It wasn’t too long ago when people (who actually followed this type of thing) claimed that American marathoning was dead. I never thought much of that was true even though it was clear that American men were not running times any where near those the guys in the 1970s and 1980s ran.
But then again, guys like Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, et al, defy all eras. Those guys were freaks who worked really, really hard. Shorter and Rodgers used to hammer every day, sometimes doing two or three 20-mile runs mixed into their 140-mile weeks, and then race on the weekend. In fact, Rodgers tells stories about running on access roads near the airport so that he could squeeze in an extra workout while waiting to board a plane on the way to some race.
Shorter’s workouts in New Mexico with Prefontaine in which the pair cranked out 180 to 200-mile weeks are legendary.
These days it appears as if those old training methods are en vogue. At least that’s the way it seems from reading Brian Sell’s training logs leading up to his 2:10 performances at Boston and Chicago this year. Better yet, the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5 appears to have one of the deepest fields in decades and that’s not just because world-record holder Paul Tergat or Olympic champ Stefano Baldini are signed on. It’s because Americans like Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein are in the field.
Keflezighi, 31, won the silver medal in the 2004 Olympics and appears in a MasterCard commercial. Despite the silver medal, two Olympic appearances and a third-place finish in last year’s NYC Marathon, it seems as if Meb’s best running is ahead of him.
Culpepper, at 34, may have a smaller window than Meb, but there’s no reason why he can’t make a third Olympic team in 2008. With a sub-2:10 marathon under his belt and a strong fifth-place finish at Boston in April, Culpepper could slip into the top five at NYC.
Then there’s Ritzenhein, who seems like a throwback because he is making his marathon debut at age 23. The runners of the “Dead Era” would never have run a marathon at such a young age, but the guys like Shorter and Rodgers would. In fact, Alberto Salazar won the 1982 New York City Marathon and set a world record for the distance when he was still an undergraduate at Oregon.
Ritzenhein, a very popular runner in the tight-knit cult of running fandom, appears to be cut from that mold. If his third-place finish at the Great North Run half-marathon in England -- where he beat Baldini, double World Marathon Champion Jaouad Gharib, and 2002 New York City champ Rodgers Rop -- is any indication, Ritz could make a name for himself on Nov. 5.
Better yet, the best indicator that American men’s marathoning is on the way back is that 44 runners qualified for next November’s Olympic Marathon Trials in last Sunday’s Chicago Marathon. In order to qualify for the trials, one has to run a marathon under 2:22 for the “B” standard and 2:20 for the “A” standard. In other words, run 26.2 miles at 5:25 pace per mile and you’re in.
Plus, throughout this entire essay, Khalid Khannouchi's name wasn't mentioned once. How's that for proving the health of American marathoning?
Here’s the list of American men who have met the standard for the November 2007 Olympic Trials set to be held in New York City:
| Rk | Time | Name | Race | Date | ||
| 1 | 2:07:04 | Khalid Khannouchi | London Marathon | 4/23/06 | ||
| 2 | 2:08:56 | Abdi Abdirahman | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 3 | 2:09:56 | Meb Keflezighi | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 4 | 2:10:47 | Brian Sell | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 2:10:55 | Brian Sell | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 5 | 2:11:02 | Alan Culpepper | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 6 | 2:12:45 | Peter Gilmore | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 7 | 2:12:53 | Mbarak Hussein | Seoul International Marathon | 3/12/06 | ||
| 2:13:53 | Mbarak Hussein | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | |||
| 8 | 2:14:09 | Simon Sawe | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 9 | 2:14:12 | Clint Verran | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 2:14:23 | Clint Verran | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | |||
| 10 | 2:14:28 | Jim Jurcevich | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 11 | 2:14:58 | Ryan Shay | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 12 | 2:15:03 | Chad Johnson | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 13 | 2:15:11 | Mike Morgan | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 14 | 2:15:13 | Kyle O'Brien | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 15 | 2:15:20 | Brandon Leslie | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 16 | 2:15:22 | Luke Humphrey | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 2:15:23 | Luke Humphrey | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 17 | 2:15:26 | Casey Moulton | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 18 | 2:15:28 | Nate Jenkins | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 19 | 2:15:35 | Patrick Moulton | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 20 | 2:15:39 | Josh Ordway | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 21 | 2:15:50 | Jason Hartmann | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 22 | 2:16:58 | Nicholas Aciniaga | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 23 | 2:17:05 | Martin Rosendahl | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 24 | 2:17:13 | Josh Ordway | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 25 | 2:17:32 | Chris Seaton | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 26 | 2:17:34 | Chris Lundstrom | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 27 | 2:17:37 | Jacob Frey | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 28 | 2:17:54 | Dan Sutton | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 29 | 2:18:03 | Ryan Meissen | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 30 | 2:18:13 | Cecil Franke | Columbus Marathon | 10/15/06 | ||
