Olympic Trials Weekend Adventure

Andrea K

Knowing that the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials were to be held on January 14th in Houston, Texas, that was the perfect excuse to head out to Houston and run the Aramco Houston Half Marathon during the same weekend with several other members who I train with on the Williamsburg Track Club (WBTC). Conditions were ideal at 40 degrees as the race kicked off at 7:00am. I ran for a short while with the famous Olympiad Joan Benoit Samuelson, which was an absolute thrill. Joan finished in 1:37:57. NYRR Executive Director Mary Wittenberg was there, too, to watch the trials and run the half marathon, finishing in 1:37:47.

My training took a slow start after recovering from the NYC marathon and was mostly a way to keep off unwanted calories during the holidays. I had a lot of fun running the flat course through the streets of Houston where my family from Texas (sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew) along with my boyfriend Jack were at various spots cheering for me along the course. I finished in 1:35:09 and ended up placing 3rd in my age group. It was a fantastic weekend in Houston. I now wish I could go to London in August to watch the Olympics but I guess I’ll have to settle for viewing it on TV instead.

Andrea K and boyfriend Jack at the Olympic Trials

The men’s race started at 8:00am with temperatures at 33 degrees. Ryan Hall led the pack from the start with a quick pace of 4:50, 4:51, and 4:57 covering the first 3 miles of the opening downtown loop. By Mile 7, Hall was still leading a small pack of seven runners that had a 33 second lead over the rest. At the halfway point, the pace was still under a 5 minute mile with five runners in the lead: Hall, Meb Keflezighi, Abdi Abdirahman, Dathan Ritzenhein and Mo Trafeh. The wind picked up at Mile 18 on the open stretch around Buffalo Bayou, with Hall, Keflezighi and Abdirahman, a native of Somalia and 3-time Olympian at 10,000 meters (known as The Black Cactus) emerging as clear leaders.

At Mile 23, the pace slowed to 5 minutes per mile (hardly a slow pace) and the top three leaders were working together to ensure their slots. Meb grabbed the lead to pull past Hall at Mile 25 waving a US flag in the final stretch and was hoisted onto the shoulders of his 74 old father, Russon, at the finish to win the trials in 2:09:08, a personal best. Ryan Hall , 29, crossed the finish line 22 seconds later in 2:09:30, and Abdi Abdirahman finished 3rd in 2:09:47.

Meb Gives a Thumbs Up as He Knows He's About to Win
And Earn a Spot on the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team!

This was a huge win for Meb who had a very rough day only 69 days earlier at the ING NYC Marathon where he finished in 6th place after he badly injured his foot because he forgot to remove his Breathe Right nasal strip from his shoe to apply to his nose before the race. The rubbing over 26.2 miles caused an infection on his left foot that hurt so bad that he had to completely miss three weeks of training for the trials. This will be Meb’s third time on the US Olympics team, having won the silver in the 2004 Marathon. Keflezighi, 36, the son of Eritrean refugees, moved to the US in 1987 after fleeing famine and civil war on the Horn of Africa. Meb has had a difficult road in life not only as a refugee but also as a runner and Olympic medalist. He failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics after suffering a fractured pelvis. This will be Meb’s first time as trials champion and leader of the 3-man team.

The women’s start time of 8:15 was already 7 degrees warmer than the men’s at 40 degrees. After a slow, tactical start (at 6:11 for the first mile), the top 3 eventual qualifiers didn’t emerge until Mile 20 for the 2012 London Games: Shalane Flanagan (2:25:38), Desiree Davilia (2:25:55) and Kara Goucher (2:26:06). At Mile 17, Amy Hastings surged to the front but got dropped at Mile 20 to finish fourth. At Mile 21, Flanagan moved to the front and dueled it out with Davila from miles 22 - 24. Davilia began to lose speed and run more cautiously at Mile 25.5 when her calve started to cramp making sure she held on to at least a 2nd place. At Mile 24, Kara Goucher was out of the top 2 spot but still comfortably ahead of Hastings.



Shalane Flanagan Heading to Victory
Photo by Andrea's Friend

This will be Flanagan’s 3rd trip to the Olympics after competing in Athens in ’04 and winning a bronze medal in Beijing in ’08 -- each time qualifying for the Olympics in a different event!

Two years ago Flanagan debuted in the 13.1 at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon to win in a course record time, so she was no stranger to the streets of Houston. Flanagan’s championship time for the trials was more than 3 minutes faster than her previous personal best, a 2:28:40 for a 2nd place in her debut marathon in NYC in 2010.

 

NYAC Runners Competing At Trials

There were 12 members of the NYRR team who qualified for the Olympic trials out of the nearly 400 athletes from throughout the country competing in Houston. For more details see the story on the NYRR web site.

-Andrea K