Looking Toward Houston

The Olympic Trials for men and women are on Saturday in Houston, and I am so excited.  I won't there, but will be watching the recap on NBC eagerly.  I cannot wait!  I got into running in Fall 2008, and didn't start following professional runners until Spring 2009 with the Boston Marathon.  So, the Olympics and Olympic Trials leading up to 2008 meant nothing to me - I had no idea that the trials existed.  I never had favorite athletes as a child - I never followed a particular team.  But in the 3 short years I've been running, I started to follow the professional sport quite avidly.  I reading all of the running news daily, and I know the athletes and their stats pretty well.  Needless to say, not only am I excited to watch the Olympics in London, I am excited to watch the trials. I have been reading about all of these tremendous athletes who are well known just by their first name: Ryan, Meb, Desi, Shalane, Kara, Magda, Deena.  It is so hard to pick who is going to win or make the cut.  I think this is one of the beautiful things about this sport - you don't root against anyone.  You want these people to succeed because on some small scale as a marathoner, you understand their desire and quest.  But, if I had to pick...(w/predicted times)
Men:
1.  Ryan Hall (2:08:15)
2.  Mo Trafeh (2:08:47)
3.  Meb Keflezighi (2:10:11)
(and runner up: Nick Arciniaga)
Women:
1. Desi Davila (2:23:04)
2. Shalane Flanagan (2:25:48)
3. Kara Goucher (2:25:57)
(and runner up Magdalena Lewy Boulet)
We'll see what happens on Saturday.  But I am already so inspired by all of these athletes - both those who are hoping to punch their ticket to London and those whose dream come true is to qualify for the Trials.  They have put in so much time, effort, dedication, heart, sweat, you name it, into getting to this start line. I just hope they enjoy their journey to the finish!