World Marathon Majors conference call

RICHARD FINN: I thank everybody for joining us from the United States. We're here at the Flora London Marathon halfway point at the Tower Bridge and we have four special guests with us here; Dave Bedford, the Race Director of the Flora London Marathon, Meb Keflezighi, Dathan Ritzenhein, the leading American contender in a super men's field here, and Kate O'Neill who is representing the United States in the women's field.

We're going to ask each of the three athletes to make an opening remark. It's now my pleasure to introduce Dave Bedford, the Race Director of the Flora London Marathon. Dave.

DAVE BEDFORD: Thank you, Richard. Thank you for joining us and thank you for your interest in this year's Flora London Marathon. It's obviously a hectic week here for us; we had our men's elite press conference yesterday and our women's elite today and, of course, this afternoon we're concentrating on the USA interest. We've had a great build-up so far. It's actually been a lovely week to start preparing the marathon and we've had really good weather; started to get a bit warm on one or two days. It got up to 21 degrees Celsius. We're expecting however that temperature's going to ease away as we get into the weekend and we're currently looking at something peaking on race day at something no more than 17 degrees Celsius, although we're anticipating that the weather in the critical time for the elite athletes will be between 8 and 12 degrees Celsius. We can't get any closer than that at the moment but we're hoping that, as far as temperature is concerned, there'll be good conditions. We have no humidity forecast at the second. At the moment, there is a suggestion that there'll be some light winds and maybe a bit of drizzle which would make it a traditional London day. Of course, all we're looking for, for the race, is a window of good weather. We got very close to having perfect conditions last year until a squall came in two?thirds through the men's race and took off what I think would have probably been a world record last year.

We have a great men's field set up and if the conditions are right, I believe we can get close to the world record and that's certainly the aim, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we also have a great competitive men's race with the Olympic one, two and three here plus another five people who have run 2.7 or faster and we hope that as well as having a fast race, we also have a competitive men's race.
The women's, I think it's fair to say, could be quite open. It's not quite as obvious who will win but again, we believe that we'll have a competitive race and that will inspire the crowds to come out in their hundreds of thousands on to the course and give us a good day.
So without further ado, thank you for your interest and let's hope that when we talk after the race, we're able to talk about a really exciting weekend.

RICHARD FINN: Thank you, Dave, and Dave will stay here for a few minutes and answer questions. Now it's my pleasure to introduce the athletes. We'll ask again for an opening remark or statement from each of the athletes. We'll start with Meb who is coming back to London after a year or two's absence. He's healthy and I think ready to run as well as ever before. Meb.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Thanks, Richard. I'd just like to say thank you to Dave and the Flora London Marathon for having me and giving me another opportunity to come here. I've been invited numerous times but having made it this time; I'm healthy, to the finish line, so I'm just excited to be here and I've been here since Saturday to get used to the time change and there's been good starts in other races so far this year and I hope to continue on Sunday.

RICHARD FINN: Thank you, Meb. It's now our pleasure to introduce Dathan Ritzenhein, US Olympian from last year and making his first marathon start this year and I think the first time here in London I believe. Dathan.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: That's right. Thank you, Richard. Yeah, I'm very excited to be here for London, for having me and I feel like I'm ready to roll. It's been a while now since I ran a marathon, so, you know, it's been my fourth marathon I think that I haven't had the opportunity to get into one of these really fast races and so, I think that I can really improve upon where I've come from in the past and hopefully take it to the next level. Obviously the field today that's assembled here is amazing and so hopefully, I can just, you know, get in there and beat as many people as possible. I know that a really fast time will come, you know. This is a strange race. I've always just kind of, you know, gone into the marathons looking just to finish as high as possible but, you know, there's a couple of different goals, I guess; finishing well and also having a good time and so I'm really looking forward to that new challenge as well.

RICHARD FINN: Thank you and now we've got Kate O'Neil who's here. I think Kate's the leading American woman in the field and Kate, some of your comments.

KATE O'NEILL: Well, I've heard that the Flora London Marathon staff have assembled a great elite field this year for the men and the women and I'm really impressed looking at the list, so I'm just very excited and honoured to be a part of it and I think it's just going to be a great opportunity to run PR. I feel really ready for one. My previous two marathons have been in Chicago where we had pretty hot weather and I feel like I'm ready for a big, great series, so I'm really looking to knock down my PR by quite a bit and I've heard this is the place to come to do it.

