Our crew is Sean Barrett, Jerry Outlaw, Blake, Graham, and Breezy. The marathon is an unpredictable event, and you never know who is going to show up ready for a big breakthrough, but I think Sean, Outlaw, Blake, and Graham all have an excellent chance to place in the top 10, and quite possibly in the top 5. If one of them has a really good day, it's well within the realm of possibility that a GRC athlete could get the win. A case could be made for each of our athletes as our leading contender. Sean is the clear sentimental favorite--not only is he an active duty Marine, he is deploying to Iraq next week, and it would be an amazing story if he were able to run well while facing the incredible pressure and stress of an imminent deployment to a war zone. Outlaw has trained exceptionally well for MCM, and has logged lots and lots of miles, and done many marathon-specific workouts. He is an expert tactician, and in his previous attempt at the distance, when he ran his PR of 2:26:50, he ran precisely even pace for the two halves of the race, and he will look to move up in the latter stages of the race on Sunday. Graham's training was going extremely before a recent hiccup, and he's fully rested and feeling good. At his best, Graham is a formidable marathoner, and he is in PR shape. Blake is an intriguing newcomer to the marathon who has run very fast at shorter distances (29:12 track 10,000), and while he lacks experience, he is a dogged competitor who has run some outstanding workouts in recent weeks. Breezy could be critical to our attempt to win the team competition, in which the top 3 score. Because Sean is running for the Marine Corps team, if one of our top 3 struggles, Breezy will be the safety valve, and he is taking that responsibility seriously, and will give it everything he has.
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