 It's time! It's time! U.S. Olympic marathon team trials preview! Let's go! And yes, at the end of the vlog I'll give you my top three picks who I think are going to finish in the top three in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, February 29th. The men start at 12.08 p.m. and the women start at 12.20 p.m. Eastern time. It will be live on NBC. So in the United States the selection process is the top three women and the top three men in one race, on one day, in the same location, punch their ticket to the Olympics. It's amazing. Plus there are, there's one alternate, so fourth place just in case somebody gets injured. So I just love the battle. So some countries have a selection committee and they choose the runners they think will perform best in the Olympics. Well, I love that the fact that the runners show up in Atlanta, Georgia fit and ready to rock and roll, all battling together in one spot, one location, same conditions. Ah, it's going to be epic. Now here we go. I'm going to do something a little different for Rio de Janeiro in 2016. I'm going to throw out the splits that, whether they negative split or positive split, in the marathon team trial race. Okay, so here we go. For the men, for Rio de Janeiro, number one, Galen Rupp, he negative split by one minute and 50 seconds for 2016. Wow. Second place, Medkofleski, he negative split by 44 seconds. So meaning his second half marathon was 44 seconds faster. And same with Galen Rupp. It was a minute and 50 seconds faster for his second half in the team trial. And then last, third place was Jared Ward, who negative split by two seconds. Okay, there you go. On the ladies side, on the women's side for Rio de Janeiro, first place, Amy Craig, negative split by 38 seconds. Wow. Deslinden, she negative split by a minute and 14 seconds for her second half marathon. And then Shalene Flanigan was third place and she positive split by 19 seconds. All right, so that's how the race unfolded for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. I just wanted to jog your memory as to what happened just the last Olympic go round. Now Flanigan and Kofleski have since retired since the 2016 Olympics, so they will not be racing in Atlanta, but Craig, Linden and Rupp and Ward, so four of the top six from 2016 are back. They will be back towing the line in Atlanta. Now, I know I'm throwing a lot of numbers at you, but here's some more. This is crazy. Listen to this. So how many men and women will tow the line in Atlanta on February 29th for the Olympic trials? Here we go. The final list includes 511 women and 260 men, totaling 711 qualifiers. This is the largest number of qualifiers in trials history for the marathon. And in comparison to 2016, when the marathon team trials were hosted in Los Angeles, listen to how many runners qualify that year. 211 men and 246 women qualify. So here's the difference for Los Angeles and here's Atlanta. Wow, it's amazing. Just look at those numbers. What does that tell me? It tells me the depth of American distance running continues, continues to improve. And it's exciting. I must say like for world championships, for Olympic years, I think the U.S. presence toward the top of the podium is going to continue to improve, not just for the 10K and the 5K, which we've actually done better at recently in the Olympics, but also for the marathon. Here we go. We're diving into the Atlanta team trials. I'm going to give you my picks for the women first and the men's second. And we're going to go with the top contenders, some dark courses, and then my picks. All right. So top contenders, dark courses, and my picks. And okay, I have to say right now there are so many names. I am going to leave off the list because I would be here all day telling you because the depth is so great. So if the name is not stated, it's not because I don't like the person. It's because like the list is so, we're just so deep. Like I said, that 511 women and 260 men. So here are my top contenders to look for in the streets of Atlanta for the marathon team trials on the women's side. All right. Here we go. In no particular order. All right. So Amy Craig, who runs for Nike, she made the team in 2016. She has a 221 marathon to her name, the fifth fastest American of all time. Amy Craig. Okay, Sarah Hall, who runs for ASICs. Jordan Hesse, who runs for Nike. And I believe she has a 221 to her name as well. I'll try and I will put stats and numbers on the screen right here just to confirm some numbers. Molly