Gangs of New York: mzungo.org's outlook on race day

Abdi

Mzungo Markus: Very strong this year. Will rock’n’roll on tarmac again. Deserved 10 mile US champ. More likely to be an American winner than Halleluja. Knows NYC already and should know how to race a smart marathon now. Go for it.

Mzungo Uli: If his legs talk more than his mouth, he’ll be game.

Bolota Asmerom

Mzungo Markus: Hmmm. Difficult. One of the ten eggs thrown at the wall that might survive. Not Top10. Serious contender for the US champs though. Speed is there he just needs the confidence.

Mzungo Uli: Would like to see him surprise me.

Fasil Bizuneh

Mzungo Markus: DNF mile 3 due to digestive issues. Need to show something this year to prove his early success.

Mzungo Uli: If not, ready for a surprise.

Abderrahime Bouramdane

Mzungo Markus: Fourth.

Mzungo Uli: Do they have out of competition testing in Morocco? Tough as nails either way.

Dan Brown

Mzungo Markus: Mother in law’s finest. Not fully recovered from a good season. Will the Brown army ship sink in the Top10? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Berlin Worlds were tough and he didnt really recover.

Mzungo Uli: Younger than I am but more over the hill than me. Top10 at US champs.

Robert Cheruiyot

Mzungo Markus: Four Boston Wins. Nuff said. Will win after Lel dopped. Even with a different name. Serious and smart racer. He can read a read such a race. Ran a “Ok” worlds in Berlin and should be fully recovered by now.

Mzungo Uli: I only really saw Lel challenging him if he is healthy which I doubt a little.

Jaouad Gharib

Mzungo Markus: True Racer. Knows how to play the game. Top3. There is not bullshitting with these guy!

Mzungo Uli: Incredibly tough. I thought he was done and then he pulls a 2:05 in London, closely beaten by Wanjiru who had to fight all the way to the line to keep him in check. Will not have the finish to win on Central Park South but will be in close contention.

Marilson Gomes dos Santos

Mzungo Markus: Looked like jogging Worlds. Shouldn’t have hurt him but also shows how inconsitent he is. Hard to tell if he will do it once more in the city. Showed last year that he is a first class racer – wouldn’t be surprised if he hits the nail again!

Mzungo Uli: Agreed. But I want to see the Africans keep him in check this year.

Ryan Hall

Mzungo Markus: Don’t believe the hype. Rookie wins NYC?

Mzungo Uli: More heart than legs. When the big guys drop to a 4:20 pace at First Avenue, Hall will cover the moves. But if the surges continue into and out of the Bronx, he will be out of contention. Needs to win an international marathon first before cleaning Big Mama.

Meb Keflezighi

Mzungo Markus: Home crowd advantage, knows the course. However, won’t win but possibly US champ. Has not too much years left in the big game and need to get back to old olympic glamour.

Mzungo Uli: Four minutes slower than e.g. Gharib in London. Any questions?

James Kwambai

Mzungo Markus: After break-through race in Rotterdam, he needs to proove that he’s no one hit wonder. Well, he was second three times in the Majors. Dark horse again? – Top 5? Very unpredictable. I would like him to stay up front and give it a go. Better he doesnt get a sprint finish...

Mzungo Uli: Dark horse is a bold call for the third fastest marathoner ever. But I agree. Rotterdam is not NYC. Would like to see him win though.

Jason Lehmkuhle

Mzungo Markus: Survival of the fittest! The PB’s of the possible Top 10 competitors are a different class and not comparable with him. He knows the course and knows himself. Wouldnt be surprised if he shows a class act after resting a good bit through the season.

Mzungo Uli: Time trialling into Top 10 again. Smart.

Martin Lel

Mzungo Markus: What to say! Would have been my top tip. Dance for us in 2010 Martin!

Mzungo Uli: Hendrick Ramaala told me that a Lel in shape is out of this world. Everybody is just second best. Was my top pick. Will reign London again. Get healthy mate!

Patrick Makau

Mzungo Markus: Has prooven to be able to pull magic out of the hat for 13.1 miles. Can he handle the bridges beyond that distance though? The secound half is a tough and i doubt he’ll be able to handle this part well. Dominates the race in the middle stage though.

Mzungo Uli: Will win. But not this year. Just yet.

Hendrick Ramaala

Mzungo Markus: The young generation will never have a chance again to see Michael Jackson on stage. But they can still get a glance of Hendrick surging down First Ave at 4:20 pace and blowing the pack to shreds. It’ll be a Bad Thriller. Beat It!

Mzungo Uli: Go get them mate!

Brian Sell

Mzungo Markus: As a fan, I want him to finish in the Top10 despite a big sledgehammer in Boston. Podium at US champs. Please! How long do I have to wait for a dentist appointment? Before you give the patients pain give to those other US Championship Marathoners!

Mzungo Uli: It’s over. Have another beer, dude. Those were the days. Or were they?

Jorge Torres

Mzungo Markus: Who? Jonesy Boy will tell him what to do...

Mzungo Uli: Best of luck.

NYC Marathon 2009 Press Conference Pictures

Americans look to podium at ING New York City Marathon

Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman,Brian Sell, Jorge Torres and Jason Lehmkuhle spoke Thursday at a press conference in advance of the ING New York City Marathon. The race on Sunday also will serve as the 2009 USA Men's Marathon Championship. Below are excerpts from the press conference.

Abdi Abdirahman: This is my second home, New York. I've run this race many times. I've been feeling good, everything's been going well. Everybody says "you look happy, you look good, you look fit." I'm not going to predict anything, but there's something in the air this year. We're going to have a group of guys in the front. It won't be just me and Meb or me and Ryan. It's going to be a great day for U.S. distance running on Sunday. There's only one race and there only can be one winner. I am going in with one mentality, and that is to be the first guy across the finish line. We are all there to be the first across the finish line.

Meb Keflezighi: I'd like to ask everybody to put their head down for a second for Ryan Shay. This is my first time coming back to New York since 2007. I've been here many, many times. I'm excited. This has been a good year for me, and I'm looking forward to Sunday. It's a race of 26.2 miles, and it's going to be the best in the world. We're all going to run our hearts out. In Boston in 2006 we (the Americans) were third, fourth and fifth. If we can replicate that on Sunday, it will be a great day for us.

Ryan Hall: I'm excited to actually be running here. I've been here since 2006 watching this race. I'm glad to actually be running. I have a whole lot to run for here, with our Hall Steps Foundation. I'm so for all these guys who are up here (the Americans), if any of us gets on that podium or in the top spot, that's a victory for America. I don't feel competitive toward them, I feel we're encouraging of each other. It's about how we can finish as high as possible.

On his familiarity with the course: I feel like I've run this race. I've been on the course many times, in the lead vehicle. I've previewed the last 20 miles, tempo'd the last six miles, done loops and loops around the park .I've gotten dizzy doing that. I think it's actually very similar to the Central Park Olympic Trials course. I think coming into the park, for those of us who ran the Trials, it's going to be a breath of fresh air. It will be like, we made it. We know what Central Park is like.

Brian Sell: It's very exciting to be here on the 40th running, and what better race to do it at. It would be great if we're 1-6 up here. We all have our goals in mind and hopefully we're all racing and attacking that second half.

On familiarity with the course: I came out about a month ago and ran the first 20 miles, then came out the next day and ran the last 16. Sunday's course has a few more long grinders, and Central Park has more rolling hills. I think it will be interesting.

On retiring: I caught lightning in a bottle in 2007. If I can repeat that this year, I'd be really happy. I'm feeling it more than I was in 2007, in my hips. I'm getting older and looking forward to running in the mornings so I can have a big breakfast, and no other reason. If I have a top five finish, that would make me think twice (about retiring).

