{"id":788,"date":"2012-01-14T16:10:17","date_gmt":"2012-01-15T00:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=788"},"modified":"2012-01-14T16:10:18","modified_gmt":"2012-01-15T00:10:18","slug":"flanagan-kefelzighi-lead-way-to-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=788","title":{"rendered":"Flanagan & Kefelzighi Lead Way to London"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. began the first stages of putting together the Olympic squad for London today with the running of the Marathon Trials. If the results in Houston are any indication of the overall team we\u2019ll be sending to London, then we\u2019re going to be loaded by the end of June, because the marathoner\u2019s came through in awesome fashion! <\/p>\n

The goal at the Trials is to make the team, but the men and women in the lead packs in both races were clearly out to win and run fast \u2013 and that bodes well for their ability to compete in London. <\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s race Ryan Hall lead for most of the race running at a 2:07 pace \u2013 unheard of in an American only race! Yet he was never alone as Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman, and Dathan Ritzenhein went toe to toe as a group through 19 miles \u2013 and even then it was only Ritzenhein that fell off the pace. Things slowed a bit after the 20 mile mark as they headed home in the final 10K, but all four finished well enough that we had FOUR men finish in 2:09 \u2013 again unheard of in an American only race. Abdirahman labored a bit over the final 10K leaving Hall and Keflelzighi to duke it out, and though Hall came in the favorite, Meb\u2019s experience won out in this one as he took the win in 2:09:08 with Hall (2:09:30) and Abdi (2:09:47) in tow. Ritzenhein finished well and looked like he might potentially make a run at the final spot over the final couple of miles. But losing contact just ahead of the final 10K cost him as he couldn\u2019t close that gap on Abdi, in spite of scoring a PR 2:09.55.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s race was run somewhat the reverse of the men, as the women took their time getting up to speed. Like the men, however, by around 15\/16 miles they had a solid group of four fighting it out for the three spots to London \u2013 Desiree Davila, Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, and Amy Hastings \u2013 and as with the men, the medals were decided when Hastings began to lose contact around that 16 mile mark. Hastings, however, would actually regain position and take the lead by the 20 mile mark, but clearly her yo-yoing during the race \u2013 falling back, coming back up and falling back \u2013 took its toll as she would finally lose contact for good with some 3 \u2013 4 miles remaining. With the team decided the question of the order of finish was decided with about 3 miles to go as Flanagan would ease ahead of Davila and never look back crossing the line in a Trials record 2:25:38 ahead of Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher (2:26:06) with Hastings finishing a strong 2:27:17. <\/p>\n

Those are the numbers, and the full results can be found here for men<\/a> and women<\/a>. The question now is: what kind of team will this be in London? For my money it\u2019s the best team we\u2019ve ever sent to the Games in the marathon! Not just because the times were excellent, but because we\u2019re clearly sending a group of runners that are ready to compete!<\/p>\n

First let me say that Ritzenhein and Hastings were good enough to win any other Trials race ever held. I hope both stay ready, because it\u2019s a long road to London and stuff happens. Not that I want anything to happen to anyone on the team ahead of them, but if something does happen, I have the ultimate confidence that either runner could step in in London and get it done! Best set of 4th<\/sup> placers we\u2019ve ever had in the marathon \u2013 and as good as any we\u2019ve had in any Olympic event. <\/p>\n

Next let me say that Flanagan is a STUD – period! I\u2019ve been a fan for a while; my only question heading into this race was whether or not the vets would burn her out, given that this was only her second marathon. She answered that question emphatically as she NEVER lost contact \u2013 and frankly SHE looked like the seasoned veteran as she measured out the competition and took control when SHE was ready. I\u2019ve seen a lot of runners over the years \u2013 Mary Decker (Slaney), Suzy Favor (Hamilton), and Regina Jacobs come to mind. Today Flanagan became #1 American female distance runner ever for me. Her transition from running the 10,000 on the track to the marathon has been seamless, and frankly I\u2019m now confused as to which event is her best! I think she could win this thing in London. That said, Davila and Goucher are nearly as solid, and form a trio that I\u2019m actually looking forward to watching in London. <\/p>\n

On the men\u2019s side of things, I have to be honest and say that I\u2019m a bit apprehensive, because Olympic and World Championships marathons tend to be won in the 2:06\/2:07 range \u2013 so 2:09 is good, but still a bit off. But this trio showed with the 2:07 pace \u2013 that was held for over \u00be of the race \u2013 that they have the heart to go with the leaders and give it a go. You can\u2019t ask for more than that. Hall has run faster than 2:06, and should be ready to go as fast again. Meb is just a winner \u2013 he\u2019ll run with whatever pace it takes to be in the hunt. And Abdi is a veteran \u2013 this is his fourth team \u2013 and will go as long as his body allows. I think this is as good a team as we could hope to send to London. <\/p>\n

