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U.S. Olympic Team Trials: Marathon Preview - Mid-Atlantic Runners
By Dickson Mercer
January/February 2012
The road to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials presented a tougher hill to climb than previous Trials. For the men, new qualifying standards did away with a “B” standard and instituted a tougher “A” standard of sub-2:19. The USATF required female qualifiers to run under 2:46 rather than 2:47. The women’s “A” standard of sub-2:39, however, was not changed.
The men’s 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were held November 3, 2007 in New York City’s Central Park. The women’s Trials were held April 20, 2008 in Boston, the day before the Boston Marathon.
The 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials will be held January 14, 2012 in Houston, TX. The men will start at 8 a.m. and the women will start 15 minutes later.
The top regional finisher in the 2008 edition of the Trials was Washington, DC’s Christopher Raabe, who was 16th in 2:17:01. Veena Reddy, who then lived in Philadelphia but later moved to the region, was 15th in 2:38:08.
Raabe has qualified to be on the starting line in Houston, but injuries will prevent him from making the trip. Reddy has qualified, too, but Washington Running Report was not able to confirm whether she plans to compete prior to press time.
Here’s a look at a few of the athletes from the region who will toe the line with best of the best marathoners in the U.S. January 14th in Houston.
Mid-Atlantic Men
Ricky Flynn, 24, Lynchburg, VA
Hometown: Damascus, MD
Qualifying time: 1:04:14, 2011 Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon
Flynn won a state cross country title in 2003 for Damascus High School and then won the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in 2009 for the University of Lynchburg. Since then, Flynn, who will earn his master’s degree in business in May, has only continued to improve, dropping huge PRs for both the 5K and 10K.
The key to Flynn’s success in recent years, he said, has been staying healthy and emphasizing quality more than quantity in his training. For Flynn, qualifying for the Trials is a career highlight; it will also be his debut at the distance. He is preparing for the event, he said, by upping his mileage, building up his long runs to surpass the race distance and, most importantly, not putting too much pressure on himself. “My strategy is basically to just go and run,” he said.
Michael Wardian, 37, Arlington, VA
Hometown: Morgantown, WV
Qualifying time: 2:17:49, 2011 Grandma’s Marathon
While others are likely to be in a training cocoon in the months leading up to the Trials, Wardian is more likely to be doing what he does: racing. His schedule leading up to Houston included the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler and then the next day’s North Face Endurance Challenge Half Marathon. (North Face, along with Powerbar and Marathonguide.com, is one of Wardian’s sponsors.)
After those races, Wardian planned to back off the long stuff and focus on shorter races to build last-minute leg speed, which the ultra-marathon star said he will need to make a legitimate run at qualifying for the Olympic team. This will be Wardian’s third consecutive Trials appearance, having broken through with a new PR of 2:17:49 at Grandma’s Marathon. “Anytime I have the chance to make a USA team and wear a USA singlet, that’s a huge deal to me,” he said.
Mid-Atlantic Women
Serena Burla, 29, Falls Church, VA
Hometown: Waukesha, WI
Qualifier: 2:35:08, 2011 Volkswagen Prague International Marathon
Locally, Burla signaled her recent move from St. Louis, MO to Falls Church, VA with an assertive victory at the Veterans Day 10K. For her marathon debut, Burla clocked 2:37:06 and finished 19th at the ING New York City Marathon. The performance that created more buzz, however, was her second-place showing at the 2011 USA Half Marathon Championships. The result arrived less than a year after the mother and professional runner was diagnosed with cancer, a synovial sarcoma found in her right hamstring.
Burla races for the Mizuno-sponsored Riadha club. Riadha’s coach, Isaya Okwiya, who has been working with Burla for six years, said she is “coming along very strongly” in her training and that he expects her to be competitive at the Trials. Six weeks before the race, Okwiya put it like this: “She is focused, and she is just plugging away.” There was proof of that after the Veterans Day 10K when Burla set out for a 60-minute cool-down – up-tempo.
Clara Grandt, 24, Morgantown, WV
Hometown: West Union, VA
Qualifying time: 2:29:54, 2011 Boston Marathon
Focused on becoming a top American marathoner since her high school days, 100-plus-mile training weeks began for Grandt before her graduation last year from West Virginia University. That paid dividends last spring in Boston: Her marathon debut of 2:29:54, good for 16th overall, was the second fastest ever run by an American 23-year-old. Coached by WVU coach Sean Cleary, Grandt has a part-time job while competing for the Mizuno-sponsored Riadha club. In Boston, Grandt said she learned just how hard the marathon is, but also how well her body can withstand it--so long as she runs her own race.