Jorge Torres: I want to that the NY RR for putting on such a great event and giving me an opportunity to debut here. To be on the world stage in the media capital of the world is a great opportunity, and I hope not to disappoint myself and the American public. We're here for one mission and one mission only: to show America that we've made it to the top.

On getting advice from his coach, Steve Jones, former NYC Marathon winner: I keep on asking Steve about the race but he keeps putting it off. He tells me just relax, don't worry about it, we'll talk about it closer to the race. We're cutting it pretty close. There marathon is a whole new event for me, but I've had some pretty solid workouts. I'm probably in one of the best forms I've ever been in my life, I just hope it translates over into the marathon.

On running the course: I haven't had a chance to actually run it myself, but I've seen it on TV many times and I've seen how the race breaks down every year.

Jason Lehmkuhle: I'm so excited to be here, back in New York. It's an incredibly competitive field. Certainly the deepest American field since the '07 Trials here and the most competitive marathon I've ever been in. I can't wait for Sunday. I don't think anybody would tell you they are racing only for an American championship. We're running to place as high as we can in the field.

The NYC Marathon Has Made Great Strides Since 1970

On November 1, 1970, The New York Times ran a story that began: “Nearly 200 entrants were expected to show up in Central Park at 11o’clock this morning for the running of the first New York Marathon.”

Thirty-nine years later, more than 40,000 contestants are expected to show up for the 2009 ING New York City Marathon, which airs on Channel 4 this Sunday. And an estimated 2 million New Yorkers will watch the race at various locations. From a very modest beginning, the New York Marathon has made astounding strides.

It’s a classic New York story: a small group of pioneers has an idea. They promote it and capture the imagination of hundreds, then thousands -- and millions. In just a few years, it becomes an international event that stirs the imagination of the world.

But let’s not forget the first marathon -- which goes back to ancient Greece where, in 490 B.C., a runner from Marathon, Greece carried news of the Greek victory over the Persians to Athens. He delivered the message to the Athenians and then, because of fatigue and exhaustion, collapsed and died.

Here in New York, about 2500 years later, a fire fighter named Gary Muhrcke, after a busy night fighting fires , was ready to go home and take it easy. But his wife, Jane, persuaded him to go to Central Park and enter the first New York marathon race. She drove him there. Muhrcke plunked down the $1 entry fee and joined the other 126 starters. He ran the four laps in Central Park in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 38 seconds and his name went down in history as the inaugural champion of the first New York Marathon.

It’s to pioneers like Muhrcke and the late Fred Lebow, co-founder of the New York City Marathon, that New York owes the recognition this race has earned throughout the world.

It’s more than a race. It has become a symbol of New York itself, of its vibrant energy, its enduring, competitive spirit. The Marathon contestants and champions have made the city proud.

And nowhere is that more visible than along the route of the race, from Staten Island, to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. Every runner is greeted with warmth and almost adulation by the crowds lining the streets. As he or she goes through one neighborhood after another, as people offer paper cups full of water to the passing athletes, they hear voices saying things like: “Good going!,” “Keep it up!”, “Bravo!” and “Yea!”

The marathon is transformational. It forges a collective can-do spirit for runners and spectators alike. Immediately after the 9/11 disaster this was especially apparent but it has been true in every marathon since Lebow and friends expanded the race from just the park to the whole city in 1976.

Lebow, as I knew him, was a zealot. He devoted his life to the race. A Holocaust survivor,Lebow believed in the city and its people. When he was inducted into the National Track Hall of Fame, his health was failing. He was suffering from a brain tumor. He whispered at a special ceremony in Central Park: “I’m flattered and honored and I don’t deserve it. I’m just a peon. I’m awed and embarrassed.”

In 1992, he ran the marathon himself with the celebrated Grete Waitz of Norway, the nine-time women’s winner and his running partner that year. Disregarding the advice of doctors, he refused to stop short of his goal of completing the 26 mile course and, at the finish line, embraced Waitz. They kissed and then he kissed the finish line.

He said: “I never believed so many people would watch a miserable runner two hours behind.” He died in 1994.

As president of the New York Road Runners Club, Lebow was able to attract the world’s outstanding marathoners to New York. Among those who have run here are: Rob de Castella of Australia, Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway, Juma Ikangaa of Tanzania, Ibraham Hussein of Kenya and American runners like Alberto Salazar and Bill Rodgers. This year, three Maasai warriors from Kenya, wearing their tribal clothing, are running.

R. I. Duffus said of New York that it is ‘’an anthology of urban civilization” that has never lost its respect “for the striving, combative, beauty-loving spirit of man.”

The marathon is a symbol of that spirit, embodying the best of New York and New Yorkers -- and those who strive for achievement throughout the world.

NYC Movie: Brian Sell Before the ING NYC Marathon

NYC Movie: America's Best Press Conference - Thoughts on the Course

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

NYC Movie: America's Best Press Conference - On the International Field

NYC movie: Mary Wittenberg -2009 ING NYC Marathon

NYC Movie: Jorge Torres Before ING NYC Marathon

NYC Movie: America's Best Press Conference - US Championships

NYC Movie: Ryan Hall's 2009 NYC Preview Workout

NYC bound: Ryan Hall Shares His Training Program & Talks Taper for the 2009 NYC Marathon

NYC bound: Paula R.

Paula Radcliffe has raced just once in the past year.

No better place to erase the frustrations of the injuries and ailments that have sidelined her than the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Three times she has come in seeking to prove she remains at the top of her sport, and three times she has won.

Still, the world-record holder would rather not keep repeating this cycle of discouragement-then-redemption. She makes no secret of planning to compete through 2012, when she could win that elusive Olympic gold medal in front of her fellow Brits at the London Games. Radcliffe won't rule out racing beyond that - it just depends on whether her body lets her.

"It's that mental side, when you've done all the preparation and you can't make it to the starting line - that's what kicks you in the teeth each time," she told The Associated Press on Thursday before speaking to local high school athletes at an event sponsored by Nike. "That will be what would make me say, 'I can't do this anymore."'

Radcliffe planned to run the London Marathon and at the world championships this year, then undergo bunion surgery to alleviate nagging soreness in her right foot. But during her training for London, the pain became so bad she couldn't walk.

Radcliffe had the reconstructive surgery in March. She hoped to race at worlds in August, running the NYC Half-Marathon the week before to test her readiness. But despite winning in New York, Radcliffe decided her foot wasn't quite ready for a marathon.

She then planned to enter the world half-marathon championships earlier this month - until tonsillitis kept her out.

Radcliffe feels confident going into the NYC Marathon. But she can imagine if she has too many setbacks in a row at some point in the future how that would wear on her - and make her consider retirement.

"When it's one, and then you get four or five good races, and then it's one - that's OK, you can deal with it," Radcliffe said. "Every athlete knows, especially in the marathon, that of 10 people trying to get to the start line, maybe only six will get there. Everybody knows that risk.

"But it's when for me it's been the last four in a row, that's when you have to stay strong and have really good support around you. You just need one good race, then it's like, 'OK, I can handle it now.' When it's one after another it starts to push you down."

New York, where Radcliffe is the two-time defending champ, always seems to be the site of that one good race. In 2004 and 2008, she rebounded from Olympic heartache with wins here. In 2007, she was victorious in her first marathon since the birth of her daughter less than 10 months earlier.

Isla is now almost three, and Radcliffe hopes to give her a sibling soon - in time to give Mom plenty of time to train for the 2012 Games. Radcliffe said she'll be fine if she runs only two or three marathons between now and London.

