Watch Kara Goucher Race The Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon

Every step of the darling of American running’s August 2 race will be shown live on our exclusive “Kara Cam”.

The hottest name in American running today is Kara Goucher. The 31-year-old Nike Oregon Project athlete has been on a tear in recent years, winning a bronze medal at 10,000 meters in the 2007 World Championships, setting an American best of 1:06:57 in winning the 2007 Great North Run half marathon in England, winning the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials 5000m, and most recently winning the 2009 USA Outdoor Championships 5000m. Fans of American running can’t wait to see what Goucher will do next, and what she will do next is run the Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon on August 2 as a tune-up for the World Championships Marathon, to be held in Berlin in late August.

“I’m excited to be part of the first Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon,” Goucher said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to race as part of my preparations for the World Championships here on home soil, in one of the true great sporting cities. I’m very happy about the way my preparations have gone. I ran the trials in June and now it’s time to get back on the roads. I’m hoping to run well in Chicago and take that confidence into Berlin and give a good account of myself on the world stage.”

Goucher has never been beaten at the half-marathon distance. In addition to defeating marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe at the Great North Run in 2007, Goucher also won this year’s Lisbon Half Marathon in 1:08:30. She is unlikely to be challenged in Chicago, where the course record is 1:11:56, which is equivalent to marathon pace for Goucher, who finished third in the New York City Marathon last year and in the Boston Marathon this year.

Victory may be inevitable for Goucher, however, it remains to be seen just how fast she will go. And thanks to the Competitor.com “Kara Cam”, you can see how fast she goes in living color. The Kara Cam will provide a real-time video feed of Goucher’s race from start to finish, plus an immediate post-race interview. In addition to the video, Competitor.com will be offering a live blog of her race to enhance the coverage. The action starts at 6:30 AM central time. If you prefer not to get up that early on a Sunday, you can watch the archived video and blog on demand anytime thereafter.

Start getting psyched up for race day right now by watching our exclusive Competitor Q&A with Kara Goucher at the USA Championships in Eugene: