Anyone else shocked by Kara only nine seconds off Desi?

Never understood why she got so much crap here on LRC:

1. She had a baby, did you see her in Boston? She still had some fat from that baby. That is normal, she wasn't lazy. This just takes time.

2. Kara has shown in the past that she has far greater talent than Desi.

3. Desi is a 2:26 runner. That's what she proved to be able to run on one of the fastest courses (Chicago) and that's what she did yesterday. Kara showed in NYC that she has potential to be 2:21-2:22 runner on a flat course.

Nutella1 wrote:

Never understood why she got so much crap here on LRC:

1. She had a baby, did you see her in Boston? She still had some fat from that baby. That is normal, she wasn't lazy. This just takes time.

2. Kara has shown in the past that she has far greater talent than Desi.

3. Desi is a 2:26 runner. That's what she proved to be able to run on one of the fastest courses (Chicago) and that's what she did yesterday. Kara showed in NYC that she has potential to be 2:21-2:22 runner on a flat course.

Agree- she's talented, obviously, a medalist at Worlds. And she proved in Houston that she's tough as nails. She'll have 7 months now to prepare with the same coach. These three could all be a force in London.

runn wrote:

Agree- she's talented, obviously, a medalist at Worlds. And she proved in Houston that she's tough as nails. She'll have 7 months now to prepare with the same coach. These three could all be a force in London.

I don't really see Desi medalling. I stand by my previous comments that you need to be in sub2:20 SHAPE to win London 2012. Not guaranteeing that it will be a fast race but with Shubukova (?) and Keitany, I am pretty sure the pace will be honest. If not, I can see Shalane on the podium.

But if they keep the pace up, it will be Russia, Kenya, Kenya. Not necessarily in that order.

Actually the race wasn't really as negatively split as everyone thinks. If you remove the 6:11 first mile the rest of the race fluctuated quite steadily around low 5:30 pace the whole way.

Q: why was Kara was holding her head and chin so high yesterday. What's going on there? She looks so damn rigid. Anyone else notice this?

Houston -

http://tinyurl.com/7yhunly

Boston -

http://tinyurl.com/7exfavn

She tends to do that at points in her races, usually depends on how far she is in her race but Ive noticed it happens more often later in the race when she starts to hurt a bit more

I've not been a Kara fan either, but am impressed with how she ran yesterday. She has an excellent efficient gliding form for the marathon. I won't be surprised if she is the first American next time.

Salazar is a good coach, obviously, and a better coach than where she is now. But she moved to get more competition, not for the coaching. It would have been better for her had Salazar brought in a couple more women.

Wuzthere wrote:

Desi ran to make the team, not win the race, and that's why I would kick her ass, if I were her coach.

I guess I don't see why it makes sense to kill oneself to try to win the Trials. If there's any race where third is nearly as good as first, it's this one.

I was worried that Desi and Shalane were going to kill themselves trying to beat each other, and have the best races of their lives at the trials, rather than the Olympics.

A Kara at 100% is better than a Desi at 100%, Anyone knows this. Desi's best race is the equivalent of 2:26 and change at New York, at best, and Kara ran 2:25 there in her first marathon. Therefore I am not shocked, and you shouldn't be either.

oblik wrote:

The same half marathon that teammate Shalane "paced" three minutes faster, yet finished only 28 seconds ahead today. Yeah, that didn't factor into the surprise at all....

quote]

I hate to keep telling you but you are very poor at reading between the lines. Shalane didn't pace that race like Goucher. She ran to win. Shalane was already in great shape and needed a test. Goucher was just getting in shape and needed a pace run.

If that was truly the shape each was in, that would have put Goucher over 2:30 which is ridiculous considering her history.

Q: Can a Boston tailwind help some runners, but not others? Davila was more than 2 minutes faster than Kara last Patriot's Day.

She didn't move for the coaching? Schumacher qualifies 2 runners Salazar none. I think this shows that running for Jerry is the way to go out there right now.

Wouldn't that be something if they could all train together...Desi with the "ice queens", and Amy too?

Based on Shalane's and Kara's comments, Shumacher may be getting it dialed-in for the marathon.

It's a fine line, though, to keep out of the over-trained hole. Maybe these pros have some medical attendants that can conduct regular checks on blood, heart-rate, BP, and even stools to keep them out of that hole.

And you are ignorant of the facts that a) Shalane ran that half marathon also as a paced effort as per Jerry's instructions, with no one pushing her and b) Kara herself (buttressed by Shalane's comments) was greatly concerned (as in crying after workouts) at not being able to hang with Shalane and Lisa and came into the Trials on a humbled note, almost 180 degrees opposite of the wave of promotion and confidence radiating from Desi and her handlers. Of course, letsrun keypad trollios like you are all-seeing/all-knowing, and were better prepared for Kara's near upset of Desi than the athletes themselves.

read between the lines wrote:

oblik wrote:

The same half marathon that teammate Shalane "paced" three minutes faster, yet finished only 28 seconds ahead today. Yeah, that didn't factor into the surprise at all....

quote]

I hate to keep telling you but you are very poor at reading between the lines. Shalane didn't pace that race like Goucher. She ran to win. Shalane was already in great shape and needed a test. Goucher was just getting in shape and needed a pace run.

If that was truly the shape each was in, that would have put Goucher over 2:30 which is ridiculous considering her history.

Nutella1 wrote:

Never understood why she got so much crap here on LRC:

Because as a good looking female,she scares geeks.

This is a very strong team that we qualified and all three of them can still run even better than this. We should all be very pleased about this result. They are all very good competitors and obviously two of them have medals from world competitions, while Davila competed for the hardware at Boston. Now Shobukhova and Keitany are superior but who is to say that Shobukhova will even be the same runner at the Olympics with serious drug testing. Plenty of Russians with great times have wilted at world competitions. And in the marathon, runners are more likely to drop at world champs and Olympics because of the missed paydays at marathon majors. So, Flanagan and Goucher could very well be in the medal hunt this year, as could Davila if she is in 2:22 shape.

The Power of Negative Thinking wrote:

A Kara at 100% is better than a Desi at 100%, Anyone knows this. Desi's best race is the equivalent of 2:26 and change at New York, at best, and Kara ran 2:25 there in her first marathon. Therefore I am not shocked, and you shouldn't be either.

Kara also ran a 2:24:52 at Boston while Desi ran a 2:22:38 under the same conditions. Also, Desi did all the pacing for the race yesterday until Shalane pulled away in the final 2 miles. All Kara had to do was sit, which she did very well. Im not saying Im not impressed by Kara's results yesterday. I think she ran a tough, smart race. However, to say that a 100% Kara is better than a 100% Desi all the time is ridiculous. So far Desi is 2 for 2 against Kara in marathons, thus, logic would say that Desi, for now, is the better marathon runner.

It was 11 seconds but no one said that LRC posters could count.

Check out these two sets of results from Florida during 2011:

Naples Daily News Half Marathon (January 2011):

21. Josh Brashears 1:10:28

22. Desiree Davila 1:10:33

Miami Beach Rock N Roll Half Marathon (December 2011)

5. Kara Goucher 1:12:59

6. Josh Brashears 1:13:45

I know for a fact Brashears is in better shape now than he was 1 year ago. So how do you explain these results?