The way she feels heading into Sunday's race is the way she always hopes to feel in the days leading up to a marathon.

"It's just nice to have the work done," she said, "and know you can stand on that starting line ready to go."

NYC bound: Ryan Hall

Unlike some elite marathoners Ryan Hall doesn't look to race results for confidence. He's more attuned to his training before a major marathon.
He's feeling good on both counts prior to Sunday's 40th New York City Marathon, where he'll be one of the contenders in a strong men's field. About 40,000 runners will compete.

Hall, who took third in April at the Boston Marathon, doesn't compete much between 26.2-mile races. He was fourth in a half marathon (62:35) in New York in August and won the Philadelphia Distance Run half-marathon (61:52) in September.

"The races give me confidence not so much in terms of time but in how I ran them," said Hall, the only American to break 1 hour in the half marathon, "Being able to close well and try different tactics I'm not particularly familiar with."

Hall, 27, describes his training as "solid" at altitude in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. "It's come around in the last month. I think with marathoning it's a thing of timing. I don't like to be super sharp two months out or even five weeks out.

"I like to feel like every week is getting better and better. That's certainly how my training's gone. I've had some really big workouts the last month that went really well."

An 18-mile tempo run at 7,000 feet has become a Hall staple. He recently improved his best pre-Boston time on the run by one minute.

"You get an extra minute of fitness better than that, that's when special things can happen," he said.

Hall is running New York for the first time but has familiarity with the course. He was in the lead vehicle in 2006 and covered the last 20 miles of the course in previous visits to New York. In addition his coach, Terrence Mahon, has won New York.

"I feel like I've run this race," Hall says.

Letsrun.com talks NYC

2009 ING New York City Marathon Men's Preview
The 40th Edition Should Be A Race For The Ages

The men's race of 40th edition of the ING NYC Marathon should be one to remember as the field is totally loaded. On Tuesday, NYRR head Mary Wittenburg rightfully said the following about the men's field: "I believe we will host our strongest field ever."

That statement was almost certainly true when she said it, as the race had lined up an amazing cast of characters, including 5 guys who had run 2:06:17 or faster in James Kwambai (2:04:27), Martin Lel (2:05:15), Jaouad Gharib (2;05:27), Patrick Makau (2:06:14) and Ryan Hall (2:06:17), former champions Hendrick Ramaala and Marilson Gomes dos Santos, a four-time world marathon major winner in Robert Cheruiyot, 2008 Boston runner-up Abderrahim Bouramdane, former Olympic silver medallist Meb Keflezighi, and then tons of other top US talent, including US Olympians Abdi Abdirahman, Dan Browne, Brian Sell, and Jorge Torres.

As I was going to publish this preview, I learned that Martin Lel has withdrawn. He was going to be my pick to win, so his withdrawal is a major blow, but the race is still stacked nonetheless.

And since generic race overviews are boring, I'm going to go out on a limb and give you a list of three guys from whom one will win the marathon. If my prediction is wrong, LetsRun.com will give one person who picks the winner correctly $50.

One Of These Men Will Win The 2009 ING NYC Marathon

Jaouad Gharib - I'm certainly not going out on a limb when I say that Gharib has to be considered one of the biggest threats for the crown in New York, as his track record in the marathon is unbelievably impressive. The world champion in 2003 and 2005, the 2008 Olympic silver medallist, and a 2:05:27 personal best (which is the 2nd best in the field).

About the only reason to not like Gharib is because he's 37 years old. But that shouldn't scare people, as he's shown no signs of slowing down of late. Sure, he can't have that many years left in the tank, but he set his PR and national record of 2:05:27 this year when he got 3rd in London - just 17 seconds arrears of the greatest marathoner on the planet - Sammy Wanjiru. The year before in Beijing, when Wanjiru ran in my mind the single greatest marathon in history, Gharib was the only guy within 3:28 of him, as his 2:07:16 runner-up performance was just 44 seconds back.

So earlier this year, Gharib set a PR in the full marathon. More recently, he ran 60:04 for 3rd at the BUPA Great North Run on September 20th. He's clearly in good form.

One other thing to consider about Gharib is he is amazingly consistent. He's run 12 marathons in his life and they've all been big time marathons - either a global championship marathon, world marathon major or Rotterdam or Fukuoka. In those 12 races, he's finished in the top four nine times.

Side note: It's really hard to believe that 2:05:27 puts him at #10 on the all time performers list.

Martin Lel - (Editor's Note: Lel has now pulled out but we decided to leave up what Robert wrote about him as we found it to be interesting)
The 31-year-old Martin Lel is without a doubt one of the greatest marathoners in history. A 2-time winner in New York (2003 and 2007), Lel also has three times won the most competitive marathon in the world, London. His PR of 2:05:15 makes him the 7th fasest in history and he comes into New York in great form as he won the BUPA Great North run on September 20th in 59:32, defeating one of his biggest New York rivals in Gharib in the process.

The scariest thing bout Lel is that he comes into New York very hungry as he was forced to withdraw from London last spring due to injury the week of the race. And as far as consistency goes, Lel's track record is even more impressive than Gharib's. Since getting serious about the marathon in 2003 when he ran his first world marathon major, Lel has run 10 marathons, 9 majors and the 2008 Olympics and he has finished in the top three in nine of them (he was 5th in the Olympics).

Patrick Makau - If you look at his bio on the New York Marathon site, Makau is described as a "half-marathon specialist." Well that's what people used to say about Sammy Wanjiru when he was moving up to the marathon as the half marathon world record holder. Last year, in our Chicago preview, we talked about how great success at the half marathon often equals great success at the marathon. Makau is one who is proving that once again, as he ran a 2:06:14 in his marathon debut in Rotterdam in April.

A 2:06:14 in his debut - and the crazy thing was that it was viewed as a disappointment by some, as that was the race where both Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai ran 2:04:27. In my mind, 2:06:14 in one's debut is very, very good. Makau is only 24 and normally runners improve once they get a marathon or two under their belt. And it looks like Makau has already learned a thing from his debut, as prior to New York, he hasn't done any prep races. Before Rotterdam, he went for the world record in the half in Ras Al Khaimah and came up as the #2 performer in history at 58:52. In my mind, you don't want to be 58:52 sharp just 6 weeks out from a marathon, as one needs to be working more on their endurance at that stage in their training. Makau apparently now agrees.

Since he's known for scorching fast times on flat courses, one might be concerned how Makau will handle the difficult New York course. That concern is unfounded, though, as Makau is a past winner of the Healthy Kidney 10k in Central Park.

Geb was surprised by Kwambai. Will we be?

Absolute Studs That Won't Win

James Kwambai - It's appropriate that we mentioned Kwambai in Makau's profile as my only question about Kwambai is, "Is he too half-marathon sharp for the marathon?

7 weeks ago, he ran 59:08 for third in the half marathon in Rotterdam. Admittedly, it was a ridiculous race where 7 Kenyans broke 60:00. But it's hard to emphasize the point enough that one might not want to be that sharp that close to a marathon. To prove my point, please realize that Sammy Wanjiru only ran 61:08 in that race and he went on to break the course record a few weeks ago in Chicago. Additionally, 8 weeks out from his 2:04:27 this spring, Kwambai only ran 62:21 in the half.

Regardless, the 26-year-old did run 2:04:27 this spring, making him the 3rd fastest in history. The bad news was that Kwambai was only #2 in that race. Kwambai has a history of running well and finishing 2nd, as he is the one that helped push Haile Gebrselassie to the world record in Berlin in 2008 (when Kwambai was 2nd in 2:05:36) and he also was 2nd in Boston in 2007.

