When organizers of the TCS New York City Marathon have their eyes on an elite runner they want to run their race, theyll often use what some have called the Seduction Ride. Riding along in one of the pace vehicles, the coveted athlete gets to experience all of the excitement of the five-borough run, with none of the attendant physical effort, and usually commits to debut at New York the following year. Molly Huddle, the pre-eminent American distance runner on the track, has taken that ride twice as the elite athlete recruiters have targeted her almost since the London Olympics ended four years ago.On Sunday morning, that long courtship will come to fruition when Huddle, the American record holder of the 10,000 meters on the track, toes the start line in Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, and finally tackles her first marathon.Related story from Competitor.com: How to watch the NYC MarathonRelated story from Competitor.com: 45 reasons we love the NYC MarathonHuddle is no stranger to the streets of the Big Apple, having won the United New York City Half Marathon the past two years-her most recent 1:07:41 win set an American record for a womens-only race by more than 50 seconds-and having raced there 15 other times. And while most might consider her métier to be on the synthetic oval, based on her 30:13.17 American record set this summer at the Rio Olympic Games shes equally adept on the roads, having won seven U.S. titles on the macadam at distances from 5K to 20K.Ive raced well on the roads, and on the roads in New York, Huddle said. I think I can handle that hilly, potholed, cross-country type course. Thats what a lot of people say is the challenge of New York. I think the 26.2 distance is whats going to be the shocker.Its impossible to predict what Huddle can run in her debut marathon, but her background and fitness suggest shes probably capable of running in the 2:22 to 2:26 range if all goes well.(The fastest debut marathon by an American woman is 2:25:53, set by Kara Goucher in New York in 2008.) But the marathon is a different beast, especially at the elite level, and many variables can swing the outcome. Plus, Huddles buildup for her debut had to be somewhat shoehorned into the relatively short time between the Olympics and New York.Click here to read the full story from Competitor.com. David Luiz Chelsea Jersey .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. Andreas Christensen Jersey . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. http://www.chelseasoccerjerseysonline.com/womens-pedro-chelsea-jersey/ . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Ethan Ampadu Jersey . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. Antonio Rudiger Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Its the middle of the week, and you know what that means: Mid laners.Its time to look at the best the mid lane has to offer at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships and which players will be challenging the greatest of all time, SK Telecom T1s Lee Faker Sang-hyeok, in his attempt to win his third Summoners Cup.5. Lee Scout Ye-chanRegion: China Team: Edward GamingWhat better way to start the countdown than with Fakers former protege on SK Telecom T1? Scout was a highly sought after amateur on the solo queue ladder, and he joined SKT T1 last year to play backup for two of the best mid laners in the world, Faker and Lee Easyhoon Ji-hoon. Scout left his homeland of South Korea to join Edward Gaming in the middle of the year after being used sparingly by T1 and knowing his chances of ever eclipsing Faker as a starter were slim to none. EDGs Heo PawN Won-seoks constant health issues opened the door for Scout to take over, and hes grown throughout the short summer split.Scout was primarily known for his explosive highlight reel play in solo queue, and he was forced to change into a safer, mage-centric player for a large part of the year behind the offensive talents of superstar AD carry Kim Deft Hyuk-kyu. Yet, in the summer finals, he was able to showcase his brash Zed play in a clear 3-0 victory over rival Royal Never Give Up. Although Scout was initially brought in to backup the two mid laners who have several world championship titles between them, hes begun cutting a legacy of his own as one of the fastest rising players in the world today.4. Lee Crown Min-hoRegion: South Korea Team: Samsung GalaxyNext to Scout, Crown is another South Korean-born mid laner who has the opportunity to break into superstar status this tournament. When Samsung was in the proverbial dumps following the exodus of all its top talent from 2014, Crown was one of the few bright spots during the rebuild. A little over a year ago, the newly cemented Samsung starter made a name for himself by alternating heavyweight blows against Faker in a matchup between Crowns pocket Yasuo and the T1 aces Ahri. It wasnt the most serious and clean game from the usually neat SKT T1 of 2015, but Faker challenged Crown, and Crown delivered, going 10/36 in a losing effort that ended the series 0-2.Since that loss, Samsung and Crown have grown leaps and bounds as a whole. Crown prides himself on his work ethic as a pro-gamer due to his old days of wanting to become a StarCraft professional where the practice is even more strenuous. After failing to make the playoffs in the spring, Crown pushed himself to become a better player in the summer with an even wider champion pool. The ace of