Dathan Ritzenhein Runs Strong Half Marathon In Philly Ahead Of Chicago

Three-time U.S. Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein will be the top American competing at the 2012 Chicago Marathon on Oct. 7. He's looking fit going in, as on Sunday he ran 1:00:56 at the Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, finished third.

Ritz was 54 seconds off of winner Stanley Biwott of Kenya and 14 seconds off of second place finisher Paul Lonyangata, also of Kenya. The pace was 56 seconds slower than Ritz's own personal best in the half, a 1:00:00 finish in the 2009 Worlds.

Ritz's personal best in the marathon is 2:09:55, which earned him a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Houston earlier this year. (Two of the runners who finished ahead of Ritz in Houston, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman, didn't come close to finishing the Olympic race. Ritz did make it to London in the 10K, though, finishing 13th.) With a current year sub-1:01 in his belt, Ritz would seem poised to improve his best marathon time in Chicago, depending on conditions.