News/Elites

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

The US Olympic Trials for the marathon is this Saturday in Los Angeles. The races will be broadcast live starting at 1pm Eastern on NBC or you can check NBC Live Extra for online viewing.

Below is a bit about some of the favorites in each race, as well as a list of others who I think will run well and be in position if some of the favorites don’t come through.

The women’s race is, in my opinion, the one with more drama. There are several contenders for the top 3 spots and just enough questions about most of them to be pretty unsure about what will happen.

Note: It was announced yesterday that Deena Kastor is out with an injury. I originally had her among the favorites listed. Sadly, I had to remove her before this got published.

Desi Linden

Linden is out for redemption. After qualifying to the 2012 Olympic marathon, she got injured and couldn’t finish in London.

Her most well known race would have to be the 2011 Boston Marathon, when she was leading very late in the race and took both herself and Caroline Kilel to the very limit before Kilel edged her out for the win. She returned to near form in the 2015 Boston Marathon, where she ran with authority and didn’t give in on her way to finishing 4th. It looks like she’s ready for redemption and might be able to put some pressure on Flanagan.

She’s healthy this time and, outside of Flanagan, clearly a cut above the rest. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins.

Shalane Flanagan

Bottom line, Flanagan is the class of the field. Her version of an off day is still good enough to finish in the top three, if not win the race. However, she may not be at top form.

Flanagan has a long list of credentials. Olympic bronze in the 10,000. World Cross Country bronze. 18 US Championships. 6 American records. Just to name a few.

The one red flag on Flanagan is that she apparently has had some injury issues in her buildup to the Olympic Trials that have hampered her training. I still would be surprised if she isn’t fit enough to finish in the top 3. What would surprise me less is if those injury issues aren’t completely resolved and strike on race day.

Amy Cragg

Fourth place at the Olympic Trials is a tough place to be. Cragg (Hastings at the time) was that runner in 2012. She knows the top contenders well, being a college teammate of Linden’s and current training partner of Flanagan’s.

She has one of the faster qualifying times and has to be mentioned among the favorites given her history.

Kara Goucher

She has the credentials. Not quite as spectacular but similar career credentials to Flanagan. However, she seems to have been on a downward slide recently. Her coach says she’s ready. How ready? If she’s living up to her credentials, she would seem to be a pretty sure thing. If recent history is a guide, though, she’d be a well known dark horse.

Others to watch

While there are more "favorites" than on the men’s side, most of them have weaknesses or question marks. Don’t count out runners like Annie Bersagel, Sara Hall, Becky Wade, or (for my fellow Wisconsinites) Lauren Kleppin (originally from Milwaukee) or Kellyn Taylor (originally from Sussex).

The men’s field has changed significantly due to recent announcements. From a somewhat surprising late entry (Galen Rupp) to two late withdrawls (Ryan Hall and Matt Tegenkamp), this field looks quite a bit different than we were expecting a month ago. Regardless, this is a field that looks pretty top heavy, with the top three on paper at least separating themselves from the rest.

Note: I originally had Ryan Vail listed as one of the other contenders. Sadly, it was announced yesterday that he is out with injury so I removed him from that list.

Meb Keflezighi

Who doesn’t know Meb? 2004 Olympic silver medalist. 2009 New York City Marathon champion. 2014 Boston Marathon champion. Especially with Ryan Hall out (and I’d argue even if Ryan Hall was in) the most credentialed marathoner in the field. We’ve been saying for years that he has to slow down at some point but he keeps surprising whenever you want to count him out.

Meb is aging but name three runners who you expect to beat him. Unless he has a bad day, which does happen with him at times, I don’t see him finishing outside the top 3. His greatest accomplishments come in slower, more tactical races. Saturday’s race will be just that. He has the proven experience and tactical intelligence. Nothing is a sure thing in the marathon but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t make the top 3.

Galen Rupp

Rupp announced he’s in just two weeks ago but his entry shakes things up quite a bit. While some suspect he still won’t run, I expect him to at least line up. He may not finish, especially if he finds himself outside the reach of a top 3 finish, but I expect him to give it a shot.

Rupp has the credentials at shorter events. He has the speed. His performances at the 10,000 on the track and the half marathon suggest he is capable of big things in the marathon. However, he’s never run one before. Who knows how he will respond to the distance? He’s the wild card of the event. I don’t expect him to lead early. However, if he can hang with the leaders to the late miles, it will be interesting to see if he can use his track speed or if the distance took that speed out of his legs. Given the fact that he won’t be going out at a suicidal pace like his teammate Mo Farah in his debut, I think he will hold on and have enough in his legs to at least finish well.

