What They Didn't Tell You: London Marathon Weekend

You know, it's easy to sit around here and make jokes, acting all disaffected as the world of running plays out its little dramas for us. But you know what? Sometimes a performance demands the respect to be treated as the achievement that it is, and not undermined by jokes. This weekend, one American athlete gave us just such a performance, so, after the jump we dig into that sterling, inspirational performance to place it in a historical context and celebrate it for the accomplishment it is. It's What They Didn't Tell You - Serious Edition.

Chris Derrick. Wow. 13:55 for a high schooler. That's some serious shite. Check these numbers out:

• 7th American high schooler to break 14-minutes.
• 5th American schoolboy all-time behind Rupp, Lindgren, Ritz & Pre.
• To my knowledge, neither Ritz nor Rupp achieved their marks in HS-only competition, as Derrick did.

And, that's about it. Not much else to say about the weekend.

Well, except for the fact that Flora, the title sponsor of the London Marathon, is a manufacturer of margarine (pronounced mar-gar-EEN, over there) and that the margarine-eating-contest they held in conjunction with marathon weekend saw an American actually take down a whole field of Africans. Until Ryan Hall throws shit down in Beijing, THIS will be the victory I savor.