Desi will kick Kara's butt this April

Qualifying window: January 1, 2010 until 30 days prior to the designated Olympic Trials race...

Kara needs to qualify for the trials, as she doesn't yet hold a valid qualifying time.

She could do this by running a fall marathon, although that might be too close to the trails. She could also qualify via the half marathon option, but then she would be running the trials without a post baby marathon at all, and relying on getting the Oylmpic A standard at the trials.

Whether Desi might have a good run at Boston or not, probably shouldn't even be a consideration for her right now.

Kara is running because she signed a multi year deal with Boston.

The appearance money is very good with bonus , prize money is icing on the cake. Shoe bonus money is always bigger for Boston , NY , London etc.

Triple payday ! Good for her !!

I hope they both do well.

what this poster said...

Fan2 wrote:

I hope they both do well.

And this matters how?

The sad thing is the "rabid desi fan" is probably her own coach.

the dude with the funny hat wrote:

Kara is giving her all for the USA by coming back as soon as she possibly can to make sure there are two elite women not one on the line in April. She wants to represent her country as well as she can, and so does Desi. Seeing one of them in the top 3 would be great, both in the top 3 with one winning would be even better. A 1-2 finish would be out of this world and it's so cool that that's even possible. Thanks to Kara it is.

I agree, I think it's such a positive thing for women's running to have two great American Marathoners at Boston. I used to live in MA & recently moved across the country...I wasn't planning on going back to run or watch Boston this year, but now I'm rethinking that. When there is a reason to take a flight just to watch a women's race, that's a good thing in my book. -- Props to Kara for getting back at it so soon (even if it's stupid, I've done more stupid things & we probably all have), and props to Desi for keeping on, keeping on and raising the bar for American women's distance running)

Lucy,

Although I believe that your a little too aggressive in your statements (I don't understand the need), I do agree that Desiree will beat Kara. I believe this for one main reason. COACHING. Hanson athletes tend to always improve in the marathon and Salazar athletes tend to run their best performance in their first marathon. I don't know why, but it seems to be the case.

I didn't realize she had signed a multi-year deal with Boston. If that's true, she may be making a bad decision by running this race just for the cash. Even if the money is good, she is one of the sport's premier female athletes, and I would think she is doing ok financially off of her contract and various endorsements.

If she rushes things and jumps into one of the toughest elite marathons in the nation less than 10 months after giving birth to her fist child, she will get her trials qualifier (what is it, 2:45?), but most likely blow up and get humiliated by the rest of the field. Not something you want in the back of your mind going into the trials, and I doubt that the race organizers are paying her to come out and put on that type of performance.

Not really trying to hate, but I am pretty tired of watching our nation's best athletes rushing back to training after injuries, overtraining, and switching coaches every couple of years. We need to take a long term approach and make smarter racing decisions if we ever want to beat the africans.

Wrong and wrong and wrong again.

She won't cry because she will have modest expectations going in.

But besides, nothing wrong with showing emotion.

Darth Trebblehorn wrote:

Lucy,

Although I believe that your a little too aggressive in your statements (I don't understand the need), I do agree that Desiree will beat Kara. I believe this for one main reason. COACHING. Hanson athletes tend to always improve in the marathon and Salazar athletes tend to run their best performance in their first marathon. I don't know why, but it seems to be the case.

Hanson athletes do not always improve in the marathon. Trent Briney just kept getting better. Oh wait after the trials he went down hill. Kara is quite a bit more talented than Desiree and has had better success at the marathon. Desiree beating Kara would be like the Patriots getting beat by the Panthers. Could it happen ? Sure. Most likely it won't.

WWRD... wrote:

what this poster said...

Fan2 wrote:

I hope they both do well.

+1 This isn't junior high.

Thanks for agreeing RRRR. That's what I was saying, she is rushing it too soon after giving birth and I already knew about her deal with Boston, but the solution just don't run. I guarantee you there is a clause that allows her to bow out if she is unprepared, which she will be. Barely breaking 2:30 doesn't count, she's better than that.

I too am 99% certain that she reads these boards and I don't care. If you can't outkick someone, get away sooner, run them into the ground, or accept the outcome, which was 3rd in 2009.

Had she ran hard and even from the gun, I would have supported her to the end. But she didn't and then blamed the slow early pace "after" the race was done as if she had no control. It's not personal, it's a fact.

Desi won't allow that and will run a smart race from the gun regardless of Kara's presence in the race. From the above, I still believe Desi will kick Kara's butt in Boston.

You state half the story. Trent Briney was injured for quite some time. Get your facts straight. Regardless of your abililty, how well do you run while injured?

Patriots beating the Panthers? Hardly. Their pr's are so close we should just call it a wash. What happened in the WC race? Where has Kara run that much faster. Again, get your facts straight. I would love to place a wager with some of you goofs.

Lucy says wrote:

Desi is going to kick Kara's butt in Boston. Mark it down as done.

1. Desi is class and walks away with first place among Americans.

2. Unfortunately Kara cries and blames it on not enough time after giving birth.

3. Every letsrun poster disagrees with this post and then claims they knew it all along after the race is done.

I hope so. I find Kara annoying in the "can't quite put my finger on it" type of way that I also find Ryan Hall annoying

Lucy says wrote:

You state half the story. Trent Briney was injured for quite some time. Get your facts straight. Regardless of your abililty, how well do you run while injured?

Patriots beating the Panthers? Hardly. Their pr's are so close we should just call it a wash. What happened in the WC race? Where has Kara run that much faster. Again, get your facts straight. I would love to place a wager with some of you goofs.

Injuries are nothing but training mistakes. So, being injured does not give the athlete/coach/program the free pass you're trying to create.

For the record, I think Desi has a great chance of beating her, and I am impressed with the Hanson program.

It's just your faulty logic in your first paragraph.

Lucy says wrote:

If you can't outkick someone, get away sooner, run them into the ground, or accept the outcome, which was 3rd in 2009.

Kara had some of the best 10k credentials of anyone in that race. Given that it wasn't an unreasonable strategy to sit in on the slow pace and try to win it in the last few miles. It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad strategy. Salazar said after the race that she should have waited even longer.

^^^^ Totally agree with this!!! I can't think of other runners that give me this vibe besides Kara & Ryan.

Dathan - fine, kind of cool

Shalane - fine

Desi - fine

Magdalena - fine

Webb - fine

Meb - fine, cool actually

Haile - fine, cool.

Ryan - oftentimes annoying,

Kara - often annoying; which tells me she really IS because she is attractive which would tend to give her some leeway