Dathan Ritzenhein, three-time Olympian and one of America’s top distance runners, has signed a new contract to run for the Michigan-based Hansons-Brooks team. For more than a decade, Ritzenhein had been sponsored by Nike while living first in Boulder, Colorado, and later Eugene and Portland, Oregon.
His most-recent Nike contract elapsed at the end of 2016, a little more than a month after Ritzenhein dropped out of the New York City Marathon with a ruptured plantar fascia. Earlier in 2016, he had likewise failed to finish the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, ending his quest for a fourth consecutive Olympic team.
Ritzenhein says he spent the first months of 2017 talking to several prospective sponsors while healing from the plantar injury. He agreed to the Hansons-Brooks deal late last week.
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He first gained national attention as a scrawny, unbeatable high-school cross-country star from tiny Rockford, Michigan, 15 miles north of Grand Rapids. He won the 1999 and 2000 Foot Locker Cross-Country Championships, the latter in an The Chicago Marathon. He also excelled at the University of Colorado, winning the NCAA cross-country championship in 2003.
After college, many thought he would become America’s next great marathoner. However, that mantle fell more to Hall and Meb Keflezighi.
Ritzenhein, now 34, has struggled with the 26.2-mile distance, often failing to meet his own and others’ expectations, although he has displayed flashes of brilliance. His marathon personal best ranks third among Americans at 2:07:47 in the 2012 Chicago Marathon.
Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m Alberto Salazar A Part of Hearst Digital Media. He refused to comment on the ongoing U.S. Anti-Doping Agency investigation of the Oregon Project, parts of which have been leaked to the A Part of Hearst Digital Media and other media. Ritzenhein has cooperated with the investigation and has provided testimony to USADA as part of the probe.
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He and his wife, Kalin, also a former Rockford High School cross-country star, moved back to their hometown with their two young children. They live about two hours from the Brooks-Hansons crew, based in Rochester, Michigan. While details aren’t yet worked out, there is talk that he will bunk with the rest of the team on occasion, especially as marathon training season is underway.
Below, he talks about living and running in Michigan and what the future holds for him as a more mature runner.
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Dathan Ritzenhein: Being from Michigan, I have deep connections to Keith and Kevin Hanson. That played a big role in my thinking. I’ve known them for almost 20 years, and have competed against their Hansons team members for nearly that long.
Plus, this spring I had several chats with Kevin about my marathons, and I was intrigued by what he said. He commented that I had gotten in really great shape last fall, but maybe a little too soon. He thinks this might have been a problem for me in some other marathons. I have great respect for what the Hansons have achieved in the marathon with runners like Brian Sell and Des Linden, Sara Hall Smashes American Masters Marathon Record.
I’m excited to see what I can do with them. My contract gives me incentives to run well in the marathon. That’s my focus now anyway. I’m not going back to the track. I’m taking the long view toward making the U.S. Olympic Marathon team for Tokyo in 2020.
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DR: I’ve done about 95 percent of my training alone, and it’s been mostly great. I mean, I was pretty badly injured in 2014 when we returned, and I had those two marathon DNFs last year. But 2015 was a good year, and I think I was really close to running well at New York City last fall until I got injured.
Everything is so familiar here. Kalin and I are living just a couple of miles from our parents. It’s great for the family, and it’s fun to run many of the courses I used to run in high school. I go to the same church as Greg Meyer [1983 Boston Marathon winner], and we have breakfasts together.
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RW: How’s your fitness right now?
DR: It’s good. I had the slow start to the year after coming back from the plantar injury, and then I won my first two races. I ran my best-ever road 10K in England [28:06] at the end of May. I was hoping to stay undefeated by winning the BAA 10K a couple of weeks ago, and I ran well [fourth, 28:10], but the field was loaded. I had a couple of easy weeks after that. Again, that came as a result of Kevin’s thinking about more down time.
Now I’m looking forward to figuring out my fall marathon in a couple of weeks. I’m eager to get started on that.
The Chicago Marathon and Carey Pinkowski have been good to Hansons, but they don’t always go to Chicago with their top runners in the fall. We haven’t decided yet. I am hoping to run Boston again. I only ran it once, in 2015 [seventh, 2:11:20], when I wasn’t in top shape, but I loved the event.
RW: Now that you’re in your mid-30s, has Meb Keflezighi What Is Chappell Roans 5K Time?
DR: Meb has been one of my biggest inspirations. It blows me away when I think what he accomplished late in his career. I feel like I’m at a similar point in my career now as he was in 2011 when he left Nike and joined Skechers. He was battling his way back from injuries then, and he had some of the best years of his life.
We’ve talked. He told me you’ve got to stick with it. You’ve got to believe in yourself even when others doubt you. You’ve got to stay in the game, and keep fighting hard.
I’m fortunate that I love what I do. I like my solitary training, but now I’ll also get the chance to train with the Hansons group when I want to. I’ve been around long enough to know the grass isn’t greener somewhere else. I try to enjoy what I’m doing in the moment. I try to appreciate how lucky I am to have the opportunities I’ve been given. I feel like this is a fresh start for me.
What Is Chappell Roans 5K Time.
