Kara Goucher believes running marathons is her destiny. She said it became clear about a year ago when she was invited to watch the New York City Marathon from the lead race vehicle.
On Wednesday, the New York-born, Duluth-raised runner made a commitment to debut at 26.2 miles in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2 -- 72 days after her final track event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
"I grew up in Duluth, so I watched Grandma's Marathon. I always knew I was going to run a marathon someday, but I didn't want to run one just to run one. I wanted to run it when it was right and when I was ready," Goucher said Wednesday on a conference call. "I've thought about it every day since I saw [England's Paula Radcliffe] win last year [in New York]. I've thought about it every single day."
Former world marathon record holder Alberto Salazar, a three-time New York City winner, has coached Goucher for more than three years in Portland, Ore., and said he immediately saw her long-distance potential. Goucher, 30, set an American women's record in her first try at a half-marathon by winning the Great North Run last September in England in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 57 seconds.
With seven weeks until New York City, Salazar said Goucher will have four or five weeks of 100-plus training miles, plus cross training of another 20 miles per week. She'll be prepared to race at a 5:20-per mile pace, which translates into a 2:19:44 marathon, close to Deena Kastor's U.S. record of 2:19:36 set in 2006 in London.
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Goucher hopes to participate in the 2012 Summer Games in London in the marathon.
"Kara is one of the toughest runners I've ever had and has the best focus of anyone I've worked with," Salazar said. "Everything I see says she should be great at the marathon."
As a first-time Olympian she was 10th at 10,000 meters in a personal-best 30:55.16 on Aug. 15 and ninth at 5,000 meters in 15:49.39 on Aug. 22. After the Summer Games she said she took a week off from training, gave her house a spring cleaning, and resumed workouts.
"I'm really excited about this marathon. I'm nervous, and I feel like this is the right step," said Goucher, who ran the final 10 miles of the New York City Marathon course Wednesday. "Beijing was kind of a turning point for me where I started to realize that maybe there's something different for me."
The New York City Marathon, America's largest marathon with an expected 39,000 entrants, offers $602,000 in prize money with $130,000 to the men's and women's winners. The women's race will have its own start at 8:05 a.m. on Nov. 2.
Goucher has only one tuneup race -- the U.S. Women's 10-Mile Championships on Oct. 5 from Minneapolis to St. Paul, held in conjunction with the Twin Cities Marathon.
Grandma's Marathon officials said they contacted Goucher after the Summer Olympics and said she has an open invitation to run in her hometown marathon.
KEVIN PATES can be reached at (218) 723-5306 or (800) 456-8181, or by e-mail at kpates @duluthnews.com.
