Many people in this country closely follow the sports scene. But, not many care about marathon racing. The Boston Marathon is considered to be one of the worlds "majors" when it comes to this sport and a win here would set a person on a path many only dream of. Even non-runners have heard about this race. This is where Ryan comes in. Ryan's goal for Boston was to embark on that visionary path.
Ryan is already an extremely accomplished athlete. He has been to the Olympics and he holds the American half marathon record at 59 minutes and 43 seconds. For those unfamiliar with the distance, a half marathon is just over 13 miles and Ryan's pace means he ran all 13 of those miles around 4:30 per mile. Go out and run one mile as fast as you can and see how fast you did it and take note of how you felt afterwords.
Boston would not be Ryan's first marathon. In fact, he ran it last year when he finished 3rd. This year Ryan wanted to change that. His preparations had taken him to Boston weeks in advance in order to train on the course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWagmQHB0Uw&feature=related
Boston is not traditionally one of the faster marathons in the world. While others such as Berlin, Chicago, or London have world records set on them regularly, Boston is content with what is known to be a touch course for racers. Typically Boston is won in times ranging from 3 to 4 minutes slower than the world record, but is won by individuals who, on a faster course, would have a shot at the world record. Before Boston, Ryan felt that he was ready to run a pace that would win the race.
There has recently been some criticism of Ryan and how he raced. He has had such success up to this point that if he does anything but win then people are angry with his performance. This years Boston Marathon happened to be just such a situation. Ryan ended up running even to negative splits for much of the race. This allowed him to take 4th place over all. After this run many were upset that Ryan had not tried to cover a move that happened early in the race. Around the 15 mile mark the eventual winner of the race put in a surge that Ryan felt was too much too soon. While Ryan held to his planned pace, others went with the leader. As a result, Ryan was running alone for much of the race, but eventually caught many of the runners who went with the early move. That move proved to be too much for many of the racers and they were all cracking under the suicidal pace. All, but Ryan.
Many pointed the finger at Ryan saying that he did not race and I do not understand this at all. To me, he ran a very smart race. He ran within himself and as a result he posted the FASTEST time that an American had ever run at Boston. The eventual winner of the race broke the course record by nearly 2 minutes and Ryan's time was fast enough that it would have won the race nearly every other year. This year was a fluke. There was a freak of nature in the race and no one saw him for what he was except Ryan. He knew he did not have that sort of training in and so he held back and ran an amazing time in its own right. The crazy thing is that if Ryan had won the race with the same strategy, if the winner had cracked like all the others and Ryan had caught him and beat him, then the critics would be saying how great Ryan is. Same time, same strategy, only difference is the win. They would be saying that he was a genius and he would be heralded as the greatest American marathoner of all time. Instead, because he didn't win, his strategy was flawed.
Ryan will win in Boston in the future and he is still the best marathoner that America has ever had. Good luck at the Olympics Ryan, the sport needs more class acts like you.
Ryan is already an extremely accomplished athlete. He has been to the Olympics and he holds the American half marathon record at 59 minutes and 43 seconds. For those unfamiliar with the distance, a half marathon is just over 13 miles and Ryan's pace means he ran all 13 of those miles around 4:30 per mile. Go out and run one mile as fast as you can and see how fast you did it and take note of how you felt afterwords.
Boston would not be Ryan's first marathon. In fact, he ran it last year when he finished 3rd. This year Ryan wanted to change that. His preparations had taken him to Boston weeks in advance in order to train on the course. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWagmQHB0Uw&feature=related
Boston is not traditionally one of the faster marathons in the world. While others such as Berlin, Chicago, or London have world records set on them regularly, Boston is content with what is known to be a touch course for racers. Typically Boston is won in times ranging from 3 to 4 minutes slower than the world record, but is won by individuals who, on a faster course, would have a shot at the world record. Before Boston, Ryan felt that he was ready to run a pace that would win the race.
There has recently been some criticism of Ryan and how he raced. He has had such success up to this point that if he does anything but win then people are angry with his performance. This years Boston Marathon happened to be just such a situation. Ryan ended up running even to negative splits for much of the race. This allowed him to take 4th place over all. After this run many were upset that Ryan had not tried to cover a move that happened early in the race. Around the 15 mile mark the eventual winner of the race put in a surge that Ryan felt was too much too soon. While Ryan held to his planned pace, others went with the leader. As a result, Ryan was running alone for much of the race, but eventually caught many of the runners who went with the early move. That move proved to be too much for many of the racers and they were all cracking under the suicidal pace. All, but Ryan.
Many pointed the finger at Ryan saying that he did not race and I do not understand this at all. To me, he ran a very smart race. He ran within himself and as a result he posted the FASTEST time that an American had ever run at Boston. The eventual winner of the race broke the course record by nearly 2 minutes and Ryan's time was fast enough that it would have won the race nearly every other year. This year was a fluke. There was a freak of nature in the race and no one saw him for what he was except Ryan. He knew he did not have that sort of training in and so he held back and ran an amazing time in its own right. The crazy thing is that if Ryan had won the race with the same strategy, if the winner had cracked like all the others and Ryan had caught him and beat him, then the critics would be saying how great Ryan is. Same time, same strategy, only difference is the win. They would be saying that he was a genius and he would be heralded as the greatest American marathoner of all time. Instead, because he didn't win, his strategy was flawed.
Ryan will win in Boston in the future and he is still the best marathoner that America has ever had. Good luck at the Olympics Ryan, the sport needs more class acts like you.
No comments:
Post a Comment