The Men's Paris Olympic Marathon: Instant Reaction Pod!

Editors Alex Cyr and Michael Doyle jump into the studio for an emergency pod, right after the finish of the men's Olympic marathon in Paris on Saturday morning.

SPOILER ALERT: we talk about how the race played itself out, and who won.

Be sure to follow this pod feed for an instant reaction episode after the women's Olympic marathon as well, shortly after the race concludes on Sunday morning.

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Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia was the big winner of this Olympic marathon, taking gold. We talk about his incredible race, the experience of watching the Paris Olympic marathon overall, as well as Eliud Kipchoge's shocking result and what this means for the GOAT's legacy long term.

The men's marathon podium in Paris:
🇪🇹 Tamirat Tola 🥇 2:06:26
🇧🇪 Bashir Abdi 🥈 2:06:47
🇰🇪 Benson Kipruto 🥉 2:07:00

Read our full recap of the 2024 Olympic marathon, plus full results, here:
https://marathonhandbook.com/2024-olympic-men-marathon/

Follow our live coverage of the track and marathons here:
https://marathonhandbook.com/live-updates-athletics-track-2024-paris-olympics/

Hosts: Alex Cyr, Michael Doyle

Transcript

0:04

All right, I'm joined by my colleague, Alex Sear, who rushed back from the Niagara Falls View Casino and Resort late last night after watching the Black Eyed Peas. Take me out of to in order to do this instant reaction podcast, I woke up at 2 a Eastern Time, 3 a Atlantic Time, where I am right now in Nova Scotia on vacation, supposedly with my family in order to watch the men's Olympic marathon live in Paris. And we're going to talk all about it. Let's break it down. Alex will go through how the podium shook out. the big performance of the day, obviously by Tameret Tola of Ethiopia. What the heck happened to the goat, Elliot Kipchoge and how this affects his, his legacy moving forward and some other notable results, including obviously the top Americans. but I think the first thing we need to talk about Alex is watching this race. I was most excited actually beyond just sort of seeing how the race was going to unfold as to like what this course actually looked like, how it profiled on camera. And how the IOC, the broadcasters, the World Feed was going to display what sounded like a really beautiful course. think they like totally delivered. I think this was like a pretty stunning event to watch visually for tune change hours. Well, I think what the marathon broadcasts are starting to figure out is that like you can't really do a whole race just showing the two, three people running in the front. You have a little bit more depth of field, I guess you'd call it. And that's what's cool because as a, you know, I'm a Canadian, people are watching from everywhere. You want to see your own horses in the race along with the leaders. And I think they did that in terms of the field, but also in terms of catching the tough parts of the course. delivered. We were talking before this podcast you said only nine people dropped out and I was like that's like one in I think one in eight runners Olympic runners dropped out so this was no easy course not an easy day. That's a good point. That's like, you know, quick math here. That's about 10 % dropout rate, which is actually probably quite high even for the elite end of a race, something you only see in the much tougher courses like Boston or New York. And for all the lead up to this race, there's been a lot of hype and a lot of points of comparison in our preview pod. went into the nitty gritty of the, the profile of the course, the complexity of the course, how challenging and hilly this course is, how it compares to the infamous Newton Hills of Boston and the overall twists and turns and ups and downs of New York and how in many respects it's much harder. I think that was meted out and like viewed in real time in this race where, you know, we'll get into the specifics of the race in a second here, but really where the race was broken wide open in a couple of different fronts was during these really tough hilly stretches. And I think what's really challenging when you're photographing, when you're creating the, the TV show that is watching a marathon. It's really tough to show just how tough a hill is, right? Because it's tough to get that perspective that the camera kind of like crushes the perspective. So it's hard to see just how steep a grade it is. And in this case, kudos to the broadcasters. mean, holy shit, man. Like especially that hill at 28 and change kilometers, the 600 meter monster climb they had to do, which they have now dubbed the wall. I mean, they did a very good job of showing way back in the distance just what the runners were facing and seeing as they're heading towards this massive hill. And then they got these really cool shots from the motorcycle cameras, like these side shots of the leader, Tamara Tola and others just like working it hard up the