Road to Houston Recap

We are now in the week of the race and this page will serve as a quick recap of the previews and interviews. I'll add everything to this page as we go along as well. Good news on my end as well, as I just booked my flight, hotel and rental car for the weekend. I will be in Houston! I look forward to meeting everyone. If you'll be in attendance, send me an email.

Early Predictions
Published on December 18, 2011

Check out early race previews before declarations:

Click here for Men's Race early preview

Click here for the Women's Race early preview

5 Questions with Joe Moore
Published on December 20, 2011

"There was a tight turn at the finish, and I saw the clock tick over 1:04:50, and I knew I had it. It was more just a huge relief that I had finally gotten it."

Click here to read the Joe Moore interview

5 Questions with Molly Pritz
Published on December 23, 2011

"Both in training and the race I found an inner strength I never knew I had and I'd like to think that my NYC experience has not only made me a stronger runner, but a stronger person in every aspect of life."

Click here to read the Molly Pritz interview

5 Questions with Addie Bracy
Published on  December 27, 2011

"It took me a year or two to adjust to the difference in training, as well as my training environment. It wasn't until the last 8 months that I really felt that I had a breakthrough."

Click here to read the Addie Bracy interview

5 Questions with Danny Mercado
Published on December 28, 2011

"But after tireless nagging from the guys, Greg decided to give me a shot. From there, everything just clicked."

Click here to read the Danny Mercado interview

5 Questions with Tyler McCandless
Published on December 30, 2011

"How big was Kauai for me? It was really a game-changer. Financially, it was important because I was able to use that money for a down-payment on a house."

Click here to read the Tyler McCandless interview

5 Questions with Meagan Nedlo
Published on December 31, 2011

"It was such an incredible, incredulous offer that I had no choice but to say yes! And so that's how I began my first collegiate track season at the ripe old age of 26."

Click here to read the Meagan Nedlo interview

5 Questions with Brent Vaughn
Published on January 1, 2012

"My goal at the trials is to make the team. I think thats the reason I'm running. Training has gone very well and I think strange things sometimes happen over the marathon distance "

Click here to read the Brent Vaughn interview

5 Questions with Drew Polley
Published on January 2, 2012

"The fact that my training partners and I have handled most of the workouts pretty well doesn’t change the goals we set at the beginning of the segment though. The Hanson bosses will tell you that it is important to stick to your plan and run your own race!"

Click here to read the Drew Polley interview

5 Questions with Fernando Cabada
Published on January 3, 2012

"I have what it takes. I've won 3 USA Championships... and am in better shape now. If I was to run a 2:08 on January 14th, that wouldn't surprise me. I've been due for a performance like that. It's on and I'm ready for any kind of race."

Click here to read the Fernando Cabada interview

5 Questions with Jesse Armijo
Published on January 5, 2012

"I'm more of a racer, but in the marathon, all my pervious performances were calculated failures by going out with a watch and clicking off even splits, until I inevitability faded. At CIM, I decided to just race."

Click here to read the Jesse Armijo interview

5 Questions with Ricky Flynn
Published on January 7, 2012

"I ended up going to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half and had a really good race with some good guys to run with and it worked out really well. It was a huge weight off my chest when I hit the time and I surprised myself a little bit by being that far under 65:00. It was a great feeling."

Click here to read the Ricky Flynn interview

Watch out for the Wild Cards
Published on January 11, 2012

Here we take a look at some of the overlooked competitors and wonder who will be this year's Brian Sell. We feature Bak, Cabada, Hartmann, Lehmkuhle and Morgan, Cherobon-Bawcom, Hastings, Kastor, Rhines and the newly-signed (to Asics) Molly Pritz.

Click here to read the full article

5 Questions with Luke Puskedra
Published on January 13, 2012

"I feel that I have underachieved on the track compared to results in Cross Country and the workouts I’ve done. I’d like to run fast in the 5000 and 10,000 and win some team titles... to finish off my college career."

Click here to read the Luke Puskedra interview

First impressions of Houston and Predictions
Published on January 13, 2012

I give my predictions for who I think is going to make the team for the 2012 London Olympic Games and give thanks for the people that showed me around today and recognize my fellow "unofficial track press."

Read the full article with predictions here

Meb and Shalane triumph, while Abdi surprises in Olympic Trials Marathon
Published on January 14, 2012

The results went pretty much to prediction, with the exception of Abdi Abdirahman beating out Ritz for the third and final Olympic spot. Meb and Hall qualified as well, with Shalane, Desi and Kara on the Women's side.