RICHARD FINN: Thank you, Kate. We're going to open it up for questions.

OPERATOR: Thank you, Richard. Our first question is from John Elliot from marathonguide.com. Please go ahead.

JOHN ELLIOT: Sure. It's for Meb. First, may I say congratulations for, so far, winning the cross?country championships and half marathon; personal best. Meb, how fast do you think you can run? Do you have a time goal? What do you think you can do on Sunday?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Thanks, John. As you know, my PR is still 9.53 which is pretty soft on a tough course, but I think I'm in really good shape and have been doing good training. I had a little bit of a setback after the cross?country, but I really think, you know, I try to stay with the guys and I'm shooting for a tall 2:07:30 and see what happens on the day.

RICHARD FINN: John, do you have a follow?up?

JOHN ELLIOT: I guess, Meb, I'm sure you can do it. That's my follow?up.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Thank you; I appreciate it.

OPERATOR: Our next question is from Peter Gambaccini from Runner's World in New York. Please go ahead.

PETER GAMBACCINI: Yeah, okay. Since Dave's leaving, I will ask him one. Dave, I know that there's a group of guys like Sammy Wanjiru and Lel and probably Limo who were going through looking to run something under 2.05, but it's my understanding, is there going to be a second pace group, something around 2.07?

DAVE BEDFORD: Yes, there is; exactly. There'll be those two key pace groups, so Meb will be tucked nicely in a group that were given the opportunity, I would guess, to run somewhere between 2:07:30 and 2:08:30 according to how good he feels.

PETER GAMBACCINI: Okay, great. Meb, we know how tough last year was for you in a lot of ways and can you talk a little bit about the confidence boost that they have and the cross?country gave you and then can you explain a little bit about, you mentioned a slight setback after the cross?country; can you address those two things?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah. For me, it's been a tough year last year, as you guys know; that you have Dathan there and running against each other was a big comeback for me and to do well in cross?country also which I haven't done since 2003 I believe and to come back and win that was, you know, pretty big steps in the right direction for me. So, you know, there was a big major injury and it's over and I'm excited to, you know, give it another crack to run a PR here and, you know, the question is hopefully, you know, how much PR, you know, whether it's going to be seconds or minutes and hopefully it will be in the minutes.

PETER GAMBACCINI: And the slight setback you mentioned after cross?country; can you talk about that a little?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: It's a couple; a little bit in the knee and then the left calf but other than that, you know, the last five or six weeks has been good training which is, you know, obviously I got a little sick right after cross?country and it was good timing to get sick and then this is now, so everything is coming up according to plan now.

PETER GAMBACCINI: Okay and let me just ask of you and of Dathan, is that 2:07 pace group that Dave mentioned, is that where you both think you'll be finding yourselves?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Definitely. I mean, I talked briefly to Brad Hudson earlier, Dathan's coach and, you know, we're talking about seeing how far the rabbit's going to go and, you know, the whole point in coming here for both of us I think is more, you know, to get a fast time and if we can help each other in certain ways, it will be great. So I think it would be a tall 2:07:30 for a fun weekend and then after that maybe we want to run a mile or two with each other and see what we can do, so just …

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Yeah; I'm not going to be a 2:04 pace, so I think that would be a little dangerous, but 2:07:30 I think is a good time because I don't think it's too fast for us but, at the same time, it gives you a window of opportunity where you can still, even if you feel good, maybe go a little bit faster and so, hopefully that's a good solid pace for us and I think there's probably more people than just us that want that pace as well and so hopefully, we'll have plenty of people to run with.

OPERATOR: Our next question is from Dick Patrick from USA Today. Please go ahead.

DICK PATRICK: Hi everybody. A question for David too, if he's still there. I'm assuming the lead rabbits go out at 2:04 pace.

RICHARD FINN: Dick, Dave just had to step right out real quick but I have Glenn Latimer who's working with Dave, so I'll let Glenn quickly answer that. Glenn.

