With a much anticipated return to the Boston Marathon coming up this weekend, we wanted to know ... how will Kara fare?

She comes back to Boston after a terrific performance in '09, where she placed third overall, but only 9 seconds back of the win.  However, she has only recently returned to highly competitive running after the birth of her son, Colton, last September.

She does own some strong comeback performances of late over half-marathon distance, recently running 1:09:03 in the NYC half, placing just 11 seconds back of the winner, Caroline Rotich (also running Boston).  This was a 5 minute improvement upon her half-marathon time a mere 2 months earlier.  This should indicate that she is getting back into shape quickly and could have a chance to compete with anyone on Monday.

However, with such a stacked field, it could be difficult to repeat a top-3 finish this year.  Kim Smith (1:07:36 half in February), Desiree Davila (4th-fastest US marathoner ever), last year's top finishers Erkesso (Ethiopia) and Pushkareva (Russia), Blake Russell ('08 Olympian), and a handful of ladies with sub-2:25 PR's will be running Monday.

So ... in Goucher's first full marathon since her return, will she be right back in the mix?  Give us your opinion: