Ryan

2014 London Marathon elite men’s field announced

/ News/Elites / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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Here’s the field. Comments below.

Wilson Kipsang (KEN), 2:03:23, World-record holder

Emmanuel Mutai (KEN), 2:03:52, London Marathon record holder

Geoffrey Mutai (KEN), 2:04:15, 2013 New York City Marathon champion

Ayele Abshero (ETH), 2:04:23, 2012 Dubai Marathon champion

Feyisa Lilesa (ETH), 2:04:32, 2011 world bronze medallist

Tsegaye Kebede (ETH), 2:04:38, 2013 London Marathon champion

Stanley Biwott (KEN), 2:05:12, 2012 Paris Marathon champion

Marilson dos Santos (BRA), 2:06:34, Two-times New York City Marathon champion

Martin Mathathi (KEN), 2:07:16, 2013 Fukuoka Marathon champion

Stephen Kiprotich (UGA), 2:07:20, World and Olympic marathon champion

Samuel Tsegay (ERI), 2:07:28

Mustapha El Aziz (MAR), 2:07:55

Amanuel Mesel (ERI), 2:08:17

Scott Overall (GBR), 2:10:55

Ryan Vail (USA), 2:11:45

Mo Farah (GBR), Debut, World & Olympic 5000m & 10,000m champion

Ibrahim Jeilan (ETH), Debut, 2011 World 10,000m champion

Chris Thompson (GBR), Debut

Ben Livesey (GBR), Debut

Wow. That’s about all I can say. This is a loaded field. With the usual stipulations that this race is still 3 months out and the field will change before that time, right now, this looks like an amazing field. You have the world record holder, several major marathon champions, two Olympic champions, course record holders galore. Then, of course, you have the hometown hero. Assuming this field keeps its general form, this could be a great race.

Of course, this also makes me feel even more strongly that Kenenisa Bekele was wise to not run London as his debut. Look at this field and tell me where you think he’d finish. Again, assuming this field remains intact and remembering that this would be his debut marathon, I have trouble seeing a route to the top 5 for him in this kind of race. I would have pegged him around 7th or 8th in this field at best.

Bekele to run his marathon debut in Paris, not London

/ News/Elites / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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Debut marathon coming this spring in Paris

For those of you who don’t follow the HillRunner.com Twitter feed and may not have heard elsewhere, Kenenisa Bekele will run his debut marathon this spring in Paris. Previously, there was talk of him debuting in London, where Mo Farah will be debuting this spring.

Some people are questioning this choice. Why would such an accomplished runner, one of the best long distance runners on the track of all time and the current world record holder in the 5000 and 10,000, choose to debut at anything but one of the biggest marathons in the world? Why would he choose a second-tier (or third-tier?) marathon instead?

Personally, I think this is a good choice for him. Given his history, what would it take for his debut to not be considered a disappointment? The London field is always loaded and high profile debut marathoners rarely live up to the hype in their first efforts. In addition, with Mo Farah already essentially in for London, Bekele wouldn’t even be the highest profile debut marathoner as the hometown hero reigning Olympic champion would steal his thunder. By choosing Paris, he goes into a race with a much more manageable field as, by far, the highest profile debutante in the race. He can garner the full attention for his debut, get his feet wet without facing off against one of the best fields in the world and learn what it’s like to race the distance. Then, when he feels he’s ready to face off against the best in the world with some marathon experience behind him, he can go to London, Berlin, New York or whatever his choice might be.

What are your thoughts? Is this a good decision for him or should he jump in the deep end right away?

2014 at HillRunner.com

/ HillRunner.com Admin / 4 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I’ll get back into blogging about running soon. First, I wanted to look forward into 2014 to share what I envision happing at HillRunner.com and request input on what you might like to see. A quick note, I’m not going to get into what I plan to blog about or what I plan to do within the coaching sphere. This is simply about what is going to be done to the site itself.

Blogs

Obviously, the big addition in 2013 was the blogs. I feel the blogs in their current state are functional and useful but there are several things I think would make them more convenient. What I view as the highest priority items:

  • More "robust" profile pages: Our current profile pages are functional but simple. I’d like to expand on what we have to make these profile pages more suitable entry pages for your own personal blog. I’d like these to be links you can share on your social networks or to friends in other ways and proudly proclaim "This is my blog!" I have some ideas of what can be done for this but I’m also open to ideas if anyone has some.
  • Date navigation/search functionality: Whether the blogs as a whole or your own personal blog, things are growing. As such, I need to develop a better way to organize the posts that already exist and make it easier for all of us to find what we’re looking for.
  • Several smaller improvements: From the ability to schedule a post to tying your profile to social networks, I have a lot of things in mind.