Dathan Ritzenhein

Ritz is the last "surviving" member of that great trio of high school phenoms from the early 2000s. Alan Webb became a middle distance runner and retired a while ago. Ryan Hall went straight to the marathon after college and just recently retired. Ritz took the middle road and is still a contender. He now has the fastest PR in the field, though that PR is now almost 3.5 years old. When he’s healthy, he’s very dangerous. From what I’ve heard, he’s healthy.

Ritz doesn’t quite have the big name of Meb and Rupp but, if he is healthy, I’d actually pick him as the most sure bet to make the team.

Others to watch

While I think these three are a step above the rest, there are other contenders. Don’t forget to watch for guys like Luke Puskedra, Bobby Curtis, Matt Llano, and Nick Arciniaga to name a handful of contenders.

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

Alberto Salazar

By now, I’m sure anyone reading this post knows about the story. At first, I didn’t want to write about it. As the story goes on, though, I think it’s important enough to the sport that I should write about it. Not because I’ll write a better piece than the many great authors who have written on this but because I want to offer a place for you to find some of the best links and expand with my thoughts.

The breaking news

First, the original pieces: David Epstein’s article on ProPublica and the BBC article (which includes a couple short video clips and a link to the BBC documentary).

Response

There has, obviously, been a lot of response to these accusations. Obviously, that response cuts both ways. I’d like to comment on a few things I’ve seen in the commentary.

First, as of now, these are accusations. The accusations are very strong and seem to be growing over time. However, there is no smoking gun yet. While things don’t look good, I’d like to hold off a little longer to pass judgement, especially on those who are only tangentially related to the story (such as Mo Farah, Shannon Rowbury, Matt Centrowitz and other current and former members whose names have not come up in reports we have seen so far). Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire but I’d prefer to let this story play out before saying even Galen Rupp, the primary figure in the story outside of Salazar, is dirty, much less athletes who haven’t even been named. I’m not saying they are obviously clean but let’s let the story play out and the evidence come to light before jumping to conclusions. The story is out now, we will learn more.

Second, can we please put an end to the "never tested positive" line of defense? I’ve seen this come up several times since the story broke. Rupp never tested positive, even though he was tested so many times over so many years. You know who else never tested positive? Lance Armstrong. Marion Jones. And they both used that line of defense, very vociferously, even though we now know both were doped to the gills while passing tests. Plus a big part of the accusations specifically involves attempts to avoid positive tests while still using banned or regulated substances. "Never tested positive" may mean you’re clean or it may mean you know how to dope while avoiding a positive test. As much as I wish it was, it simply is not in the current world incontrovertible proof of innocence.

Third, some people are claiming that Steve Magness and the Gouchers specifically, as well as others, are lying either to benefit themselves or because they have some kind of vendetta against the Oregon Project or Salazar specifically. Let’s be real. Magness and the Gouchers have nothing to gain by making these reports and a lot to lose. They aren’t doing this for personal benefit. Getting on the wrong side of Salazar and Nike is not something you do just because you’re peeved at someone or to further your career within the world of distance running. Remember last year’s USA Indoors? Salazar seemed to have the power to convince USATF officials to "bend" the rules in order to disqualify athletes he (in my opinion wrongfully) felt wronged his athletes.

As for the responses directly from Salazar, Rupp and others beyond the "never tested positive" and "vendetta" claims that I mentioned above, we have the usual denials. The denials are expected. If innocent, what would you expect? At the same time, if guilty, do you think they are going to throw up their arms and admit it that easily? One thing that did bother me is that Salazar seemed to call David Epstein’s reporting credentials into question by calling him a "reporter" (with quotes). Epstein is an excellent reporter and attacking the messenger instead of addressing the message itself does not look good. That’s a strategy often used by those who have no good way to address the message because they are guilty.

Salazar’s history

Salazar has always seemed an outsized individual and one who has always stated that he’d do anything to win. Given prior statements, the idea that he may play in the gray area of doping rules doesn’t seem far fetched. In fact, the idea that he might flat out break the rules if he thinks he can get away with doing so doesn’t seem outrageous.

The most obvious and probably well known prior statement:

The above is a screenshot highlighting a few key lines I thought of as reading these accusations, from a 1999 paper by Salazar himself (pdf).

Further coverage

As would be expected in a story like this, it didn’t end with the ProPublica and BBC coverage. There has been quite a bit of follow-up.

First, Competitor.com interviewed Epstein.

