It’s been a while since I have posted on mvrunning…UPenn has kept me busy. But I can’t pass up the Olympics!
This Saturday at 7 am Pacific time, 10 am Eastern, is the start of the USA Olympic team marathon trials in Orlando, Florida. The top three women finishers and the top two or three men (it’s weird–don’t ask) will advance to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. We can watch on NBC, or Peacock if you subscribe to that service.
The Trials are exciting! I was at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 trials (and ran in the Boston, Houston, and Los Angeles marathons the next day…all great weekends!). The race means to all the athletes. Simply qualifying for the trials can be the peak of a running career.
Anything can happen in 26.2 miles!
We should all have runners to cheer for in a race like this, and I have some suggestions! My friend Josh Cox is a former professional runner, and here are the athletes he represents, along with some comments. These are a bunch of great people, and they will appreciate a psychic push from California while they are out on the roads this Saturday! Josh is also a big friend of Monta Vista…here Josh is with us at Crystal and on Zoom with our team during the pandemic!
Sara Hall (Stanford/ASICS) — 8th Olympic Trials (track and marathon), the only athlete in history to win professional US championships titles in the Mile and the Marathon, 10+ time national champion in many distances, former steeplechaser, 2000 Foot Locker XC Champ. Sara is seeded #4 in the field thanks to her 2:22:10 run for a 5 finish at the 2022 World Championships. 2:20:32 best from The Marathon Project, 2nd at 2020 London, 3rd at Chicago. Set American Record at 13.1 (since broken). Sara was a California prep phenom…she ran on the same Woodward Park course that many of us have raced.
Emily Durgin — Bolder Boulder winner, 1:07 half marathoner, strong 2023 performance in Toronto where she ran the Olympic Standard. (Terrence Mahon, Josh’s old coach, coaches Emily now).
Kellyn Taylor (Wichita State/HOKA) — well-positioned to be a factor as she’s finished top-eight twice in the NYC Marathon since finishing eighth at the 2020 Trials. Had a baby jsut one year ago. Won Bix (7-mile national championship in 2023).
Des Linden (ASU/Brooks)— two-time Olympian and fourth-place finisher from the 2020 Trials. 2018 Boston Champ. Des is also a long time friend of Monta Vista, so she is a sentimental favorite! She visited us years ago–here is an Olympian in the Monta Vista library–and when I asked her to come and cheer up our team during the pandemic lockdown, she got on Zoom and talked with us all. Des is super, easy to root for, and never count her out in any race.
Desiree Davila visiting with the Monta Vista XC team.
Maggie Montoya (Baylor/Salomon): broke Kara Goucher’s Grandma’s Half record (1:09:26), ready for breakthrough. Survived the mass shooting in Boulder, where she was working as a Pharmacist, working on her pharmaceutical degree.
Lauren Hagans (Baylor/HOKA)— 2:25 debut last year at Grandma’s, 2:02 800m from her days at Baylor.
Steph Bruce (UCSB/HOKA): delivered her baby girl in September, took a lot for her to be on the line. Steph was also part of the MV elite support group on Zoom back in the pandemic in 2020. She is a wonderful human.
Scott Fauble (University of Portland/Nike): #1 ranked marathoner in 2022, #2 in 2023, top American in Boston in 2023, Top American in NYC in 2022. 2:08 guy, one of the favorites.
Reed Fischer (Drake/Adidas): 2:10, 61 minute half athlete. Very consistent. Second American at 2022 NYCM.
Reid Buchanan (University of Portland/Unattached): big talent at the shorter distances, hasn’t hit the marathon yet. Turned down an $80k a year engineering job out of Portland to try this running thing.
Colin Bennie (Syracuse/Brooks): 2:09 guy, been top American at Boston, working on his graduate degree
Noah Droddy(DePauw/Salomon): 2:09:09 from The Marathon Project, had surgery last spring on his Achilles, worked really hard to return and get his qualifier at CIM, proud of his journey. Noah also got on Zoom with MV during the pandemic…he is hilarious.
Turner Wiley (Seattle Pacific University/Tracksmith): 2:11 guy, competed at Pan-Am Games for his first national team, coached by a l friend of Josh, Mike Sayenko.
Martin Hehir (Syracuse/unattached): 2:08:59 guy from The Marathon Project, full-time Medical Doctor now, wakes up at 4:00 to get his runs in.
Tyler McCandless (Penn State/Merrell): 2:12 guy, super smart, PhD in Meteorology, full-time professional.
John Raneri (UNC/McKirdy Trained): 2:12 guy looking for his next breakthrough. Amazing human being.
Charlie Lawrence (Minnesota/Suunto soon): set 50-mile World Record last fall, 2:16 guy.
And a gratuitous photo of Coach Flatow from 2011 at Houston, the day after Josh and Des competed in the trials. I’d shadowed Josh as he trained with Terrence Mahon that year–I tried to do everything he did but in Kms instead of miles. It was a blast!
