Road races in New York and Jacksonville this weekend should demonstrate how well some of America’s top marathoners, including the defending men’s champion, are preparing for April 20’s Boston Marathon. The country’s best woman track distance runner will use a half marathon in New York to help determine where her running future lies. And while one half of an elite American running couple goes to Los Angeles to revive a once spectacular marathoning career, the other half will learn whether the marathon could be her ticket to the 2016 Olympics.

Ryan Hall, L.A. Marathon, Sunday

Sunday’s race may do much to explain whether the man perceived by many as the greatest marathoning talent in U.S. history still has a world-class race left in him. Ryan Hall owns the fastest American marathon time ever, 2:04:58, run in 2011 at Boston. But since finishing second at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, Hall has struggled. He dropped out of the Olympic marathon and then withdrew with injury from New York City in 2012 and 2013 and Boston in 2013.

Hall finished his first marathon in more than two years in Boston last April, but was 20th in 2:17:50, the slowest time of his career. After a period of self-coaching, he’s now working with legendary coach Jack Daniels. In his most recent race, the Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January, Hall finished one second behind winner Benson Cheruiyot of Kenya in 1:04:16.

“I was looking for strength and endurance,” he told the Arizona Republic after the race, and he was satisfied he’d found it. Hall will learn on Sunday in Los Angeles if those assets, honed by a pre-L.A. altitude stint in Ethiopia, can bring him back to the top echelon of American marathoning.

Sara Hall, L.A. Marathon, Sunday

At 31, Ryan Hall’s wife, Sara, is still trying to find her best racing distance. She has been a Pan American Games steeplechase gold medalist, a USA Cross Country champion, and a Millrose Games 1500-meter winner, but her best finish in three Olympic Trials was eighth in the steeplechase in 2012. A plan to make a marathon debut in 2014 was scuttled when her appendix burst. But Hall came back in two months to set a road PR of 32:37 for 10K and started excelling at half marathons, including a 1:12:26 victory in Dallas in December and a fourth place 1:10:50 at the USA Championships in Houston in January.

For Los Angeles, she’s done some of the same high-altitude training as her husband, and blogs that she has taken to it “like an over-eager newbie.” The longer distances seem to be her forte, and the marathon could be her best shot for a long-awaited Olympic berth in 2016. Given the forecast heat and the separate start for elite women, she'll focus on placing well and learning how to race the distance rather than running a fast debut.

Meb Keflezighi, NYC Half, Sunday

After his landmark 2014 Boston Marathon win two weeks before his 39th birthday, Meb Keflezighi may no longer be capable of shocking the running world. No one would be surprised if, at age 41, he’s at the marathon starting line at the 2016 Olympics.

This spring's mission, of course, is the defense of his Boston Marathon title. Keflezighi told Runner's World Newswire his priority at Sunday's NYC Half is “get to the finish line healthy and keep on training.” Still, Keflezighi always comes ready to compete. “Sunday should be a good showing," he said. "I’ve got to go beyond my comfort zone.”

Keflezighi admits that on April 20, he “probably can’t do a similar thing” to his approach in Boston a year ago, when he was alone in front for the race’s second half. He disputes the notion that the rest of the world-class field let him get away. “They didn’t let me go. I decided to go. I made an intuitive decision to go for that win,” he insisted. This time in Boston, he said, “I’m going to have to evaluate and see what they’re up to.”

Molly Huddle, NYC Half, Sunday

In 2014, Molly Huddle broke her own 5000-meter national record (14:42.64) and ran the world’s second fastest 10,000 meters (30:47.59). Last March, Huddle extended her range with an impressive third place 1:09:04 in the NYC Half. This Sunday, “I’ll feel it out at the start,” she said Thursday. “It’s deeper than last year.”

Huddle told Newswire that’s she’s tried “to do a little more marathon-specific training” for Sunday. She believes her preparation for the NYC Half will be beneficial as she moves from her usual 5000 to the 10,000 at the World Championships in Beijing this summer.

Huddle wants to do a marathon within a year, possibly even in the fall. “It would depend on how I came off the World Championships,” she said, adding, “I’m still kind of finding where my best fit is.”

Amy Hastings-Cragg, USA 15K, Jacksonville, Saturday

Now married to Irish Olympian Alistair Cragg, Amy Hastings-Cragg was fourth at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials but subsequently made the American team in the 10,000. She appears to have squelched the downturn that saw her finish 20th in New York City in 2013 in 2:43:50 and withdraw from the 2014 Boston Marathon. Hastings-Cragg was fifth in 2:27:03 (tying her PR) in Chicago last October and won the Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January in 1:12:04. She's keen to make her Boston Marathon debut on April 20, having done Boston-specific downhill workouts and training runs on the Newton hills.

She’s confident that she’s on “a good cycle with a huge base and some good races behind me,” she told the Brooks Blog. USA Cross Country champ Laura Thweatt is favored in Saturday’s USA 15K, but Hastings-Cragg’s “good cycle” could continue and set her up for a strong run in Boston next month.

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