|
Touted for the past several years as “the future of U.S. distance running,” Dathan Ritzenhein seems determined to prove that the future is now. Hoping to shake the injury bug that has plagued his career, Ritzenhein moved earlier this month to Eugene, Oregon, from Boulder, Colorado, where he had starred at the University of Colorado and met his wife, Kalin.
Ritzenhein's coach, Brad Hudson, a former Oregon star and 2:13 marathoner, also moved to Eugene. The move to Eugene brings Ritzenhein and Hudson closer to trusted adviser Alberto Salazar, a three-time ING New York City Marathon champion. Salazar-like superstardom has been predicted for Ritzenhein ever since he narrowly missed setting all-time high school records at two miles and 5000 meters in Rockford, Michigan. He helped lead Colorado to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2002, won the individual cross-country title in 2003, made the U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters in 2004, and ran a 2:14:01 in his marathon debut to finish 11th in the ING New York City Marathon 2006—all of which has left racing fans asking for more.
Still only 24, Ritzenhein figures to have a memorable year in 2007. He hopes to compete in the 10,000 meters at the World Track and Field Championships, August 25-September 2 in Osaka, Japan, and then qualify for Team USA at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, November 3, in New York. He is about to become a father for the first time. This Saturday, he’ll run in the third annual Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. It’s his first race since suffering a stress reaction in his foot two weeks after finishing third in the USA Cross County Championships in February. Men’s Racing caught up to Ritzenhein after a training run for Saturday’s race.
Editor's Update: Ritzenhein surprised many at the Healthy Kidney 10K. He defeated Craig Mottram, winning the race in 28:08, breaking the 10-year course record.
MensRacing.com: This month you and Kalin moved from Boulder, Colorado, to Eugene, Oregon. Why?
Dathan Ritzenhein:
It was a hard decision because Boulder was where we lived for the past six years, and we both went to the University of Colorado in Boulder. But I’ve had some consistent injuries over the past few years, so we really thought we needed to make this change. Here in Eugene, there are a lot more soft surfaces to run on.
MR: Did your coachplay a role in the decision?
DR:
Yeah, he did. Brad went to school here [at the University of Oregon] and lived here for many years. He thought it would be in my best interests to move.
MR:
How much did you and Kalin talk about the move? Aside from running, there are quality-of-life issues. You must have left many friends behind in Boulder.
DR: Yeah. We talked about it a lot because it’s a major change for us. Fortunately, Kalin supports me so much that she was willing to pack up everything and move to a place where we don’t really know many people. It was definitely a difficult decision. But we had talked about it two years ago—the last time I was hurt. We discussed then the option of doing this, but we weren’t quite ready at that point. This time we decided to give it a shot and hope that we get a big benefit from coming here.
MR: Is it an advantage for you as a runner represented by Nike to now be in Oregon where Nike was founded?
DR:
It’s definitely an advantage as a Nike athlete to be only an hour and a half from the headquarters up in Beaverton. There are so many resources available for me to go there and train on. I’ve used the treadmills they have up there and seen some of the doctors. And I’ve gotten a lot of help from Alberto Salazar and people at Nike who are trying to help me reach my potential.
MR: Speaking of potential, you’ve been called “the future of U.S. distance running.” What is it like to have such high expectations placed upon you?
DR:
If anything, being someone who has these high expectations keeps me in the spotlight a little bit more so maybe people are watching me more. I’m doing my best to reach my potential. We’ve made a big enough change that it lets me go in a new direction and feel like I’m doing something new to help fulfill my potential. I’ve gotten a lot of support. Hopefully, the fans will continue to support me. We’re hoping everything clicks here and we can do everything that they’re hoping for.
MR: How would you describe your year so far?
DR:
I had a little bump in the road after the U.S. Cross—getting injured. But it was a small injury. It didn’t keep me out for a long time. I took care of it as well as I could. I would love to win the U.S. Cross, but I have to take that defeat and use it as motivation for the rest of the year. I really feel like things are starting to come together. I’m not in the best shape that I’m going to be in for the year, but I feel like I’ve laid the foundation to have a really strong 2007.
MR: What are your goals for 2007?
DR:
I really want to focus on having a good track season. I feel like I’ve been ready to get some PRs for a while, but I just haven’t quite gotten into races that would allow that to happen. I want to qualify for the World Championships in Osaka. If that happens, hopefully I’ll be feeling good afterward and I can transition over and get ready for the marathon Trials in November. I learned from my previous training that I trained a little too long for the ING New York City Marathon in 2006. Last year when I ran New York, I felt like I didn’t really get much better in the last few weeks. I think my training this year will allow me to have the track season that I want and then train for the right amount of time, transitioning over to marathon training in September and October.
