Geb vs. Rupp

by Katie Wolpert

This past winter when Geb failed to produce a record-breaking performance at the Dubai Marathon, we were all a little disappointed at his reason. “I wasn’t feeling good this morning because of a back problem,” he told the press. “I slept in a different position, on my stomach, and that caused the problem.” After stories of slippery streets, allergies and side stitches and inappropriate pacing by rabbits in earlier record attempts, the excuses start to feel a bit stale. But hey! He’s Geb. He’s already proven himself, won historic duels and Olympic golds.
And here’s the other thing: back problems or not, he still ran the race. He even went for the record. He fell short and explained it was a great race anyhow. And for doing so, I have nothing but praise.
None of these good-sportsmanship opportunities will be available to Galen Rupp if he avoids all possible pitfalls in his unstated quest for the American Record in the 10,000m this weekend. He’s reported to be running at Payton Jordan on Saturday but if the pollen counts remain “off the charts” he could show up as early as this evening (Friday) at the Oregon Relays but if the weather doesn’t cooperate, maybe they’ll set up a special event for him after the Relays conclude on Saturday evening where he can run against a carefully selected field of pacemakers and fillers and try to take down Meb’s long-standing record.
Certainly, we’ve all had days where the odds are stacked against running a fast time. Certainly, it takes an almost serendipidous combination of conditions to allow elites to break tough records. But really Galen, Alberto, suck it up. Lay it out there, run against an actual field of other athletes and take what you get.
In this situation, if Galen is able to find the right venue, the right race and the right legs, he’ll have a PR, an AR or a SB and that is pretty much it. A fan of Rupp’s would be confounded trying to wind up at the correct place to see him run and a fan of the sport could easily be confounded looking for a race where Rupp is actually competing against others (who might be shooting for records of their own).