So we know Kwambai has been very fast in the past and is very sharp. And Kwambai does have a good coach in Italian Claudio Berardelli and he has great training partners in Lel and Cheruiyot. Has Barardelli been able to keep his form for the last 7 weeks? We'll find out Sunday.

Marilson Gomes dos Santos - Unlike a lot of the other leading contenders in this year's race, the two-time New York champion (2006 and 2008) isn't a consistent major player in big-time marathons. Besides his two wins in New York, dos Santos has run 7 other marathons and has never finished higher than 6th in any of them. He is a New York specialist in some ways. But last time I checked, this was a New York City marathon preview, so the 32-year-old has a shot.

And since this preview seems to be all about me stating how one doesn't want to be overly sharp at the half marathon prior to racing the marathon, let me point out that dos Santos ran 63:14 in the half last year before winning in New York. The year before, he ran 59:33 in his prep half before getting 8th in New York. Well the "good news" for dos Santos fans is that this year he was only 15th at the World Half Marathon Championships on October 11th, where he ran 62:41.

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot - Just over a year ago, Cheruiyot was definitely considered one of the greatest marathoners on the planet, as in April of 2008, he captured his 4th Boston (3rd straight) title. However, since then things haven't gone great for Cheruiyot and he comes into New York with a bit of a chip of his shoulder. He was forced to pull out of last year's Olympics with a thigh injury before DNFing with stomach problems as he sought a 4th straight Boston title.

Cheruiyot rebounded a bit in August, as he was a creditable 5th at the World Championships in August. Lots of runners have run a World or Olympic championship in August and then done well in New York in November, but Cheruiyot doesn't have a great track record of doing two marathons in one season. Four times in his career, Cheruiyot has run a marathon within 10 weeks of his goal race and the results haven't been impressive, as he's run 2:12:14 (Prague 2005), 2:15:13 (Istanbul 2007), 2:14:38 (Portugal 2008), and 2:19:11 (Rio 2009) in those races.
As a result, it's hard for me to think he'll win in New York in 2009 unless Cheruiyot was using Worlds as a prep for New York and that doesn't appear to be the case, as he was one of the last additions to the 2009 ING NYC field.

And please don't think I don't personally want Cheruiyot to do well. He's one of the most inspirational stories in running in my book. In 2007, I wrote an article where I talked about how inspired I was by his life story, Inspired By A Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot, and in 2008, we at LetsRun.com wondered if he was the best marathoner in the world. More: *IAAF Profile Of Cheruiyot.

Studs That Won't Win

Hendrick Ramaala - Hendrick is one of the great personalities on the marathon circuit. Always a great interview as the man has a law degree, the 37-year-old is also a fearless racer, as he was the lone guy to try to go with Tola in August's New York Half and that was after he said the one thing he didn't want to do at age 37 was go out hard!

But let's face the facts. He's 37 and he's run 23 world marathon majors and won just one of them. He isn't going to win in New York, but we hope he does well.

Abderrahim Bouramdane - Since finishing as the runner-up in Boston 2008, Bourmadane hasn't done a whole lot that would make one think the 31-year-old Moroccan with a 2:08:20 PR could win in New York. He was 26th in the Olympics and then 5th in New York last fall before having a bunch of subpar races in 2009. So far in 2009, he's dropped out of a marathon in March, been 13th and 10th in two road 10ks in over 29 minutes in May, and then finished 6th in the New York Half in August.

The Americans

Many of the LetsRun.com faithful are probably irate that I don't have any of the Americans in the "One of these men will win the 2009 ING NYC Marathon category." But calm down, people. I'm not trying to insult the American entrants. The New York field is so strong this year that I don't even have the third-fastest marathoner in history, James Kwambai, listed in that category.
The 2009 ING NYC Marathon is serving as the US Championships for this year, so there is a lot of US talent in the race. In my mind, there are three studly Americans entered who I guess theoretically could possibly win under some strange scenario: Ryan Hall (less strange things have to happen for him to win) Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman, and then three more US Olympians - Dan Browne and two guys that are headed in different directions, one of whom is making his much anticipated marathon debut, Jorge Torres, and one running the last marathon of his career, Brian Sell.

Let's take a look at them all.

Ryan Hall - America's Best Hope

Ryan is the greatest American hope for a victory. Having a 2:06 American-born athlete running in New York is something that Americans have been awaiting for 233 years (or at least 40). It's very, very exciting indeed, but people need to understand just how competitive the world of marathoning is in the year 2009.

Up until 1998, Ryan Hall's 2:06:17 would have been the world record, as from 1988 to 2002, the world record didn't change much. It was 2:06:50 in 1988 and 2:06:05 in 2002 until Khalid Khannouchi ran 2:05:42 in October of 2002. But since 2002, the world of marathoning has been revolutionized as the world record has dropped 2:06 in 7 years to 2:03:59 after only coming down 45 seconds in the 14 years from 1998 to 2002.

As a result, Hall's 2:06:17 puts him at 25th on the all time list. Yes, 24 people have run faster than Hall. And Hall's 2:06:17 is just the 5th 4th best PR in the 2009 New York field, as Kwambai (2:04:27), Lel (2:05:15), Gharib (2:05:27) and Makau (2:06:14) have all run faster.

At best, Hall is the fifth best marathoner on paper in New York and even that would mean one is ranking him ahead of past New York champions dos Santos and Ramaala (whom Hall is better than now) as well as a 5-time world marathon major champion in Robert Cheruiyot, whom as recently as last year we were wondering if he was the best marathoner on the planet.

Regardless, Hall has a chance and he comes into New York in good spirits as his 2009 year has gone well so far. In Boston last spring, he led early, then faded before rallying for 3rd. But a 3rd in Boston is much easier achieved than in New York as New York's field is simply better.

More recently, Hall has two respectable half marathons to his name in his leadup to New York. He ran a 62:35 half for third in New York half in August before winning the Philadelphia Distance Run in 61:52 in September. After the first race in New York, Hall said some very encouraging things as he told LetsRun.com, "(In November) I should be able to run this pace twice over."

Now I clearly think there is zero chance Hall can run 2:05:10 on New York's challenging course, but one of the things I like most about Hall is he doesn't limit himself. Trying to do something that is almost impossible - beat the Africans (and a Brazilian) and give America its first champion since 1982 - isn't easy so the fact that he possesses that self belief is huge.

Hall made another statement after that New York race that made a lot of sense as well: "Even if I don't run any faster (in Philadelphia on September 20th), I'll be confident going into the marathon."

Hall is correct in thinking that his prep races are plenty fast for a good New York showing. And there are a lot of reasons to think he'll run well on Sunday.

For one, Hall seems to always run well in New York, as he's won both a US Cross-Country title in New York as well as the 2008 US Olympic Marathon Trials. Moreover, I think Hall may be well suited for the full New York course, as I've always thought good cross-country runners are well suited for the challenging New York course and Hall's silky smooth stride has always resulted good XC showings as, in addition to the US title in New York, he also was 2nd at NCAAs in college and 3rd at Foot Locker finals in HS. Moreover, Hall's win on a modified New York course at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Central Park was simply electrifying.

But again, the odds are stacked against Hall. I hope he defies those odds and pulls off a victory, but if he does, it will be the greatest performance ever by a US distance runner in my mind.

Who Will Be The Top American In New York?

