Is Kara no longer a threat to win Boston?

She was never a threat to win Boston, and she's still no longer a threat.

She is a joke. Her pregnancy meant that she was forced off of the PED's. 1:14:02 is the real Kara Goucher. Hopefully WADA will test her a dozen times between now and Boston but I bet they won't. She is probably off of the list to be tested because she didn't race last year.

Hmm...She even indicated, and you can see it in Arizona, that she wasn't back to her normal running weight yet. Actually, I don't think she'll be ready yet by Boston and won't be a threat. But the comment by "Sal Bertazar" is unfounded, cruel, and way out of line, like too much of what gets posted here.

Losers like you should stay out of intelligent discussions.

Maybe Boston is just part of her preparation for the OT's next year.

Sal Bertazar wrote:

She is a joke. Her pregnancy meant that she was forced off of the PED's. 1:14:02 is the real Kara Goucher. Hopefully WADA will test her a dozen times between now and Boston but I bet they won't. She is probably off of the list to be tested because she didn't race last year.

Boy, you re really well-informed aren't. What does not racing some of last year got to do with it? Did she send USADA a declaration that she has retired? I did not think so.

What is with the hate that goes towards this woman?

Here's how I see it. Is she the fastest woman in the world? No, but she has proven herself to be pretty darn good. Is she the hottest woman of all times? No, but she is certainly attractive. Is she the coolest person on the planet? Likely not, but she seems very nice in interviews.

She is thus faster, better looking, and cooler than anyone I know.

People believe that their stars never lose it. They do. Kara was on a downhill slide before her pregnancy. Look at trends.

2010-- She was pregnant and we will ignore this year

2009--She did not pr for any distance.

Marathon best for the year was 2:27:48 but her lifetime best was 2 minutes faster the year before.

10000 she did not run but her best is 30:55 in 2008.

50000 she ran 15:20 in 2009 her best was 14:55 in 2007.

So she spent all of 2009 not equalling anything she did previously in any of her events. Since this time she has been away from the sport to have a baby but yet people think she is going to be better than ever? She was not going to run any faster than 2:29 this year without the pregnancy.

Meanwhile Davila has run pr's in 2010 in the 3000, 5000, 10,000 and marathon and has run a pr for the half marathon in 2011. Keep in mind that before this improvement she was 5 seconds behind Kara in the marathon (in Berlin).

Desiree will kill Kara.

too many doritos

Here is what Kara said about her fitness to Peter Gambacini the week of the race.

"I think I can run in the 5:30s (per mile). I think that's pretty manageable right now."

She averaged 5:40's.

She is absolutly clueless when it comes to knowing her own fitness.

B]puzzled and bewildered wrote:

Here is what Kara said about her fitness to Peter Gambacini the week of the race.

"I think I can run in the 5:30s (per mile). I think that's pretty manageable right now."

She averaged 5:40's.

She is absolutly clueless when it comes to knowing her own fitness.[/quote]

And the difference between 5:39 (in the 5:30s) and 5:40 is how much?[quote][

I expect her to be competitive if she can stay healthy. The thought of her winning so soon after returning to full training is a longshot. Alot can be accomplished in 3 months and I wish her and all the other Americans running Boston- great training and good luck!

the clarifier wrote:

And the difference between 5:39 (in the 5:30s) and 5:40 is how much?[

You idiot. She clearly suggested that 5:30s would be no problem ("pretty manageable") and clearly didn't have it do even dip into the 5:30s.

Who runs a half marathon >10s/mile slower than planned? That's over 2 minutes overestimation of her abilities. Even weekend warriors know their fitness to within this margin. Hell, even most high school runners should.

Did you not see the Desi will kick Kara's butt thread?

Come on fans, where is your confidence? That is a moronic question at best.

Anyone who "really" knows about T&F, marathons, and running in general knows that she's not that good when it comes to the world scene. Don't even tell me about the tainted bronze 3.5 years ago. Only an idiot can't figure out why she got that medal. I've explained it repeatedly on this board but then the idiots won't respond, knowing they were beat.

Kara is a decent runner, but as I said last year, Desi will beat her, period. Dozens of you argued. Now you come back and say that Desi is better because of recent results.

Kara will be hard pressed to make the team in one years time (Jan. 14th to be exact). What does that mean? She may make it and she may not, but she's no shoe in that's for sure. Desi is more of a sure thing that Kara. That leaves 2 spots. Do you boneheads know who is going to be running the trials next year? Unless Shalane has a bad day, she's not finishing behind Goucher. That leaves one spot.

Kara wants to medal in London as do a dozen or more others who are faster than her. Look it up, she said it. That is an arrogant statement to make when you've yet to even secure a spot on the team.

In addition, when it comes to the world scene, Kara is light years behind the best. She claims she didn't feel good in Berlin and I believe her, hence her poor showing. I would bet half the ladies who finished in front of her didn't feel all that great either, and they beat her. 3 were from China and 2 from Japan.

More importantly, which foreigner is going to enter onto the marathoning scene this year that has never even run one? Then what?

I don't base a runners ability off of looks and to be honest, I would call LK a better looking runner that KG.

An elite runner who expresses the desire to medal is "arrogant?" That makes just about EVERYONE arrogant.

Neither Meb nor Deena ever mentioned attempting to medal (in a public forum) until after they did it.

Alberto will have her back.

http://www.law.duke.edu/sportscenter/salazar.pdf

An excerpt:

My desire to win, no matter what the physical pain I had to endure, would be very

hard to ignore in the current age where many athletes feel it is impossible to be competitive

against the best in the world without doping. I believe that it is currently difficult to be

among the top 5 in the world in any of the distance events without using EPO or Human

Growth Hormone. While some of the top athletes may be clean, so many athletes are

running so fast that their performances are suspect. This is compounded for me by the fact

that the times these athletes are running just happen to coincide exactly with what top

exercise physiologists have calculated taking EPO would produce.

I would like to make it clear that I in no way condone doping and am glad I never felt forced

to seriously consider doing it, but I can definitely understand how a good moral person

might feel compelled to do so. That person might not even consider it cheating if they

believe all their top competitors are doing it.

Of course, you completely missed the point.

Desire to medal? She's not even on the team! Yes, that's arrogant. Also, how embarrassing it will be if she doesn't even make the team.

Please sit in your thinking chair and think about it.

Read the post below yours. Do you even have your GED?

Since the thread is open ended, I'll throw out the idea that Kara is still a threat to eventually win Boston. 2011 is out because of last year's pregnancy, 2012 is out because of London, but I don't see why she wouldn't be a contender for 2013 and beyond. Certainly, the odds of picking a specific runner to win are slim, but expecting her to be in the top 5 when in top form is reasonable.

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

You idiot. She clearly suggested that 5:30s would be no problem ("pretty manageable") and clearly didn't have it do even dip into the 5:30s.

Kara's average pace was 5:39 which would be in the 5:30s. If the timing mats were placed correctly, she was running 5:33 average pace through 8.5 miles and faded significantly the last third of the race.

It's hard to guess how quickly she'll get close to peak form. Maybe never, though I can't imagine why any fan of American distance running would wish this upon her. Certainly she has a long way to go in a short time to compete for another podium finish at Boston this year. What she has done during her running career is put down times in distances from 5k-half marathon that give some hope of closing a tactical marathon fast enough to win something major.