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Russell Hopes for Elusive Olympic Team Berth

Posted April 18th, 2008 at 5:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

Some four years ago on a warmish day in St. Louis, Blake Russell was competing in the biggest race of her life, the 2004 USA Olympic Team Trials - Women’s Marathon. Right from the gun, she stepped on the gas, motoring through the first 10 km in a snappy 33:33. She quickly built a one minute lead on the field, including pre-race favorite Deena Kastor and eventual winner Colleen De Reuck.

“It was one of those things when I felt I was ready to really run fast,” Russell recalled today ahead of Sunday’s Marathon Trials where she is amongst the favorites for a podium finish and a spot on the U.S. Olympic marathon team in Beijing.

In St. Louis the miles rolled by and Russell remained out in front, content to run alone. She couldn’t see her watch because she had chosen not to wear her contact lenses which bother her when she races. But when she heard the half-way split of 1:11:58 (nearly a minute faster than last Sunday’s Flora London Marathon), she realized that her too-quick first half would mean trouble later.

“When I got to halfway I knew I was going way too fast,” she said after the 2004 race.

Inevitably, her pace slowed and in the 18th mile she was caught by Kastor. De Reuck also passed her on her way to an upset victory, but Russell seemed solidly in third place, assuring her of a team berth for the Athens Olympics. Unfortunately, she faltered in the latter stages of the race and rival Jen Rhines was able to make up a two minute deficit, passing Russell in the last 800 meters to clinch the third –and last– Olympic team berth. Russell finished fourth 35 seconds later, and was devastated.

“I was a very long time,” she said of how long it took the pain of that race to subside. She hoped to rebound and contest the Olympic Trials in the 10,000m three months later, but she couldn’t get her training restarted. “I couldn’t even move,” she said. “I think the emotional toll was really bad. It was tough to get over.”

Her husband, Jonathan, agreed. “I know it hurt her deep down not to make the team,” he said. The couple met in the 1990’s when they both competed in the NCAA Atlantic Coast Conference, she for the University of North Carolina and he for Wake Forest.

Four years later, Russell finds herself in the best health and fitness since the last Trials, overcoming a series of injuries and disappointments which overshadowed her successes, like winning the U.S. 20-K title in 2005 and the U.S. 8-K Cross Country title in 2006. She hasn’t been able to finish a marathon since running a 2:29:10 personal best in Chicago in 2005, and qualified for these Trials with a 10,000m time. In her last attempt at the distance in London in 2007, she only made it through 20 km before being forced to drop out citing “alignment issues” stemming from a previously broken bone in her foot.

But Russell, who does all of her training alone near her Pacific Grove, Calif., home, feels as though she is ready for Sunday’s Trials. Coached by Bob Sevene, the man who coached Joan Benoit Samuelson to her 1984 Trials victory and Olympic gold medal, she has prepared well. Sevene often compares Russell’s best workouts to those done by Samuelson.

“I call him ‘Rainman’ because he remembers every workout Joan did,” said Russell.

At Sunday’s race, Kastor is the prohibitive favorite, with a qualifying time more than ten minutes faster than the next woman. But the race gets more interesting for the next two team spots, because four women, including Russell, are well-matched. Olympians Elva Dryer and Kate O’Neill have relatively modest marathon personal best times (2:31:48 and 2:36:15, respectively), but have far stronger credentials on the track, with 10,000m times well under 32 minutes. Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who was fifth at the 2004 Trials and has a career best time of 2:30:50, could also be in the mix for a team spot, recently showing good form on the track with a 32:33.02 10,000m personal best at age 34.

Both Dryer and O’Neill have been to an Olympic Games, while Russell and Lewy-Boulet have not. For Russell, making the Olympic team would be very special, the culmination of an athletics career which has spanned more than ten years at the elite level.

“It would definitely be a dream come true,” she said. “So, looking forward to doing it on Sunday.”

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One hundred and sixty-one women have entered Sunday’s Trials, and the Boston Athletic Association expects 153 starters. The race will be held on a special criterium course which begins with a 2.2 mile city loop in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, followed by four identical six-mile loops through Back Bay and the city of Cambridge on the opposite side of the Charles River. The course is flat and Kastor said “it looks like it will really promote a fast race.” The winner will receive $50,000 plus an additional $10,000 should she participate in the women’s Olympic Marathon in Beijing. The total prize money purse is $250,000.

For more news, analysis, interviews, videos, and results from the 2008 Boston Marathon and USA Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials, please visit: http://boston.thefinalsprint.com/

In addition, check out the official blog of women’s marathon favorite Kate O’Neill at: http://kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com/

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