Olympic Marathon Trials (Read 246 times)

Here'e a nice analysis of the large number of women who OTQ'ed this year.

“Rena Elmer, a stay-at-home mother of nine children ages 14 months to 12 years....” 

I do like the line “you can’t be what you can’t see”. It’s the benefit all of us can see from a running community.

I'm guessing she is Catholic. Mostly because the ONLY family I've EVER known with that many kids (not tv shows, like...actually met the family) was Catholic.

Tracking

https://track.rtrt.me/e/ATLANTA-TRIALS-2020#/leaderboard/

7 miles in, Walmsley is still with the lead pack.

Well, I found them pretty exciting and interesting, and surprising, particularly for the 2nd place winners. Congrats to all the winners.

When a 43-year-old can run like Abdi did today, that's a really great thing to watch.  You could tell he was hurting those last 4-5 miles, but he pushed himself like it was his one chance to run in the Olympics.  And this will be his 5th Olympics.  Gotta love that.  I'm going to go ahead and run a little faster tomorrow and pretend I'm the "Black Cactus."

I love Abdi.  Could also probably be the funniest guy in the field for those that know him.  He's a goofball.

Not SHOCKED Jim didn't place top three. I didn't even know Galen was running and shouldn't have been surprised. I was HOPING the guy who took the lead around half would have held onto it but watching Galen just drop the hammer and make up the gap was impressive. Sort of like he said "ok I'm done playing around."

Sucks Linden didn't make it in for the women. I'd have like to see her make it even though she might not do the best in the Olympics.

Was this the same course they ran for Atlanta 1996 games? (google)

The 1996 Olympic Games were assigned to Atlanta, Georgia, in the Southern United States, and the biggest concern for the marathon was the stifling summer heat and humidity of the American South. Though the European press did not realize it, the two weeks of the Atlanta Olympics were about as cool as that region of the nation ever gets in late July and August. To avoid the heat, the race started at 7:05 AM, but by the time the race ended, the temperature had risen to almost 80° F. (26° C.), with humidity approaching 80%. The Olympic course was designed to basically follow the outline of the course used for the annual Atlanta Marathon, but changed slightly to allow for a start and finish in the Olympic Stadium on the out-and-back course.

So a 7am start, and the Atlanta marathon course.

Male winner ran a 2:12.

Oh and apparently if you're an olympic athlete running your first marathon taking your half marathon, multiplying by 2 and adding 7 minutes is your marathon time. The woman's race was kind of boring until EVERYONE decided to make a move after 20.

The television coverage didn't do justice to how hard both the course and the wind were.  I was hanging out around the 1K to go mark which was super exposed and uphill.  It was complete carnage.  While a small handful seemed to be running strong, almost everyone was suffering immensely, more immensely than normal marathon suffering.  The wind was literally ripping bibs from the runners and when it got strung out on both sides, everyone more or less did their own work.

 

I don't love Galen but he was just head and shoulders better.  And I really wanted Des to get in but Sally certainly did the work.

 

Couldn't agree more. I was running around just spectating and was not envious of those on the course. The wind was brutal and the hills were tough.

Galen truly stood out when he made his move. He looked effortless those last few miles.

Crazy how many of the top women DNF

Watching Riley make his move was awesome too!

My friend, Gina Rouse, had a really solid day. Finished 31st in 2:38:41. Despite the conditions this was a 10 second PR for her..

The television coverage didn't do justice to how hard both the course and the wind were.  I was hanging out around the 1K to go mark which was super exposed and uphill.  It was complete carnage.  While a small handful seemed to be running strong, almost everyone was suffering immensely, more immensely than normal marathon suffering.  The wind was literally ripping bibs from the runners and when it got strung out on both sides, everyone more or less did their own work.

 

I don't love Galen but he was just head and shoulders better.  And I really wanted Des to get in but Sally certainly did the work.

 

And amazing how many runners wore the Alphaflys that Nike gave them at the expo.  I don't think I could race after owning the shoes for 24 hours.

I was volunteering on the course and there were two medical tents on the corner.  As the lead women were about to come through the first time (probably just past the 2 mile mark), the wind started to blow both tents onto the course.  The med tent volunteers had to jump into the street and pull them back onto the sidewalk as the truck with the clock was about to hit them.  I have video of them holding the tent posts the entire time the women were passing.  At one point later in the race, the wind managed to make both tents go airborne and blew them into the middle of the street.  Very lucky that no one was coming by at the time!  They folded up the tents & never brought them back out after that, lol.