So Absurd

So, what do you do when you get off work at 12:00 am, having just finished off a coffee with two shots of espresso added to it for extra kick at about 10:45? You go for a 9.3 mile run of course. My thinking was, either stay up and watch a movie eat chips and salsa, have a beer, and do nothing beneficial, or run. I chose the later. It was also going to be hard to get a run in on Friday anyway, so I figured I could knock it out, and I did, at 6:50 pace, which if you stacked on 26 of them, equals a sub 3 hour marathon. That is kind of my thing now, always run at least at sub 3 pace, unless on trails, and then you just get what you get.
This whole venture is absurd truthfully. The trials used to not be SO impossible to get to. There was even a time when the qualifying standard was 2:30. Yet, the USATF, United States of America Track and Field, decided that the event should more closely mimic they Olympic "A" qualifying standard, to keep from having an event where, sure you had three guys take the first three places at the trails, but no one get to go because everyone was simply too slow. So the time was lowered several times over the decades, and then eventually, after the last trials, it was lowered from 2:21/2:22, to 2:19. Some argue that this is too stringent, making it more difficult, for the really good, yet not elite to have their own Olympic experience. However, that is why the Olympics are the Olympics, you are either good enough or you aren't. This is not little league everyone gets a trophy even if you whiffed at every pitch and booted every fly ball. Its big boy competition. The loser is just that. However, I am sure there are great participant medals ;), if you can get there that is.
These times should, and it is their desire to do so, limit the field to no more than 150 runners, tops. This would be a good number, and of course if more people hit the qualifying time, they would be more than willing to accommodate, just anticipate an even lower time the next time around.
Already this field is stacked with at least 10-20 guys who can both win, and make the Olympic standard. Guys like Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezghi, who have both dipped under 2:10 will be there. Hall went to the Beijing Olympics, and has one of the fastest times ever for an American marathoner. Keflezghi, is the last American to medal in the Olympics since Frank Shorter, and the last American to win the New York City marathon since 1982, winning it in 2009. Then there is a host of guys who have run between 2:10 and 2:15. Dathan Ritzenhein, Abdi Abdirahmman, Jason Luehkelme, and others. The fact of the matter is, this race is for them, and to see which one gets to where the red, white, and blue in London. I do however hope to be eating there dust in 2012 in Houston, but that is the reality.
It could be worse. I could be Kenyan. They have runners who consistently tinker with world records and win marathons in times that hover around 2:05, almost weekly. Seriously, they have about 10-15 runners that can run a sub 2:08 marathon. This does not include the next phenom that shows up to obliterate the field at whichever marathon. Because of their great international success, and the publicity it brings them, Kenya does not have a marathon trial. Instead, opting for their runners to bring revenue back to the country, and glory to its people by running world class marathons everywhere but their own country, their Olympic committee decides who they are going to send. Often times an arbitrary process that leaves out great runners. One guy may be faster by a few seconds, but another guy may have more experience against heavily elite fields, or even Olympic experience. This could explain why Kenya waited until Beijing to finally win an Olympic gold in the marathon.
No matter how you look at it, it is intriguing. However completely absurd that people can run this fast, and to think that I can join them at the trials. Here's hoping! Too absurdity!