Ryan Hall 72.1%
Meb Keflezighi 15.8%
Abdi Abdirahman 4.5%
Brian Sell 3.3%
Jorge Torres 2.5%
Bolota Asmerom 1.7%

A Rejuvenated Meb

If Hall has an off day, he very well might not be the top American in the race, as both Meb and Abdi are very accomplished runners. I was going to estimate the odds of Hall not being the top American at about 25-30% and then I realize the LetsRun.com visitors had voted with similar sentiments (see the poll on the right - great minds think alike).

The top American very well may be a seemingly rejuvenated 34-year-old Keflezighi. The 2004 Olympic silver medallist has seemingly found the fountain of youth in 2009, as he's PRed at both the marathon (2:09:21) and half marathon (61:00). En route to his half marathon PR, he also go the US 20k record along the way. En route to his marathon PR, people seemingly have forgotten that he beat Dathan Ritzenhein.

Meb certainly is in good spirits, as he recently talked to Runnersworld.com about how he is "rededicating" himself to the sport. Now talk is cheap, but Meb's recent results back up his talk, as does his recent permanent relocation to the high altitude environment of Mammoth Lakes.

That being said, Meb is 34 and his marathon PR is 2:09:21 on a flat course. Meb's prep half may have been faster than Hall's but Hall's was a tactical affair. And in my book, despite Meb's Olympic silver, Hall is a better marathoner than Meb (Meb's silver says to me that he may be a better hot weather marathoner). So if they both have good days, expect Hall to be the top American, but it would be nice to see a resurgent Meb mix things up.

The Enigma - Abdirahman

Predicting what the 32-year-old Abdi Abidrahman is going to do is a little bit like predicting the weather. You generally have an idea of what you are going to get but are never quite sure until the day actually comes. Abdi comes into New York with some good results behind him, as he was just 17 seconds behind Hall at the New York Half (61:52 to Hall's 61:35) in August and then he won the Medtronic US 10 Mile Championship in 46:35 in early October.

But the one thing I've always wondered about Abdi is, "Is he a marathoner at heart?" Abdi admitted that my questions are well founded as he recently gave an interview to universalsports.com where he talked about how he's often tacked on a marathon after a long track season that ended with the World Championships or Olympics. Well, that's not the case this year and Abdi says he's better prepared for the marathon this time out.

That bodes well for Abdi, as the last time he ran a fall marathon with a proper buildup and not after a long track season was in 2006, when he ran 2:08:56 in Chicago.

One's Debut & One's Swan Song

Three other US Olympians are also racing in the 2009 ING New York City marathon. 2008 Olympic Marathoner Brian Sell is tired of the grind and moving on to dental school. It's interesting to note that Sell is significantly younger at age 30 than eight of the top athletes in Bouramdane (31), Cheruiyot (31), Lel (31), Abdi (32), dos Santos (32), Meb (34), Gharib (37), and Ramaala (37). Given his talent level, Sell has accomplished an awful lot and being a dentist is probably a lot more lucrative than being a 35-year-old former 2:10 marathoner.

2008 10k Olympian Jorge Torres will make what in my mind is a much overdo debut at the marathon at the age of 29. Just for financial reasons, one has to wonder if Jorge should have made his debut a few years ago. Ritz got a reported $200,000 in 2006 for his NY debut when he didn't deserve it. Now with the recent success of American marathoners, Torres' debut isn't getting much attention. With his cross-country background, the New York course is a good place for the Chicago native to make his debut. It's interesting to note that his PRs at the shorter distances of 1,500, 5k and 10k - 3:41, 13:20 and 27:42 - are very similar to those of 34-year-old Dan Browne, who has PRs of 3:41, 13:16 and 27:42. Browne, a 2004 Olympian at 10k and the marathon, has a marathon PR of 2:11:35.

Browne, Sell and Torres are guys worth watching, but they have next to zero chance of being major factors up front.

The Big Question: Who Wins In New York?

Ryan Hall 36.4%
James Kwambai 25.9%
Robert Cheruiyot 10.5%
Jaouad Gharib 9.7%
Marilson Gomes Dos Santos 5.9%
Patrick Makau 5.9%
Other 3.0%
Hendrick Ramaala 2.8%

Predictions:
I was very confident in picking Lel for the win, so his withdrawal has really messed me up. So that leaves just Jaouad Gharib and Patrick Makau from my original top 3. If I could add two more and do a top 4 most likely to win, I'd go with those two and then James Kwambai and dos Santos.

But even though he's won in New York twice before, when I think of dos Santos, I just have a hard time seeing him beating a slew of 2:05 and 2:06 guys, although he could do it as New York is a real race, not a time trial.

If Kwambai wins, look for it to be in blowout fashion, as he'll rewrite what I know about marathon training since he was super-sharp for his recent half marathon. Too sharp in my mind, but he does train under a good coach in Berardelli and since I originally was going to pick three guys, I am going to add him to my list as a third potential winner.

Choosing between Gharib and Makau for #1 is tough. Makau is a half marathon phenom like Wanjiru. The two-time World Half Marathon silver medallist and the #2 performer of all time at the half, Gharib is one of the most consistent marathoners over the last few years and the #10 performer in history.

So while I should probably pick Gharib, I'm going to say Makau will win, as he's 24 to Gharib's 37, and I inevitably root against Moroccans given the large number of EPO cheats that have come out of the country.

Rojo's Predictions: 1) Makau 2) Gharib 3) Kwambai 4) Hall

When I wrote my original predictions, I was very confident and I guess I'll stick with my confidence. If Makau, Gharib or Kwambai don't win, I'll give $50 to one person who correctly does pick the winner. Please click here for more info.

Editor's note: Rojo is too cheap. We've decided to give $50 to the person who picks the winner of the men's race and comes closest to the winning time, even if the winner is one of Rojo's top 3. And we'll do $50 for the person who picks the winner of the women's race and comes closest to her winning time. All you need to do is give us the winner of the race and the predicted winning time. The person who comes closest wins. If there is a tie, we'll randomly pick the winner.

Radcliffe's New York Marathon tips

Paula Radcliffe goes back to New York this weekend with a sense of déjà vu in the air.

She has won the marathon there three times before, on each occasion at the end of a year spoiled by injury, and now she is hoping that history can repeat itself once again on Sunday.

Despite the fact that her 36th birthday is now just over a month away, Radcliffe believes she is ready to put the disappointment of missing out on this summer's World Championships behind her.

"In some ways you get better with age," she told BBC Sport. "Things like endurance and mental strength, if anything, get stronger.

"You have to accept that sometimes it takes longer to recover from hard sessions and when you do get injuries sometimes it can take a bit longer for the body to heal as it gets older.

"But I don't think you need to put more work in. Sometimes you can get race fit quicker because you have that backlog behind you."

606: DEBATE
Ten years ago I competed in my first marathon, in London; 10 years on I've decided to do it again, this time in New York!

Nick Crowther
Radcliffe's experience of the Big Apple will stand her in good stead. As she has found out in the past, the marathon is vastly different to compete in than the other big-city races.

"New York is a difficult one in terms of the start because everybody has to get out to Staten Island and people doing it for the first time don't realise how early you have to get out there and how long you're out there," she said.

"The other thing is that the road surface is very different in New York to London. "Where London is pretty good tarmac most of the way, in New York there's a lot of concrete and a lot of potholes! So when you're running with a lot of people you have to keep your eyes down and be very aware - a lot of people twist ankles.

"There's a bridge when you go into the Bronx - around 18/20 miles - and that's metal grid. That's pretty hard on your feet at that stage as well.

"But a lot of people underestimate how much harder it can be running on concrete, so it's important to have good, well-cushioned shoes and be ready for a bit more dead-legged feeling in the final couple of miles than in London."

Radcliffe shares the amateur runner's love of going for a run when visiting somewhere for the first time.

