Written by: Melanie Stuparyk
Posted: Tuesday, 22 April 2008
As we’ve come to expect from Deena Kastor, she put forth a
Herculean effort and finished with an amazing first place performance at the
women’s Olympic marathon trials in Boston on Saturday, securing her spot on the
US team going to Beijing. Joining her on the podium and on the team are fellow
runners Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who lead the race until mile 23, and Blake
Russell who ran a strong steady race to come back from her disappointing fourth
place in the 2004 trials.
From the gun Lewy-Boulet was out in front of the pack and
she never looked back. In a post-race interview she said that she had decided
months ago that she was going to run her own race. A distance coach at UC
Berkley, (her husband owns a running store) she said she “knew I had to stick
to 5:40s and run comfortable through the first half,” she said. “That was my
strategy from the beginning. I had no idea it would fold out that I would be by
myself, I was a little uncomfortable and surprised in the first and second mile
that I was out there by myself.”
Kastor found herself in the trailing pack with Lewy-Boulet
nowhere in sight. With almost a two-minute lead on Kastor for most of the race,
it looked as though Lewy-Boulet might have run the better race. “My two major
goals,” said Kastor “first was to make the team, and second was to win. Blake
and Magda both gave me a run for my money today. I thought for many miles that
I may have misjudged Magdalena’s strength.”
As the women ran the looped course Kastor began to pick up
the pace to try to catch Lewy-Boulet. “For a big section of the race I kept
telling myself that I could keep to my goal, succumbing to second place,” said
Kastor. “I tried not to dip under 5-5:25 and wanted to stay in the right energy
zones. Then the gap started shortening a little bit and that fueled my fire and
I gained confidence going into the second loop. In the second half of the last
lap I thought I could win this race.”
As Kastor began to pick up her pace she heard the crowd
shouting that she was 1:40 behind Lewy-Boulet and so she continued to gain
speed in an effort to catch her in the last 3 miles. Lewy-Boulet, who could see
Kastor gaining on her at the turnaround loops began to slow down. “The gap was
between 1:40 and 2:00,” she said, “for a moment I thought I was going to win
the race. I thought ‘wow if I keep this up I can take it all the way home,’ but
in the back of my mind I knew Deena was coming.”
Lewy-Boulet felt herself slowing down as she entered the
fourth loop. While she knew that she had the strength and stamina to keep
going, she slowed to run 5:30 and 5:50 paces. “I did not hear Deena but I knew
she was coming because people were telling us about the gap,” Magda said.
“People were telling me it was 1:40 and then they stopped telling me so I knew
she was coming.” Kastor passed Lewy-Boulet between miles 23 and 24
Russell, who suffered coming in fourth place in the 2004
marathon trials was determined to make the team this time around. Mary Akor,
Zoila Gomez and Desiree Flicker helped build the suspension among the crowds as
they battled behind Russell, causing spectators to wonder if they would see a
repeat of the 2004 race. “A lot can happen in the last four miles,” said
Russell. “I kept telling myself to stay calm, relax focus on form. With three
miles to go I knew I had a pretty good lead. They definitely gave me a run for
my money and I couldn’t let up at all. And how does she feel to finally make the
Olympic team? “It hasn’t sunk in,” she said after the race. “After the disaster
in 2004 we sat down and came up with a good plan, hopefully, to get me to this
spot right here. Later on tonight it’ll hit me but right now it’s just surreal.
This is the team I picked going into it (her Kastor and Lewy-Boulet) funny how
this is how it ended up and I couldn’t be happier.”
Joan Benoit Samuelson, a local favorite and Olympic marathon
legend had qualified to run the race as well. Past her competitive race days, she
hoped to run a race in the 2:50s and crossed the finish line in 2:49:08. She
began the race wearing a yellow hat, and finished, as she did in 1979 wearing a
Boston Red Sox hat. “It was spontaneous to have the red sox hat on crossing,”
she said, “just as it was in 1979. There were some great years in between and
not so great years for both the Red Sox and myself.”
She commented to the media after her race that she may run
another marathon to accompany a family member or friend, but not to compete.
“It’s been a great run. I came into the marathon and running scene here in
Boston with the marathon…so Boston is really home when it comes to running for
me,” she said. “ I’m handing the torch off to Deena now and she can run with
it.”
The road race season in Michigan kicked off in April with Spring Training Series Races in Ann Arbor and Waterford and the Ciociaro Can Am Challenge Series in Windsor. Now that roadies are all warmed up, it's time to stretch their legs in some good old-fashioned road and criterium racing. In the coming weeks road cyclists can look forward to the Grattan Race Series kick-off, the Cone Azalia Classic road race, the Tour of Kensington Valley, the Priority Health Tour De Leelanau, the Tour De Gaslight Criterium and in June, a race that is quickly becoming a favorite among all racers, citizen and professional alike - The Superior Bike Fest in Marquette.
I just received a grim e-mail to end an otherwise unremarkable day. The subject line read "Ryan Shay Autopsy Released." 
