If you haven’t heard, Southern Utah’s Cam Levins is going to run the 3000 meters against the pros at Saturday’s New Balance Grand Prix. This is just a week after the Canadian star’s outstanding 5k/3k double at the UW Invitational.
In light of this, RunnerSpace’s Chris Nickinson posted the following on Twitter:
Funny that people are questioning if Ritz should run US XC but not Cam Levins’ decision to run NB GP after last weekend’s doube.
Dathan Ritzenhein, fourth at the Olympic Trials marathon just two weeks ago, is entered for the USATF Cross Country Championships, to be held two weeks from now.
Since I am constitutionally unable to utter the phrase “I don’t have an opinion about that”, I’ll weigh in on this.
There are significant differences here. Ritz is recovering from a 26.2 mile race, Levins from about 5 miles. Ritz has glass legs while Levins hasn’t had much history of injury. Also, and this is important, Ritz went to the end of his abilities. I don’t think Levins did last weekend, and has a lot more in him than he showed.
(Another issue is that the “people” which Chris referred are at Let’s Run, the sports talk radio of distance running, and most of them would prefer to see a foreigner run himself into the ground.)
From a fan’s perspective, I like that Levins is taking the invitation. It means I get to see him race more and against better athletes. There’s something else I like about it too.
One of the hallmarks of modern American distance running is a reticence to race. That’s not the way it was in the 70s and 80s, when we could compete on a higher level than we can now (and it’s not the way Kenyans tend to go about things, either). This is especially true for our marathoners. Levins is a throwback in this regard. He raced the Canadian cross country championships just six days after the NCAA Championships (where he did go to the limits of his abilities) with no apparent ill effects.
Is it a good decision? I have no idea. But I like it.
Here’s part one of a two-part interview with Flotrack.
Watch more video of Indoor Track and Field Season 2012 on flotrack.org
I agree and like that he’s racing. First, aren’t people always complaining that track isn’t popular enough? So, why not ride the wave and get to see the “hot” athlete race a little more, instead of “I got my qualifier, so I’ll just reboot and aim at Nattys now.” Also, if he’s planning on being a success internationally, then he’s going to need to get used to rapid weekly travel in preparation for European seasons. Further, it is one thing to run fast… it is another thing to know how to race fast. He will be much better off for this and gain some absolutely invaluable experience in how to “race” against the best.