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The point is, since you've never run any sub 2:04 marathon, you wouldn't possibly know why a sub 2:04 marathoner mind/body would want to pull out of a race. Yeah, maybe it's ok for you to finish your 3 hour marathons, with injury in 4 hours, and then to be with injury for the following 5 months. Maybe Geb/Wanjiru don't like that. I don't care if they blame asthma, their pinkie toes, or hair styles ...
Like Deriba Merga put it bluntly, if he thinks he wont make it to the top 3, he'll just pull out of a race.
Personally if I' followed that rule, I'd never enter a race.
Either way, you/me/most of lets run are a couch/internet potatoes. They race, they break records, they quit. You just run badly almost all the time. Up your pace, or get over it.
p.s. Maybe your problem's that you don't understand your body enough to know when to push or quit.[/quote]
Or maybe Geb just can't handle losing, ever consider that? My post wasn't so much about injuries, what is acceptable excuse and what isn't, my post was just in support of those who finish out races. And in almost all cases, these guys can finish out the race, they just don't want to look bad. If there really was an injury problem, then I'm sure then they knew about it beforehand, during that same time they all talk about breaking the world record, which kind of makes me doubt that there was anything serious in the first place.
Just look around and see how many truly elites DNF. If it was really that bad, then just pull out like Lel did before hand. By the way, I am a big fan of Wanjiru, Geb, etc... I like them all, I just wish these guys wouldn't talk so much and just put out.