Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday!

Big day for running this Saturday as US Olympic hopefuls will toe the line in Houston. Both men and women will have their Marathon Trials on the same course: men starting at 8:00 and women at 8:15.

Here are a few more links for the big event:
-A good preview of the men at Let's Run.
-And a good preview of the women at Let's Run.
-It will be on TV...but delayed, not live! If you can hold off, and not look at the internet all day, you can watch it on NBC.
-Let's Run discusses ten long shots on the men's side, including Oregon homeboy, Max King. I'd love to see Max in the top three, but there are just too many other guys that are slightly faster than him. Still, a top ten finish would be impressive for King. Go Max!
-Lots and lots and lots of Trials coverage at Runner's World.
-Great piece by Scott Douglas at Runner's World, knocking down the trend of everyone predicting a huge batch of PR times at the Trials. Really, this happens before every Trials, but when the actual race takes place, very few runners come away with PR's.
-Want to predict the winners? Let's Run has a contest going for just that.

Here are my predictions:

Men:
1)Ryan Hall
2)Dathan Ritzenhein
3)Brett Gotcher

I know Meb might be there, but I just have a feeling he'll be a step slow.

Women:
1)Desiree Davila
2)Kara Goucher
3)Shalane Flanagan

Also, throw out some big love to the Northwest Runners that have basically no chance, but are still in the Trials, which is a HUGE accomplishment...there are too many to name, but the NW is well represented. Check out a list here.

Like Meghan Arbogast, 50 years old, and running in her fourth straight trials. Meghan, you make Corvallis look good!


photo by Andy Cripe.


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