"Definitely, definitely," enthused the world marathon record-holder. "That's the good thing about New York too - you get to run through a lot of the city and it changes from borough to borough.

"In London it's a great crowd but you know you're in London the whole way, whereas in New York you know when you're in Williamsburg, you know when you're in the Bronx - and they're totally different.

"One year some of the Jewish rabbis just started walking across the street right in front of us. I thought the camera bike was going to knock them over because they didn't even bat an eyelid or look at us. It was kind of a surreal moment."

Radcliffe has warned New York debutants of the unexpected effect of running on to Manhattan for the first time," she stated. "When you hit First Avenue it's just so loud!

"It's really quiet on the [Queensboro] bridge. All you hear is the footfalls of other runners around you.


Second in the World Championship 10,000m was a "high-point" in 1999
"Then you just come down into this wall of sound and it's a massive, long, straight road and a lot of people pick up there at a dangerous point in the race - 16 to 17 miles - when you can empty reserves a little too quickly."

So has she ever been affected by it?

"I've always heard the warning stories so it hasn't affected me but I have seen Hendrik Ramaala a couple of times really surge hard on First Avenue and then pay for it a little bit coming back through the park," she revealed.

It was 10 years ago that Paula started on the long journey to running marathons.

"That was a really good year," she reflected. "I remember getting engaged and running about four personal bests on the trot then getting the 10,000m silver medal at the World Championships.

"But already in the back of my mind I was feeling the move towards the longer distances so that was the first year I did the Great North Run.

"I did it at the wrong time - at the end of a long track season - but really, really loved the road racing scene and the atmosphere."

It is a love affair that has grown over the years.

"Road racing is something really special," she added. "It's something you don't get on the track because you have 35,000 people all doing the same race and you really pick up on that camaraderie."

First press conference: The Americans

Loaded field set for USA Men's Marathon Championship

It's difficult to pick a favorite for this weekend's USA Men's Marathon Championship. As one of the most competitive U.S. men's fields outside of an Olympic Trials lines-up Sunday at the ING New York City Marathon, the field is loaded with a wide range of experience and emerging talent.

Ryan Hall (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), sports the fastest marathon in the field (2:06:17) but Meb Keflezighi (San Diego, Calif.) has seen a return to the form that earned him an Olympic Silver medal in the marathon in 2004.

Keflezighi's year started off with a USA Half Marathon title in Houston and from there he went on to win titles at the USA Cross Country Championships, USA 7 Mile Championships as well as turning in a time of 1:01:00 half marathon to win the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in San Jose, setting a then U.S. 20 km record en route.

Hall and Keflezighi will likely have plenty of company in their race through the five-boroughs. Joining them in the hunt for the U.S. title will be Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.) who recently won his fourth USA 10 Mile Championship title in a championship record, 46:35. With several months of focused preparation behind him, Abdirahman says that he is better prepared for this marathon than any of his previous attempts.

2008 Olympian Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.) is reportedly making his last appearance in a major marathon but can't be overlooked as a top-five finisher given the experience that has served him well in the Big Apple before.

This year's championships could also provide a glimpse into the future of U.S. marathoners with the much anticipated debut of Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.), a two-time USA 8 km champion. Also stepping up to the marathon for the first time will be Josh Moen (Minneapolis, Minn.), who pushed Abdirahman to the final mile of the men's 10 mile championships earlier this month, finishing only three seconds back.

Others to watch will include Bolota Asmerom (Oakland, Calif.), Fasil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Nick Arciniaga (Rochester Hills, Mich.), Jason Lehmkuhle (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Max King (Bend, Ore.).

The ING New York City Marathon will be presented live on Universalsports.com at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday.

About the USA Running Circuit

The USA Men's Marathon Championships is the final race on the 2009 USA Running Circuit (USARC). The USARC is a USA Track & Field road series, featuring USA Championships from 5 km to the marathon and attracts the best U.S. distance runners.

The USARC is a USA Track & Field road series featuring USA Championships from one mile to the marathon, which attracts the best U.S. distance runners. The 2009 USARC has ten events each for men and women. Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.) currently leads the men's standings with 53 points but either Keflezighi or Abdirahman could overtake him with at least a runner-up finish on Sunday.

The first ten U.S. runners earn points at each USARC race (15 for first, 12 for second, 10 for third, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1), with a final $12,500 grand prix purse ($6,000, $4,000, and $2,500) for the top three men and women point scorers overall. The USARC points at the USA Marathon Championships will be doubled.

The mission of the USA Running Circuit is to showcase, support, and promote U.S. runners. Since its inception in 1995, the USARC and its races have provided over $6 million dollars to U.S. distance runners.

For more information on the USA Men's Marathon Championship and the 2009 USARC visit www.usatf.org.

NYC in pictures: Niketown

NYC bound: Jorge Torres

Sunday marks a new chapter in the life of Jorge Torres, when he makes his marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon. Torres has been one of the United States’ top runners since winning his first NCAA cross country title in 2002 while competing for the University of Colorado. He finished third in the national championships at 10,000m in 2008 and earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. His 10,000m personal best is 27:42.91 and his 5,000m best is 13:20.57. So Torres’s first marathon has been long anticipated.

“It’s a little nerve-racking because everything has gone so smoothly,” Torres, 29, said by phone from his home in Boulder, Colo. “That has never really happened in any other preparation I’ve done. So the hay is in the barn, and now it’s time to race.”

Sunday’s marathon is the USA men’s championship, and the loaded field includes other Olympians such as Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman and Brian Sell.

Torres has been quoted as looking for a time of 2:10 in New York, but he clarified those reports. “That’s just the pace I intend to start out with,” he said. “I don’t plan to deviate from that pace, and if I end up going a little faster or slower at some point, that’s okay. But I’m not planning to hit the wall.”

While his preparation has gone well, Torres’s life in the past several months has been anything but predictable. After a disappointing ninth-place finish at 10,000m (28:42.13) in the national championships in June, Torres prepared to turn his attention to a fall marathon. But first, he attended to personal business – his wedding to Emily Oates.

The next order of personal business was tragic, as only eight days later, his mentor and former middle school coach, Greg Fedyski, was critically injured in a car accident while driving home to Illinois from Torres’s wedding in Colorado after vacationing in Colorado following the wedding.

Torres’s mother, Maria, also in the car, was critically injured as well; both were on life support, and Fedyski died when that support was later terminated. Maria Torres has since made a nearly complete recovery. Torres’s sister-in-law, Maria, also in the car, suffered minor injuries.

“It’s one of those things that happen,” Torres says. “'Fed’ was a big part of my life. He kept me focused. He went to Beijing with my family; we all celebrated my 28th birthday there. I’ll always have great memories of him, the last ones from my wedding. He was happy.

“My regret is that he always wanted to see me do a marathon. I know he’s still behind me, in spirit. I’ve learned that life is precious, that every moment counts.”

Torres marathon preparation didn’t begin in earnest until the end of July, and then with the joy of a new marriage tempered by the death of a friend. Coached by former marathon world record holder Steve Jones, Torres has persevered and tallied weeks of around 135 to 140 miles.

“From Day 1, when Coach Jones and Fed met, Fed approved of him,” Torres says. “So I know I’m in good hands. We started working together in 2008, and we clicked really well immediately, especially in the marathon. I’ve done everything he’s asked me to do, at that level or better. Coach Jones always says, ‘Be consistent,’ and we’ve done that. Now it’s time for me to perform.”

