Marathon Trials

On January 14, Houston hosted a very rare event.. the Olympic Marathon Trials! I was lucky enough to venture out to watch the racing happen with Kate and two of our friends, Sam and Micaela. It was quite spectacular to see these elite athletes come to race and challenge each other for a spot in London for the Olympic Games... how epic.

Timeline of how things went....

The men started the race promptly at 8 am, followed by a gap of 15 minutes then the women started. As you would expect, the first pack of men showed up at mile 5 at around 8:25 (5 min/mile... FAST!). The women were on similar pace when they rolled around about 18 minutes after the men.

We wanted to get close to the finish, we walked from mile 5 to mile 25 (yup, we're fast! actually, it's only 2 miles). We got to see them along the way, with Ryan Hall leading the Male group.

These athletes were pushing themselves to the edge as some had to fall back to a slower pace, stop and stretch, or drop out.

Once at the finish, you could tell when the finishers were coming up by the parade trucks leading the way and helicopter overhead (see picture).

I was able to get a video of the finishers, as they passed by, but wasn't able to upload it currently.

The glass building provided some nice lighting though. Not sure who this racer is, but he looks like a stud.

Not too long after, the lead women started coming by. This is Shalane Flanagan, she's a stud. She got first.

Desiree Davila. Came in second, but still awesome and going to London. Also, she is part of a Detroit running club, good work Mo-town.

In case you really wanted to know the results... here are the top 3 finishers for both genders.

Females

1	Shalane Flanagan	30	Portland, OR	Oregon TC Elite	2:25:38	+0:00
2	Desiree Davila	28	Rochester Hills, MI	Hansons-Brooks Distance Project	2:25:55	+0:17
3	Kara Goucher	33	Portland, OR	Oregon TC Elite	2:26:06	+0:28

Males

1	Meb Keflezighi	36	Mammoth Lakes, CA	New York Athletic Club (NYAC)	2:09:08	+0:00
2	Ryan Hall	29	Mammoth Lakes, CA	Asics	2:09:30	+0:22
3	Abdi Abdirahman	33	Tucson, AZ	Nike	2:09:47	+0:39