Olympic Trials & DIII Pride

OH MAN... can you feel the excitement building!? Tomorrow is the Olympic Trials for the Marathon in Houston, Texas. I SOOO wish I was going to be there... for SO many reasons. Hopefully I can articulate them in an orderly fashion...

First let's start with this. I was at the 2008 Trials in Boston. It was amazing. Here are the insanely fast times that must be met to QUALIFY for the trials:


The Women's Standards
A-Standard (trip to the Trials is paid)
Marathon - 2:39:00 and under .... or the equivalent of a 6:03 pace for 26.2 miles
B-Standard
Marathon - 2:39:01-2:46:00 .... so the 'slowest' pace to qualify is roughly a 6:20 for 26.2 miles to qualify
Half Marathon - 1:15:00 and under
10,000M - 33:00 and under

First, put that in perspective. I would be sufficiently happy if I could run a 6:03 for a 5k! Which is an 18:47!
So it might not be in the cards for me during this lifetime, but there are some pretty freakin' awesome women that can rock it--and it is phenomenal to watch.

While in Boston for the '08 Trials there were two things that were particularly sweet. One, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first woman to ever win the Olympic Marathon in LA (1984) was in the race.

 At age 50, she ran a 2:49 marathon that day. This woman is the real deal, just a gem. It was truly inspiring.

The second thing that made that day so incredible was being able to watch Deena Kastor come down the last stretch and win the trials. While I don't closely 'follow' the upcoming fields reguarly, I've always really enjoyed watching Deena and love to see her succeed. While this isn't the greatest picture, this is how close I was to the #1 woman that April day.


Deena 2008 Trials

After being there to experience the '08 trials, I really wished I could make it to the 2012 trials in Houston, especially after I heard who was going to be in the field. While there are numerous veterans and favorites, what I am possibly most excited about is to see one of SMC's former competitors toe the line. 2008 Case Western graduate, Esther Erb, qualified for the trials by running a 2:39. It was only her second marathon... and her first was a 2:46:15... just beyond the qualifying standard. While she may have been our competition, you can't help but love Esther. She was a joy to watch as a collegiate runner and I am filled with so much Division III pride as she heads to Houston. For more on Ester, check out this article featured in Running Times magazine: http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=22337

So what is even crazier about Esther going to the trials? Well, how about that she finished just 20 seconds ahead of our very own SMC stud, Megan Gray, in the 2007 NCAA Championship XC meet!? Maybe for those that haven't had the joy of meeting/knowing Megan, it will put in perspective her athletic accomplishments as a student-athlete. She has and always will be a Hall of Famer in my book--so I hope she makes it there soon.

As for the trials, they run at 8:00/8:15 tomorrow morning but the video will be aired on NBC from 3:00-5:00 Saturday afternoon. While the field is around 150+ women, there are a few who I'm pulling for (besides Esther). I really like Desiree Davila from Michigan, who just barely finished in second at Boston this year. She is a gutsy girl, who has the fastest posted time in the field, running a 2:22. And while I know there are others that are gunning for it... I would love to see Deena make one more Olympics. She's coming off of having a baby and posted a qualifying time, but I'm sure it wasn't even close to where she could be at today. A lot of people are wondering if Magdalena will be in the top three... you'll have to tune in to find out! Regardless, it's going to be a fun race to watch---with the top dogs vying for a position on the Olympic Team. Pretty incredible...