Tragedy keeps Tune home – The New York Road Runners were set to announce a couple of weeks ago that Ethiopian Dire Tune, the 2008 Boston Marathon champion, would be added to the elite field in the 2009 New York City Marathon. But about an hour before the group planned to circulate the announcement, Tune called them to say she would not be running.

Tune cited the murder last month in Ethiopia of her mother-in law and father-in law as reason for withdrawing from the race.

Marathon man - Yes, it’s overused, but if anyone deserves the accolade, it’s Brian Boyle from Welcome, Maryland. In 2004, a month after graduating from high school and on his way home from swim practice, Boyle was involved in a near fatal auto wreck with a dump truck. He spent two months comatose on dialysis and life support and underwent 14 major operations. Miraculously, Boyle survived, and three years later completed the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii.

On Oct. 10, Boyle, 23, ran the Baltimore Marathon in 4:05:03. On Sunday, he ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 4:33:07 and this Sunday he’ll run the ING New York City Marathon.

“This story has a happy ending,” exclaimed Boyle’s father, Garth, just after Brian crossed the finish line in Washington, D.C.

For his part, Brian Boyle was pleased with his Marine Corps effort.

“I’m feeling tired from Baltimore,” he said, “and I’m trying to save a bit for New York next week. In Baltimore [where he spent most of his time in recovery], I wanted to say thank you to the doctors there who saved my life. Today is in honor of my grandfather, a Vietnam War veteran.”

Boyle, 23, is a student at St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland, where he competes on the swim team. Aside from that training, school work and running three marathons in one month, “he’s trying to qualify for Kona” [the 2010 Ironman World Championships in Hawaii].

Ladies night - Joan Benoit Samuelson and Grete Waitz will be joined by Deena Kastor on Thursday as part of the TimesTalk series at the New York Times building. Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist, will run the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Waitz has won the race a record nine times and Kastor is the American marathon record holder.

Getting older, better - George Hirsch, the founder and former publisher of Runner’s World magazine, has idolized his friends, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter, for decades. Now 75 and more than a decade older than his heroes, Hirsch finds the tables have turned – he can now beat Rodgers and Shorter at the marathon.

When Hirsch ran the first five-borough New York City Marathon in 1976, he finished in 2:49; Rodgers won the race in 2:10 and Shorter was second in 2:13.

Hirsch will run the 40th New York City Marathon on Sunday with Rodgers joining him over the last few miles. Shorter had planned to join the final celebratory stretch, but a hip injury has sidelined him.

And expect Hirsch to do pretty well. He started the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 11 as a 20-mile training run, but felt good enough to finish in 3:58:42. Rodgers, 61, ran 4:06:49 at the Boston Marathon in April.

NYC bound EXTREME: Martin Lel OUT!

Well, this surely DOES change things considerably.

We were among many "pundits," if you will, who thought that as loaded as the New York City men's field was, Lel, the two-time New York City and three-time London Marathon champion, still had to rate as the favorite if he was healthy. He's not; despite his recent 59:32 victory in the Great North Run, the esteemed English half marathon, Lel still has a persistent leg injury and has had to withdraw from Sunday's marathon. "The good result of the half marathon made us believe it (the injury) could be over but in the last day this problem came out again and he was forced to make this painful decision,” says Lel's manager, Federico Rosa. Lel's absence now opens up the marathon to a slew of possible contenders - James Kwambai, Robert K. Cheruiyot, Patrick Makau, Marilson Gomes dos Santos, Jaouad Gharib, Hendrick Ramaala, and yes, Americans Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi. There are a couple of less well-known runners on the entry list who do have formidable personal bests - Jackson Kotut Kipkoech of Kenya (2:08:07) and Chala Dechase of Ethiopia (2:08:31). New York's women's race has seen the withdrawal of Russia's Tatyana Petrova, the 2009 Los Angeles Marathon winner. She's not to be confused with 2000 New York City champ Ludmila Petrova, who set a masters record of 2:25:43 with a second place in New York last year and is back again.

get all news about martin lel's cancellation HERE

NYC bound: Hendrick Ramaala

South Africa's leading distance runner, Hendrick Ramaala, expects the toughest challenge to come from Martin Lel when the 37-year-old lines up for his eighth New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Despite the withdrawal of injured former world record holder Paul Tergat, New York race director Mary Wittenberg has again put together a world-class field.

Lel hasn't run a marathon since winning the London race in April 2008, but the 31-year-old is a class act and Ramaala was unsure whether the rest would be good oe bad for the Kenyan who won New York in 2003 and 2007, and has three London Marathon titles to his credit.

"Hopefully the rest will be bad for him," Ramaala joked, adding that he expected the Kenyan to control the race from the gun.

"I think he's the man to watch. If he starts fast, we're going to have a tough race."

But Lel won't be the South African's only opposition. The impressive line-up includes Kenyan Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, a four times Boston marathon champion and former Chicago Marathon winner, Olympic silver medallist and twice world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, defending champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, who also won New York in 2006, and Kenyan Patrick Makau, the second fastest half-marathon runner in history.

NYC bound: Jason Lehmkuhle and Josh Moen

Team USA Minnesota's Jason Lehmkuhle and Josh Moen will be among the competitors at the USA Men's Marathon Championship hosted by the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1. The two will be part of a deep American field contesting the national marathon along with some of the world's best international marathoners who will be in the mix for the open prize purse and overall title. Between the open division for men and women and the USA Championship division and other awards, the prize money purse totals $800,000 for the 40th running of the New York City Marathon.

Lehmkuhle's credentials include a fifth place finish at the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials held in New York's Central Park in November 2007 followed by an eighth place finish at the ING New York City Marathon in 2008. He has a best in the distance of 2:12:54. This fall, Lehmkuhle placed third at the USA 20k Championships on Labor Day in a personal best time of 59:04, placed second at the Cow Harbor 10k in 29:18, and was fourth at the USA Men's 10 Mile Championship in a personal best of 47:16.

"I've run three races this fall and they have all gone very well with new PRs at 20k and 10 miles," said Lehmkuhle. "These fast races are certainly a positive indicator, but, in my experience, good races at shorter distances are certainly no guarantee of marathon success. My training has been very good during this buildup. Generally, the marathon-specific workouts have been on par with my best ever.

"This year's ING New York City Marathon is probably the deepest American field since the 2007 Olympic Marathon Trials and definitely the most competitive marathon field top to bottom that I have ever run in. It's exciting to be part of. I think I can run in the 2:11 to 2:12 range in New York and I'm going to focus on that. The goal for me in a marathon this top-heavy is to run a smart race, finish well over the last four miles and, in the process, maybe run down a few guys who should beat me on paper."

Moen will be running in his second marathon at the New York Championship, having run his first at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in 2008 in a race that was marked by heavy rain and wind. His time was 2:23:16. During 2009, Moen has continually improved, setting personal bests in the 5000 and 10,000 meters on the track of 13:35.73 and 28:26.26 respectively. On the roads, he was sixth at the USA 7 Mile Championships in July and second at the USA Men's 10 Mile Championship on Oct. 4 in a personal best time of 46:38. In addition, this fall Moen won the Victory 10k and the Run for Oromia 5k, both in Minneapolis.

"My training this year for the marathon has been different in that I've done more racing and actually done less work than in the past," said Moen, who joined Team USA Minnesota in August 2008. "This has made my legs feel fresher and given me more of a pop in my stride. Jason and I have been doing the harder workouts together.

"I think New York will go very well. I'm not sure how well but it's going to be good. I want to run competitively to the end in the U.S. Championship. Jason has given me some insights from his experience at New York. I'm expecting Manhattan to be the point where I need to relax and not be fueled too much by the crowds as there will still be nine miles to go."