GLENN LATIMER: We have three pacers for the front group, Dick, going at 2:04 pace to 20 miles and there are three pacers with the second group at 2:07:30 pace going to 20 miles and one of them going to about 30 kilometres, so there are three pacers with each group. It's about, in my reckoning, from talking to the principals, there's about seven people going with the front group and nine athletes going with the second group.

DICK PATRICK: Great. I just wonder if both Meb and Dathan could talk about going for time for a change because, you know, most of their other previous marathons have been on difficult courses where they're shooting for a place and just wondered how maybe this new opportunity affected their training and thinking.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Yeah, thanks, Dick. I think, yeah, this is my fourth marathon and this'll be the first time I've had an opportunity to get into a fast rabbit race. The first time I ran New York; obviously New York is not a world record course but I hit the wall, so it didn't matter anyway, but the Olympic trials were hard conditions and then so was Beijing. So, for me, this will be a test and something new and I'm looking forward to it because I feel like my training's gone really well and I tried to focus a little bit more in on speed. I feel like I've kind of figured out the field part of the marathon which I struggled with initially and so now that I have that down, we are able to throw in a little bit more quicker stuff and I think I'm going to need that because of the difference between running 4:50 a mile and 5 minutes mile is huge, so I think I can hopefully put it all together and make it all work on Sunday.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Well, I want to wish Dathan the best of luck because my fourth marathon was a good one, you know, Athens, and we both started in New York. For me, it's been, you know, I ran Chicago once and then once in Japan and in New York and New York has been good to me and I finished, you know second and third and third in Boston, but this time, there's a lot of difference just because when I ran Chicago, I was going for 2:12 to get that A standard, so I could do the Olympics in 2004 but now, you know, doing a half marathon per country definitely fits in with this kind of -- for this marathon. So I'm definitely excited and, you know, done some track last year, so that should be able to help and 2007, I did the ten K and the road and seven miles and things like that, so I think it should be able to help, you know, for the faster course and I guess we've just got to wait and see what happens on Sunday.

RICHARD FINN: Do you guys feel like the marathon may be on the cusp of another evolution given what happened last fall and then what happened in Rotterdam?

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Yeah, I think, you know, it's obvious when people start running 2:04s and 2:05s more regularly that there's something new happening. I think that, you know, that's something that we just have to rise to the occasion as well. You know, you can't be competitive on the world scene, I guess, running 2:10 and 2:11 like you used to run at Toronto, you know, 2:07 just to be in it with these guys and so, I think that that's the next step for us is you can't stay stagnant and keep thinking that you're where you need to be already. So, you know, I think we have to evolve like everybody else and there is something about just believing that next level's possible. I think that not many people would have ever believed something was possible like what Sammy ran in Beijing or what happened recently with Rotterdam. Just happening like that, you know, to imagine a guy running 2:04:27 and not even winning a race and so, you have to evolve and you have to take it to the next level yourself and you can't stay still.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: What I think is that, you know, the marathon can go really well and it can go the other way around but when you're seeing that when things click and the training and the pacing and having somebody to run with, in the end, I think, you know, you run much more faster. It's just, you know, we're talking about taking an hour here and making, you know, three to four minutes, but I definitely want to get to that level and, you know, every 30 seconds or 20 seconds are going to be significant, but also that there's a big improvement for both of us and for 2009, something 2:07 versus 2:06, so that's what I think. With these guys running that fast, you know, people like us, it just shows what the human body can do when everything clicks.

OPERATOR: Thank you. A question from David Monti.

DAVID MONTI: The two guys; have they spent much time studying the London course and been out on the course at all, and do you know much about it?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Obviously I ran a little bit of it two years ago and went about 14 or 15. Other than that, I have not been on the course and you know, it's just, you know, stood a couple of days ago just looking at the map, where the mile marks are and where to make a move or what to expect, kind of familiarise yourself, you know, with the bridge and Big Ben and the finish area, so kind of get key points but I've not been on the course and we actually discussed maybe to go over a little towards the finish tomorrow.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Yeah; unfortunately I haven't been able to go over it either. I guess, you know, it's my first time to London but it's like traffic jams everywhere, so, you know, we don't want to spend six hours in a car and also, yeah, I mean, you can't run down the street in the middle of the daytime. So it's been, you know, for me, I always like to see the course beforehand, you know, even if you can just be driving in the car, it's great, but, you know, it really wasn't possible to do that, and so I think hopefully I'll be -- I've seen the finish area which kind of helps you visualise it at least a little bit, you know, make sure you know where that last turn is coming from, but other than that, you know, maybe we can go over the last ten K or so when it's really going to get down to crunch time and so, I would like to maybe get in a cab at least and go a little bit away and see it, but so far not.

