Dathan Ritzenheim broke the American record in the 5,000 last night running 12:56, just four seconds behind Bekele. Ritz was closing on Bekele steadily late in the race after the leaders ran a suicidal early pace. Ritz finished the race in third four seconds back from the greatest runner in the history of the world. Ritz becomes the third fastest non-African born runner ever behind Mottram of Australia and I believe Dieter Baumann of Germany.

We all thought Ritz was just a marathoner playing around on the track to increase his speed for the marathon. I think now he was doing the marathon to increase his strength for the track. Don't ever, anyone, tell me that long slow miles make long slow runners.

By the way, I have now run with two American record holders in my lifetime. Ritz was checking out the finish for the trials course as I was running in preparation for the New York City Marathon and we ran up the slight incline to the finish together.