Roman ran an ambitious race. What many people don’t realize, is that Roman is actually Ukrainian. He is in the process of becoming a US citizen, but Roman did not go to CIM in an effort to get a USOT. It currently is not a possibility for him.
For those that have been following Roman and his build-up, this was a disappointing result for Roman. However, Roman did not go to CIM to run safe. He ran an ambitious race in what was really his first real crack at running a fast marathon – and he blew up. There’s no shame in the blow-up. Roman did not simply start getting slower, he ran until the wheels completely came off – and needed to actually spend time walking during the last few miles.
There is little doubt that Roman could have ran a more intelligent race, but I’m not sure he could have ran with more ambition. It was not a dumb race. Roman was fit, and he went to CIM to see how fast he could run, not to simply run a conservative time that he would be happy with. As Roman said, he wasn’t happy with his result, but he was happy with his effort, and wouldn’t trade the effort for the time.
For 21 miles Roman put his neck into the race, running with the giant pack that would ultimately have many Trials qualifiers in it. Coming away, with healthy respect for the distance, and experience gained, Roman will once again take on 26.2 miles – another day.
Off to track season.
Drew