Samsung did just that, having one of the better summer seasons of any mid laner in the world. In his past six games during the South Korean Regional to get to the World Championships, Crown played six different champions, including his signature Viktor in which he went 10/0/4 in a winning effort over KT Rolster.Samsung is not a team of many stars, but it surely has a budding one in the form of Crown. It took two full years to complete the rebuild of Samsung, and there is no better man to lead them into the future than the 21-year-old mid laner.3. Huang Maple Yi-TangRegion: Taiwan Team: Flash WolvesUnlike the other two Worlds newcomers, this will be the third World Championships for the Flash Wolves mid laner. He came to Worlds in 2013 as an excitable rookie and was sent packing by Faker and SK Telecom T1 before he could even win a single game at the tournament. Last year, it was a better show of his talent, and the Wolves got all the way to the quarterfinals before ultimately losing to Origen in a relatively close 3-1 series. Back for his third shot at the Summoners Cup, Maple is a veteran and has been consistently one of the top talents from Taiwan the past few years. His partnership with jungler Hung Karsa Hau-Hsuan cant be praised enough, and its the pairs chemistry and raw power that has dragged the Wolves through inconsistency in the side lanes the past two years.Although his spring split was good -- not great -- his summer split moore than made up for it with a statline of 118 kills, 34 deaths and 60 assists in 28 starts en route to a domestic championship for the Wolves.dddddddddddd The scarier thing, however, is that if J Team hadnt fallen apart at the end of the year, Maple wouldnt have had the best summer season for a Taiwanese mid coming into Worlds: Chu FoFo Chun-Lan, a 17-year-old prodigy, bested him. The standout rookie put together an even better regular season with a 8.3 kill/death/assist (KDA) compared to Maples 8.2, and a higher overall damage per minute, as well.Maple, though, experienced and battle-tested, got through the rough times while FoFo, a rookie, couldnt make it past the finish line. There are rumors that this could be the last run for Maple in Taiwan after getting offers from the LPL last year, and if so, hell want to make this the perfect sendoff for a Wolves team that has consistently made it to the bracket stage of international competitions over the years.2. S?ren Bjergsen BjergRegion: North America Team: Team SoloMidIts been a long road for Bjergsen to get to this position. Last year, when he was depended on to be all the offense for Team SoloMid, he was shown he couldnt do it all. For how great of an individual player he was, his position as shotcaller while also outputting 40 percent of his teams damage was impossible to keep up. Teams knew how TSM played, and teams would focus in on Bjergsen and make sure he wasnt able to beat them.Now, in 2016, with a fellow consistent damage threat in Yiliang Doublelift Peng, who has also taken a brunt of the shotcalling duties, Bjergsen is free to breathe and be the kind of talent hes always had the capabilities of becoming. Teams will still zero in on Bjergsen, but hes no longer playing a game where he always has to be the savior. This allows him to play a more free-flowing style across the map instead of always being hemmed in the mid lane. The added freedom helped Bjergsen clinch his third MVP award, and one of his better statistical seasons in history: 166/62/275 for a 7.1 KDA and a damage per minute (DPM) of 628. When you compare his 29 percent of TSMs damage output this split to last summers 42.5 percent, you can see with a better team around him, Bjergsen is able to do more with less.1. Lee Faker Sang-hyeokRegion: South Korea Team: SK Telecom T1He might not be the best player currently in the world -- Song Smeb Kyung-ho and Ming Clearlove Kai say hi -- but that doesnt mean his spot as top mid laner has been wrangled away just yet. There are a lot of issues you can point out when you look at the SKT T1 roster -- a large amount of it in the jungle -- but Faker isnt one of them. In the toughest region in the world, he walked away with the most kills out of any mid laner (162) and second-place overall to only KT Rolsters sniper No Arrow Dong-hyeon, who played three more games in the regular season.The amazing thing with Faker, though, as hes done throughout his career is what Bjergsen has finally started to accomplish on TSM: doing big things with little gold. When someone gets a large amount of his teams gold, you expect them to be able to output a high-level of damage. For Faker, he once again topped all mid laners when it came to DPM (677) and was second in the entire league behind his teammate Bae Bang Jun-sik. When it came to the percentage of gold he received from his team, Faker was 16th in the entire league. Hes not only the type of player who can stand on his feet as an individual, but hes the type of player that props up the players around him. He takes less of the pie but is still able to deliver the numbers expected from one of the best, if not the best player in the entire league.You have the likes of Scout and Crown getting better everyday, mechanical marvels like Maple and EDGs Li Xiaohu Yuan-Hao, and Bjergsens evolution to becoming the best player the western region has ever introduced. But at the front of the pack is Faker, working just as hard for his third Summoners Cup as his first. ' ' '