by Doug Binder, The Oregonian Galen Rupp was doing workouts with professionals while he was still in high school, was part of a deep and talented pool runners at the University of Oregon, and became something like a kid brother to Olympians Adam and Kara Goucher.
But perhaps never before has he been as perfectly paired as he is with his new training partner Dathan Ritzenhein, a 26-year-old two-time Olympian.
They each possess the drive, work ethic and easy-going personalities -- plus enormous talents -- that seem to make them a well-suited match. Quite simply, they are good enough to push each other.
"I'm real excited to have him here," Rupp said. "Whenever you have a group of guys like this, the best distance runners in the country, it raises expectations and you're always able to do a little more."
When he talks of "the group," Rupp is also referring to the Jerry Schumacher-coached and Portland-based contingent that includes Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky and Evan Jager. All three of them are currently at altitude camp in Switzerland preparing for the IAAF World Championships, which begin Aug. 15 in Berlin.
Rupp and Ritzenhein, who joined Alberto Salazar's training group in the past four weeks, leave Sunday to go join the others in Switzerland.
In the meantime, Ritzenhein has been getting acquainted with a new training regimen, a new coach, and a new teammate.
Ritzenhein led much of the second half of the 10,000 meters final at the U.S. Track and Field Championships last month in Eugene, only to watch Rupp go flying by him with 500 meters left and win by six seconds.
It was a big night for Rupp, who was wearing an Oregon singlet for the final time at Hayward Field.
"I would have got booed and egged off the track if I beat him," Ritzenhein joked.
But truthfully, Ritzenhein didn't have the speed to match Rupp. He had run the London Marathon eight weeks prior and relied on that fitness to earn a spot on the U.S. team that will compete in Berlin.
Within 24 hours of that race, Ritzenhein, ninth in last year's Olympic marathon, announced he had joined Salazar.
That decision ended a two-year stint in Eugene, where Ritzenhein trained under Brad Hudson, his coach since turning pro in 2004. Ritzenhein parted from Hudson in May and coached himself through the U.S. championships.
"I felt like I had gotten into a rut of mediocrity," Ritzenhein said. "I ran pretty well, ran very good at some times, but didn't feel like the progression was where I thought it should be."
His focus was completely on the marathon and he felt like it was hurting his ability to run fast on the track, like he did in an 8:11 two-mile in 2007.
Ritzenhein, his wife Kalin and daughter Addison, put their Eugene home up for sale within days of the U.S. championships and moved into the Nike-supported home in Northwest Portland that has served as a home base for distance runners for most of this decade.
Rupp, after hiring an agent and officially turning pro, moved into the house as well to take advantage of the altitude equipment installed there. He has spent the past couple weeks showing Ritzenhein the details of Salazar's training system.
Rupp has had talented training partners to work with since he was 15 years old, thanks to his association with Salazar. It began when he met up with other local high school standouts like Alec Wall and Joaquin Chapa for off-season workouts in Grant Park or Forest Park.
A little later, Rupp was tagging along in workouts populated by members of the Nike Oregon Project, where he met Olympians Bob Kennedy and Dan Browne, among others.
And at Oregon, Rupp ran with one of the deepest collections of collegiate distance talent in the country - including Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott and Andrew Wheating - and supplemented that with occasional work in Portland with Nike athlete Josh Rohatinsky and the Gouchers.
In Ritzenhein, he has a training partner who has been through many of the same things he has.
"(Ritzenhein), Alan Webb and Ryan Hall started the distance revolution in this country," Rupp said. "It's always good having guys like that around. He's a guy you can look up to and share the same goals."
"Ritz" also knows what it's like to grow up in the spotlight. He was a high school phenom with a cult following in Rockford, Mich. He became a leading figure in the new wave of U.S. distance stars before he entered the University of Colorado. And he has been one of the most popular runners in the country for a decade.
He came out of high school the same year as Webb, the U.S. record holder in the mile, and Hall, the record holder in the half-marathon.
Ritzenhein's career has had its ups and downs, but the efficiency in his stride has always put him at the top of the list of U.S. runners with the potential for an international breakthrough.
Salazar said he was the one runner in the country that he was willing to take on at this point in his coaching and he is as interested as anyone to watch synergy develop between him and Rupp.
"I think they're going to be great for one another," Salazar said. "They're going to push each other. They both want to be the best."
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