The 'hottest name in American running'

Few if any professional runners ever become household names, but Kara Goucher comes close.

That's why I thought some of you might be interested in this story, which appeared on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Web site yesterday:

A live webcast will follow every stride of Kara Goucher, the Duluth native who came just seconds away this spring from winning the Boston Marathon, as she runs next month's Chicago Half Marathon.

The 31-year-old, who is now based in Oregon and has risen to the top of women's distance running in the United States, can be followed on Aug. 2 at www.competitor.com on what is being called the "Kara Cam."

The website touts Duluth East High School graduate as "the hottest name in American running today."

Goucher grabbed a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the 2007 World Championships, won the 5,000 meters in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials and won this year's USA Outdoor Championships in the same event. In the Boston Marathon in April, Goucher held a lead late only to finish third, 9 seconds behind the winner.

Her entry in the Chicago race is a tuneup for the World Championships Marathon in Berlin later next month.

The "Kara Cam" goes live at 6:30 a.m. CDT. Goucher will be interviewed live immediately after the race.

More Kara:

Click here to read a solid Q&A with Kara -- in which she shares advice for everyday runners preparing for their first marathon -- on Tara Parker-Pope's excellent Well blog for the New York Times.

If you missed her valiant effort in Boston, you can watch it here:



And to find out what happened back in junior high school that set her on the path to greatness, watch this: