Ritz running Tampa Half and NYC Half

Nice find. He is indeed listed as an entrant for Tampa if you search for his name:

http://www.tampabayrun.com/results

Here's the link to the article talking about his plans:

http://www.mlive.com/sports/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/02/dathan_ritzenhein_makes_plans.html

The article was talking about how he had to delay plans for a long tempo due to the weather. As a runner in the midwest, I can definitely sympathize with that sentiment and it is sad to know that even elites have to deal with such circumstances that ultimately hamper their training.

However, I think he should be happy with anything in the 63s. If he breaks 63, that would be a really good effort for Ritz based off his 12K 36:51 cross country race. Hopefully the weather can improve and the wind lays off for the NY half where he can hopefully get a pretty quick time somewhere in the 61s in prep for Boston.

If he runs sub 1:03 in Tampa that would be a very very good result. The heat and humidity in the past has been awful. Vail won it last year in 1:04 with guys to run with for most of the race. I'd be surprised if he ran that fast but I'm all for it. I'm a huge Ritz fan.

Good analysis and history recollection. I didn't take the weather or previous winning times into consideration. Honestly, thinking that he averaged 4:56s for 12k on the cross country course had me leaning towards mid 64s anyway. I was just thinking that mid 64s was way too slow for Ritz and dialed down the prediction a little bit.

I loved what Ritz said after USA XC. It's all about getting out there and racing. Conditions aren't always going to be ideal. You may not always be at the top of your game. But you still gotta get out there and compete and work. That's what the sport is missing. Most top guys seem to only want to race when the planets are aligned and everything is absolutely perfect. Ritz didn't have to go run that 12K XC race and he said he wasn't even really prepared. But as a fan of the sport I'm damn sure glad he did run it. Ritz is the man and I like his attitude since leaving NOP. I don't know if he'll be as fast without Salazar, but hopefully we'll see some more interesting races out of him.

I'm from Tampa and ran the gaspy half the past two years. The first year I ran 2 minutes off my PR and the next year I ran 3 minutes off my PR. The heat, humidity, and wind are all huge factors. I'd be happy if Ritz barely broke 1:04. The forecast for this year has a high of 73 and low of 54 for Sunday. Not as bad as the past but still not good. The wind has been crazy all week though so that may be the big factor this year. I wish him the best of luck.

Ritz v. Meb in NYC should be quite telling for the true shape he's in.

There is zero chance Ritz is running sub-1:04 here on Sunday. It'll feel nice to me, but to him it will feel like a swamp.

Raysism wrote:

There is zero chance Ritz is running sub-1:04 here on Sunday. It'll feel nice to me, but to him it will feel like a swamp.

Why do you not think he'll run sub 1:04? Just curious on why you think that. Not trying to call to out. I feel that there's a chance since he's almost back into normal training. He may not run sub 1:04 but it's not completely out of the equation at all. He's been doing very well in those xc races. I know the weather won't be great but I still think he'll have a decent showing. I'm predicting 1:03:45.

Ritz makes it pretty clear he's looking for a tempo run more than he's looking for a race, so that will factor in to how hard he pushes it and thus how fast he might run.

Victorious88 wrote:

I loved what Ritz said after USA XC. It's all about getting out there and racing. Conditions aren't always going to be ideal. You may not always be at the top of your game. But you still gotta get out there and compete and work. That's what the sport is missing. Most top guys seem to only want to race when the planets are aligned and everything is absolutely perfect. Ritz didn't have to go run that 12K XC race and he said he wasn't even really prepared. But as a fan of the sport I'm damn sure glad he did run it. Ritz is the man and I like his attitude since leaving NOP. I don't know if he'll be as fast without Salazar, but hopefully we'll see some more interesting races out of him.

Word, word and word.

Got to collect that appearance fee. Well get the hype for the race, then withdraw due to "injury" Im always surprised when I see that he's on the starting line and actually finishes races theses days. Still sceptical that we will see him at the start line for Boston in a few months. The entrants for this NY half look good, cue Ritz withdrawing with a sudden injury..

the humidity can be bad but if the low temperature is 54 Sunday, that shouldn't be bad, since this race starts at 6 a.m., so it may climb above 60 by the end of the race, but likely not by 7:04 when he'll be finished. wind is a worry, however. this race is often affected by the wind, and since much of the race is down and up Bayshore, if it is windy, you'll get miles of headwind one way or the other. it was very windy this morning near there.

kem wrote:

Got to collect that appearance fee. Well get the hype for the race, then withdraw due to "injury" Im always surprised when I see that he's on the starting line and actually finishes races theses days. Still sceptical that we will see him at the start line for Boston in a few months. The entrants for this NY half look good, cue Ritz withdrawing with a sudden injury..

You're an idiot.

Ritz has dropped out of one race in his life, Athens, when he refractured his foot. And as for an appearance fee, of course he wants one: he makes his financial living by running.

kem wrote:

Got to collect that appearance fee. Well get the hype for the race, then withdraw due to "injury" Im always surprised when I see that he's on the starting line and actually finishes races theses days. Still sceptical that we will see him at the start line for Boston in a few months. The entrants for this NY half look good, cue Ritz withdrawing with a sudden injury..

Ritz has withdrawn from a decent amount of races actually, sitting an "injury". Two half marathons in the next month before Boston in April seems a bit much, even if he says this Tampa race is for training purposes. He's injury-prone, he knows it,we the fans know it. I'm just saying I don't believe he makes it to the start line of the NY half and/or Boston.

kem wrote:

Got to collect that appearance fee. Well get the hype for the race, then withdraw due to "injury" Im always surprised when I see that he's on the starting line and actually finishes races theses days. Still sceptical that we will see him at the start line for Boston in a few months. The entrants for this NY half look good, cue Ritz withdrawing with a sudden injury..

You don´t get an apperance fee if you withdraw from a race, idiot.

Raysism wrote:

There is zero chance Ritz is running sub-1:04 here on Sunday. It'll feel nice to me, but to him it will feel like a swamp.

I won't be worrying about a PR coming from Buffalo. Probably take me till Sunday just to thaw out. Really looking forward to running in the heat even with the winds they can't be anything like the wind chill we get of lake Erie.

I have also been training for 4/20 it will be great just to run outside with out 6 layers on.

As far as Ritz not racing the first place American gets $8000.00. ???