Fauble, Hall, Huddle, Sisson, Ward - what happened?

I don’t think Fauble had a terrible race-2:12 on a tough course; I’m sure he’s disappointed - the rest: just not their day. I’ve come to the conclusion Huddle needs to stay on the track

There were people that thought Lagat and Derrick and Austin Brogan had a chance.

Basically everybody who was a "sure thing" today went home devastated, except, guess who, Galen MF Rupp. His sub-2:10 today on this mountainous course may in fact be his "best" marathon to date.

Ward and one of his training partners, Connor McMillan, ran exactly the same mile splits throughout the race according to USATF results. They finished 26th and 27th in 2:15:55. I'm guessing Ward knew early it wasn't going t be his day and decided to just stay with the recent BYU graduate and try to stay up with him or help him out.

I think rupp is definitely in sub2:05 shape on a flat course

Yeah, at mile 15 it was obvious Rupp was going to take it. He toyed around and finally put them away at 20. I was the one person glad to see it. That guy came back from injury and the media stuff surrounding AlSal and Oregon Project. He's clearly the best distance runner in the USA.

Like others I was really surprised at how poorly the favorites performed. It's not like the weather was bad, or the course was unknown or there was some big unexpected break away early on.. everyone just fell off. Pretty disappointing given the new depth the US has in the distances these days.

NotPC wrote:

Yeah, at mile 15 it was obvious Rupp was going to take it. He toyed around and finally put them away at 20. I was the one person glad to see it. That guy came back from injury and the media stuff surrounding AlSal and Oregon Project. He's clearly the best distance runner in the USA.

Like others I was really surprised at how poorly the favorites performed. It's not like the weather was bad, or the course was unknown or there was some big unexpected break away early on.. everyone just fell off. Pretty disappointing given the new depth the US has in the distances these days.

SOmeone posted an interview earlier today with Rupp. It was 25 minutes long. He says in a nutshell that reason he thinks he is the best is because he has the best work ethic and discipline, and I believe it. There is no social media, no nothing from him but getting out there and getting it done for more than 12 years now. Aside from Lagat, who had the fastest mile PR? 3k? 5k? Rupp. Who has the fastest 10k PR? Half PR? Marathon PR? Rupp.

I still believe that he is true and clean. He works harder and does exactly what his coaches say. Extreme "Kipchoge" like discipline, only in the USA and not in the middle of nowhere Kenya.

This.

This is one of the problems of track and field. To have fan favorites mia & not in the picture for a once in 4 year olympics.

I know the marathon is weird like that and I still love them but the fan in me is disappointed.

master plan wrote:

Oh Please wrote:

SOmeone posted an interview earlier today with Rupp. It was 25 minutes long. He says in a nutshell that reason he thinks he is the best is because he has the best work ethic and discipline, and I believe it. There is no social media, no nothing from him but getting out there and getting it done for more than 12 years now. Aside from Lagat, who had the fastest mile PR? 3k? 5k? Rupp. Who has the fastest 10k PR? Half PR? Marathon PR? Rupp.

I still believe that he is true and clean. He works harder and does exactly what his coaches say. Extreme "Kipchoge" like discipline, only in the USA and not in the middle of nowhere Kenya.

This.

During the broadcast they said he trains alone and on the treadmill (for this race at least). That's some mental toughness right there.

I think it's safe to say he made a statement. He's now been separated from NOP and AlSal for like 5 or 6 months, and is just by himself being coached over Skype/FaceTime by the NAU guy...

If he were doing something before (even the grey-area stuff), he's likely not anymore. Too much scrutiny, too few back-channels, etc.

Granted, the 'benefits' from prior use of certain substances last a lifetime (see Justin Gatlin). But in distance running, the 'good stuff' is meant for use on race day (EPO). So to put on a clinic like today means that he probably is actually the real deal.

I'm not a huge fan of his, but his stock price just went way up in my mind with this performance.

NotPC wrote:

SOmeone posted an interview earlier today with Rupp. It was 25 minutes long.

25 mins?? Let me guess- NBC showed it the last 5 miles??

The 10,000m trials are going to be highly competitive.

Rupp was outstanding.

Hasay had a hitch in her gait.

Sidel looked great.

The marathon is a biatch?

NotPC wrote:

Yeah, at mile 15 it was obvious Rupp was going to take it. He toyed around and finally put them away at 20. I was the one person glad to see it. That guy came back from injury and the media stuff surrounding AlSal and Oregon Project. He's clearly the best distance runner in the USA.

Like others I was really surprised at how poorly the favorites performed. It's not like the weather was bad, or the course was unknown or there was some big unexpected break away early on.. everyone just fell off. Pretty disappointing given the new depth the US has in the distances these days.

It was windy. Also, the course had never been run on. Knowing the profile and having run on it are 2 different things.

Osako fan wrote:

I think rupp is definitely in sub2:05 shape on a flat course

While I don’t disagree with this statement, what does it say about Riley and Abdi? They outkicked 2:07 man Korir. Does that mean they’re in 2:06-2:07 shape?

In the LRC pre-race interview Riley said he was training to get in 2:10 shape on this course. It sounded like hyperbole at the time but he ran 2:10 low. But maybe it’s the shoes...

This was not a regular marathon course, it was EXTREMELY hilly. If you don't train every week multiple times on hills, you are at a massive disadvantage, also if you have the wrong body type for hills (being tall, like 185+ for men or 170+ for women, not the case for mentioned runners tho).

Molly Seidel posted her whole training log on Strava - she acquired a significant amount of elevation during the last 12 months. I run on hills and mountains every day, and she only has 10-20% less elevation gain per mile than I have - which shows that her training was always in hilly areas, and especially once she got notified about Atlanta's course she did even more hills.

She also did a lot of hill sprints in workouts each week. Her training is similar to Tinman/Lydiard - lots of mileage, lots of hill running, hill sprints, no hard intervals, a lot of work around threshold and strong tempos/long runs.

The Kenyan-born runners obviously are also used to train on hills, especially the one who still trains in Kenya.

Would Seidel have made the team on a flat course? Likely no, but that's the beauty of marathon running - you can't predict the outcome like in a track race, were conditions are always the same and the outcome is much more predictable. Was it smart to run a hilly marathon when the Olympic one will be totally different? Probably not, but it doesn't really matter, no one expects a US runner to get top 3 in Olympics anyway.

master plan wrote:

Oh Please wrote:

SOmeone posted an interview earlier today with Rupp. It was 25 minutes long. He says in a nutshell that reason he thinks he is the best is because he has the best work ethic and discipline, and I believe it. There is no social media, no nothing from him but getting out there and getting it done for more than 12 years now. Aside from Lagat, who had the fastest mile PR? 3k? 5k? Rupp. Who has the fastest 10k PR? Half PR? Marathon PR? Rupp.

I still believe that he is true and clean. He works harder and does exactly what his coaches say. Extreme "Kipchoge" like discipline, only in the USA and not in the middle of nowhere Kenya.

This.

This. 1000x this. Rupp is the best the US has ever produced, completely on par with the greats from Kenya and Ethiopia because of his unrelenting dedication. It is truly an amazing thing to get to watch year in and year out.

I saw Huddle limping back a mile at marker 17. Ward has too much class to drop out but he gave a heart sign to the crowd at mile 21 and dropped about 10 places from there to the end so I think he just cruised in .