- See Less -Not everyone can say they’re the second fastest woman in American history.
The Northern native sprinkles her speech with a distinctly Midwestern accent when she speaks honestly and earnestly about her collegiate struggles with eating problems. Upon sustaining multiple injuries and surmounting her eating problem, Goucher graduated from the University of Colorado in 2001, leaving a legacy of becoming the NCAA Outdoor Champion in the 3000m and 5000m, the NCAA Cross Country Champion and a 5000m Olympic Finalist, placing eighth.
Her mighty comeback continued as she finished second in the 5K at the USATF Outdoor Championships in 2006. She set personal records on the international level and ran the World “A” Standard in the 1500m, 5000m and 1000m. Her third place finish in the 3000m at the 2006 IAFF World Cup and her 10k time ranks her the second fastest American woman of all time.
Goucher continued setting records as she reigned over the Great North Run with a time of 1:06.57, a record that earned her the title of the fastest woman’s half-marathoner of the year and set a new American best time.
The record-setting, obstacle-dominating success story moved to Oregon with her husband – American runner Adam Goucher – and continues to be coached by Alberto Salazar.
“Um.........yes she did. You need to read and listen. She said it clear as day and it WASN'T sarcasm. We all hope you've learned from your mistake. Research it dude. She absolutely wanted to run London. What an embarrassing post you've made.
J.J.”
J.J.
NICE JOB KARA!!!
“STOP! Don't waste your time reading all these posts. Here's the summary:
Go Kara!
Kara sucks!
Youre sucky!
I think you meant "you're" sucky!
Kara should've..
You shouldve..
She's stupid for crying..
She's awesome for crying.
Trust me... that's all you want to know from the 8pgs of comments ;)”
RB
Go Kara!
Kara sucks!
Youre sucky!
I think you meant "you're" sucky!
Kara should've..
You shouldve..
She's stupid for crying..
She's awesome for crying.
Trust me... that's all you want to know from the 8pgs of comments ;)
“Forget ALL this crappy analysis! GREAT job Kara - 2nd marathon? UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. You are a beautiful person, in many ways!”
“honestly, please explain to me what the fk you are talking about. what the hell do you know about kara goucher?
how about her 20m 5:25 pace workout prior to the marathon? are you able to compete with that? i didn't think so. saying kara has got some work to do is outrageous. her 110 mile weeks, 20+ mile workouts, longruns, half marathons, etc is close to the maximum amount of work she could have done to prepare for this.
how about her massage therapists, sports psychiatrists, and even her COMPRESSION CHAMBER BEDROOM? and you say she has some work to do!? PLEASE.
Kara Goucher not courageous? seriously? give me a break. how could you ever expect to win a marathon, the BOSTON MARATHON, breaking the wind for the rest of the pack? wasting 10-20% of her energy on breaking the wind for the rest of the pack through the rolling hills course. sitting behind was the smart thing to do. not controlling the pace early on was the smart thing to do. look what happened with the men. As they go out in sub record pace, the defending champion and other predicted winners fail and finish about 1 minute + behind the leader.
Ryan Hall did run a gutsy race, as did Kara Goucher. Please tell me what "excuses" Kara has made in regards to her finish place. What? Her taking control too soon? I wouldnt consider that to be an excuse, just a simple fact. it is true that there are no "woulda, shoulda coulda's" in running but she did take control of the race early, possibly allowing Tune and the winner to coast more comfortably.
What would be the benefit of not taking control of the race at all? Absolutely nothing. Kara knew there was going to be consequences when she took control, she knew she would be breaking the wind for the rest of the pack but she pushed along anyways. Gutsy? I think so. The rest of the women were simply not gutsy enough to take control of the pack themselves. Singling out Kara Goucher is outrageously unfair.”
When people are talking about excuses, they are saying she should've ran her race from the start instead of talking about it after the race. You know, actually doing it. Kara had no chance to outkick either of the Africans. Can she sprint, yes. Does she have decent turnover for an elite woman marathoner, yes. But can she turn really turn it over at the end of a marathon with compeition, no. We saw that yesterday. Both ladies in front were hurting just as badly as she was (did ya know that?), but they ended up finishing about 10 seconds in front of her. Why? If you can't figure that out, then I don't know how else to explain it. Maybe one of the other posters on here can jump in and give it a shot.
Your talk about breaking the wind is baloney! Her own coach, Alberto ran the 1982 NY Marathon and lead for the majority of the race (I have it on tape if you want a copy). He did this with the majority of the race into the wind. He was not a great sprinter, period. But with 800 to go he dropped Rodolfo Gomez of Mexico and beat him by 4-6 seconds. He did this by pounding hard mile after hard mile from about 20 till the finish and BEAT THE SPRINT OUT OF HIM. Although Rodolfo stayed with Alberto when he threw in a 4:25 mile, it took a major toll on Rodolfo and he didn't have the kick that he would have if the pace had been slower. Does that help ya karafan01? I am really trying hard to get you to understand how it all works. This is what Kara's only chance is against other top women. Yes, I agree with you that the headwind played a role, but it wasn't 25 mph winds constantly in their faces. Kara could have won the Boston Marathon and she wouldn't have had to break the wind the whole way. She could have pulled over for water and bam!, there is a lead change. If the pace gets too slow, she goes to the front again. If you have never seen this happen in windy races, then you don't race very much. I have broken the wind before and changed the lead with whoever is with me at the time.
Sorry, she "never" really took control of the race until 5 miles to go where she finally upped the ante. Friend, that was a bit too late with the competition that she was facing. Kara did not lead from start to finish at a slow pace with her competition all sitting behind her like a flock of geese in formation. She, along with others were spread out, and there's a big difference. Heck, Colleen was in front for quite some time, so was she controlling the race? Fact is, nobody wanted to go faster, so nobody picked it up. But you believe what you'd like.
As far as training goes, she has to get stronger and faster, believe it or not. If she actually ran 5:25 as a training run for 20 miles, then why not do that in a race? I agree with many others, there are no excuses and she is way better than what she showed yesterday. I believed she was going to run at least 5:30 pace and finish around 2:24. With the wind, maybe 2:26 at most. Her place, that I could never predict because who knows who is going to run what.
Gutsy, I don't think so. Kara never had "control of the pack". Are you for real? I taped it and I don't know what you're talking about. They were 3-5 abreast for the majority of the race. What race were you watching?
I took the time to explain this in hopes of getting you to understand. But with a name like karafan01, you are obviously too biased to see the truth. If you picked up a pointer or two, great. If not, oh well. I tried to help you pal.
Take Care,
Rob
“To Come On......a decent civil post on your part also. Thank you!
But, sorry to say Ryan did run a more gutsy race and with more courage. Kara is an excuse maker. She had no business running that slow of a pace, but she chose to, no one made her. She trained to run faster, but didn't do it when it counted, during the actual race. That is not courageous friend, far from it. You have the right to your opinion, as do I. I don't think she ran courageous and think she blew it by going through the first half at 2:36 pace, a pace over 10 minutes slower than NY. She's got some work to do.
John K.”
how about her 20m 5:25 pace workout prior to the marathon? are you able to compete with that? i didn't think so. saying kara has got some work to do is outrageous. her 110 mile weeks, 20+ mile workouts, longruns, half marathons, etc is close to the maximum amount of work she could have done to prepare for this.
how about her massage therapists, sports psychiatrists, and even her COMPRESSION CHAMBER BEDROOM? and you say she has some work to do!? PLEASE.
Kara Goucher not courageous? seriously? give me a break. how could you ever expect to win a marathon, the BOSTON MARATHON, breaking the wind for the rest of the pack? wasting 10-20% of her energy on breaking the wind for the rest of the pack through the rolling hills course. sitting behind was the smart thing to do. not controlling the pace early on was the smart thing to do. look what happened with the men. As they go out in sub record pace, the defending champion and other predicted winners fail and finish about 1 minute + behind the leader.
Ryan Hall did run a gutsy race, as did Kara Goucher. Please tell me what "excuses" Kara has made in regards to her finish place. What? Her taking control too soon? I wouldnt consider that to be an excuse, just a simple fact. it is true that there are no "woulda, shoulda coulda's" in running but she did take control of the race early, possibly allowing Tune and the winner to coast more comfortably.
What would be the benefit of not taking control of the race at all? Absolutely nothing. Kara knew there was going to be consequences when she took control, she knew she would be breaking the wind for the rest of the pack but she pushed along anyways. Gutsy? I think so. The rest of the women were simply not gutsy enough to take control of the pack themselves. Singling out Kara Goucher is outrageously unfair.
“Kara did say in the interview, and several times that it was like a training pace, slow pace etc. She could have pushed the pace and maybe the results would have been different. Who knows.
But she shouldn't be criticized for showing emotion, she is not blaming anyone. But I agree that this is only her second marathon and she wasn't a marathoner 1 year ago and maybe she shouldn't expect supreme success in such a short time.
If she really wants it she has to continue to work, hard. As that announcer said during the race you have to make your dreams.”
“By the way, I think you wanted to say let's hear from all the Kara fans, not lets.”
Race finishes!
“
By the way I think you wanted to say you're awesome, not youre. Also it would be you're my idol, not youre my idol.
”
On a bike..
“Ever consider taking an anger management class?
”
If anyone is not of her caliber, drive, status and has the chance to win the Boston marathon and calls her out on crying and becoming emotional over losing this battle, then you are not an athlete or a career driven person. You are a weekend warrior.
Why don't you put yourself in position to win this race, have the weight of the american people on your shoulders,and then lose? Let's see how you will come out. Congrats on your run today, although not victorious, it was not in vain.
she might be tearing up today, but she'll be feeling better tomorrow. i don't understand why it is such big deal to some of the commenters below that she is crying. people seem to be finding fault with her simply for having aspirational goals and being emotional about not achieving them. it seems to me this is part of being an athlete. as every televised sporting event will attest, crying and emotions are part of the game. maybe it's tempting to single kara goucher out for this, but it hardly seems fair to her or our wonderful sport to do so.
Emotion is fine.... when you put your heart and soul into training, it happens.
All of these critics on here.... are you Olympians? Top 3 at NYC & Boston. NO! So quit your complaining.
We are greatful for Kara, she WILL win one of these major marathons soon!
She's hardly crying. Second, I believe she is doing her best at maintaining her composure and holding in the emotions. Third, she just ran A MARATHON faster than AT LEAST 90% of all of us on this site MAYBE she doesn't have the energy to hold back the tears of disappointment, or of relief or of happiness. Maybe she just wants to go home and relax, and eat some food... but instead she is going to press conferences so that people like us can hear about her process and so she can be closer to her fans.
SHOW SOME RESPECT! She doesn't go to the press conferences for herself, she goes for us... and not with the intention of being called a baby. She's tougher and stronger than most of you can even dream of... Maybe it's silly to be emotional, but did you ever think that MAYBE... just MAYBE... 26.2 miles can make a person tired... how many of us can honestly say that we don't get emotional when we are tired.
I'm going running
KARA YOU ARE AMAZING!
Kara is a great competitor, so she'll use this to motivate her.
In running and many other endeavors there are good bets, bad bets, winning bets, and losing bets. The average person sitting on a throne of hindsight seems to think that a losing bet was a bad bet, but that is dead wrong.
Congrats on a great race.
Have you ever done a race before?
I'm a "guy's guy" but I cry like a baby after marathons, 1/2 ironmans, and full iron triathlons. You can't help it. You pour so much into the race, that when it's over, your emotions go crazy. Uncontrollable, you can't help it.
Bravo to Kara for an unreal race. Next year.
Ryan Hall has ran a 2:06 and has face stiffer competition for men than Kara has for women. If you actually can't figure that out, well, shame on you. Trying to compare what place she got versus Ryan's place, that is pathetic.
Even though it wasn't my post, I'll bite. El G. crying after winning the gold is like comparing apples to oranges. El G. was being a baby, they call those tears, tears of joy. Did ya know that?
Kara is whining because things didn't go her way. Excuses, excuses, etc...
When Kara comes within 2:18 seconds of Paula's world record, then you've got something to compare. But placing 3rd in NY and Boston with weaker fields than Ryan faced is not right friend. Believe what you will, but please don't compare Ryan versus Kara. They are in completely different classes as runners. Kara has a long way to go.
John K.
To all the haters out there, here is a quote from Teddy Roosevelt, "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood..."
But she shouldn't be criticized for showing emotion, she is not blaming anyone. But I agree that this is only her second marathon and she wasn't a marathoner 1 year ago and maybe she shouldn't expect supreme success in such a short time.
If she really wants it she has to continue to work, hard. As that announcer said during the race you have to make your dreams.