| 31 | 2:18:14 | Fasil Bizuneh | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 32 | 2:18:18 | Chris Graff | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 33 | 2:18:25 | James Lander | St. George Marathon | 10/7/06 | ||
| 2:18:28 | Mbarak Hussein | USA Marathon Championships | 10/2/05 | |||
| 34 | 2:18:50 | John Lucas | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 35 | 2:18:56 | Dave Ernsberger | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 36 | 2:19:03 | Jason Lehmkuhle | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 37 | 2:19:12 | Carlos Carballo | Los Angeles Marathon | 3/19/06 | ||
| 38 | 2:19:18 | Dan Sutton | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 39 | 2:19:23 | Donovan Fellows | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 40 | 2:19:25 | Justin Young | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 2:19:29 | Chad Johnson | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 41 | 2:19:30 | Steve Moreno | Los Angeles Marathon | 3/19/06 | ||
| 42 | 2:19:33 | John Mentzer | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 2:19:37 | Chris Lundstrom | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 43 | 2:19:37 | Jason Ryf | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 44 | 2:19:45 | Jason Delaney | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 45 | 2:19:47 | Dan Kahn | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 46 | 2:19:47 | Andrew Cook | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 2:19:57 | Kyle O'Brien | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 47 | 2:20:09 | Jacob Frey | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 49 | 2:20:10 | Trent Briney | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 50 | 2:20:11 | Marzuki Stevens | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 51 | 2:20:12 | Pat Rizzo | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 52 | 2:20:15 | Matt Levassiur | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 53 | 2:20:19 | Justin Patananan | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 54 | 2:20:19 | David Gramlich | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 2:20:26 | Cecil Franke | Flying Pig Marathon | 5/7/06 | |||
| 55 | 2:20:26 | Matt Pelletier | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 56 | 2:20:27 | Mike McKeeman | London Marathon | 4/23/06 | ||
| 2:20:27 | Patrick Moulton | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | |||
| 57 | 2:20:28 | Michael Reneau | Grandma's Marathon | 6/17/06 | ||
| 58 | 2:20:28 | David Williams | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 59 | 2:20:32 | Corey Stelljes | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 60 | 2:20:32 | Antonio Arce | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 61 | 2:20:33 | Marc Jeuland | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 62 | 2:20:35 | Karl Dusen | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 63 | 2:20:37 | Nicholas Stanko | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 64 | 2:20:41 | Carl Rundell | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 65 | 2:20:43 | Ben Rosario | USA Marathon Championships | 10/2/05 | ||
| 2:20:43 | Jason Ryf | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | |||
| 66 | 2:20:45 | Miguel A. Nuci | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | ||
| 67 | 2:20:48 | Gene Mitchell | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 68 | 2:20:49 | Donnie Franzen | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 69 | 2:20:52 | Terrance Shea | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 70 | 2:20:54 | Christopher Zieman | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 71 | 2:20:55 | Christopher Wehrman | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 72 | 2:20:57 | Pete Gilman | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 73 | 2:20:58 | Christopher Raabe | Baltimore Marathon | 10/14/06 | ||
| 74 | 2:21:00 | Todd Snyder | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 75 | 2:21:00 | Eric Post | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 76 | 2:21:02 | Kyle Baker | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 77 | 2:21:05 | Thomas Kutter | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 78 | 2:21:09 | Eric Heins | Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon | 1/15/06 | ||
| 2:21:12 | Martin Rosendahl | B.A.A. Boston Marathon | 4/17/06 | |||
| 79 | 2:21:16 | Tommy Greenless | Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon | 1/15/06 | ||
| 80 | 2:21:18 | Garick Hill | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 81 | 2:21:34 | Ed Baker | Austin Marathon | 2/19/06 | ||
| 82 | 2:21:39 | Danny Mackey | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 | ||
| 83 | 2:21:42 | Wynston Alberts | USA Marathon Championships | 10/2/05 | ||
| 84 | 2:21:44 | Chris Banks | Los Angeles Marathon | 3/19/06 | ||
| 85 | 2:21:48 | Jonathan Little | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 86 | 2:21:50 | Matthew Byrne | Steamtown Marathon | 10/8/06 | ||
| 87 | 2:21:51 | Nathan Wadsworth | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 88 | 2:21:53 | John Lucas | Los Angeles Marathon | 3/19/06 | ||
| 2:21:54 | Chris Seaton | Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon | 1/15/06 | |||
| 89 | 2:21:54 | Mike Heidt | Portland Marathon | 10/1/06 | ||
| 90 | 2:21:55 | Steve Frisone | St. George Marathon | 10/7/06 | ||
| 91 | 2:21:56 | Edward Callinan | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 92 | 2:21:58 | Alan Horton | Chicago Marathon | 10/22/06 | ||
| 93 | 2:22:00 | James McGown | USA Marathon Championships | 10/1/06 |