Runner Kara Goucher made her marathon debut a year ago in the Big Apple, but she's skipping the New York Marathon this year. At the Nike Running Summit, she explained she wasn't planning on racing again until Boston because she's doing some planning of a different nature — family planning.When you're an elite runner, skipping an event doesn't go unnoticed, making it difficult to keep it a secret that you're trying to get pregnant. Kara explained to me in a short but sweet interview that she's "taking a few months off to see what happens in her personal life."
But what does "time off" mean after running 120 miles a week? For Kara it means only running 30 miles a week, a number I would love to have as my hard-core weekly mileage. Although she does admit to getting a little softer now that she's only running a quarter of what she's used to, Kara's relationship with food hasn't changed, since she has always been "a healthy eater." Body fat is an issue for runners, but her attitude is pretty simple: "It is just weight and it will come off." Which is great since this runner, a proclaimed "queen of the 30-minute meal," is spending her newly found free time cooking, mostly Italian, and making sauces from scratch.
To see how Kara answered when I asked her if she could be an elite athlete in another sport, what would it be, just read more.
She admitted that this was a tough question, but that she has always leaned toward tennis. Kara finds the combination of individual strength and one-on-one competition quite compelling. Then there's the fashion side of things: "They wear cool outfits."
Kara's long-term goal: racing in the London Olympics in 2012 and bringing home the gold. Go Kara!
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