Not dead yet

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