A fast and smart outsider could have won the Marathon today, it was clear before that no one is going to run 2:07-08 on such a difficult course and some degrees too much.
Sell of the US and Robinson of the UK ran their own races from the start and placed very high considering their PBs.
The lead-pack ran the second 5k in 15:01.
I know that its a championschip marathon but that not even 2-3 of the top guys can control themselfs, run smart and then pass anyone in the end is just beyond me.
marathoncomments wrote:
A fast and smart outsider could have won the Marathon today, it was clear before that no one is going to run 2:07-08 on such a difficult course and some degrees too much.
Sell of the US and Robinson of the UK ran their own races from the start and placed very high considering their PBs.
The lead-pack ran the second 5k in 15:01.
I know that its a championschip marathon but that not even 2-3 of the top guys can control themselfs, run smart and then pass anyone in the end is just beyond me.
It is called a race. If you want to win you have to stay in it from the beginning. The Hanson team ran well but the comform behing stragety wasn't going to get you on the podium.
splits:
15:19-15:03-15:11-15:26-15:33-15:13-15:15-15:57-7:13
Jnathletics wrote:
It is called a race. If you want to win you have to stay in it from the beginning.
Have you ever seen a marathon before?
2nd and 3rd place finisher didn't go with Gharib and picked up those who tried one after another.
Even or slight negative splitting is necessary to max out yourself.
How about the U.S. 4th?! If a couple guys ran closer to their PB's we could have won. Great race Brian Sell!
runn wrote:
How about the U.S. 4th?! If a couple guys ran closer to their PB's we could have won. Great race Brian Sell!
4th of 8. They can't help how many teams actually treat this as a team competition, but it does give some perspective. Congrats to the U.S. guys and a tough run from Sell. WAY TO PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL BRIAN!
CAROL LEWIS wrote:
4th of 8. They can't help how many teams actually treat this as a team competition, but it does give some perspective. Congrats to the U.S. guys and a tough run from Sell. WAY TO PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL BRIAN!
That's like saying the Red Sox only beat the 8 teams that made the playoffs. There were a lot of other teams that had too many DNFs to score (So. Africa the most notable - 5 out of 5 DNFs - watch for them to show up at some fall $$$ marathons)
JimG wrote:
That's like saying the Red Sox only beat the 8 teams that made the playoffs. There were a lot of other teams that had too many DNFs to score (So. Africa the most notable - 5 out of 5 DNFs - watch for them to show up at some fall $$$ marathons)
Point taken, but actually that was my point as well. If those countries took the team thing seriously, many would have had more of their top athletes in the race and would not have dropped out to save themselves for the fall $. But as I said, it is not our boys concern who dropped, didn't enter etc. 4th is 4th. I was just trying to be realistic in the significance. HE IS A LANKEY RUNNER WHO WILL BE BETTER AT RUNNING DOWNHILL!
I think Sell and Verran deserve much kudos not only for running fast but even more for running smart, 2:13 is hardly world-class marathoning but if you stick to your plan and keep a cool head you can make big steps at then end of a marathon.I think Sell could have placed even higher top-5 or so if he had run even more conservative, 65-68min is also far from ideal pacing, i think a minute slower at the half and an even paced 2:12 was possible.