Kara Goucher Calls The Awfully Slow NYC Women's Marathon "the best race of the year"

Nobody asked your opinion.

This was actually the most enjoyable episode from these two that I’ve listened to so far. Des was actually kinda funny, Kara did sound genuine in that take of best race, they both were like “yea Kellyn and Molly had no business being with the lead group but had no choice lol”

And I appreciated Kara giving Galen props for his commentary, and getting the elephant out of the room quickly regarding their “history”

I mostly enjoyed their light hearted rant about how they would train now for a hypothetical Olympic marathon against the current crop of top women…with Kara saying something along…”oh yea and aside from every tempo/threshold run ever you also have to work on your kick now…that’s bullsh1t!!” (Was said in good fun)

The best kick with 26 miles under your belt is completely different than working on a kick. Athletes with the greatest natural speed very rarely have the best kick in a marathon.

She could be right, you know? It was a race, not a scripted time-trial run with pacers over the marathon distance. The women actually ran as they thought would give them the best opportunity to win. It was refreshing to see.

Someone woman called Tigist Assefa might just have had a tiny bit better race this year than the stupidly slow women's race at NYC. Plus, the American women at NYC got dropped like a rock in the last mile even though they were running so slow all day, not what anyone would call the "best race of the year".

You obviously didn’t watch the race. I was there in person and saw the finish. Awesome to see it come down to the last 200 meters. You must think the Tokyo marathon this year was boring as well

If I wanted to see a slow jog, I would go watch an ultra.

In Tokyo, the East African women ran fast at the front. The Japanese women? Slow, just slow.

OP goes home DEVASTATED

Agreed. I want to see a race not a rabbited time trial, pace makers etc. Fast times are a bonus. I enjoyed Des Linden's win at Boston overcoming environmental conditions cold and wet as some faster run fell away. Reminded me of Jack Fultz overcoming the heat and other elites in 1976

OP obviously didn't listen to the podcast, just read the episode summary. Kara said it was refreshing that it was a race where the top contenders were not worried about the time at all. But this put the American women in a bad spot since they were trying for a standard. She and Des actually had great analysis in that they said the two could have worked together for the time but what ended up happening was they got the worst of both worlds where they are leading at times but not at a pace that hurts the field at all or gets them to the standard.

This podcast is definitely worth listening to for all the people who wanted Des and Galen bonding stories. They barely made it to the start line with a maniac driver trying to beat the closing of a bridge, with Galen hopping out to remove barriers and Des thinking they were going to die. Kara also said he did a great job commentating.

I'd say she's consistent. She likes a man with a slow hand...

Ah, how cute. Des and Galen shared a cab and Galen acted likely a manly man to save them. Are Des and Galen dating now?

Sounds like Kara reads LRC

This!

I agree, I was watching this live and it was a nail biter! Very exciting finish and it was wild that even at mile 25 I had no idea who would win

It was not a very competitive race. The pro tracking showed 14 women, was that right? And only 4 or 5 tops Americans? It seemed there were only 11 women in the pack, and they were not going very fast, 2:28 pace through the half. It was a 20 mile controlled tempo and then the top 5 or so that were significantly better than everyone else decided to have a 10k race and dropped the hammer a bit. And it was a great weather day, so that's not an excuse for how slow it was. Molly Huddle was 9th in 2:32, 9th place at Grandma's marathon was 2:32 this year. And remember that people get massive bonus points for finishing top 12 at a WMM. Sydney Devore was 12th in 2:36 to get 20 extra bonus points for her world ranking, WINNING a race like Grandma's, which has been won in 2:25 and 2:26 the past couple years only gets you 5 bonus points. These races should be required to have more competitive fields, New York women were pretty weak this year.

But even if you did watch an ultra you'd manage to find something to moan about.