One-time teenage phenom is OK with his place in the running world because, at 35, he remains a contender for 2020 Olympics.
Dathan Ritzenhein is under no illusion where he is in his career. The one-time teenage phenom even calls himself an outlier who, at 35, is nearly twice the age of those pursuing him.
“I’m enjoying that,” he said. “I can remember being on the other side. I enjoy the young people that I race, and they look at me like an old guy. I’m OK with that because I like to think that’s it’s pretty cool that an older guy can still do it.”
With age comes wisdom that, buoyed by recent success, makes that internal clock a little less worrisome for the three-time Olympian. Especially when the times at the finish line look pretty good.
“I don’t have anything to prove anymore; it’s really for myself,” he said recently from his Rockford home. “I don’t have pressure. I’ve made three Olympic teams. It’s not like I have to do that to make or break my career. But just personally. Even the journey along the way is part of it. Proving to myself that I can do it is big.”
Ritzenhein is one week out from the Boston Marathon, which will be a huge marker for what happens in his future. Ritzenhein finished seventh in his debut in 2015 as the top American finisher.
This time he sees it as a measuring stick for the bigger goal of making the marathon for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
If he made the team, Ritzenhein would be on the high end of 37 years old headed to Tokyo.
“Two years seems like a lot, but it goes by really fast and I need to have a couple good (marathon) opportunities and build on each one,” Ritzenhein said. “Just stringing together healthy training will be the biggest thing.”
There are reasons to be encouraged. The biggie, obviously, is his health. His Boston tune-up last month went well. He finished second in the New York Half Marathon on March 18, losing in the stretch run to Ben True at a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 42 seconds.
“There were a few things I wanted to figure out for Boston,” he said, such as assessing how he felt pushing over hills. “I just went to the front and was pressing and pressing until the end. Truthfully, I think I could have kicked a lot harder but, all in all, it worked out great to head for Boston.”
There is also his sponsorship change a year ago with Brooks as a member of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project that has re-invigorated him.
The breakup with Nike also came with a new plan as his training is now handled by Kevin Hanson. After moving back to Michigan in 2014, Ritzenhein had trained himself.
“I don’t live life in regrets, but just having that support that I have now would have made a difference (in 2016),” Ritzenhein said.
Ritzenhein fans will hold their collective breath at Boston because he hasn’t run a marathon in a year and a half. His previous two resulted in DNFs, including the immensely disappointing exit at the 2016 U. S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles. Then, at the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon, he pulled his plantar that sent him to the sidelines.
The Boston Marathon will be his longest race since winning the 25K River Bank Run in Grand Rapids last May. It will also be his first marathon with Hansons-Brooks.
“Part of this is scary because the past two have been brutal,” Ritzenhein said. “I’ve had some good other races since but the marathon, it can really destroy you. I think going in, I have a good fear of it.”
Interestingly, Ritzenhein is in a place he never expected to be. Playing “what if,” Ritzenhein said he “probably would have retired” if he made the 2016 Olympic team.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think I would have had the desire because you can’t fake it,” he said.
That said, 2020 is too far away to put anything in concrete or even pour a mold.
“I haven’t really thought of the next race (after Boston),” Ritzenhein said. “2020 is the ultimate long-term goal. But Boston is on the horizon, it’s here. What happens between now and then I can’t say. I’m taking the approach of let’s just see what happens from Boston. From there, who knows?”
