She's like Jurgen. She expected to race, but her plans got short-circuited along the way. Still, she's gamely on-hand in Kona. She's the great lady of the sport. She agreed to answer some questions, and was very frank and open. She's just a regular gal. A great lady and a regular gal all at the same time, that's Karen.

DAN EMPFIELD: How's the women's race going to go? Who's going to be in the lead from the time the gun goes off 'till the end? Let me make it easy for you. Is Barb Lindquist going to get caught on the bike, and if so, where, and by whom?

KAREN SMYERS: Yeah, I definitely think Barb's going to get caught on the bike. I think the way she's going into this race she's not going to be pushing the bike as hard as you need to to come off the bike in first. That's going to make the race interesting, because she's going to have competition pretty quickly, I think, from people like Joannna [Zeiger] -- although Joanna, from what I've seen, doesn't push it on the bike either, so after she gets to the front she's probably going to be hanging out a little bit. That might give a chance to others. By the end of the bike ride I can even see Lori being in the lead coming off the bike. The other swimmers you've out there are Wendy, Ute Mueckel, and even Joanne King and Suzanne Nielsen. Suzanne in particular. If she was to ever click at this race -- and I don't think she has yet -- I'm waiting for her to have a breakthrough one of these years.

DE: I'll bet you a quarter on this. I think Barb's going to get excited and stay out there until 80-miles on the bike where she'll get caught by Paula.

KS: Oh yeah, Paula, I forgot about her. She's a mystery to me. I haven't seen or talked to her in a while. And what about Natascha?

DE: So then what happens?

KS: I think Lori and Natascha are the ones who really have the confidence to push the bike hard. Some of the other girls -- obviously not Paula -- don't know how to push the bike as hard as they can for this race. The best part's going to be the run.

DE: I can't remember a race where so many people -- men and women -- have a shot at winning. Taking the women, you usually figure there's two or three that have a shot. But here you have Lori, Jo King, Natascha, as you say Suzanne Nielsen, obviously Barb may not be a threat to win but she's so, so talented, Joanna Zeiger, and on and on. Who was I talking to -- Jurgen I think -- thinks Joannna's the favorite.

KS: I wouldn't label her the favorite, because she's yet to nail the nutrition. Until you get that down, throw it out the window. It doesn't matter what kind of shape you're in. Thing is you've got five people who can easily run 3:10, you've never had that in the past. And then you've got Lori. Used to be a 3:09 was awesome, but now Lori can beat that by 10-minutes, and that really changes things. Do I think Joanna could eventually run that? I think she has the talent to do it.

DE: When I watched her running in the Olympics, her technique, I thought: There's a marathoner running a 10k. Whereas when I see Wendy Ingraham I think: There's a 400-meter runner running a marathon. Plus, Zeiger trains.

KS: Oh yeah. She did Ironman training leading up to the Olympics.

DE: Certain people had success at short-course off long training. Mark Allen. Spencer Smith.

KS: Joanna's like that.

DE: Who's your pick?

KS: After seeing what Lori's done the past two years, I've got to pick her.

DE: But that's so safe! Come on! How about your top three?

KS: I'd put Joanna Zeiger third, and Natascha second. But I just got here this morning and haven't had the chance to check everybody out, so you're putting me a little on the spot here. Ask me after I get a chance to check out what's going on.