Olympic Marathon Trials Preview

Thank you for all your sweet comments on yesterday’s announcement and on Instagram. Henri and I are so excited for our little girl! 

I also want to say thank you for putting up with this blog becoming more of a pregnancy blog the past few weeks – I’ve just had so much to share after holding it in for the first 3 months! 

Today I have a really special running related post about the big race coming up this weekend! In case you haven’t heard yet – the Olympic Marathon Trials are happening this Saturday in LA. My friend and I are going to drive up for breakfast and to cheer on all the runners and I can’t wait! 

In case you are as excited as I am – here’s a race preview to get you psyched up!

THE COURSE

The course starts and ends right by LA live and consists of a 2.2 mile loop + 4 laps of the same 6 mile loop. Not your usual marathon course but this kind of loop course helps makes things like course support, spectating and TV coverage all easier. I’m excited that we’ll be able to see the runners come by 5 times without budging! #lazyrunner

START TIMES

The Men’s Championship starts at 10:06AM.

The Women’s Championship starts at 10:22AM.

HOW TO WATCH

This is the first time that the Olympic Trials Marathon will be on LIVE TELEVISION!!! Tune into NBC Sports on your TV or stream it live online through NBC Sports Live Extra starting at 10am PST.

WEATHER

We’ve been having some crazy hot weather here in LA this week. Yesterday it hit 90 for the first time in February since 2002! :O It won’t be quite that hot on race day but the high is forecasted as 82* which is obviously not ideal for marathon racing. It will be interesting to see how slow the races go out and if they become more of a strategic battle rather than a speedy race.

THE ATHLETES

There are 196 athletes registered for the Men’s Championship while 204 women will toe the line for the Women’s Championship! 

The top 15 male qualifiers were (off marathon time):

And the top 15 female qualifiers were (off marathon time):

MY FAVORITES (WOMEN’S RACE)

Over the past few weeks I’ve thought a lot about what my dream Olympic Marathon team would be. I’m pretty set on Meb Keflezighi, Dathan Ritzenhein and Nick Arciniaga on the men’s side but I’m having a harder time picking my top three on the women’s side. There are so many amazing women in the race that I would love to see represent the USA in Rio this August so for now I’ve only been able to settle on my top 5…

1 – Desiree Linden – Desi is my favorite by far! She flies under the radar, works hard and is always so cool and collected in races. She would represent the USA so incredibly and I really really want her to make the team! 

2 – Shalane Flanagan – With the fastest time in the field by far Shalane is a clear favorite. She did really well in London and I would love to see her repping the USA again. 

3 – Sara Hall – When Sara made the jump up to the marathon less than a year ago at the LA Marathon. She had a tough day there but came back stronger than ever at Chicago this past fall with a 17 minute PR of 2:31:14. I think she has a really promising marathon career and just love her in general for her performances on the race course and the way she conducts herself in life. 

4 – Kara Goucher – Kara has had a rough time the past few years. Watching her run the 2014 NYC Marathon was painful but her determination to finish despite her struggles was inspiring. She hasn’t run another marathon since but her recent half times are really promising. She could be peaking at just the right time and I’m excited to see what she can do out there on Saturday!

5 – Lauren Kleppin – Lauren is different than any other marathon runner out there. She is a free spirit and I kind of love that about her! I love following her on Instagram and am excited to see her race in person.

Who would be your dream US Olympic Marathon Team?

Will you be watching on Saturday? In person or on TV?