OPERATOR: Our next question is from Peter Gambacini from Runner's World in New York. Please go ahead.

PETER GAMBACCINI: Yeah, one for Dathan and then also one for Kate. Dathan, you know, New York and Boston have their historic reasons for being the kind of courses they are, but if you look at this race and also the fact that London will be hosting in 2012 a slightly different course but pretty much the same kind of thing, and then, you know, the World Championships are going to be in Berlin which is also fine. It seems like we're probably not going to see major championships on courses like there were in Athens which again, was the way it was for historic reasons, so it seems like generally speaking, the future of big time marathoning really is on these kind of courses, so you know, you really do have to become skilled at what we've sometimes referred to as “time trial racing”, don't you?

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Well, I mean, I wouldn't say that the future of marathon is like time trial courses because I think that races like Boston and New York are always going to hold a lot of prestige that, you know, a victory there is sometimes just as impressive as -- sometimes harder even than winning maybe a major championship just because they can attract a lot of depth from some of the countries that dominate it like Kenya and Ethiopia. So I think that they're just as difficult but I do understand what you're saying as well after watching the Olympics this past time around, how it can turn into either extremely fast time trial races and so, yeah, I think that you have to essentially be a versatile runner and you can't be strong in just one aspect of racing. You have to be able to get out there and run fast and you have to be able to be smart and be a tactician as well. So that's something that comes over time, you know, running; the learning curve in the marathon is so huge that from one marathon to the next, you learn so much. I mean, each marathon I've taken away such -- so many different lessons and I'm sure I'll be still learning things by the time I retire, but at the same time, you know, you make a huge improvement in each one as well and so hopefully, you know, for me, I can continue to learn through them and become great at these time trial races as well as championship style hard courses.

PETER GAMBACCINI: Okay. Kate, you're in a race with at least a couple of people who've gone under 2.20, I'm just wondering how this affects your strategy and where you think you're going to be like in the first half of this race.

KATE O'NEILL: Well, the women's field is obviously very competitive and probably it's a little bit more spread out than the men's races but I've been really preparing for that. You know, when I committed to doing this race this fall, in any other marathon, there's always a chance that you're going to run alone for a significant number of miles, but I've been doing all of my workouts by myself, you know. I have my coach there but I'm running all the, you know, 15 mile tempo runs on my own and that's probably why I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life, that I've also gotten a lot better at that and it's a big confidence boost to know that I can run a 15 mile tempo run at a much faster pace than I could've done 2 years ago, so I feel really confident going into this that I can run with some great people in the 2:26 to 2:30 range but also, if I have to, keep the pace going on my own and hopefully pick some people off then.

RICHARD FINN: I'll just throw in before another question, Kate. You opened your statement by saying you saw this as a big breakthrough race, maybe even a PR. Could you just elaborate on that and exactly, do you have a time or is it just a PR?

KATE O'NEILL: Yeah. My first experience in a marathon was in really high air in 2007 in Chicago and I felt like my preparation had gone as well as it could have for a DB marathon and I learned a lot about myself, most importantly that I could still finish strong and that I was tough over the whole 26 miles. The time of 2:36 isn't a very impressive time but it was a good confidence boost to know that I was able to persevere through that whole distance and since then, I've had some injuries pop up, so I haven't been able to reach the goals that I set right after Chicago. After that first Chicago, I was so excited to get my feet wet in the event again and have some frustrations but basically, since the middle of January, I've had a lot of uninterrupted training; haven't had any injuries. I'm lucky enough to have stayed healthy through the winter in terms of not being sick or anything. So it's just got in a lifestyle, training more miles than I ever have, more long tempos and all of it pretty much on my own, so it just feels really ready to be knocking on -- definitely rating 2:30 and getting as far into that as possible, complete 2:28.

