The Week Ahead is bound to be a big one with the Flora London Marathon and a multitude of college track meets on tap. We are definitely in the swing of things with top performances happening all over the country by high school, college, and pro athletes. At the high school level Southlake Carroll’s boys went 10:02 in the DMR (Colby Lowe 4:06 1600 meter leg) and I was there to see 18-year-old Jeffery Demps’ 10.17 in the 100 meters. The collegiate athletes are not far behind how about Lisa Koll’s CR of 32:11.13 in the 10,000 meters and Richard Thompson’s 10.00 flat in the 100 meters. Finally, congrats to Abdi Abdirahman a Flotrack favorite on repeating with a win in the USA Men's 10 km Championship. Now for what you have all been waiting for (or at least those distance geeks out there) the Flora London Marathon will be taking place this weekend. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the classic marathon distance of 26 miles 385 yards. The Gold Cup that Queen Alexandra presented to the Italian runner Dorando Pietri a century ago is returning to London for the first time for Sunday's marathon (UK Sports). The Flora London Marathon will bring together one of the greatest marathon fields ever. For which the likes of Martin Lel (Ken), Felix Limo (Ken), Luke Kibet (Ken), Sammy Wanjiru (Ken), Abderrahim Goumri (Mar), Stefano Baldini (Ita), Jaouad Gharib (Mar), Hendrick Ramaala (Rsa) & Ryan Hall (Usa) on the men’s side and Berhane Adere (Eth), Gete Wami (Eth), Svetlana Zakharova (Rus), Lyudmila Petrova (Rus), Constantina Tomescu-Dita (Rom), Salina Kosgei (Ken), And Irina Mikitenko (Ger) competing on the women’s side. To bad Paula want be running this years London Marathon that would have just completed it. However, it is sure to be a fight for the ages, how about the match up of Lel vs. the youngsters Wanjiru and Hall. America is counting on Ryan Hall to break through with a record marathon performance and if anyone can do it I believe it’s him. If Ryan finishes in the top three that puts another huge stamp down on the fact that America distance running is back! Getting back to the grass roots of it all, this weekend is full of collegiate meets. The highlight of them all would have to be the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tennessee where there is set to be many pros and top teams competing there. It will begin on Wednesday with the multi-events getting under way. However there are a ton of other meets all over the country like the Arizona State, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Missouri, Ole Miss, UCLA, UTEP, Virginia, and Wichita State Invitational and lets not forget about the big dual between Cal and Stanford. Expect the times to keep on getting faster! Make sure to post your top picks for this years Flora London Marathon! Where will Ryan Hall finish? Good luck to all the teams/individuals competing this weekend be safe and run fast! Always make sure to check out the News and Results on the Flotrack Website for any extra information! Nathan Haskins “News and Results Guy” (Pic-www.nancarrow-webdesk.com)