But, sorry to say Ryan did run a more gutsy race and with more courage. Kara is an excuse maker. She had no business running that slow of a pace, but she chose to, no one made her. She trained to run faster, but didn't do it when it counted, during the actual race. That is not courageous friend, far from it. You have the right to your opinion, as do I. I don't think she ran courageous and think she blew it by going through the first half at 2:36 pace, a pace over 10 minutes slower than NY. She's got some work to do.
John K.
2. "Btw, this is her job, plain and simple. She chose to devote so much of her time to training and competing. If she's not willing to take the bad with the good, maybe she chose the wrong career path" - what kind of justification is this? teachers come home crying with all the BS they deal with in the school systems/parents. should they find a different job too? you could say that about any profession.....and it would still make no sense. El G cried after he WON the gold medal....is he a baby for that too?
Btw, this is her job, plain and simple. She chose to devote so much of her time to training and competing. If she's not willing to take the bad with the good, maybe she chose the wrong career path
maybe fan is the wrong word.....it seems that there are a lot more critics in our sport than fans
Personally, I don't think she had any advantage based on the course because Dire had already run and won the marathon last April. As far as the weather goes, with all due respect, I'm sure the African runners were prepared for anything and had been here long before Monday.
John K.
Have you done sports?
John K.
“she needs to stop crying, u got 3rd at the boston marathon. no need to mope”
thats a problem with our fans, they are so back and forth. if she's upset, she should be happy with third. if she's not upset then you'd probably say she isn't hungry enough to win a race like this. emotion is good, it means she has high expectations. without that how can you compete with the best??
“I picked her 3rd..............so I told ya so! Doesn't that bug ya when people say I told ya so?
Anonymous Coward, you were wrong again. She was not going to outkick Dire, as I said.
If its and buts were candy and nuts it would be Christmas everyday. Tune and Kosgei ran courageous too, don't they get any credit?
By the way I think you wanted to say you're awesome, not youre. Also it would be you're my idol, not youre my idol.
She showed lots of courage? She ran a marathon, she didn't split the atom. She didn't lead from start to finish, that's courage. Get real.
She made a choice from the beginning, the very beginning to not run at least 5:35 pace. No one stopped her from picking it up. She instead made the choice to run 5:50 pace. They were running 2:36 plus pace at halfway. That is pedestrian at best. Give me a break!
Ryan ran like a stud, Kara wimped out by leaving it too late and gambling on someone like Dire who is going to outkick her 9 out of 10 times. No excuses, she should have run harder from the gun. Going for the win versus time isn't very smart when you've got runners in the field who can outkick you so easily.
Now lets hear from all the Kara fans who know nothing about running attack me with their pathetic remarks! She didn't make it an honest race by picking it up with 5 to go. If she had done that at halfway, that would have been "more of an honest" race.
Maybe next time Kara! Sorry, but I picked you third for a reason.
John K.”
John K.
“There is no shame in running to win. Kara is a shining light for American distance running. She evokes memories of Pre when she talks about making it an honest race, not waiting for the kick, and weeding out the pretenders. Kara for gold in 2012”
Anonymous Coward, you were wrong again. She was not going to outkick Dire, as I said.
If its and buts were candy and nuts it would be Christmas everyday. Tune and Kosgei ran courageous too, don't they get any credit?
By the way I think you wanted to say you're awesome, not youre. Also it would be you're my idol, not youre my idol.
She showed lots of courage? She ran a marathon, she didn't split the atom. She didn't lead from start to finish, that's courage. Get real.
She made a choice from the beginning, the very beginning to not run at least 5:35 pace. No one stopped her from picking it up. She instead made the choice to run 5:50 pace. They were running 2:36 plus pace at halfway. That is pedestrian at best. Give me a break!
Ryan ran like a stud, Kara wimped out by leaving it too late and gambling on someone like Dire who is going to outkick her 9 out of 10 times. No excuses, she should have run harder from the gun. Going for the win versus time isn't very smart when you've got runners in the field who can outkick you so easily.
Now lets hear from all the Kara fans who know nothing about running attack me with their pathetic remarks! She didn't make it an honest race by picking it up with 5 to go. If she had done that at halfway, that would have been "more of an honest" race.
Maybe next time Kara! Sorry, but I picked you third for a reason.
John K.