OPERATOR: Our next question is from Phil Stewart from Road Race Management. Please go ahead, Phil.

PHIL STEWART: It's Phil Stewart. I just wanted to ask all three folks what their thoughts were as they were watching Boston on Monday.

KATE O'NEILL: Well, I actually grew up outside of Boston, so I live in California now but I stopped and I spent a few days there to sort of cut up the travel so I wouldn't have any Red Eyes out here. So I watched it from the 14 mile mark and I got there about 45 minutes before the elite women went by and you could tell how windy it was. I could see the flags just blowing straight out to the side and yeah, I knew it was a tough day out there. So I was so impressed with the way Ryan raced leading, you know, for big chunks of it and Kara as well and you just saw the importance of being ready for any race; a tactical one like Kara had or one that goes hard from the beginning like Ryan had, so it was very inspirational to see two American's in the top three and I'm sure, you know, better performances are in store for future American marathoners as well.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Well, my stupid computer wouldn't load the Universal Sports for some reason and so, I was resorted to like the rest of everybody else and had to go on letsrun.com and flick on the updates to see what has happened and it overloaded and I couldn't even find out the results for a while. I didn't get it by texting. My coach, Brad, found out but you know, I was so excited, I wanted to watch it because, you know, there's a lot of hype created around it, so it was awesome just to see them finish up that high and they ran against, you know, great competition, ran great races and, you know, they didn't win but, at the same time, it was inspirational to see that they got up there and mixed it right up with them and they were contending all the way down to the end to win a race like Boston which is, for an American, it's as prestigious as it gets.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I watched it with my coach. We were having lunch and Andrew Kastor, was kind of pinning every, you know, mile or five K split, a ten K split and then towards the end, we went to the Internet café and watched it there at the last. It was very inspirational and you know, I thought they both ran great, you know. They went for it and that's the most important thing and sometimes you win and sometimes you don't, but to deal with it how Kate said and Dathan; two Americans in the top three, men and women, on the podium, you know, is the best you can get, but you know, I know both of them and I'm pretty sure they're not satisfied with their results and just, you know, because that's their, you know, we want to pull it off and all of us here and with them there, we want to win there or here, you know, so it's like, you know, in the tough conditions and I thought it was a great result.

DAVID MONTI: Can I follow up on that, Meb? How much of your training was with Ryan?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, more so than before. We have done long runs together, we have done, you know, tempo we do not do together but we do intervals together and easy runs. I won't say every day but you know, we've done quite a chunk of it more so than before, so we both enjoy working together. It's just, you know, he would run a lot of hills and a lot of change of things because you were going for a different kind of course. With our coaches' respect, we've got to get ready for different things and we work out whenever we can squeeze it in, work out with intervals or long runs or easy runs. We're together, beside each other almost every day at practice. It just depends what we're going to do that day and, you know, he's a special kid, you know, of getting together.

OPERATOR: There are two questions over the phone. Dick Patrick, please go ahead.

DICK PATRICK: Kate, you already answered one of my questions which was where were you getting your confidence from and it sounds like it mainly comes from improved training.

KATE O'NEILL: Yes, yes, definitely. I didn't race very much this winter but I can -- you know, in the marathon, I've learned over the years from my training and from watching other people that a lot of it is about your training. You know, a half marathon is a great indicator but for me, I needed to really get strong and make sure I could go the full distance, so I didn't do great at the US half marathon championships in January. I sort of was just getting back into training at that point, but, you know, within a couple of weeks when I was having some good longer workouts, I started to feel a lot more confident about my chances here.

DICK PATRICK: What was your injury prior to the trials?

KATE O'NEILL: Oh, it was complicated. It was sort of, you know, it started out as tendonitis in my knee, so as I was running on it and trying to rehab it, it just caused a lot of other problems; some pain in my foot all the way up to my hip. It was like a lot of runners' injuries, you know, when you're trying to train on it or get the most training you can out of it, it spreads all over.

OPERATOR: Thank you. Our final question is from Dave Ungrady from Universal Sports. Please go ahead.

DAVE UNGRADY: Yes, greetings. A question for Meb and then to clarify with Kate. Before I do that, if I could help Dathan with some customer service; do you have a Mac?

