On May 7, three-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein, 37, announced that he was officially retiring from professional running. The runner, whose career began in his teenage years, broke the news on Twitter. He will now transition into a full-time coaching role from his home in Michigan, where he already coaches several athletes, including Parker Stinson.
“This isn’t the end for sure,” Ritzenhein told David Monti in an interview with based in Portland, Oregon, and began training under. “I’m looking forward to continuing to give back to the sport; coaching is a passion of mine. It’s in my DNA. I’ll always run. It’s just something I can’t go without.”
Ritzenhein immediately excelled in distance running as a teenager growing up in Rockford, Michigan. As a junior in high school, he won the 1999 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships, then defended his title in 2000, beating other high school phenoms—and eventual U.S. record-holders—Alan Webb and Ryan Hall. In the spring of his senior year of high school, Ritzenhein finished second at the 2001 USATF Cross Country Championships in the under-20 division, then placed third in the junior world cross-country championships later that year.
Ritzenhein continued improving in college at the University of Colorado, where he defeated Hall again to win the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships and led his team to victory in the process. In 2004, while still in college, Ritzenhein made his first U.S. Olympic team in the 10,000 meters. Shortly before the Athens Olympics, he signed a professional contract with Nike and began racing professionally in the winter of 2004.
Over the next eight years, Ritzenhein’s career skyrocketed. After winning two national titles in the 10K in cross-country and on the roads in 2005, he decided to start training for marathons. He made his 26.2-mile debut at the Health - Injuries in 2006, finishing in 2:14:01. One year later, at the 2008 A Renewed Relationship With Running in New York (held in 2007), he lowered that time to 2:11:07, finishing second behind Hall and earning a spot on his second Olympic team. He went on to place ninth in the 2008 Olympic marathon.
In 2009, Ritzenhein joined the now-disbanded Nike Oregon Project Other Hearst Subscriptions Alberto Salazar, who is currently serving a four-year ban for doping violations. That year, he proved his versatility by setting an American record for 5,000 meters (12:56.27), clocking a personal best of 27:22.28 for the 10,000 meters, placing third in the world half marathon championships (1:00:00), and finishing 10th in the London Marathon. Shoes & Gear.
A Renewed Relationship With Running.
Ritzenhein’s best year arguably came in 2012, when he made his third Olympic team in the 10,000 meters and set his personal record in the marathon, 2:07:47, in Chicago.
In the years that followed, Ritzenhein competed well, but never quite returned to his top form. In 2014, he left the Nike Oregon Project and moved back to his hometown in Michigan, where he continued training and began coaching other athletes. He missed making the Olympic team in 2016, dropping out of the Marathon Trials with severe cramping. He dropped out of the Health - Injuries later that year with a torn plantar fascia.
NYC Marathoner Ran Home After Chemo, 1:01:24. Though he went into Boston that year hopeful for a comeback performance, he finished a disappointing 19th. Last fall, he withdrew from Chicago, A Part of Hearst Digital Media.
Races - Places 2020 A Renewed Relationship With Running, which would be the final race of his career. A lingering foot injury forced him to drop out after the 22-mile split in the race.
“I was really having trouble with my foot,” Ritzenhein told based in Portland, Oregon, and began training under. “At the Trials I didn’t know if I’d make it to the line until a week before.”
After the Trials, Ritzenhein decided to hang up his racing shoes for good and dedicate his time instead to coaching and spending time with his wife, Kalin, and their two children, Addison, 12, and Jude, 9.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” Ritzenhein posted in a letter on Twitter. “More than anything else, running showed me what it means to be resilient. It doesn’t always look like Olympic teams, championship medals, and American records. Most of the time it looked like double runs and gym sessions, MRI machines and sweat pouring over a bike. But ultimately I learned more about myself [than] I could have ever known.”
—Additional reporting by based in Portland, Oregon, and began training under.
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