highly doubt that one.
falkenbach wrote:
Amen. Most people don't realize the team tactics behind big marathons. Well done Ryan Hall1
"I think it’s a real testament to Ryan. I don’t (even) know how he finished up today. He knew maybe he wasn’t going to have it there over the second half and I think he was looking out (for Meb), ‘Hey let’s do this.’ It’s great team work.
That’s what I love to see - (especially since) Boston puts such an emphasis on Americans.
Hall, the fastest American runner in US history, has the stature with the other American runners that a team leader in the Tour de France has."
This is a pile of crap. If Hall did that it shows Hall has zero respect for his fellow runners. This is not team running. Why didn't Hall just ask God to help Meb and show some respect for his fellow Americans?
Tadpole wrote:
I dont buy that theory either. You train your azz off, enter the BM and someone says "slow down for Meb" and everyone says "okay no problem" Highly doubt that one.
More like he was running out of juice and knew he couldn't finish high in the ranks anyway.
Still a nice touch.
Nice reporting? If this were a gossip column. You'd have to have Ryan Hall quote it, then you'd have to get Meb's reaction to it and then maybe you'd have a story.
I already find it a bit ridiculous that a group of Americans talking about how they wanted to push the pace when they were already running 2:09 pace, faster than all of their PR's except for Hall, and think somehow they "sacrificed" for Meb...
Give Meb all the credit, not most of it.
Giddy wrote:
I already find it a bit ridiculous that a group of Americans talking about how they wanted to push the pace when they were already running 2:09 pace, faster than all of their PR's except for Hall, and think somehow they "sacrificed" for Meb...
Give Meb all the credit, not most of it.
This is exactly my thought here. Sometimes a race just goes a certain way that benefits a certain runner, but I give absolutely NO credit to any runner in that race for Meb's win except for Meb.
Sometimes you runners seem to think we're attached by ropes so that if one goes faster the other one HAS to. IF those African runners had it in them to go faster and they DIDN'T for whatever reason, then that's on them.
Meb went for the win in likely the only way he could have, and he got it done. ALL credit to him.
Absolutely unreal! Meb wins one for the ages & a good percentage of the chuckleheads on here cry CONSPIRACY! His victory was a sham! ALL the Kenyans & Ethiopians threw the race. Now we get from the very mouths of the other American runners (not made up crap about the race being rigged) what was taking place behind Meb & Boit and now the puddinheads on here want to F that up too and make it seem like we are taking Meb's victory away from him. One of the most prevalent story lines all morning before the race was "Will the Americans work together" and now that we have the truth, a-holes on here are finding a way to royally screw this up too. At least every other day I find myself wondering why the brothers Johnson don't just walk away from this steaming pile of shite.
kmaclam wrote:
Absolutely unreal! Meb wins one for the ages & a good percentage of the chuckleheads on here cry CONSPIRACY! His victory was a sham! ALL the Kenyans & Ethiopians threw the race. Now we get from the very mouths of the other American runners (not made up crap about the race being rigged) what was taking place behind Meb & Boit and now the puddinheads on here want to F that up too and make it seem like we are taking Meb's victory away from him. One of the most prevalent story lines all morning before the race was "Will the Americans work together" and now that we have the truth, a-holes on here are finding a way to royally screw this up too. At least every other day I find myself wondering why the brothers Johnson don't just walk away from this steaming pile of shite.
I think it was one guy on that conspiracy thread insisting on a payoff - maybe two guys. Why are you extrapolating from 1 or 2 guys?
Anyway, it was meb's legs that won him the race obvi - I do respect the other Americans for trying to help tho. It's not like they suddenly started running slowly - they were at fast honest paces the whole way. 'ceptin Hall, who blew up.
I chalk this one up to Africans too used to pacers and forgetting how to race.
Ryan Hall linked the article on his facebook page!
"Though yesterday was not how I had envisioned my race, I believe I fulfilled the purpose God had for me in it:"
It's a race not a time trial, so just like in other sports at times the best team on paper doesn't win. How the events play out determines the winner, not just the potential.
I'm sure if you take that exact field and and re-run the race 10x Meb only wins 1 of those, BUT that's how it unfolded Monday and if tactics helped out, so be it. He's still the one that made the move, he's still the one that fought off the late charge, he's still the one with the name on the books as the winner- forever.