Houston Bound

Amidst all my current life crazy I decided that I just could not miss the opportunity to see so many dear friends race the trials on Saturday. Budget be Damned I am headed to Houston! Really and truly Boston and watching the women's trials 4 years ago inspired me to go from a 3:30ish marathoner to a 2:50ish marathoner, I am very much excited to see what inspiration this event will hold for me this year! In 2008 I knew one or two women in the field and I was still amazed. I am now a much more avid fan of the sport and it's elites, on top of having met many of these women personally at Boston this year and through my training in Ohio. I am Beyond ecstatic about this trip and the spectator friendly course and the enticement of seeing the men's and women's races on the same course.

In case you aren't following me on facebook or twitter here are some links to some great write ups on local runners who have made it to the trials!

http://runnersfeed.com/nicole-marie-camp-employs-the-three-day-rule-to-stay-healthy/

http://www.runohio.com/index.php/news/203-us-olympic-trials--marathon

http://runnersfeed.com/sarah-flaments-sacrifice-and-perseverance-will-carry-her-through/

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/01/10/brookside-grad-gets-third-try-at-olympic-marathon-trials/

http://www.runblogrun.com/2012/01/becki-michael-a-personal-trial-houston-2012-by-dave-hunter-note-by-larry-eder.html (Her blog here)

http://runnersfeed.com/jason-ordway-is-chasing-the-dream/

Molly Pritz

In addition to those local and close runner buddy's of mine, I have been pretty avidly following the trials pursuits of the following bloggers and I am sure they would all appreciate any well wishes the internet wants to give them!

Camille Herron
MRN
Red
Jaymee
Caitlin Smith

You can "meet" some other great gals who qualified through the Miles & Trials site too!

My personal faves from the top elites that I haven't actually "met" like Molly P. are Jen Rhines and Blake Russell in addition to Katie McGregor I think, but I expect Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davilla, and Deena Kastor are going to be the front runners and you can't leave out Magda. I can't wait to see how it all plays out! (Note I have not done my research at all as I have been swamped, this is all personal bias, and for all I know some of these ladies opted not to run the trials. Check out this article though!)

And let's not leave out the men! My faves are definitely cuties Meb and Ryan Hall (And would love to see a dark horse like Sell make it again) We are pretty much besties as they both waved to me while doing pre race shakeouts for Boston the past few years ;)

My personal good lucks go out to in no particular order:

Nicole Camp
Melissa Rittenhouse
Mandy Yates
Sarah Flament
Becki Michael
Molly Pritz
Amy Hauswirth
Jacklyn Rzpecki
Jackie E. Pirtle-Hall
Meghan Arbogast
Caitlin Smith
Ryan Kienzle
Jason and Josh Ordway
Leo Kormanik

I hope to get a ton of great photos and document my whole trials watching experience this weekend! I can't wait!