can mo farah run the fastest half marathon on american soil

[doug5321]

olympic 5/10000 championmo farah is running the new orleans half marathon, the fastest half marathon on american soil is 58:46 by matthew kisorio in philadelphia, do you think he can beat that time?

also meseret defar, shalane flanagan and kara goucher are among the elite womens field.

my picks
men
1. mo farah 58:40

women
1. meseret defar 1:05.59
2. shalane flanagan 1:06.25
3. kara goucher 1:07.35

[doug5321]

http://running.competitor.com/2013/02/n ... eans_65899

[Fortius19]

I think he will be lucky to break 60:00.

I'm interested in seeing what Lagat can do over the half also.

[26mi235]

Lagat has been a 1500/3000/5000 guy; I am not sure he has ever run a 10,000. Thus, a Half is jump in range, unlike a 'step' for Farah. Since both of these athletes excel at racing, a Half is probably not their best option, racing on the track is.

[doug5321]

Lagat has been a 1500/3000/5000 guy; I am not sure he has ever run a 10,000. Thus, a Half is jump in range, unlike a 'step' for Farah. Since both of these athletes excel at racing, a Half is probably not their best option, racing on the track is.

of course lagat will run good at half marathons, a long time ago a girl from norway who had never run further than 3000 meters in a race (she was very good at 1500 and 3000 meters. or 9 miles in a training run ran a world record in the new york marathon after winning new york 8 more times she (grete waitz) is arguably the best ever womens marathoner.

lagat being one of the very top 5000 meter runners should do quite well in the half marathon

[26mi235]

The problem with the analogy is that Waitz was not one whose forte was kicking for the win repeated across the years. Also, at the time, women had few opportunities to see if they could run longer distances, so what we know was constrained in a manner that nowhere exemplifies the situation with Lagat.

Yes, he might be pretty good at it, but I would be more than stunned if he was better at the half than at his prior distances. He is very good, so he likely would be able to put up a decent time but he knows his optimal training and it involves relatively modest mileage.

[nevetsllim]

Why do you expect Farah to run sub-59? It just sounds like you plucked a time out of the air. I'm sure he can do it one day but not this weekend.

[nevetsllim]

I think he will be lucky to break 60:00.

I'm interested in seeing what Lagat can do over the half also.

Lagat's racing the New York HM, not New Orleans.

[doug5321]

probably unrealistically fast, but i picked the time which would beat matthew kisorios 58:46 USA all comers record, i am hoping to see good times its a fast course, martin lel, markos genetti and gebre gebremariam are also running, so i hope they go for a fast time.