Olympic Trials Marathon women's preview - 5 months out

[the kenyan]

I changed my mind!  My old college XC teammate Mary Schneider just drilled the B standard with a 2:42 at CIM and is now the (single letters) prohibitive favorite.   Also let it be known that I was faster than her in college 

Make it so!

[Coyote Mas Loco]

I changed my mind!  My old college XC teammate Mary Schneider just drilled the B standard with a 2:42 at CIM and is now the (single letters) prohibitive favorite.   Also let it be known that I was faster than her in college 

Make it so!

76 women and 37 men qualified yesterday at CIM.

[the kenyan]

I know that's where a lot of the Utah hotshots go to roll the dice.  Pretty short turnover, but she habitually runs multiple marathons a year.  She's also an obnoxious yoga zealot on facebook 

[diablita]

I saw video of a number of runners hitting the OTQ yesterday at CIM.  Amazing!

[SnarlyMarly]

The winning times in the older female AG😳😳😳

[Chasing Amy]

I had no idea CIM was such a magnet for fast runners. I looked up a friend of a friend and she ran 2:48 which was only good enough for 108th place in the women's division.

[Coyote Mas Loco]

It's a fast course, with a 340 ft net downhill. It's rolling for the first 15 miles kind of like Boston without the Newton Hills. Good weather and hardly any turns.

There are now something like 260 men and 450 women who have qualified. That's a going to be a record. With the new shoes, a lot of interest, and better training than in the past, more are getting in. We can expect qualifying times to drop. Some are calling for true elite times only, so more like sub 2:15 and 2:35. I kind of like the everyman/woman aspect of the Trials and that's what makes it special. But maybe 2:17/2:18 for men and 2:38/2:39 for women. 

[diablita]

Yes, CIM is considered one of the very best of the faster courses.  I'd really like to run it next year.

One thing that worries me about the new shoes, Coyote, is that they may nudge a lot more people into the BQ time spot that would have been on the bubble.  That's worrisome when you think you've banked enough time and find out come announcement time that you didn't.  But also the "every person" aspect of the sport is wonderful and not everyone can afford a $250 pair of shoes they can only wear once/twice...so probably $500 to have a pair to try out before race day.

[Coyote Mas Loco]

The new shoe technology is killing it and within a year anyone interested in running for time and able to afford it will by buying those shoes. There is talk already that Kipchoge's Alphaflys will be available  for the Olympic Trials and Olympic elites. By all accounts these are at a whole new level that what we've been seeing and we'll see thing drop by another couple of minutes.

Seems like all my online friends from other forums are destroying their PRs in Next%s already. I'm holding off on any major shoe decisions until spring. Adidas is coming out with the Adios 5, which will be a notch below the 4%, no carbon plate and will probably be in the $130 range. I've used the Adios for the past 5 years and have really liked them. But if my competitors are using Next%s and beyond I'll be at a 5-10 second per mile disadvantage, at least in longer races.   

[diablita]

$130 is around what decent shoes cost these days; makes me feel a bit better

[Coyote Mas Loco]

$130 is around what decent shoes cost these days; makes me feel a bit better

I'm afraid the Alphaflys will be $350, and we'll only go up from there.

[diablita]

I guess marathon registration fees aren't inexpensive either these days

[Coyote Mas Loco]

Tell me about it, I ate a round trip ticket's worth to races I didn't run this year. Fortunately my club is paying for select races now, plus a small travel stipend to championships. But I don't want running to go the way of cycling and Nordic skiing where equipment is making a fairly significant difference but it costs a lot to gear up.