Thanks. Thought for a moment it may have been too much, but reading the posts before mine, I felt inspired to make an argument and back it up with facts.
It won't be easy for Rupp to win in Boston, 2018, but I am not going to count him out merely because others have a faster time than him, or have some kind of a pedigree, etc... Now if Eliud Kipchoge were running, that may be another story . Then it'll be the equivalent of Larry Bird walking into the locker room before the 3 point contest, asking who is coming in second.
But with Boston, each of the runners has to show up healthy, and then we have to find out what the weather is going to be like.
2013 - weather was decent, same with 2014.
2015 had some good ol' rain in the middle and a headwind. 2016 started off hot with an increasing headwind toward the end. Last year just plain stunk. Hot, miserable conditions with no wind to cool you off.
I pray that this year we get something a little more - workable?
Credit to Rupp though - 2016 trials were hot and dry, and he ran pretty well. Olympics that year were humid and warm, and he again ran well. Boston was miserable, he wasn't healthy, he hung in there a lot better than most. Chicago had decent weather and as soon as he opened it up, everybody fell off.