Awesome Athlete

I love Kara Goucher. She is to running what Tiger Woods is to golf, or maybe even what Michael Jordan was to basketball...but if you were to run into Kara (like on the street in Boston!) she would stand there and talk to you. I can't think of any other sport where an elite athlete...the best of the best...would take the time to chat and take a picture. Besides being a quality person, she's also a workhorse. 120 miles a week! That's more than I've ever managed in an entire month.

Finally. I have found the inspiration today to actually go for a run.

(She even beat all the boys yesterday!)

Kara Goucher wins in Chicago, big goals await in Berlin
by Doug Binder, The Oregonian
Sunday August 02, 2009, 11:38 AM

More than 14,400 runners rocked while Kara Goucher rolled at the inaugural Chicago Rock and Roll Half Marathon on Sunday. Goucher, who is running 120 miles per week in preparation for the Aug. 23 IAAF World Championship marathon in Berlin, won the rac outright in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 5 seconds.

Goucher passed the last of the male challengers with more than two miles to go and ran alone to the finish. The race didn't offer prize money and Goucher, who was the focus of "Kara Cam" throughout the race, was the lone headliner.
"It was fantastic," Goucher said. "(Race organizers) kept me very busy but the people here were so friendly."
Goucher threw out the first pitch at a White Sox game on Saturday and used the half marathon as a training exercise. She gave chase to Deena Kastor's U.S. record of 1:07:34, but really wasn't focused on her finishing time.
"I thought I could run 5:12 (per mile) for the first half and 5:08 for the second half and then with a big kick maybe I could get (the record)," she said.Goucher, and her husband, Adam, were booked to fly out of Chicago Sunday evening for Europe. They will join other Nike athletes at training camp in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
How focused is Goucher's training? When her flight to Chicago was delayed by three hours last Thursday, she went to the Nike store located inside the Portland airport, picked up shoes and running clothes, and did a 40-minute run along Airport Way so that she didn't waste the extra time in the terminal.
In Chicago, where bands played at different points on the course, Goucher intended to use the race as a rehearsal for Berlin. But really, it was a vastly different sort of event.
"It's really nothing like Berlin," Goucher said. "People were talking to me until the fun went off."
But it became a chance to have fun and be a role model.
"There were a lot of young girls in the race, so it was nice to make a girl-power statement," Goucher said. "And all of the guys were very gracious."
Her next race will be much more serious, and Goucher believes she can be a factor in the outcome.
"I believe I wouldn't be running the marathon (in Berlin) if I didn't have a shot," she said. "If I run fully committed, I do have a shot."