Is Nike protecting Galen Rupp?

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Scorpion_runner wrote:

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corrector guy wrote:

He didn’t run as fast as Hall because he always ran Boston and New York (both of which he won). His 2:08 in Boston 2014 is comparable with Hall’s London and Boston tailwind times. WTF is a “blazer” - you need to stop watching so much Without Limits. Meb was better, period.

But Hall was still awesome.

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Your response does make any sense to me. This is not a post about Meb, and I have a lot of respect for Meb, but he was not a faster runner than Hall. He was definitely the better racer, because hall focused on fast times more than he did wanting to win races.

Hall ran 2:04 in Boston, 2:06 in London, and 2:08 in Chicago. Meb's fastest time was 2:08

I love both runners, but I was just making a point that the reason why Meb never ran London or Berlin is because he wasn't fast enough to run those races, and he knew that, so he stayed in his lane.

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What do you think will bring Nike more publicity? Rupp winning Chicago/Boston or finishing 8th in Berlin/London? Putting aside the sponsorship issue, London/Berlin invite the fastest athletes, and Rupp's 2:09 just wasn't good enough. Now that he's a 2:06 guy, that might change, but there are many faster than him. It's a two-way street. The race has to want him as well. Farah's track medals and his status as a national hero can get him into London but elsewhere his 2:06 isn't that fast and may not be good enough.

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Les wrote:

What do you think will bring Nike more publicity? Rupp winning Chicago/Boston or finishing 8th in Berlin/London?

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snow blow wrote:

Why do people assume that Rupp would struggle to get in the top 10 in Berlin and London? Name 10 runners that could beat Rupp in a marathon.

Also, if you guys actually look at past results, you'll find that low 2:06 almost always gets on the podium in London and Berlin.

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Scorpion_runner wrote:

I support Galen, and he is the best that America has . There isn't another american male marathoner who is on his level.

He won a bronze at the Olympics in the marathon. He won Chicago, was the runner up in Boston, and he recently won Prague with a PB of 2:06. From a far, that's a quality beginning to a marathon career. However, with a closer look, is his path being dictated by the overlords at Nike to put Galen in a position to win?

Are they making sure that he will not be in a race with other runners who have serious 5k/10k speed, or pure blazing marathoners? Are they protecting him from the likes of Kipchoge, Farah, Karoki, Kamworor, Bekele , Kipsang, etc?

What are you thoughts on this?

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Scorpion_Runner
you, sir, consistently post some of the most ridiculous garbage on these message boards. You are a legend. Please dont stop

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Les wrote:

Putting aside the sponsorship issue, London/Berlin invite the fastest athletes, and Rupp's 2:09 just wasn't good enough. Now that he's a 2:06 guy, that might change, but there are many faster than him. It's a two-way street. The race has to want him as well. Farah's track medals and his status as a national hero can get him into London but elsewhere his 2:06 isn't that fast and may not be good enough.

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Some dude wrote:

Scorpion_Runner
you, sir, consistently post some of the most ridiculous garbage on these message boards. You are a legend. Please dont stop

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vivalarepublica wrote:
The only way that letsrun will be happy with Rupp's career is if he runs Berlin and London, wins, sets the world record, and also does a sub-2 effort.

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Failure of imagination wrote:

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vivalarepublica wrote:
The only way that letsrun will be happy with Rupp's career is if he runs Berlin and London, wins, sets the world record, and also does a sub-2 effort.

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Um, no. That would just prove that the marathon record was softer than we realized!

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Les wrote:

What do you think will bring Nike more publicity? Rupp winning Chicago/Boston or finishing 8th in Berlin/London? Putting aside the sponsorship issue, London/Berlin invite the fastest athletes, and Rupp's 2:09 just wasn't good enough. Now that he's a 2:06 guy, that might change, but there are many faster than him. It's a two-way street. The race has to want him as well. Farah's track medals and his status as a national hero can get him into London but elsewhere his 2:06 isn't that fast and may not be good enough.

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Scorpion_runner wrote:

I've seen too many runners get lucky in a medal race.

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While Meb never did run Berlin, he did run London twice. He DNF'd in 2007 and ran 2:09:21 in 2009. Money was far better for him to run NYC and Boston repeatedly especially since he never broke 2:09 until he won Boston.

I think from salazar's interview and other things they are said, they feel Rupp is a 2:05 guy right now. Meaning with good conditions and good pacers/pacing . His race in Prague pretty much validates this thinking. There were a couple slow 5ks and he finished with a pace decently faster than 2:06 and lost their pacer at what mile 15ish? I have no idea what kind of impact if any there is to tapering for a marathon, having a crappy day and dropping out and then running another marathon a few weeks later. Can't believe that is ideal.

I'm not sure what point there would be him jumping in a 2:02:XX marathon attempt unless he could have his own pacers. I mean unless his goal was to see how long can I run a pace before he blows up. If You don't run with that lead pack you are pretty much running on your own.

Do you think Rupp would run 2:06 going out in 13:48 as the leaders did in London? They ran over a minute slower over the first 5k in Prague. The point is, Rupp has never run a marathon where the leaders went out very fast the first half of the race. He has only run tactical or sensibly-paced races like Prague. We'll never know how he does in that kind of race until he does one.

It may come as a shock to you, but in continental Europe people are not as British/American oriented as you are. All you have to do is look at the composition of the London/Berlin fields to know that organizers go after the fastest runners. The elite fields are nearly all Kenyans/Ethiopians. Whether famous or not, it doesn't matter. As of now Galen Rupp and Mo Farah have the 14th and 16th fastest marathon times for 2018, more than 2 minutes slower than the fastest time this year.

http://www.aims-worldrunning.org/statistics.html

2:09:20, which was Rupp's PR before London this year, is not that impressive. That time would place him way, way down on this year's list.

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Les wrote:

2:09:20, which was Rupp's PR before London this year, is not that impressive. That time would place him way, way down on this year's list.

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you have it completely opposite. WRs on the road are absolute junk and meaningless. It likes comparing cross country times. All that matters in marathon is place, and the higher the place the better.