Who gets in for Kenya?

Kenyan Olympic Team?, Kipsang and Keitany win London, more opinion on the Kenyan team, Mt. Sac Relays, Ian Dobson, and a yummy meal I want to try soon.

Here is my two cents on the Men's Kenyan Olympic team to be picked.  It sounds like they are committed to Abel Kurui, 2 time defending World Champion.  So there are two more slots open, and names such as Geoffrey Mutai (Boston/NYC Marathon winner last year/2:03:02 marathoner), Moses Mosop (Boston runnerup, Chi Marathon winner last year/2:03:06 marathoner), Wilson Kipsang (just won London, 2:03:42 marathoner), Patrick Makau (Berlin Marathon winner, current world record holder), Emmanuel Mutai (London Marathon winner/2:04:40 marathoner), and those are just a few potential candidates.

Anyways, it's been long reported that the Kenyan trials committee were going to use the recent Rotterdam/Boston/London Marathons to be the defacto trials selection.  Everyone flamed out - only Kipsang held up with his 2:04:42 win last weekend in London.  Maybe too much overtraining by all with all the pressures leading up to these crazy last few weeks?  I find it hard to believe otherwise with such poor results by some of the greatest marathoners alive today.

So if it were up to me, Kenya needs to pick Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop.  In fact, they would be foolish not to.  Those two runners may be the best marathoners alive right now, and have proven themselves with some of the greatest performances ever.  Mutai won Boston and NYC with times that were, until recently, unheard of (and without pacemakers).  Mosop was runner up with Boston, and allegedly ran 2:05 and change in Chi at 80-85% on another hot day.  They are on top, and deserve to compete for the Gold in London.

Friday, April 20th - 6 miles.  Ran out of time with dinner plans with some friends, so was forced to get at it.  Ran pretty fast, and intentionally picked it up the last 2 miles to give myself an extra few minutes to stretch before leaving.  Felt like complete crap too, and wasn't a happy camper overall.  Out and back towards Troy, blah.  Didn't have total time, but last 4 miles were in 27:52, I believe (6:59, 6:14 last 2 miles).  At night, went to Niche, which is a restaurant I was wanting to try in Soulard.  We ended up ordering the Chef's Tasting Menu (and wine pairing), which was fabulous.  Definitely some other stuff on the menu that I would like to try, next time I go.  In the process, ended up spending more than I ever have on dinner.  Looks like PB&J and bananas for the rest of this week...

Saturday, April 21st - 6 miles.  Solo 6 towards Home Depot on the trail. Gorgeous day to run - sunny and 50's, so felt like a million bucks.  Intentionally wanted to keep it slow, but failed miserably on that endeavor upon further inspection of my splits.  In fact, negative split every mile.  Probably should have monitored my Garmin better, but was going completely by feel.  45:17 overall.

Sunday, April 22nd - 9 miles.  Scheduled long run, but once again was running uber late for my afternoon plans and only got in 9.  Ran with Crystal, out and back towards Troy.  Really windy and cool, but felt decent for the most part.  Coming in, ran completely into the wind, which was a pain in the butt.  Hit the 9 miles in 1:12:18, then ran home to shower and head downtown to see Daniel Lee perform with the St. Louis Symphony.  Lee is the principal cellist of the SLSO, and was absolutely amazing to see!  Makes me miss playing so much, and I wish I could get back into it someday!  46 miles this week, 147 miles in April, 650.5 miles in 2012.

Solid few weeks I have put up, which I'm pretty pleased with.  Off to Champaign this weekend for Megan's first marathon, and my participation in the 10K.  No big goals - planning on running basically a hard tempo, and would like to run sub 40.  Signed up for a couple local 5K's coming up in May, as I continue on my quest to race myself back into shape!