Every sport fan loves a good rivalry and a little drama. In marathoning, it’s usually your competitors, the course or weather conditions that present the challenge. After Hall’s 5th place finish at the 2011 Chicago Marathon, Hall added Phil Hersh to his list of adversaries.
While addressing the media after the race, Hall noted that he was happy with performance and related, “There’s not too many American guys out there that can run 2:08″. Chicago Tribune reporter Phil Hersh was quick to point out that “Being the best American marathoner doesn’t mean a whole lot after a while, I would think”. You can watch the exchange and judge for yourself thanks to Flotrack. The guy’s at LetsRun even made it their first story in their Week That Was post and broke down the situation.
So a month of after Chicago and 24 hours after the finish of the NYC Marathon, Hersh took to Twitter to let some more his thoughts be known.
Meb Keflizighistops at 22 miles, vomits,keeps going, runs his fastest mara (2:09:13) ever on relatively slow NY course. . .
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 7, 2011
While Ryan Hall stops running with leaders about halfway on fast Chi course, runs 2:08:04. . .and Hall acolytes rip me for criticizing him
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 7, 2011
The point is:Ryan Hall, you’re no Meb Keflizighi
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 7, 2011
I am not sure what prompted Hersh to tweet these observations (We’ve reached out to him for comment). While Meb deserves to be praised, I find it odd that Hersh would choose the day after New York City to pick apart Hall’s Chicago performance and let Hall that he’s not Meb Keflizhi.
Bulletin board material for Houston and London?
Updated 12:30pm: Mr. Hersh’s response via Twitter
@olyphil What prompted the Hall, Meb, marathon tweets?
— Jim McDannald (@jmcdannald) November 8, 2011
Results of NY Mara and the hyperbolic reaction of US running fandom RT @jmcdannald: @olyphil What prompted the Hall, Meb, marathon tweets?
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 8, 2011
@olyphil Did you get a lot of hate mail & email from fans?Was it the way the Chi press conf was played up in the running blogosphere?
— Jim McDannald (@jmcdannald) November 8, 2011
@jmcdannald I repeat my original premise:The best US marathoner, to paraphrase V. Hugo, is often one-eyed man being king in land of blind
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 8, 2011
@jmcdannald By my quick count, Ryan Hall’s Chicago time makes him the world’s 47th fastest marathoner this year.Enough said
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 8, 2011
There’s no doubt where Ryan Hall currently ranks amongst his peers as Mr. Hersh points out. But that wasn’t the question. Mr. Hersh, who are the “fans” or “land of the blind”? I can assure you, both of my eyes were wide open watching the Boston, London, Chicago, Berlin, Frankfurt and New York marathons this year.
Update 8:00pm
@jmcdannald Because I was struck by Meb’s grit, and it recalled how easily Hall had settled for being less than a contender.
— Philip Hersh (@olyphil) November 8, 2011
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