Read the full article on the race here

Final Trials Thoughts and Fantasy Recap
Published January 16, 2012

Houston put on an excellent show this weekend. The trials lived up to the hype and I also made the podium in the highly competitive fantasy draft.

Read my thoughts and get the fantasy scoop here

Bookmark this page for continued coverage of the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston, TX on January 14, 2012.

Follow writing about running on Twitter and Facebook

Road to Houston: 5 Questions with Olympic Trials competitor, Danny Mercado

Danny Mercado traded Oregon green for Adidas green

Today, we were lucky enough to have 5 Questions with one of the fledgling male stars on the road circuit on his "Road to Houston." We'll have a few more of these features over the holidays as we lead up to the big day on January 14, 2012.

Danny Mercado has been a standout ever since high school. From duels with his brother and AJ Acosta at Mt. Sac, to winning the 2007 Cross Country Team Championship with Oregon, Mercado has been running well for almost a decade. Recently, he moved from Eugene to Flagstaff, to train with McMillan Elite, and his first points of order were to qualifying for the Olympic Trials and winning a USATF Club Cross Country Team Championship. Follow him on Twitter here.

5 Questions with Danny Mercado

1. Writing About Running: How'd you hook up with McMillan Elite?

Danny Mercado: In it's simplest explanation (because the story is kind of long), I didn't really know what I wanted to do after college, although I definitely still wanted to run.  I knew it was a long shot, but I contacted Nick Arciniaga and Jordan Horn to see if Greg was willing to add another member to the team.  Initially, Greg didn't want to add any more people; he was good with what he had.  But after tireless nagging from the guys, Greg decided to give me a shot.  From there, everything just clicked.

Diego and Danny Mercado at Oregon

2. Writing About Running: Coming from a strong program like Oregon, how's the transition been to your "new team?" and what's it like being away from your brother, Diego, for the first time?

Danny Mercado: The transition has been really good.  I didn't know how my body was going to react to 7000 ft. altitude, but so far it's been just fine.  I would say this team's different from my Oregon team in that people are just a bit more relaxed, which is actually expected when all of them have graduated and the running is what they're focusing on.  I feel that here, there isn't as much pressure to perform under a time constraint, which helps me a lot.  Being away from Diego, as well as the rest of my former Oregon teammates, was a bit tough the first couple weeks; I was definitely feeling really lonely.  But it went away over time when the training started to feel really exciting for me.  I'll talk to Diego from time to time on the phone and tell him what's going on, or to get some advice.  He really helped me those first two to three weeks.

3. Writing About Running: How do you like training in Flagstaff?

Danny Mercado: Training in Flagstaff is amazing.  You really could have everything you want out there, from the nice weather to the altitude.  There are seemingly endless amounts of trails by where I live, and the whole atmosphere of it just seems incredibly relaxed.  There isn't much to do, but that's alright with me.  I didn't come out here to see the nightlife.  That's really helped me with my running.  I'm too easily distracted, so I knew this was the place for me.  If I was going to make running my focus, I needed it to be a place where I would run and not do much else.  Flagstaff fits the bill perfectly.

Hitting the qualifier

4. Writing About Running: When you ran 1:04:02 at the Woodrow Wilson Half to qualify (for the trials), was the goal to make the trials your Marathon debut?

Danny Mercado: With that half marathon, I think we had that idea in the back of our minds (Greg and I), but we weren't too sure whether I'd be able to do it.  After around 3 weeks of training, period, it started to creep a little more in there.  The week before we left for Virginia, it was definitely a goal, although it was more about the $1300 bonus for me.  Once the race started, I felt surprisingly comfortable, like I had been doing half marathon races for years.  Once I hit ten miles, I knew I had it, so from that point on, I was really enjoying myself.  It was really satisfying to come across the finish line and see the time you were looking for.

5. Writing About Running: What is your goal for the trials?

Danny Mercado: Right now, my goal for the Trials is to have a solid race and see who I can beat.  The more I thought about training for this, the more it made sense.  I don't know how many Olympic Marathon Trials I have in my body, so I might as well take advantage of one I could sneak in early.  My training is going well, but right now I don't have any idea of what I could do at the distance, which is a bit alarming, but also really exciting.

Stay tuned for more articles this week and continued coverage leading up to the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston, TX on January 14, 2012.

Follow writing about running on Twitter and Facebook