NBC Sports will televise the 40th running of the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. (Eastern) in a two-hour tape delay coverage. The women's professional field starts at 9:10 a.m., the men's championship and open field begins at 9:40, followed by a wave of runners at 10:00 and at 10:20. A record field of more than 40,000 runners from around the globe will take to the streets of New York. The 26.2-mile race will be seen by 2.5 million spectators lined along the route as runners pace through New York City's five boroughs -Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, and finish at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

NYC bound: Brian Sell

In late August, runnersworld.com's Peter Gambaccini interviewed Kevin Hanson, the co-founder with his brother Keith of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. The interview ended by talking about Brian Sell and his preparation for the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1. "I know he's said it a lot, but this will be Brian's swan song," Hanson said. "I'm not sure he's still in it mentally. I'm not sure he hasn't checked out. And I don't really mean that as a criticism. I don't really blame him. But one of the things for him is that he's never really run the New York City Marathon, and that was definitely one of the things he wanted to do before he was done. And I'm 95 percent sure this will be it for him."

Hanson's first instinct, to acknowledge that Sell has talked about retiring "a lot," was probably understated. Sell, now 31, began training with the brothers in 2002, a year after graduating from college, and was telling reporters about his impending retirement by 2003. Except for a stretch in 2006, he has said something about quitting and going to dental school before nearly all the major races of his career. At the Olympic marathon trials in November 2007, he was a sentimental favorite to make the Beijing team in part because he had announced that, barring qualification, the trials race would be his last. He has been disappointed by his two most recent marathons, a 2:16, 22nd-place finish in hot weather at the Olympics (for which he did qualify), and another 2:16 on a windy day at the Boston Marathon in April. Through early September, his build-up for New York was going poorly and the combination of bad racing and bad training had prompted a new round of retirement talk.

"Brian's done a nice job of balancing other things in his life outside of running," Hansons runner Mike Morgan told me. "I think that's where you get the whole retirement thing coming in, maybe." Whether this is Morgan's logic or Sell's is not clear, but Sell has said similar things, about taking care of his family and moving on, for years. When the topic approaches quitting in interviews he very often mentions getting a "real job." "You can't blame it all on the elements," he told me in late September. "Sometimes you just have to look at the numbers and say, ‘Hey, you know, it's time to move on and get a real job,’ or continue my education and think about the future."

In 1965, the writer John McPhee published a book about a basketball player at Princeton University named Bill Bradley. McPhee's first visit to see the future NBA star play was in 1962, Bradley's freshman year. "I watched the general flow on the court for awhile," McPhee wrote in the book, which he titled A Sense of Where You Are, "and it was soon clear enough who had drawn the crowd, and that he was the most graceful and classical basketball player who had ever been near Princeton, to say the very least."

This is a difficult standard to apply to Brian Sell, whom nobody has regarded as one of the most talented (or graceful) runners in the sport and whose claim to fame, a fame that is limited more or less to a small, very devoted base of running fanatics, is rather opposite Bradley's. Nobody knew Sell's name when he was a freshman in college, and certainly nobody wrote a book about him. Nobody knew much of anything about Sell until 2004 when he led the Olympic trials marathon by a wide margin until 22 miles and then faded badly. After that he became famous; his boldness made him a cult hero, and even though it was poor race strategy it was essential to the creation of the myth of Brian Sell. His myth, which has been borne out no less than Bradley's, though on a smaller stage, is backwards: it is the myth of the underdog, not the superstar.

Sell is well-suited to his role, temperamentally and otherwise, and for its part the marathon rewards underdogs. The Hansons have been marathon-oriented since the group's formation in 1999; their idea is that marathoners, unlike shorter-distance athletes, can be built from scratch. They lived through the golden age of American marathoning in the 1970s and 1980s, and they wanted to bring that era's style of group training and high mileage back to the U.S. Running is a peculiar sport in that precocious talent is often idealized far less than determination. It is at least understood that where an unskilled basketball player cannot really ever overcome poor coordination, a slow runner can simply train his way out of mediocrity, and this has become the Hansons mantra. Being talentless is not dishonorable, and ability is far less important than consistency and dedication. Hard workers are canonized.

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NYC bound: Meb Keflezighi

The last time Meb Keflezighi ran a marathon in New York he had the worst day of his running career.
Two years ago at the Olympic trials, the 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist took ill a few days before the race, suffered calf cramps because of dehydration the last half of the 26.2 miles and wound up breaking his right hip. That wasn't the worst part.

Shortly after finishing eighth, five spots out of another Olympic berth, he learned that his close friend and ex-training partner, Ryan Shay, had died during the race of heart-related problems.

Keflezighi collapsed upon hearing the news. "We spent thousands and thousands of miles running and taking ice baths," he said of his time training with Shay in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

They talked on the bus ride to the start line in New York and had spent an afternoon reminiscing in the hotel lobby a few days before the race. "Life in general, his plans," Keflezighi says of their chat. "I definitely miss him."

Keflezighi, 34, has gotten a second wind in his running career after fearing injuries might force him into retirement. He's among the favorites in Sunday's New York City Marathon in a field that includes U.S. countrymen Ryan Hall, Brian Sell and Abdi Abdirahman plus Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot and defending champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil.

"(Shay) was definitely an inspiration for me to get healthy with good training," Keflezighi said. "He's going to be in my thoughts throughout the race."

Keflezighi's comeback has occurred in stages. For a few days after the 2007 race, he had to walk on all fours in his hotel room. His legs and feet were so swollen he couldn't fly to Shay's funeral.

It wasn't until a couple of months later that doctors figured out he had a hip stress fracture.

Last fall he spent two months at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, concentrating on strengthening the right side of his lower body during daily rehab sessions.

"You're only as good as your wheels," said Bob Larsen, the retired UCLA coach who has been coaching Keflezighi for 15 years. "That whole side needed balancing out, from the hip all the way down. The whole foundation needed to be reworked.

"If 2008 didn't knock him out, you've got to say he's got great character and great motivation to keep going with how much work he had to put in without racing."

The work has paid off with an outstanding 2009. Keflezighi ran a personal best marathon of 2:09:21 in London in April in addition to personal bests in the half marathon and 7 miles. He's now talking about the 2012 London Olympics.

Keflezighi's family has been a source of strength. He and wife Yordanos have two daughters, ages 3 and 1, with another child due in January. The native of Eritrea, who came to the USA in 1987, has 10 brothers and sisters, including brother Merhawi, his agent.

The downtime gave Keflezighi an opportunity to savor his accomplishments that include a U.S. record in the 10,000 in addition to his 19 U.S. titles and Olympic medal.

"God has blessed me with another chance," he said. "I have accomplished many things. It's possible there are others to accomplish. I don't think my God-given talent has been fully tapped."

ING extends title sponsor deal with NYC Marathon

ING has extended its deal to serve as the title sponsor of the New York City Marathon.

The contract was extended three years through 2013. The original deal, signed in 2003, had been renewed twice.

The European financial services giant said Monday it would split in two, spinning off its insurance arm to simplify its business and issuing new shares to repay bailout money in the Netherlands. The dramatic change in strategy capped a year of cutting costs and selling operations since the financial crisis struck, when ING was kept afloat only with two major rounds of assistance from the Dutch state.

Race director Mary Wittenberg said the event proved its value by still drawing a large number of international and out-of-town runners willing to spend the money to travel to New York in spite of the crisis. The race attracted more than 100,000 applicants for the second straight year. As in recent years, about half the field is from abroad; among Americans, about half are from outside the region.

"It was striking how people still applied and people from around the world still want to run," she said Tuesday.