Finally, let me give a shout out to all the tweeters out there. There was NO live coverage of this event \u2013 streaming or television \u2013 but the army of tweeters kept us all informed. For two and a half hours I followed the Twitter feed at FloTrack and while I had no visual felt totally connected to the race. When I finally got to see the taped delay on NBC it was just confirmation of what I had been \u201ctold\u201d earlier this morning. So thank you to all the tweeters out there who kept us all up to date during the race! <\/p>\n

So today was a good day. We\u2019re sending a solid team to London \u2013 a team that actually has podium potential on it. It was a good way to start building our Olympic team. Now it\u2019s time to turn attention to the indoor season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. began the first stages of putting together the Olympic squad for London today with the running of the Marathon Trials. If the results in Houston are any indication of the overall team we\u2019ll be sending to London, then we\u2019re going to be loaded by the end of June, because the marathoner\u2019s came through in awesome fashion! The goal at the Trials is to make the team, but the men and women in the lead packs in both races were clearly out to win and run fast \u2013 and that bodes well for their ability to compete in London. In the men\u2019s race Ryan Hall lead for most of the race running at a 2:07 pace \u2013 unheard of in an American only race! Yet he was never alone as Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman, and Dathan Ritzenhein went toe to toe as a group through 19 miles \u2013 and even then it was only Ritzenhein that fell off the pace. Things slowed a bit after the 20 mile mark as they headed home in the final 10K, but all four finished well enough that we had FOUR men finish in 2:09 \u2013 again unheard of in an American only race. Abdirahman labored a bit over the final 10K leaving Hall and Keflelzighi to duke it out, and though Hall came in the favorite, Meb\u2019s experience won out in this one as he took the win in 2:09:08 with Hall (2:09:30) and Abdi (2:09:47) in tow. Ritzenhein finished well and looked like he might potentially make a run at the final spot over the final couple of miles. But losing contact just ahead of the final 10K cost him as he couldn\u2019t close that gap on Abdi, in spite of scoring a PR 2:09.55. The women\u2019s race was run somewhat the reverse of the men, as the women took their time getting up to speed. Like the men, however, by around 15\/16 miles they had a solid group of four fighting it out for the three spots to London \u2013 Desiree Davila, Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher, and Amy Hastings \u2013 and as with the men, the medals were decided when Hastings began to lose contact around that 16 mile mark. Hastings, however, would actually regain position and take the lead by the 20 mile mark, but clearly her yo-yoing during the race \u2013 falling back, coming back up and falling back \u2013 took its toll as she would finally lose contact for good with some 3 \u2013 4 miles remaining. With the team decided the question of the order of finish was decided with about 3 miles to go as Flanagan would ease ahead of Davila and never look back crossing the line in a Trials record 2:25:38 ahead of Davila (2:25:55) and Goucher (2:26:06) with Hastings finishing a strong 2:27:17. Those are the numbers, and the full results can be found here for men and women. The question now is: what kind of team will this be in London? For my money it\u2019s the best team we\u2019ve ever sent to the Games in the marathon! Not just because the times were excellent, but because we\u2019re clearly sending a group of runners that are ready to compete! First let me say that Ritzenhein and Hastings were good enough to win any other Trials race ever held. I hope both stay ready, because it\u2019s a long road to London and stuff happens. Not that I want anything to happen to anyone on the team ahead of them, but if something does happen, I have the ultimate confidence that either runner could step in in London and get it done! Best set of 4th placers we\u2019ve ever had in the marathon \u2013 and as good as any we\u2019ve had in any Olympic event. Next let me say that Flanagan is a STUD – period! I\u2019ve been a fan for a while; my only question heading into this race was whether or not the vets would burn her out, given that this was only her second marathon. She answered that question emphatically as she NEVER lost contact \u2013 and frankly SHE looked like the seasoned veteran as she measured out the competition and took control when SHE was ready. I\u2019ve seen a lot of runners over the years \u2013 Mary Decker (Slaney), Suzy Favor (Hamilton), and Regina Jacobs come to mind. Today Flanagan became #1 American female distance runner ever for me. Her transition from running the 10,000 on the track to the marathon has been seamless, and frankly I\u2019m now confused as to which event is her best! I think she could win this thing in London. That said, Davila and Goucher are nearly as solid, and form a trio that I\u2019m actually looking forward to watching in London. On the men\u2019s side of things, I have to be honest and say that I\u2019m a bit apprehensive, because Olympic and World Championships marathons tend to be won in the 2:06\/2:07 range \u2013 so 2:09 is good, but still a bit off. But this trio showed with the 2:07 pace \u2013 that was held for over \u00be of the race \u2013 that they have the heart to go with the leaders and give it a go. You can\u2019t ask for more than that. Hall has run faster than 2:06, and should be ready to go as fast again. Meb is just a winner \u2013 he\u2019ll run with whatever pace it takes to be in the hunt. And Abdi is a veteran \u2013 this is his fourth team \u2013 and will go as long as his body allows. I think this is as good a team as we could hope to send to London. Finally, let me give a shout out to all the tweeters out there. There was NO live coverage of this event \u2013 streaming or television \u2013 but the army of tweeters kept us all informed. For two and a half hours I followed the Twitter feed