Training Log

As other things kept coming up, the training log has gotten shortchanged. I want to make sure it gets at least some attention in 2014. I have a couple things in mind:

  • Modify Workout functionality: This has been "pending" for way too long. It’s time for me to bite the bullet and just get it done. Of my to do list that will likely be impossible to fully complete this year, this is the one that I’ll say if I don’t get it done by the end of 2014, call me on it and demand I get it done.
  • More ways to view your log: I have a lot of ideas for anything from finally implementing a monthly view to all kinds of cool analytics that could be done with the data you’re entering.

HillRunner.com in general

I have several things I’d like to to for the site in general, including:

  • Making the site more mobile friendly: I played around with the News section with dynamic coding to create mobile friendly pages. I’m not a big fan. I’m now looking into creating one standard interface that will adjust on the fly to be mobile friendly. You may have noticed some styling changes over time. Most were made to be more mobile friendly but I think also make the site less cluttered and more readable in general. This will continue. In addition, there may be some bigger changes coming.
  • Streamlining the site: You may have noticed some sections (Calendar, Links) getting phased out. Or maybe you haven’t because you weren’t using them. These sections just didn’t make sense. They got virtually no traffic and were more work to maintain than they were worth. I’m going to continue evaluating every portion of the site and either working to improve it to make it more valuable or phasing it out.

As you can see, I have a lot of things in mind. Not all of them will get done in 2014. This isn’t a full time job for me and I have to balance coding with blogging and coaching. That said, I’m going to have this to do list in front of me and I’m going to get some of these things done.

So what do you think? How would you prioritize the ideas above? Anything I didn’t list that you think should be listed? As always, I want to give you what you want so input is greatly appreciated.

2013 in Review

/ Miscellaneous / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ed at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

At first glance 2013 was a failure for me. I wanted to run 2,013 miles and only ran 1,443 miles. I wanted to run sub 30 at Al’s Run and I ran it in 31:54. I wanted to be running races at a 6:00 minute per mile pace but I am not there.

However, upon closer inspection 2013 was a good year for me. I ran 311 miles further than last year which is more miles in a year than any other year in my life. I had several great races even taking home some age group hardware. I was faster at Al’s Run yet again this year making that four years in a row with a sizable improvement. I joined a gym so that I can run when the temps drop to the point that I would have skipped a run – I actually run. I am down nearly ten pounds and very close to an ideal racing weight. I am in much better condition at this point versus last year at this point.

I have set my goals extremely high considering I never ran for high school or college and I am closing in on them with a fierce passion.

Lastly, I have a great coach. His passion for running is an inspiration. His ability to understand a runner’s strengths and weaknesses very quickly allow him to set the runner up for success. He gives the runners all they need to become successful and meet or exceed their goals as long as they put in the required work.

Thank you Ryan for being that coach!

2013: HillRunner.com Blogs Review

/ HillRunner.com Admin / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I know everyone does this and it can get old but there’s a reason everyone does this. It’s always interesting to reflect at the end of the year on what happened. What most grabbed your interest and what most had you commenting?

Most viewed posts in 2013:

You DO deserve a coach!

Man who killed Henry Dennis while driving drunk gets 90 days jail

29% of surveyed athletes at 2011 World Championships admitted to doping

Big news morning in the US

The 2:00 marathon barrier

From a broad perspective, it’s interesting to see the topics that garnered the most attention. Unfortunately, more bad news stories than I’d prefer to see but also some analysis I thought would be interesting is in there and a post I made based on some personal experiences topped the list.

Most commented on posts in 2013:

Starting a running blog

Thoughts on GPS watches after 6 months with one

Doping with thyroid medication?

Man who killed Henry Dennis while driving drunk gets 90 days jail

We will overcome

This is interesting to see the topics that spurred the most interaction. Again, more bad news than I’d care to see but that’s not totally surprising. Also some analysis on a hot button issue and, leading the way, Charlene’s introduction of her own blog.

It’s been a fascinating first year at the HillRunner.com Blogs. I plan to continue posting about the diverse topics you see above in 2014 and I hope to see some of you posting your own thoughts. Looking forward to 2014!

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