Huddle, who runs for Soccany. And yes, she is the 10k American record holder. And there's her time in the 10k. Blazing fast. Kellen Taylor. She was the second American at the New York City Marathon in 2019. All right, Kellen Taylor. And then as far as top contenders, the last one, Emily Sisson. Emily Sisson. And again, if I'm not saying names right, forgive me, Emily Sisson, who ran 223 in London last year in 2019. A solid, solid time in London. All right. There you go. All right. Moving on to the dark courses for the women's side. We're going Laura Tweet. Shout out to the buffs. Laura and I were teammates back at the University of Colorado. So Laura Tweet, Molly Seidel, JC Smith, Shannon Malone, Callie McCumber, Stephanie Bruce, Alexis Zeiss and Marie Tuxbury and Sally Kip Yago. All right. And listen, again, I could have, I could have listed 30 more names, but those are the dark courses that I am going to be watching for in Atlanta, especially. Okay. Now drum roll for my top three picks for the women who will qualify to go race and represent the USA in Tokyo at the Olympics. All right. In order. Okay. And I'm going to ask the question of the day here in a minute. I think you know what it is. It is going to be. So first place, who's going to win this race? I should also mention the course in Atlanta, Georgia, has 1,300, 1,300 feet of vertical gain and loss. That is, well, roughly 350 feet more than the New York City Marathon course, which is considered to be a very, very difficult course, New York City. So at least this is a tough course. And that factored into my choices for the top three on the men and women side. All right. So I factored that in absolutely and for the placing that it's going to be. Okay. So number one, who's going to win the women's team trials? Dez. Dez Linden. She is going to win in Atlanta. That's my prediction. Why experience grit? I think she's tough. I think her stride lends itself to doing a little bit better in the hills. Okay. Dez Linden. There you go is my top pick for Atlanta. Second place, Jordan Hesse. Jordan Hesse. I think she's been through a lot lately. You know, she has been through a lot outside of running. And so, but I think that's fuel to the fire. I think her talent level is off the charts. And so I'm going with Jordan Hesse for second place at the Atlanta team trials. And third place, oh, this was a tough one. Very tough, very tough. I was going between two runners. Okay. Oh, but I decide. Okay. Sarah Hall or Molly Huddle. I went with Molly Huddle only because I think Molly, now she hasn't put together a really fast marathon yet. But I think, I think this might be her moment. Okay. I think that's my, that's what my guts telling me. So I went with Molly Huddle for third place, but it was a really difficult decision between her and Sarah Hall. All right. So there's my top three. Dez, Jordan and Molly for making the team, punching their ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. It's going to, it's going to, oh my gosh, that last two miles, last three miles in Atlanta is going to be insane. Oh my goodness. All right. Men's side. Here we go. Top contenders on the men's side in no particular order. We've got Reed Fisher of Tin Man Elite, who has a 101, 37 to his name. Leonard Carrere. I don't know who Leonard actually runs for. I couldn't find it, but Luke Puskettra, Galen Rupp, Scott Faubel, Jared Ward. Those are my top contenders for Atlanta. All right. And in no particular order. And then dark horse is Jacob Riley, Gerald Mock, who both ran 210 in Chicago last fall, Parker Stinson, who also ran 210 a little slower than the two than Riley and Mock, but he was, I believe he just dipped under 210 in Chicago. Chris Derrick, Andrew Bumbolo, Jim Walmsley, Nathan Ritzenheim. At real quick, I just have to mention Nathan Ritzenheim, Abdi Abdurrahman and Bernard Legat, like some guys that are getting up there in age. I'll just put it that way. Like they are veterans and I would love to see Nathan have a great day. And listen, Nathan is still a 1256 5k guy. Like you can't take away his talent level. I don't know. He's been injured a little, you know, he's been struggling with injuries for a while. And anyway, I'm a buff. So I would love to see Nathan at least have a great day. And if Bernard Legat is like anywhere close at the end, like he's going to out kick some people. I don't know. I don't think he's going to be toward the front, but it's just going to be so fun to see Abdi Legat and Ritz kind of just like kind of the elders of the group leading the way on the starting line. It's just going to be amazing. Okay. And lastly, oh, yeah, also a couple more names. Harvey Nelson, Joe Raikow, Grant Fisher and Sid Vaughn also ran really great qualifying times for Atlanta. All right. There you go. So my picks. This is, uh, this was, this was tough. This was very tough. I actually don't know if it was as tough as on the ladies as the lady side, but for first place, um, I, this, oh man. Oh, okay. This one was tough. Jared Ward, Jared Ward for first place. Now the only reason is because I think he's been more consistent over the past couple of years compared to, yes, my second place pick of Galen Rupp. Rupp has been through a lot with his injury that he had. I believe it was his Achilles tendon and then also everything with Nike and his coaching situation. Now he did just run a 101 low, I believe in a half marathon in Mesa, Arizona. I think it was 10 days ago. So it's tune-up race. Remember we talked about tune-up races. So he is, Rupp is ready. All right. And Rupp is, he's, he's fast. He's the American record holder for the 10K. So, um, Rupp and Ward, but the only reason I went with Ward is because of consistency as of late. Um, I think he's a little more, maybe a little more, uh, primed and ready. I think he may be a little more ready for, let's say the Hills. Um, he had a solid race in New York City last fall. I think he chose New York City to prepare for the Hills of Atlanta. So anyway, Jared Ward, Galen Rupp and third place to make his first Olympic team. And yes, to punch his ticket, this is a little bit of an outlier, but I went with Scott Fawble, a Colorado native, Scott Fawble who runs now for Hoka in, uh, he trains in Flagstaff, Arizona. So those are my top three, Jared Ward, Galen Rupp and Scott Fawble. Now for that third place position, here were a couple names that almost snuck in and beat out Scott Fawble. So, uh, Leonard Carrere, um, Reed Fisher of Tin Man Elite. And I'm just going to say it, Jim Walmsley. Listen, there's a lot of buzz right now around Jim Walmsley. For those that don't know, he's an ultra runner who's coming back in distance to the marathon. And here's the deal. Why I didn't go with Jim or maybe some of the other guys is that, um, I think they will all have strong races, especially Jim in the hills of Atlanta. Like I think Jim is going to be primed and ready to do well in the hills because of all of his experience in ultra running. But at the end of the day, it's all about turnover and speed in the last four miles, three miles, you know, two and a half mile. Like that is where the race will be won. I think they're all going to be in the conversation at the 20 mile mark, so 10k to go. But it's that turnover that I think these other guys are more primed and ready for. For example, Rup running that 101 low in Mesa, Arizona, like he's obviously ready to rock and roll. Uh, so it's really interesting. But yeah, that is, those are my top three picks. And yes, here we go. Question of the day list in order men and women, your top three picks to punch their tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And if you want to give a little, um, it would be great if you could give a little synopsis as to why you chose those particular runners, men and women. That would be amazing if you could take the time to do that. And yes, I'm going to, I don't, I don't usually do this. If you could spread this blog to your running friends, do that because I'm going to Atlanta to film the race for all of you. And I would love to spread the word to as many runners as possible that I will be there and I will be there filming to see what unfolds and see if my predictions are anywhere close to correct as well as the predictions of everyone down in the comments. So spread this blog around to your running groups, your running friends all over social media. That would, I would appreciate it. That would be amazing. And there's my picks. Oh my goodness. And I know I left names out. If I forgot someone, I do apologize, forgive me, forgive me, but I am beyond excited. Oh, it's going to be insane. It's going to be insane. All right, everyone. That is today's vlog. We're going to toss it back on the right to the running race vlogs. And that is what we are prepping for running race blog playlist. I should say that'll be on the right. And then on the left, I will pick a race that I filmed in 2019. You guys rock. All right, seek beauty, work hard and love each other. See you tomorrow.