hill. Like it kind of looked like, I would comp it to like a paved mountain running race. Like it just looked really... It looked legitimately super tough what they were doing. Well, the grade was 13%, right? Like, seriously, try this at home. Like, if you're curious, if you missed the marathon or you're just curious of what that feels like, find a treadmill, crank the incline up to 13, and run on it for 600 meters. It probably took them a minute and half to get over this. For you, it probably would take you more. Pump it up for two minutes and see what that feels like at the middle of a marathon. At the point where things are starting to get hard, I could see how this was a total mental battle for these guys. Yeah. So let's go through that. mean, we're going to, we're obviously going to spoil the race. So if you haven't watched the Olympic marathon yet, maybe hit pause in the pod, watch at least the highlights. And then we're going to jump right into it cause we're going to walk through it a little bit in detail. So started at 8 a local time, which sounds nice and early, but is actually pretty late, particularly for a particularly for an August marathon because it was 23 degrees Celsius at 74 Fahrenheit and the humidity level is pretty high. I think I clocked it at about 76 % humidity at the start and the temp just kept going up from there. And you could tell like these guys were sweaty throughout this race. I remember at one point on the broadcast, they showed a Canadian Cam Levin and he's wearing the white singlet, the red Canadian, the maple leaf shorts. and a white hat. And he just, he looked like he jumped in a pool. He was like absolutely soaked. And this was before the halfway point in the race. like humidity, heat played a huge factor, obviously the complexity of the course, but we had a big pack for at least the first 10 or 15 K of this race. So it was, I, I count, had a difficult time counting how many athletes were in this lead pack in the beginning. was 30 to 40 athletes. was pretty much half the field was in it. Pace was pretty pedestrian when you think about the types of times we're seeing being put down regularly by the elite of the elite and the distance running world. You know, they're pacing out at between 206 and 210 pace throughout the first chunk of this race. One interesting little tidbit, it seems to happen in all of these championship style races is a relative unknown. Iyab Fanil broke away and decided to run his own race for few kilometers, Italian runner, and maybe tried to make this a little bit of an honest race, right? And that's where I think the complexity of the course and the narrative we got to see play out sort of unfolded because Tameret Tola of Ethiopia, spoiler alert, our 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist made the big move to close the gap on it. Look, I'll just say you don't even have to watch the race or listen to this podcast. Listen to the preview podcast. I already told you that Timorettolla was going to win. That's all you need. man, you're taking the bow now, are you? You're gonna, yeah, we should say for listeners that kudos to Alex, you're on fire with your picks and Tamrat Tola was your dark horse pick to win this race. So my hat's off to you. You should have bet on this. You'd be a little wealthier today than you were yesterday. Yeah, well, of course, Tamerat Tola got into the race because his countryman Cice Lema pulled out. And I think just that changed the dynamic of the race in the first part of the race, not because of Tola's inclusion, but because of Lema's exclusion. You see all these runners coming to this course that people have dubbed as a really difficult course for over a year now. I can see how everyone's apprehensive. You will need someone to take the lead. And it was the Italian runner who did it. But I would have pegged Lemma to do it otherwise. I remember watching him run Boston, which is not as tough a course, similarly tough course, and he didn't have any reservations. He took the lead from the start and broke it from the start. And I feel like without Lemma in the field, there wasn't that type of urgency from anybody. And even with our Italian runner, he wasn't one of the top contenders. So I think maybe he didn't inject as much anxiety in the field as someone like Lemma might have. we were found with much more of a conservative race, at in the first part, right? There was a funny moment with Faneil way out in front. think they gave him like, they gave him something like 20 seconds on the field. They let him go at a head and they just ran their own pace. And at one point Faneil looks at, there's a motorcycle cameraman pacing him like right next to him. And he looks at the camera and he just points to his watch and kind of gives a shrug like, listen man. I'm just running the time that I came here to run and everybody else is like screwing around back there and being very, very, very, lenient, led, land it with their pace. So he's like, I'm just going to run my own race here, which you see often in these, time trial and these non time trial type races, like a Boston area, New York, you'll see somebody go out and they'll just be like, I'm fit to run a 206. I'm going to run a 206 today and Everyone else can do whatever the hell they're doing. And I'm just going to stick to my plan. Didn't pay out, pay off for him. He ended up a 43rd place overall. So he definitely faded in the second half. The Hills were not kind to him. I don't think it wasn't even the first Italian to cross the finish line, which is tough. But so this, this big section that we talked about in the preview, the 14 kilometers to about 20 K where there's 500 plus feet of climbing and a two and change two and a half percent grade. really kind of shook the race up. And that's where you saw Tola of Ethiopia, Jaletta, his Ethiopian teammate, Benson Kip Brutto, who was one of the favorites going in, former Boston and Chicago winner and a Tokyo winner from earlier this year. And then even Connor Mantz of the U .S. kind of got in the mix a little bit there and was kind of right in it and got a lot of screen time and ended up finishing well. We'll talk about the Americans. after, but okay, let's first go into, well, let's talk Tola. Then let's talk Kipchoge because I think that was the big question mark. And you know, maybe he's taking up too much oxygen for someone who didn't have a great day, but let's talk Tola here real quick. Let's do a little legacy, legacy check -in, a little rundown Tamar at Tola. The guy turns 32 tomorrow. So like, what an awesome way to celebrate your birthday, hanging out in Paris with a gold medal around your neck. for the biggest, arguably the biggest event in the games is the marathons, right? so he's, he's got a two or three 39 from a couple of years back at the Amsterdam marathon. It's a pretty decent, pretty decent personal best. mean, it's not, I don't know where it ranks all time. It's not super high up all time. as the world record is edged, edged very close to the two hour barrier bronze and Rio and the 10 ,000 meters world champ from the 2022 marathon in, in, Eugene, silver medalists at London worlds in the marathon 2017, came fourth place 2018, 2019, New York, 2022 Tokyo marathon, third place, 2023 London marathon, third place, 2023 New York city marathon winner set the course record 204 58 still stands obviously. And. DNF'd in Budapest at Worlds, which I'm sure he'll want to forget. But then he wins Paris. So like that's a pretty good resume. I'm not sure we're going to start carving out his face for the Mount Rushmore of men's marathoners, but he's an impressive performer and someone you definitely have to factor in specifically with these really challenging courses. Yeah, and I can't believe that a guy like that was left off the Ethiopian team, which is a testament to how deep of a marathoning nation that is. You wonder if they gave the nod to Kenenisa Bekele thinking of his past results as opposed to his present ones. you look at Tola and I don't know how many people fit in. There's four faces in Mount Rushmore. Is that right? Yeah, I don't know if he fits. That's pretty exclusive. But this guy's a total gamer. He's proven himself at majors, Worlds, and Olympics. mean, there's a reason I picked him, right? He's... rarely underperforms. And maybe the Ethiopian selection committee was looking at his performance at Worlds last year, but everyone has bad races. It was clearly his to win today. Yeah. And we should say that, neat little factoid here. believe this is the first time the Ethiopian squad hasn't had a DNF in an Olympic marathon or a world's marathon. And like, I think it's something like 20 years. It's a really long time because there's that incredible pull to drop out of the race at around 20 miles or 32 K 30 K. When you're thinking about the fall and the summer marathons, the championship marathons where You know, you're not going to metal. Maybe you're not even going to finish top 10. You're having the old bad day at the office and you step off the course and you think about, I'm to run a fall marathon, make a little bit of money. And none of these guys did that, including Kenanisa Bikale, 39th place, 42 years young, finished in 212 .24, obviously not delivering on the hype going into it. Maybe there was more hype than there should have been, but you know, I'll give him credit, he finished. And that's more than I can say for Mr. Kipchoge, which we'll get into in a second here, but let's finish off the podium. Let's give these guys their due. Bashir Abdi of Belgium ran an awesome race and really captured, I'd say like the spirit of the marathon at the finish line. Man, like he was like crying and like yelling and absolutely jubilant. with the Belgian flag in the finishing shoot and just like couldn't get over the fact that he had done what he did finishes with a silver. And he really like put together a cool class 5k cause he was in tough. was three guys passing the Eiffel tower with a couple of miles to go. And they were in this like battle where three guys, three guys, two medals. And it was him. It was a It was Benson Kiprudo and then Jaletta of Ethiopia was in there too. And what ended up shaking out was Abdi surged with a couple of K to go, because he's just like, I want the silver medal and it's there for the taking and I'm going for it. So he went for it. He gets silver. And then crossing the line in third is Benson Kiprudo puts together a great performance as well. Kudos to him. He's had such a nice last couple of years. And then after that, Giletta, who was sort of the fourth place guy fades back and we get some pretty nice performances in the top 10. But before we get into the top 10, let's go over, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Let's talk about Kipchoge. Yeah. So. profile DNF, obviously, of this race. Yeah. So he dropped out at 31 K, apparently, cause we kind of lost him on the broadcast after a while. was some updates, but it was unclear. didn't get a split after 30 K. Let's just go through it here. Five K opening split 1541. He's in eighth place, but he's just in that lead pack. He was sitting sort of featured right in the front of that pack for much of the first five kilometers. 10 K same thing. He's right in there. 15K, same story. So first 15K, pretty good. 20K by the 20K mark, he's well off. I he's over a minute and a half back. He's 102 .28. They place him on the mat at 48th place. So he's just completely dropped back. So that 14 to 20K stretch when it got hilly broke the guy. There's a shot of him. Broadcasters did a really great job. The producers captured this moment of him grabbing his left hip and talking to a runner that was pacing along with him well back at the pack. And he's basically saying like, my day is done. Something's bothering me. Later, he reports in the, the, in the mixed zone that he had lower back pain and that caused him to DNF gets a half split. So he's split in about two 12 pace 58th place. Then in 25K, 63rd, he goes over the 30K mat and he's 71st and he's done. Apparently the very last finisher in the race passes him. And then he walks, check this. He walks for like, I think a kilometer on the course before actually fully stepping off and like 300 people, apparently according to him, 300 people join him walking with him. It's like, yeah. like people on the road that were following the course following the race. And he starts taking off. takes his shoes off because it's like the first thing you kind of want to do after you run a marathon is like, get the get those friggin super shoes off your feet because they can kind of really mangle your feet, right? Takes his shoes off, takes his socks off, takes a singlet and his bib off. And he's giving this stuff to the people and the spectators on the street. He people are asking him for this stuff and he gives him this Some person in Paris has got Eli Kipchoge shoes, because he just, and left sock, yeah. I wonder if they like tore it apart, like I've got a part of the left sock. Yeah, exactly, like how are you gonna prove that? It's like, this is a Kipchoge size nine Nike sock. Yeah, so he gave away all of his stuff. He finally gets picked up by like a sweeper vehicle, a van from the IOC. They collect him and he's just in a pair of racing shorts. That's it. no socks, no shoes, nothing. And it, it's sort of like the man has just like washed himself clean. There's like, there's really like kind of weird, like religious, connotations to that, right? You know, he's like this Jesus like figure walking in his darkest moment and his parishioners like join him and his disciples are following him. And he's like, taking off all of his worldly possessions that, you know, I mean, he's the Nike guy, right? You know, the Nike, I don't want to get too literary here, but like, you know, the shoes on his feet are in part his doing, right? The fact that all these people are well ahead of him now, as we talked about in the preview. So he's sort of like, this is the house that Kipchoge built, the super shoe era, right? So that has enabled so many athletes to have big breakthroughs. And the guy has just left on the course. Everyone has left him. in the distance and he's walking practically naked barefoot with like the people, know. Yeah. So he said, here's some quotes from the mix zone that I pulled. Other runners were telling me to push on, but I was telling them, no, I have pain. I can't. I could feel the love and respect from them. Fucking guy. that. These runners are just pumped that they're getting the scalp on them. Yeah, and then here's another one. Today, you'll love this Alex. Today was a tough day at the office. He used a tough day at the office. wow, he's digressing to metaphors now. The old... the old Strava excuse. It was a tough day at the office. I'm sure it was. I mean, that's just a tough, humiliating. mean, you put in all this training. This was sort of the culmination of the career, right? And he says here, you can train for a very long time, but one day it can happen. It's like boxing. You can go to a training camp for five months and then be knocked out in two seconds, but life will continue. Yeah. So he did acknowledge this is my worst marathon. I have never done a DNF. And then he says, that's life. Like a boxer, I have been knocked down. I have won. I have come second, eighth, 10th, fifth, but now I did not finish and that is life. So there you go. Now people will ask questions of legacy, right? What's next? And yeah, I kind of feel it's crazy to say that someone who's won so much, who already has two Olympic gold medals needs redemption or could benefit from any type of redemption. It's like he could have retired two years ago after setting the world record and he would still be known as the Yoda that he was known at, or maybe he still is known as. some people. But that's the devil of the sport. It's like the longer you stick around, the more chances that you have of what's the thing. You can die a hero or you can stick around long enough to become the villain. And I feel like that's what happens to runners as they stay and things get tougher. And we saw it with Kenanissabekili. It's harder to stay healthy as you get older. That's just how it is. And for someone like Kipchoge, who doesn't seem to have many aspirations of retirement, you know, he wants to keep going for as long as he can. It's just going to get tougher and tougher. I want to see a redemption as much as someone else, but it's crazy to say that he might need it to keep his legacy. It feels ungracious or ungrateful as fans to say something like that. He's already accomplished so much. Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot this morning and did the scan of his resume. I mean, it's jaw dropping. He's won 11 marathon majors, two Olympic golds from the previous two Olympics. This is his first ENF. He's like only lost quote unquote, because either... win a marathon or you're one of the 30 ,000 other people who run ran a marathon. And he's only lost four marathons of all the races that he's run. I believe he's run. Well, let's do the math here. He's run 15 marathons now. So, and I mean, if you go back here on the losses, it's second marathon he ever ran in 2013 in Berlin, and he finished second place. And that was behind Wilson Kip saying who set the world record on the day and was also a doper. turns out. So they had that kind of rather ugly eighth place in London in 2020 during COVID and that very strange elite only looped course around around the park in in by Buckingham Palace in London, and St. James Park, I was like, what's the name of that park, St. James Park. And that day was very reminiscent to today in terms of like, just Something started a niggle started to grow into something bigger. He wasn't having a good day at the office and he just started to fade and then gate and kind of threw in the towel. then similar scenario in Boston last year, 2023, where he finished his sixth. And the questions about whether or not he's just like, as you pointed out in the preview, it's kind of more of a time trailer or is he actually someone who can deliver on the biggest stage regardless of. what the complexities of the race are. And I think that's the big question mark for his legacy at this point. Unfortunately, you know, he's won London five London, times Berlin, five times Tokyo and Chicago. What are all those courses have in common? Two things. They're flat and they have Pacers. So. So what does he have to do to rectify his legacy if that's even accurate? Like does he have to win another Olympic title? Does he just have to show up to one more major and win another one? I think four years is a long time and he will be 43, almost 44 years old for the Los Angeles Olympic games and the Kenyon, the Kenyon squad is the toughest squad in the world to crack. And who knows what happens? Does he go, Bikale on us and keeps going and just is just looming around and puts together a good marathon in the fall, winter, spring of 20, 27, 20, 28. Or not? don't know. I doubt that. My curiosity is, okay, he stepped off the course of 31 kilometers, which I said before is kind of like that spot where a lot of elite athletes in championship races step off because that just turns into a really gritty long run for them, for their body. And maybe if the injury is not significant, got New York in November. You know, what's the one major marathon that Elliott Kipchoge has never run? New York City Marathon. What a redemption story would that be if he was able to somehow pull off winning the New York City Marathon this fall? That would mean that he has won every single major save for Boston. If he was able to pull that off, that would be a way to salvage this late career hiccup that we're now seeing with him. I think Goat status, like he's your, who's the number one Rushmore guy? He's your, You're George Washington, you're Abe Lincoln on Mount Rushmore for sure for the men's marathon. So yeah. Okay. So before we wrap this up, let's talk about some other notable results from, I think was a, the New York times called it in their headline, a captivating Olympic marathon. And I think captivating is the right term for this one. So Americans did pretty well. Connor Mance, Clayton Young, both cracked the top 10. Mance was just ahead of Young and 8th, Young's 9th. And 208 .12, 208 .44 are like really good times and really good performances given the day. Like I just took a quick look at the US trials times that they put up in March to qualify and they ran 209 .05 and 06 respectively to qualify. It's very close to what they've done previously. So do you think that that's like, is that a win for American distance running? it just sort of like, are they, it kind of like what you expected better than expected? Like, how do you feel about it? think with the cards America had this year, it's a win. I don't think that they had a potential medalist. I just don't think that they had that top end strength. But in a year where they're not lukewarm of a team, it's a good team, but it's a strong field. But in a year where they're not expected to win, landing two guys in the top 10, I think is a win. I think America can leave. mean... not just the men's marathon, but the whole athletics competition in general, America smashed. And I also think that they can be proud of their men's marathon. Yeah, I think so. I would say one great performance that will not get perhaps the recognition it deserves because he came in fourth, which is just can be the toughest place. But I imagine Emil Caress of Great Britain is super pumped about that fourth place because he was in like sixth or seventh place with just a couple of kilometers to go. And he was the guy who like You know, it could go either way. And those, with those last couple of K to go, you could just hold onto your spot and be happy with seventh and be like, Hey, I came top 10 in the Olympics. And instead he dug down pretty deep and passed the Ethiopian gelata who had been in that chase group as well as Akira Akasaki of Japan. And he finishes fourth 207 .29. I mean, that's an awesome performance for a pretty young marathon runner and kudos to our teammate, Caitlin, who picked him as like a dark horse to make the podium. And she was, she was awful close with that. Emil Caress, I remember watching him qualify for the Olympics in London at London Marathon and that was a gutsy run. He did most of it running by himself and just made it. And he's pretty new onto the scene. So I'm very, very interested to see what he can do in the next cycle. But yeah, he solidified himself as an absolute gamer and one of the best marathoners in the world. that's my, sometimes we do these like winners and losers columns. Emil Caress, major winner. Yeah. I mean, if we're doing winners and losers off the top of my head, I'd say like, obviously Tamara Tola is our big winner of the day. You know, he's got the gold medal. I'd say Bashir Abdi is up there too. I'd say, I'd say the Olympic movement, like the IOC, they put on a gorgeous race. It looked amazing. They, the, think it really sold the, the importance and majesty of the Olympic marathon. It was very well. photographed. mean, the slow -mo shots were super cool. The course looked incredible. know, Palais de Versailles from the big helicopter perspective, seeing the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre pyramid, glass pyramid. I mean, it's just like the Bastille statue that they went around. I mean, just a really beautiful course. Paris was obviously the right pick for the Olympic Games. incredible day. I don't know, is there any other winners that I that that we missed there? I'm thinking more of the losers now. I don't think we have to get into it all that much. think, obviously, tough day for Elie Kipchoge, tough day for Gabriel Gay, who's lesser known, but also no sludge at all, a 203 runner from Tanzania who also was in the DNF columns. Take it how you will for Kenanissabekili. If you still accept... the idea that he and Kipchoge should have been battling for the win. You will call him a loser at 39. Obviously not a literal loser, but someone who lost the event. But if you look at him as someone who has incredible longevity, which he does, and who muscled out a really tough course marathon, I'm not sure if I would say that he lost this event. There's some nobility in that. So tough day for Kipchoge, Gay, and the few others who weren't able to finish. I, as a Canadian, I feel for Cam Levens. I know we mentioned him in the preview podcast. He finished 36th and 211st, 56th. One of the most talented marathoners in the world, the top North American coming into the race and clearly didn't have the time that he wanted. So I'm sure that he'll take it tough. So I do feel for him as well. Last loser that came to mind as I'm watching this, I'm watching these guys, the three podium finishers standing arm and arm with their perspective countries flags draped around their shoulders. A full body shot that we actually have in our recap story is what's on their feet. And Nike did not make the podium at these Olympics first time in some time. And just feels like If we didn't think there was a changing of the guard before with the super shoes, there definitely is now we've been talking about this all year and how the, latest version of the, the Alpha fly shoe just hasn't been winning as much. that could be just as much an issue with the athletes that they've backed as it is with the actual shoe technology itself. But to Adidas pro Evo two probably shoes on the podium winner. the winner and the second place finisher. No, and a third place, Bashir Abdi was in Adidas, your personal fave. Say ASICS rather, ASICS this year. And Emile Caress, also an ADS athlete. I don't know, off the top of my head, I'm just going down the top 10. Is Connor Mance the first and maybe only? runner in the top 10 that was wearing Nike. Now that may not be the case. There may have been a couple of guys. The guy from Lesotho may have been wearing Nike. just wasn't, I wasn't tracking that. It's A6. yeah, and I think the Japanese runners were also A6. Yeah, a six or Mizuno. I saw the shoe. just I didn't mark it down, but it was certainly not a Nike shoe. So I mean, that's that's really interesting from I mean, we're shoe nerds. So that's really interesting from a shoe perspective. And we'll actually have a story about the shoes of the Olympics, the Olympic Marathons coming up. Our colleague Jesse's right now. OK, last thoughts here. Close things out. Looking forward to the women's marathon. tonight slash tomorrow for us, 2 a Eastern time yet again, let's play it back, set the alarm. I'm gonna watch it. I think I'll do it live. I feel like a little bit like I'm living in a parallel universe right now with a lack of sleep. But what are the takeaways here for watching this women's race? Now that we've got to see this race and this course and how the conditions affect all of this, what are we thinking here? Do we think... Obviously, as you said in the preview, think that someone like Tigges DeSaffa, the world record holder, I think these hills sort of like neutralize her speed. You need more than a good personal best. You need more than a good time to get to have success here. You need to be a gamer. So my takeaway is I would put my money on someone who's won in a lot of different conditions. To me, that's Helen O 'Berry. I'll be looking at her. I think Siphan Hassan is a huge gamer. I also think she's exhausted from the 10 ,000 and the 5 ,000. Now that's two medals for... She's going for her third medal in the marathon. That's insane. I'd love to see her duel for the story, but it's like I almost can't see it. And then Perez Gepchirchir is a massive gamer. So I, she's the Olympic champion, the reigning champion from Kenya. So I would expect a Gepchirchir, O 'Biri, all Kenya battle in the front. That's my guess, but I'm ready for anything. Yeah, it's tough to make a prediction, especially with such a unpredictable course with so many so much undulation and obviously heat and humidity at the start being a big factor as well. But I would say if you're watching either the race or the replay of the race tomorrow, tonight, whenever the hell it is happening now, beside myself, I would say the very I'd say that you're probably expect to see a very large lead pack in the first 10 K much like with the men's race where it's going to be pacing out in the maybe even mid two twenties, two twenty five ish range like closer to like what the Olympic qualifying standard is. Close to kind of like what the men's race and then keep an eye out on those hills. Those first section of hills between 14 and 20 K might start stretching out the field and then certainly that monster wall of 600 meters of very steep climbing at 28 and change kilometers. probably will produce the big breakaway. And I like your picks there, Alex. think Perez, Chip, Cheer, Cheer, and Helen O 'Berry are two people to watch. Sharon Lochetti, who's won New York, is someone else to keep an eye on. But there may be a big group of people and maybe, obviously, there might be some surprises in there as well. Okay. Let's close this off for this instant reaction pod on the men's marathon. Alex? I think we got to do this for the women's race too. It would only be equitable and fair. And I think we're going to get our third teammate, Caitlin Tossie in there for it as well. know she's, she was dying to talk about this pod, she's, she's in the mountains of Costa Rica doing some crazy ultra running stuff today. So she wasn't able to join us, but she is going to join us tomorrow for instant reaction pod. Keep an eye on the feed for that. Like shortly after the race finishes, in the morning on Sunday morning, Eastern time. And obviously, if you're this deep in the pod, just subscribe to it and give us a rating if you can. It really helps us a lot. Okay, Alex, I'll talk to you tomorrow. All right,