MR: Considering that you had never run a 26.2-mile race prior to the ING New York City Marathon 2006, were you happy with your result?
DR:
No. I was definitely a little disappointed. I tried to be very professional and do everything that I could do to finish well. But I was inexperienced. I ran strong for 21 miles, but then I definitely fell apart and ran out of fuel and faded badly. I was disappointed because I had hoped to finish higher in the standings and finish stronger. I learned from the race, and hopefully I can take that experience into the Trials in November.
MR: Do you expect the U.S. Olympic Trials to be as strategic a race as the ING New York City Marathon 2006 turned out to be?
DR:
I think it’s going to be more so. The course is going to be very difficult. Being a criterium loop course, it’s just going to be over and over and over again. And those hills in Central Park are really going to make it a strategic race. There are so many guys running well right now. I’m going to have to be on the ball and ready to handle anything.
MR: Do you like the American system for choosing its Olympic marathon team—top three finishers make the team, the next two finishers are alternates? The system doesn’t allow any wiggle room for an elite marathoner to make the team if he happens to have a bad day at the Trials.
DR: It’s difficult. Like you say, there are so many things that could go wrong at the Trials. But that really makes it more of an honor to make the team. You really have to perform on that day. You can’t just be lucky and fall into it. The way I qualified for the Olympics in the 10K in 2004, that’s not going to happen anymore because people are running so well that you won’t be able to have a fast time [in a previous race] and still make the team. You’ll have to be totally ready for the Trials and compete well on that day.
MR: Meb Keflezighi told me last month that he would like to see the field of entrants for the U.S. Olympic Trials limited to those who have achieved the “A” standard in a previous marathon. Runners who have competed only in the 5000 or the 10,000 would not be eligible. Do you agree?
DR:
That’s a difficult question. I think the way it is now is going to make [the Trials] a better race. I think a lot more people are going to run the race because they figure this is another shot that they have to make the Olympic team. For the runners who ran [the “B” standard qualifying time] 28:45 or 13:40, those great athletes who might not have not otherwise run in the marathon Trials are going to run it and that’s going to just raise the game for everybody else. The 5000- and 10,000-meter runners will still be at a distinct disadvantage because in your first marathon you never really know what you’re getting into until you actually run it.
MR: But with so much depth in American distance running today, you could run a strong race at the Trials and finish fourth and not make the team.
DR: That would be tough [laughs]. But like I said before, that makes it so much more of an honor if you’re one of the top three guys. You have to be really ready to go because fourth place won’t cut it. I’m worried about that, but that’s going to give me more motivation.
MR: You’re competing this Saturday in the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. Is it special to run in New York?
DR: I really have enjoyed the few times that I’ve run in New York. It’s very cool to run in such a highly populated area. On marathon day, traffic is stopped on so many of the main roads and people are on every corner cheering you on. There’s no other place in the world where you can really get that. Running in New York is always special. I’m really looking forward to the Healthy Kidney because I haven’t run a race since the U.S. Cross. I’m looking forward to being able to prove that my fitness has stayed strong through the injury. I’ve worked really hard at crosstraining to try to get myself ready to go. I think it’ll be a great race to kind of get my feet wet before the track season. Craig Mottram is going to be there. I know it’s going to be a really tough race. I’m really looking forward to it.
MR: When you’ve coming off an injury, is that in the back of your mind when you’re preparing for or competing in the next race? Or is it easy to put the injury out of your mind?
DR: Right now, I don’t even think of having the injury. I know my fitness level is high from all the workouts that I’ve done. I can’t live in fear that something is going happen again. I just train hard and race as hard as I can. Hopefully, the injuries are behind me and I don’t have to worry about them.
MR: How much running have you done leading up to the Healthy Kidney?
DR: Well, it’s been a little bit lower than I would normally be. When I was injured and I was training on that treadmill [at Nike headquarters], I was running a lot of mileage and I ran a ton throughout the winter and I had the marathon training behind me, so I had six months of really high mileage. The last five or six weeks I tried to bring it back a little bit and stay down around 90 to 95 miles a week, where usually I would be around 110 miles a week. I’m trying to stay a little bit lower for now to try to freshen myself up for the track season.
MR: Have you bought a home yet in Eugene?
DR: No. Right now, we’re living in an apartment. We just sold our house in Colorado [on May 11]. We’ve been looking at houses here. But we’re trying not to rush into anything. We have so much going on that we don’t want to overburden ourselves, especially since we have a baby on the way.
MR: Congratulations.
DR: Thank you.
MR: When is the due date?
DR:They’re saying September 22. That could be good timing for us, between the World Championships and the Olympic Trials.
MR: We wish you well, on and off the track.
DR: Thank you.
Interview conducted May 14, 2007, and posted on May 17, 2007.
|
