2012 Houston Marathon & Men's & Women's Olympic Trials - Runner Tracking & More

UPDATE: Chevron Houston Marathon live results here; U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials results and coverage here.

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All eyes in the running world are on Houston this weekend as the city hosts both the men's and women's Olympic marathon trials, as well as holding its annual Houston Marathon and related races.

The 40th anniversary of the Houston Marathon and the Olympic Marathon trials all take place this weekend.

The Olympic events will take place Saturday, Jan. 14th, and the USATF announced the other day that the marathon trials will be televised on NBC. The catch is that the broadcast will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Eastern time, and the races are held in the morning (men at 8 a.m.; women at 8:15). So the trials will be shown on tape delay, and obviously only part of each race will be shown.

It's better than no coverage at all, of course, though the buzz on the Internet is why the trials couldn't have been streamed online.

The USATF says that 150 men and 194 women will be running in Saturday's marathon trials, which will determine the three men and three women who'll represent the U.S. in the London Olympic marathon this summer. See the official 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon website, www.houston2012.com, for more information on the runners, their previous marathon performance, and more.

You can follow live updates from the races on Twitter at these accounts: @USMenMarathon and @USWomenMarathon.

This is all somewhat overshadowing the regular event, the Chevron Houston Marathon, which is celebrating 40 years. See the Houston Marathon FAQs page for details on the marathon, half marathon, or 5K race, all of which will be held on Sunday, Jan. 15th. There you'll find information on packet pickup, bib numbers and the wave start, the start and finish areas, and more.

Check this link for Houston Marathon running tracking options, including athlete alerts via text message or e-mail; the official Houston Marathon smart phone app; and live searchable results and map tracking during the race. 

You'll find Houston Marathon course information here, including printable course map, elevation, and a list of street closures for the weekend. See the half marathon course details here.

Autopsy: Ryan Shay Died of Irregular Heartbeat from Enlarged Heart

The autopsy has finally been released for Ryan Shay, the marathon runner who died during the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City last November. The Associated Press is reporting that Shay "died of an irregular heartbeat due to an enlarged heart" and also had previous scarring whose cause couldn't be determined.

LetsRun.com has a short piece on the story that seems to have a direct quote from the New York City medical examiner's office on the cause of death, by way of Shay's father: "Cardiac arrhythmia due to cardiac hypertrophy with patchy fibrosis of undetermined etiology. Natural Causes."

The spokeswoman put it in layman's terms in a phone conversation with Shay's father, according to the Detroit Free Press:

“The heartbeat went into an irregular rhythm due to an enlarged heart with old scars,” Ellen Borakove, public affairs director for the office of the chief medical examiner, told the Free Press in a phone interview. “It’s an unknown source — we’re not able to identify what caused the scaring. “It’s a natural-cause death.”

Shay was diagnosed with an enlarged heart at age 14, but it's not unusual for athletes to have such enlargement. There has been more attention paid to this subject in recent years as there have been a number of high-profile sudden deaths of elite athletes and former athletes, including Army women's basketball coach Maggie Dixon two years ago.

LetsRun.com says that the full report will be released only to the family.