In photo above by Drew Woodrich, Kristen Henehan wins the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon.

Kristen Henehan of Silver Spring, MD and Lisa Thomas of Alexandria, VA qualified for the US Women's Olympic Marathon Trials this past weekend by virtue of their performances at Sunday's Rock n Roll Marathon in Phoenix, AZ. Henehan finished in 8th place in a time of 2:45:12, and Thomas finished 12th in a time of 2:46:11. Both Henehan and Thomas compete for the Pacers/Brooks Racing Team, which is sponsored by Pacers Running Stores of Alexandria, Arlington, and Silver Spring.

Henehan, Thomas, and their Pacers teammates Lindsay Goulet, Alicia Pease, and Kelly Devine were 5 of the 39 American women who were invited to Phoenix to participate in the "Running Down a Dream" program. The staff at Elite Racing (directors of the Phoenix race) devised the program as a way to bring together the top US women's marathoners who were still seeking to qualify for the Olympic Trials race, which will be held in Boston on April 20, 2008.The women needed to run a time of 2:47:00 or better to earn the right to compete for a spot on the US Olympic Team. Henehan and Thomas were 2 of only 7 American women who realized their dream of meeting the qualifying standard in the Phoenix race. They join approximately 100 other women who had previously qualified for the Olympic Trials. The top three finishers in the April race in Boston will represent the United States in the Olympic Games next summer in Beijing.

Although they came up short in their attempts to qualify for the Olympic Trials, the other Pacers women who made the trip to Arizona ran outstanding races. Lindsay Goulet of Arlington finished in 17th place in 2:50:33, Alicia Pease of Silver Spring was 19th in 2:52:46 and Kelly Devine of Arlington was 32nd in 2:58:36. The times run by Goulet and Pease were lifetime bests, and Devine's performance was remarkable considering she was still recovering from a recent respiratory infection.

The Olympic Trials qualifying performances of Kristen Henehan and Lisa Thomas came as something of a surprise to both women. They each resumed training in July of 2007 after extended layoffs from running. Kristen had taken a six year hiatus from competition following her graduation from Georgetown University in 2001, and Lisa was returning to running following the birth of her first child, Lucy, in October of 2006. After only three months of training, both women showed that they were quickly returning to form when they staged an exciting late-race battle at the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon with Kristen winning the race in 2:51:14 and Lisa finishing 2nd in 2:51:40. Following that race, they decided that an Olympic Trials qualifying performance might be within reach, and the Phoenix race would give them the best opportunity to qualify.

Shortly after they completed Sunday's race in Phoenix, both Lisa and Kristen expressed a combination of elation and surprise at their achievements. Lisa commented, "I still can't believe that this has really happened. In a best case scenario, I was hoping to come out here and run a PR. I really didn't think that I was ready to run quite as fast as I did. When I was coming down the last straightaway, I didn't have my glasses and I couldn't tell whether the finish clock was reading 2:46 or 2:48. What a relief to find out it was 2:46!" Said Kristen, "When I started training last summer, all I really wanted to do was finish Marine Corps Marathon just to say that I'd done a marathon. I had no idea that running Marine Corps was going to lead to this!" With her typically broad smile and a laugh, she added "Now I have to run another one in Boston in April!"

In December 2007 at the Jingle All The Way 10K, Lindsay Goulet (#32) of Arlington, VA wins a photo finish with fifth place Lisa Thomas (#27) of Alexandria, VA. Both elite athletes flew home in 37:12.

Photo below courtesy of Peter Silverman.

P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona results