After marathon failures, it's back on track for Dathan Ritzenhein

Dathan Ritzenhein is overcome with emotion after finishing in fourth place at the Olympic Trials men's marathon in Houston, eight seconds short of earning a spot in London.

HOUSTON -- Moments after crossing the finish line in dreaded fourth place Saturday in the Olympic Trials men's marathon, Dathan Ritzenhein crouched down and covered his face to shield the world of the tears he was shedding.

It wasn't just the reality of falling eight seconds short of punching his ticket back to the Games that left him emotional but also the realization that once again the marathon distance had beaten him.

A short time later, Ritzenhein essentially bid the discipline good riddance.

"Obviously being fourth is the worst place to be, and I'm trying not to react in the completely negative, but the marathon has been a continued problem," Ritzenhein said. "I'm not saying that I will never run another marathon but I am going to shift my focus back to the track. I am really going to focus on the disciplines and distances that I am good at."

Ritzenhein came to that conclusion after his body failed him late in another marathon. The 29-year-old battled at the front of the race with leaders Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman for more than 15 miles, the group clicking off consistent 4:50 miles and running on 2:06 pace.

When the runners hit 17 miles, Ritzenhein began experiencing hamstring spasms which forced him to back off the pace a little bit. He came back to the front near the finish-line area with one lap to go but was once again forced to check off the pace when spasms returned near the highway and mile 19. Now running closer 5:10 per mile, Ritzenhein eventually fell 39 seconds behind the leaders at about 22 miles. 

At mile 24, Ritzenhein said he could see the frontrunners slowing and eventual third-place finisher Abdirahman slowly drifting back toward him but he was unable to close the gap completely.

"This was more spasming," Ritzenhein said of his issues. "I've had actually cramping and problems with the fluids and fuel, but that was not the case. It's a muscular fatigue. When I talk to Alberto, there is writing on the wall. I've been very successful at 5-K, 10-K, half-marathon distances but there is a continued problem in the marathon."

Ritzenhein must now turn his attention to the Olympic Track & Field Trials July 22-July 1 in Eugene, where he can make the team for London in either the 5000m or 10,000m, or both.

To that end, could this awakening regarding the marathon be a blessing in disguise?

"Alberto (Salazar) seems to think so, although it's hard for me to think of it that way right now," Ritzenhein said. "It wasn't the training. My training was great. There's not much I would change. I just haven't done good past 18 miles. It's unfortunate that it has taken me this many marathons to figure this out. We can't keep making excuses."

Ritzenhein stands as an example of the tantalizing affect the marathon can have on distance runners who might not be suited to the distance.

Although his roots were grounded in track and cross-country, Ritzenhein, a 2004 Olympian in the 10,000m, decided to make a foray into the marathon in 2006, debuting at the ING New York City Marathon. Despite high expectations, he struggled with the fluid and nutritional intake vital to success and wound up finishing 11th in 2:14:01.

"I completely ran out of gas, just ran out of fuel," Ritzenhein said in a 2010 retrospective. "The body only has a certain amount of energy in it, and I basically didn't take in enough. I never thought I would have so much trouble running 6:30 pace for a mile. I think I was probably a little-bit naïve and arrogant to think about what it took to run a good marathon. It doesn't sound hard to run just under five-minute miles but it is a lot harder than I thought it was originally."

Naturally, Ritzenhein wanted to make amends, at the very least see if he could tackle the challenges that he failed in New York his first time out. In his next race, the 2007 Olympic Trials in New York, he finished second to Ryan Hall in 2:11:07. In Beijing, he beat Hall, finishing as the top American and ninth overall in 2:11:59.

After the Olympics, Ritzenhein wanted to explore his potential future in the marathon. He switched coaches to Salazar, someone he believed would help him reach his potential both on the track and on the roads. That all appeared to be on schedule in 2009 when Ritzenhein set a marathon personal-best of 2:10:00 in an 11th-place finish in the London Marathon, a personal-best of 27:28.88 in a sixth-place finish in the 10,000m at the World Championships in Berlin, a then-American record 12:56.27 in the 5000m at the Weltklasse Zurich meet, and a bronze medal at the World Half-Marathon Championships with a 1:00:00 run in Birmingham.

In 2010, Ritzenhein finished a disappointing eighth in the New York City Marathon in 2:12:33. Frustrated by the result, he resumed training perhaps prematurely. He wound up suffering irritation to the sheath of his Achilles tendon, a minor injury.

However, injections meant to calm the issue led to a bad reaction and surgery in March. Then it turned out that he was allergic to the dissolvable stitches used internally and antibiotics failed to curb the subsequent infection. That resulted in a second surgery, in June, to have the stitches removed. At that point, there was so much tissue damage to the skin that the wound wouldn't close. Then came surgery No. 3.

In the long run, Ritzenhein questions whether all of this was worth it.

"We were avoiding the things that I am the best at and have had the most success at because I was forcing myself into the marathon," he said. "It just hasn't come together. I've missed some opportunities now by focusing on the marathon and something that's not going to be, at least not now anyway."

So what's next for Ritz?

He said he will take a full week off from running before sitting down with Salazar to outline a plan of attack for getting prepared for the track Trials. He figures he will be back training hard within a month's time and completely focused on the 10,000m.

"The 10-K on the Olympic level is probably more of my event," Ritzenhein said. "We're going to regroup from this psychological beating and go back to the stuff that I am good at."