One of a few interesting things to come out of this interview: Mo Farah received letters about this reporting and apparently responded to those letters. This doesn’t look good for him, as he tried to act this weekend like he was caught by surprise with this report. He knew ahead of time, he was not caught by surprise at the same time the rest of us were. It also doesn’t look good that Salazar appeared to address what he wanted to address while not addressing other questions.

Next, a former Oregon Project coach is not surprised by the allegations. Apparently not because he knows of something from the inside but because he knows Salazar will do anything to get better. As he states, "there’s no stone left unturned. If there’s a way to get better, it’s done." He also raises some very valid points about the inefficacy of testing.

Not so much breaking news but Ross Tucker at Science of Sport had a good post this weekend about the no good week for doping (this isn’t the only doping story for the week). In it, he mentioned the curiosity of Mo Farah acting like he was blindsided when he couldn’t have been (see above). He also mentions some other good topics that are at least tangentially related.

Finally, Salazar says he plans to "document and present the facts" as quickly as he can to "show the accusers are knowingly making false statements."

Let’s see what his side of the story is because the side we’re seeing right now paints a very ugly picture. I’m still a little hesitant, though, because he could have responded to the ProPublica and BBC queries with "I will have a response but I need some time to document and present the facts" and BBC policies specifically would have allowed him at least some amount of time to do so before running the story.

The story continues

I’m beginning to write this on Monday and finalizing on Wednesday. Obviously, with a very rapidly moving story, it’s possible that, simply between Wednesday evening when I finalize and schedule this post and Thursday morning when it appears, there will be new developments in this story. I’ll try to keep this post updated in the comments. Stay tuned. I’m sure there is much more to come. I’ll probably try to avoid writing another whole post on this and just update in the comments but we’ll have to see where this story goes and whether a whole new post may be needed if developments warrant.

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

Coach Conway – inspiration, role model, mentor – working the finish line, one of the many jobs a high school coach fills

A personal post this week. As anyone who knows me as a runner knows, my middle school track and high school cross country coach has been a huge influence on my life. To be honest, he has been inside and outside of running.

To explain what Coach Conway has meant to me would take far more words than anyone wants to read in a blog post. To try to keep it short, I highly doubt I would have found my way to distance running without him and it’s no secret how big a part of my life running is. He has done much more for me, though. He taught me to be confident in myself, to be proud of what I’ve accomplished while remaining humble. He’s been an amazing role model on many levels, from the way he freely shares his incredible wealth of knowledge to his work ethic and desire to excel personally as well as be as helpful to as many others as possible.

Coach Conway’s accomplishments have rightfully garnered him many honors. As an athlete, he’s a member of the Indianhead Track Club Hall of Fame and the USATF Masters Hall of Fame (class of 2007). As a coach, he’s a member of the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame (class of 1998). I had the extreme honor of being his invited guest to the induction ceremony for the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. I couldn’t have been more proud to sit there next to him as he was granted that honor, not just for coaching state champion athletes but also for coaching runners like me to be the best runners – and people – we can be.

Well, I just found out that Coach Conway is being inducted into another hall of fame. While he would likely never admit it, a lot of people who know him would agree with me that he can’t win enough of these honors. He deserves all he gets and many more.

Since hearing this news, I’ve been thinking about Coach Conway a lot again. How much he means to me and my life but also how many others out there have had their lives forever shaped in wonderful ways by his guidance. Coach Conway is the reason I started HillRunner.com, the reason I decided to take up coaching and the reason I do everything here. He gave me so much, in so many ways, through running that I wanted to do something to give a little back. I wanted to pay it forward in any way I could. If I can help even one person even half as much as he has helped me, I know I’ll have made this world a better place.

In the meantime, congratulations to Coach Conway! I couldn’t ask for a better inspiration, role model and mentor.

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

I will always remember both the ferociously competitive spirit and the huge smile

In case you haven’t already heard, the great Haile Gebrselassie has officially retired from competitive running. He says he will keep running and will remain involved in the sport but he is done competing.

As many runners of similar age, I grew up as a fan of running watching and cheering for Geb. Actually, I was split between Geb and Paul Tergat, his chief rival through most of the 1990s on the track and into the 2000s, first on the track and then in the marathon. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a better two person rivalry in distance running history. Geb always seemed to have the upper hand but Tergat was always there From trading world records to the legendary 2000 Olympic 10,000 meter finish, they were always neck and neck.

Beyond the amazing competitions and times posted by Geb, though, I will also always remember that broad smile you can see in the image above. He always seemed to be friendly with everyone and truly love what he was doing. His enthusiasm for running and for the spirit of competition was amazing.

For all that you have done for the sport and for the great inspiration you have been for so many, thank you Geb. You are a true living legend.