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: I do.

DAVE UNGRADY: You've got to download the latest version of flip 4 Mac.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: I'm computer illiterate.

DAVE UNGRADY: All right. Go to flip4mac.com. I'll send Richard an email and he can give you the information.

DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Yeah, yeah, please do that to me.

DAVE UNGRADY: All right, buddy. For Meb; just to clarify the problems you had the day after the cross?country. I remember talking to you at that race and you were very confident, you were feeling better and you'd done a lot of rehab. Were the physical problems you had after cross?country related to the hip? Was it the hip or the hamstring injury you had? Is that still there or is that gone?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: No, that was not related to that. It's just a little bit for a couple of days and then my knee tendonitis but, you know, coach and I discussed that, you know, I'll get right for the half marathon and then cross?country. We wanted a week or two low?down anyway, then I got a little sick and all this kind of nagging little injuries, you know. Took a couple of weeks off because we don't want to peak too soon, so I feel pretty fresh and definitely not over?trained going into this race which is a good feeling, you know, obviously since January, February, skipped the Gate River run; I was considering doing that but, you know, we skipped that just so we could get ready more for this race but it was not related. The injuries were not related to my hip.

DAVE UNGRADY: Okay. Now tell me if I'm wrong, but you have not finished London before. You've tried to run it once before, correct, and did not finish, is that right?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Correct. 2007 I was running London but got injured during the race. We will help each other out and give each other a drink and, you know, but I only made it to about 15 or 16 but then, you know, ever since -- that was my second to last marathon I guess and then I did the trials. I took the whole year off last year for a marathon.

DAVE UNGRADY: Considering what happened in 2007, how important is it for you to have a good race here this year?

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Oh, I mean it's pretty big obviously. You know, we did seven marathons in 2004, a 29?year old, you're getting into your prime of marathoning and that to be part of it is pretty devastating but, you know, you can deal with the cards that you're dealt with and move on and I'm so glad that 2008 is over, you know, for a lot of reasons. The beautiful thing that happened in 2008 was my beautiful daughter, second daughter, but other than that, it's just in terms of running was the worst time, but, you know, I did a lot of rehab, a lot of therapy and you get stronger and it's definitely been a good indicator of what a promising year is so far for 2009 and the future.

DAVE UNGRADY: Good luck with that and if I can just end up with a quick question for Kate. Kate, to clarify, are you shooting for at least a PR here in London as well?

KATE O'NEILL: Oh yeah, definitely. My PR right now is 2.34 and I can't even begin to describe how much better my training has gone the last three months and it did before that time, so, you know, I gave it everything I had in those other marathons but I feel very, very confident that I can improve on that significantly.

DAVE UNGRADY: Okay, thanks all. Good luck.

RICHARD FINN: We'll have one more question from David Monti right here. David.

DAVID MONTI: Just a quick question I think, Meb, for the benefit of the people on the phone. Tell them what was with your foot…

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I mean, I call it you know, for general terms, blister, but I mean, it's just a wound that the whole bottom of my foot next to my big toe, it's just the whole thing was off, the whole skin to the meat. So when I say it's a blister, I mean, we all go through nagging injuries or a blister here and there, but mine was more like a wound. I mean, it was so deep that I was seeing my bone. You can say probably a centimeters deep into my foot and with a gravel road here, it was not very funny. Obviously it's starting to come, the recovery of it in new layers of skin, but it's just, you know, one of the things that I have to deal with, you know, and I really feel that everything happened for a reason. I'm just, you know, I said before, I'm definitely even considering retiring but I know that God has given me a big talent and I'm sure my potential has not been reached in the marathon and even sometimes I consider the ten K but hopefully the next two or three years, there will be a big break for me in the marathon.

RICHARD FINN: Again, I want to thank everybody for joining us. Just one or two quick other notes here. Glenn Latimer told me that there will be one pacer for the ladies, for the women's race and she is going to be instructed to go through the halfway mark at 1 hour 11 minutes, so 1 hour 11 minutes, the halfway mark for the women's pacer. Just a couple of facts. Ryan Hall has come here to London. He's been the top American for the last two years. Last year he finished fifth here and t