at FloTrack and while I had no visual felt totally connected to the race. When I finally got to see the taped delay on NBC it was just confirmation of what I had been \u201ctold\u201d earlier this morning. So thank you to all the tweeters out there who kept us all up to date during the race! So today was a good day. We\u2019re sending a solid team to London \u2013 a team that actually has podium potential on it. It was a good way to start building our Olympic team. Now it\u2019s time to turn attention to the indoor season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[181,162,165,163,159,164,180,6,7,160],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abdirahman","tag-davila","tag-flanagan","tag-goucher","tag-hall","tag-hastings","tag-kefelzighi","tag-marathon","tag-olympic-trials","tag-ritzenhein"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-cI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":757,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=757","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":0},"title":"Olympic Marathon Trials are in Three Days","author":"CHill","date":"January 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s time to start the selection process for the U.S. Olympic Team. First stop, Houston and the Marathon Trials, which astonishingly will be the first time that the men and women\u2019s teams will be selected at the same time! The storyline that everyone was looking forward to with this race\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Davila\"","block_context":{"text":"Davila","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=davila"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.runwashington.com\/uploads\/images\/elite%20athletes\/2011\/Boston%20Mar\/DesireeDavilaBostMar11VS.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1317,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1317","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":1},"title":"Trials Day 1 – Rupp Rules","author":"CHill","date":"June 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Day one of the Trials is in the book, and if today's results are any indication this is gonna be a humdinger! Because in spite of the rain that came down during most of the competition, the athletes were nothing short of competitive! After all, THIS is the Olympic Trials\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Anderson\"","block_context":{"text":"Anderson","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=anderson"},"img":{"alt_text":"Galen Rupp","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Galen-Rupp_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":626,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=626","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":2},"title":"Rupp Enters U.S. Marathon Trials","author":"CHill","date":"December 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The calendar has yet to turn to 2012, but already we have news that may shape the U.S. Olympic team for London, as Galen Rupp was a last minute entry into the marathon trials scheduled for January 14thin Houston, Texas. Interestingly enough Rupp will be running his first ever marathon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Marathon\"","block_context":{"text":"Marathon","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=marathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/g-ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/G\/01\/askville\/6666639_11803107_mywrite\/galenrupp.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1063,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1063","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":3},"title":"Mt SAC Match Ups","author":"CHill","date":"April 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"What's a sign that this is an Olympic year? That the Mt SAC Relays are loaded. Several fields have multiple world class\/ranked athletes scheduled to compete, and the overall level of athletes is as high as I\u2019ve seen in a while. Below is my list of names and events that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Anderson\"","block_context":{"text":"Anderson","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=anderson"},"img":{"alt_text":"Relay Shadow right","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Relay-Shadow-right_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1312,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1312","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":4},"title":"And So the Trials Begin","author":"CHill","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Trials begin today with the hammer throwers getting the stage all to themselves. So the spotlight will be on athletes that normally toil in obscurity - Jessica Cosby, Jeneva McCall, Kibwe Johnson and AG Kruger will get their own shining moment in the sun as they kick off one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"olympic trials\"","block_context":{"text":"olympic trials","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=olympic-trials"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sprinter Shadow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Sprinter-Shadow_thumb1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1344,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1344","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":5},"title":"Trials Part II Gets Started Today","author":"CHill","date":"June 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally the \"break\" is over! The longest two days in recent memory - I must be a track junkie! So what do we have to look forward to? Well Today is going to be star studded. We have prelims in the 1500s and that means our first look at Morgan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"olympic trials\"","block_context":{"text":"olympic trials","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=olympic-trials"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sprinter Shadow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Sprinter-Shadow_thumb2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":789,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}