The guy is a machine.He ran 2:12:24 and won in Egypt on Jan 18th.Then he qualified for world's with a 2:08:15 win at Beppu on Feb. 3rd.Now he's running Seoul.I love the guy's attitude as well. He's trying to stick it to the guy who criticized him.
Brett Larner wrote:
Kawauchi originally said his goal for Seoul was to meet the Japanese Federation's 2:07:59 time standard for the Moscow team, but following a media brouhaha around comments critical of Kawauchi by Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) after his 2:08:00 finish at last month's Tokyo Marathon, Kawauchi reframed his target as "beating Maeda's time." His competition includes 2:05 and 2:06 Kenyans Eliud Kiptanui, Franklin Chepkwony and Benjamin Kiptoo, and Ethiopian Seboka Tola, who beat Kawauchi while setting the 2:08:27 course record at last spring's Dusseldorf Marathon.
More here:
http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2013/03/half-marathon-championships-and.htmlI don't see a PR coming but hope he does PR.
Seaoul has also Duncan Kibet (2:04:27) in it. IAAF preview here:
http://www.iaaf.org/news/preview/kiptanui-and-jelila-have-the-mantle-of-being