For some reason ESPN the Magazine is delivered to my house every two weeks. I don't know why this is because I never ordered it and I don't really think I particularly want it, either. In fact, I even called a number I found inside of the magazine to ask them to stop sending it to me and they politely yet forcefully told me, "No."
So I continue to get the ESPN the Magazine.
Occasionally I even look at it because I have a few friends who work there and I like to keep up with them.
That's just the way I am... I am a supporter.
Supporter or not, I think I am pleased that the magazine comes to my house because there was a quarter-page capsule/preview for the Olympic Trials Marathon, which is quickly approaching on Nov. 3 in Manhattan. Written by Alyssa Roenigk (she has a cool web site), the preview outlines the chances five of the top runners have to make the Olympic team for the 2008 games in Beijing.
It was nice marathoning in an ESPN sponsored publication.
However, there were a few glaring omissions within the five top runners previewed. Included are Abdi Abdirahman, Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Khalid Khannouchi and Brian Sell, which is good and correct. Any top three could (should?) include at least two of that bunch.
But how did Dathan Ritzenhein get on the pay-no-mind list? Or what did defending Trials champion and current national cross-country champ Alan Culpepper do to be excluded? Excluding Ritz and Culpepper is kind of like having a baseball season without the Yankees or Red Sox. Sure, they can be beaten, but chances are they will be with near the top of the standings at the very end.
Meanwhile, some of the capsules on the runners explain how some might miss the top three because of the hilly nature of the course. Two of these runners who don't like such terrain are 2:08 marathoners. Now I don't know much about anything, but I know that 2:08 marathoners are rare in America. In fact, in the history of running, only six American men have run 2:08. That's six, as in one more than five. Of those six, only three - Hall, Dick Beardsley and Bob Kempainen - were born in the United States. The other three - Abdirahman, Khannouchi and Alberto Salazar - were born elsewhere. That doesn't make them any less American, but the point is, 2:08 American marathoners are not common and they won't be bothered by the rolling course.
Anyway, with a little more than a week to go before the big race, here's my top 3, which I am liable to change in the days leading up to the race.
The Top 3:
1.) Ryan Hall 2.) Dathan Ritzenhein 3.) Abdi Abdirahman
Watch out for Sell. ESPN says "he loves hills and will push the pace, keeping opponents honest from Mile 1." But in Boston in '06 where he ran his 2:10:47 PR, Sell ran an even pace and surged during the final 10k where he picked off faltering runners (including Culpepper) to finish fourth. Sell is a brute and a tank and he runs smart.