Where will they be racing this fall?

That is the game we can start playing this morning after it was announced that Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai will be racing the Prague Grand Prix 10-K and will then join American Kara Goucher in the Philadelphia Half Marathon in September.

Both marathoners will be using these shorter races as tune-up for their planned full marathons later in the season. Neither athlete has been officially announced for one of the three fall World Marathon Majors races.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to figure it out on our own.

In the case of Goucher, who will be returning to racing for the first time since finishing fifth in the 10,000m at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, there appears to be only one realistic option.

Berlin, which is only one week after the Philly Half and has committed to fellow American Shalane Flanagan already, is obviously out. Chicago has been rumored to be in play but with Goucher coming off 15 months of myriad injuries, it is highly unlikely she would run a half marathon in Philly and come back three weeks later to race the full 26.2 in Chicago.

That leaves New York City as the most logical landing place for Goucher. The Philadelphia Half-Marathon has in recent years been used as a tune-up by many for New York since it falls five weeks beforehand, which leaves enough time for recovery, last minute training, and a taper.

From a marketing standpoint, New York City Marathon organizers have annually made securing top American talent a priority. With Flanagan committed to running a sub-2:20 time in Berlin, that would leave the Bronx-born Goucher and Desiree Linden as the Top 2 available runners to New York.

Wherever she runs – or just appears – Goucher is a PR homerun, from satiating the needs of the elite-craving running media, to her genuine ability to connect the front of the pack to the back of the pack by resonating with everyday female runners, to the mobs she draws for sponsors at the Expo. New York knows this all too well to lose her to a rival race.

With Mutai, things also seem to be cut and dry.

By process of elimination you can rule him out of running the Berlin Marathon. No elite marathoner would race a 10-K on September 6 and then a marathon on September 28. Besides, Berlin has billed its race around a world-record attempt by Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto and Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede. With Emmanuel Mutai and IAAF World Half Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor also in the field, Berlin’s budget could not afford the addition of Geoffrey Mutai.

That leaves Chicago and New York City as two options. Mutai racing a 10-K against Geoffrey Ronoh, the pacer-turned-surprise-winner of the Olomouc Half Marathon in June, could indicate he is gearing up for a fast race, which puts Chicago and its flat course squarely in his sights. However, turning around and then running in Philly would seem to rule out a marathon in the Windy City. 

In addition to the timing making more sense, the New York City Marathon has a history of bringing back past champions and as a two-time winner of the race as well as the champion in March's NYC Half Marathon, Mutai would obviously be an object of their desire. 

Our guess is that both Goucher and Mutai wind up in New York, N.Y.

Start spreading the news.