Racing over a sunny, warm, four-loop course in downtown Los Angeles, Galen Rupp today won the U.S. men’s Olympic Marathon Trials in 2:11:11, his debut at the distance. He was followed by Meb Keflezighi, 40, and Jared Ward, 27. All three qualified to compete in the August 21 Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It wasn’t close at the end; the wilting heat took care of that. Fourth-place finisher Luke Puskedra finished 1:12 behind Ward.
The urban course in downtown Los Angeles began with a 2-mile loop that was followed by four 6-mile-long out-and-back laps of Figueroa Boulevard.
A week before the races began, everyone could see that this would be a race of attrition, given the temperatures in the 70s. For the first half of the marathon, roughly two dozen runners jostled around the multiple turns and corners at a little more than 5-minute pace. They passed the half marathon mark in 1:06:31.
Keflezighi, who finished in 2:12:20, was always at or near the front in a bright yellow and blue running outfit—the colors of UCLA, where he graduated in 1998. “We were worried that the pace might be too slow, and leave too many ‘kickers’ in contention at the end,” said Bob Larsen, his coach for 22 years. “The only thing we didn’t do in training was speed work, so we didn’t want speed to be a factor.”
Otherwise, the most notable sight was the number of runners ahead of Rupp—several dozen at various times. He has rarely, and perhaps never, trailed that many runners. But the headcount didn’t mean anything, not in the early going. “I was just trying to conserve as much energy as possible,” he said. “Everyone told me that the marathon would eventually hit me like a ton of bricks, so I wanted to be cautious.”
The first big move came at 16 miles, as the pack thread its way through the University of Southern California campus. Tyler Pennel dropped a 4:47 mile and the race was on. “When we got back to USC, I got a little carried away,” he admitted later. “I went with my gut. The plan was to cover any serious moves after 15 miles. It just happened to be me who made the move.”
Rupp and Keflezighi let him go for a bit, then slowly closed the gap. Ward thought about matching the trio, but found that the effort required was too great. “Yes, we were getting into the late stages of the marathon, but 10 miles is still a long way to go,” he said.
Although betraying no weakness during the race, Keflezighi later acknowledged that he had back spasms on his left side for 13 miles. “But around 14 to 15, I got some release,” he said. “Maybe when you’re 40, it takes a long time to warm up.”
Another American marathon legend felt his race come unraveled in the middle. Dathan Ritzenhein first noticed bad calf cramps at nine miles. “It’s the earliest I have ever experienced that,” he wrote in an email to Runner’s World. He managed the cramps as best he could for 15 miles, then things headed south. He dropped out at 20 miles. “This is a hard pill to swallow because I was in very good shape. This was not a fitness problem or a heat problem. I need to see a doctor to see if I have a neurological issue.”
Just beyond the 20-mile mark, Ward, who ran a 2:13:00, passed Pennel. Ward’s decision to run last year’s Los Angeles Marathon, also a scorcher, had served him well. His master’s thesis on marathon pacing was perhaps even more instructive. “The heat makes the marathon effectively longer than 26.2 miles, so you have to take a very conservative approach and run within yourself as long as possible,” he said.
Ward’s coach, two-time Olympic marathoner Ed Eyestone, admitted to a few nervous moments. “You know it’s real when someone like Pennel makes a strong move at 16 miles,” he said. “But Jared is so smart, he’s got such a solid head on his shoulders, that he realized there was still a long way to go. His smarts paid off today.”
Lanky, 6-foot-4 Puskedra caught Pennel in the 24th mile, moving into the hard-luck fourth place position. He has raced brilliantly the last five months, with a 2:10:24 Chicago Marathon and 1:01:29 Houston Half Marathon to his credit.
“I wanted to save myself for a strong final 10K, and every time I went around a corner, I was hoping that Jared would be closer to me, but it never happened,” Puskedra said. “In a couple of days I might kick myself that I didn’t go with them, but I feel like I ran tough. When you’re fourth, it’s easy to give up and quit. I’m happy I didn’t do that.”
Like Eyestone, Alberto Salazar is an experienced marathon coach, which is why he told Rupp, 29, not to go to the front until the last 800 meters. Only the athlete didn’t listen. He surged to a strong lead at 22 miles, and looked relatively effortless the rest of the way. “He trained well, he prepared well for the heat, and sat back off the lead most of the way,” he said. “I thought 22 was too soon to go. A lot can happen in the last four miles of a marathon.”
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“I think he’s ultimately a 2:05 guy. Every test we’ve ever done on him says that he’s one of the most efficient runners ever,” he said. “He spends less time on the ground than anyone.”
Keflezighi had time to savor his fourth U.S. Olympic team. He was running in front of a hometown Southern California crowd, and three daughters who are old enough to realize their father’s accomplishments. He celebrated them, waving and smiling broadly through the final turns on the course, and they responded with cascades of cheering.
“The crowd was phenomenal,” he said. “I kept hearing ‘Go Meb! Go Meb!’ and ‘USA! USA!’”
Keflezighi will be 41 when he runs in the Rio Olympics, eclipsing the previous record for oldest American marathoner in the Olympics.
The three qualifiers now set their sights on Rio. Rupp is also expected to run in the Olympic Track & Field Trials in June and wants to race the 10,000 meters and the marathon at the Games.