“For the Olympic Trials,” she said, “I will use that knowledge to make sure I am constantly aware and don’t run too emotionally in the earlier stages.” She will also be ready to compete with the best. “I am thankful to everyone who has supported this opportunity and dream,” she said, “and I am excited to be able to compete with the Americans in January.”
Louise Knudson, 26, Charlottesville, VA
Hometown: Colorado City, AZ
Qualifying time: 2:42:42, 2011 Boston Marathon
Think your job crimps your training schedule? Knudson’s job as a nurse in an intensive care unit at the University of Virginia Health System keeps her on her feet for up to 13 hours at a time. She at least cut her hours to 20 to 25 per week so she could focus on qualifying for the Trials, a schedule she will stick to through January. But let’s back up: Knudson’s first marathon in 2006 was about an hour slower than the five-minute PR she would run to qualify for the Trials. She started running in high school but did not compete for her college team. In 2008, though, she started taking workouts from Mark Lorenzoni. A year later she joined Ragged Mountain Racing Team and latched herself onto the team’s shared goal of making it to the starting line in Houston.
“Mark’s philosophy is centered on the No. 1 goal of keeping his runners injury free, which perfectly aligns with my personal philosophy as an athlete and a healthcare provider,” Knudson said. Although she sprained her foot this summer and had to miss two months of training, Knudson rebounded quickly. “Now that I’ve gotten back into training I’m improving quickly and running faster than I ever have before,” she said.
Christine Ramsey, 29, Baltimore MD
Hometown: Royersford, PA
Qualifying: 1:14:57 at the Philadelphia Half Marathon
Ramsey ran 2:44:37 at the 2009 New York City Marathon, shortly before the Trials’ qualifying window opened. In May, though, she was hit by a car, suffering an injury that required five months on the sideline. Her chances for qualifying seemed bleak at best. While Ramsey was able to train in the pool and ride a bike during her time off, by the time she was able to start training in earnest for the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November, she had but 10 weeks to prepare.
Just two months later, Ramsey realized she was in PR shape. For Ramsey, who often trains with Falls Road Running Club, her time of 1:14:57, seconds below the qualifying standard, was a 92-second improvement. “This will be my first opportunity to take the line with all of the fastest women in the country,” she said of her Trials debut. “My goal is just to go into it in peak shape and see how competitive I can be.
Amanda Rice, 27, North Bethesda, MD
Hometown: Portland, OR
Qualifying time: 2:38:57, 2011 Grandma’s Marathon
A few years ago Rice was just a beginner. In fact, it was not until Rice met Portland-based coach Rick Lovett during her third year of dental school that her running, at age 23, made a turn toward the competitive. After qualifying for the Trials at last year’s California International Marathon, Rice lowered her PR to 2:38:57 to hit the “A” standard qualifying time at Grandma’s Marathon. Her fine 2011 campaign continued with a 1:14:36 run at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon and a 4th place showing at the Army Ten-Miler.
Since moving to North Bethesda this summer to start a dental residency with the U.S. Navy, Rice has been doing workouts with Georgetown Running Company Racing Team. Coach Jerry Alexander has supervised a number of Rice’s workouts. “[Rice] will go out there on race day ready to compete,” he said. “If the favorites sit back and run a slow pace, I would expect her to get into the lead pack and hang on.”
(Rice is profiled in the Nov/Dec issue on p. 22-23, check it out at www.runwashington.com.)
Lucinda Smith, 30, Kensington, MD
Hometown: Darnestown, MD
Qualifying time: 2:43:43, 2011 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
Smith’s 30th birthday will surely be a memorable one. The Quince Orchard High School graduate not only spent it debuting in the marathon, she also notched a Trials qualifier. Smith and her husband, Anderson Smith, whom she met at North Carolina State University, moved to Boulder, CO to train after their respective graduations but returned to the region in 2009. Smith, who continues to race for the adidas Raleigh Track Club, works for RBC Wealth Management in Rockville, MD.
A few years ago Smith’s running was slumping and she was losing hope. She kept running, however, simply because she enjoys it. A year ago, as her training started to click, she began focusing on qualifying for the Trials. Six weeks out from the race, Smith said she felt stronger than she did during her previous training cycle and has been supplementing her key workouts with cross training. “I’m so humbled to be able to toe the line with the country’s best marathoners all together on the same day, chasing the dream,” she said.