At the Women's Olympic Trials

My first thought was, "what is she DOING?!" My second thought was, "What are the REST of them doing?!"

The "she" is this case was Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who at four miles into the 2008 Women's Olympic marathon trials, already had a minute lead on the pack. The "rest" referred to the field of other fast women who for some reason were running at slower than six-minute mile pace. Lewy Boulet had played along for the first mile and then had decided to take matters into her own hands. She had been happily running 5:40 miles since the second mile of the race, while the other 150 women, including 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor, had been content to let her go.

It's true there were windy parts of the course, but otherwise the day seemed well-suited to running fast times. The course, a five loop tour of Boston and Cambridge allowed spectators to see the runners multiple times. I won't speak for the runners, but it was really a wonderful experience for the spectators.

My daughter, Joni, and I were on our bikes, and we had managed to see the start (slow!), the loop up and around Boston Common, and then had crossed the river to see the runners at the 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 22, 24, and 25 mile marks. We had watched #43 (it took a while for us to figure out that it was Lewy Boulet) build a lead of 1:45, had watched Kastor string out the chase pack with several 5:30 miles, had watched Blake Russell follow Kastor into third -- seeking to make up for the the heartbreak of 2004 in which she led for much of the race only to fade to fourth. It was a country mile better than any webcast.

We knew that Kastor would overtake Lewy Boulet, and she did, just before 24 miles, but we also hoped that Lewy Boulet's courage to lead the race by herself for so long would be rewarded. It was, as the 34-year-old from Oakland, California who had placed 5th in the 2004 trials, held on for second and a spot on the Olympic team. Russell, also, was to get satisfaction as she held on to third.

We also watched the 50-year-old warrior, Joan Benoit Samuelson, run an American age-group record 2:49:08. We watched former Williams All-American Caroline Cretti run a smart and disciplined race. moving up through the pack to take 21st in a PR 2:40:12. We didn't see Kate O'Neil after the 19-mile mark and were sad to hear later that she had dropped out (perhaps saving herself for another shot at the Olympic team in the 10,000 meters?). (Former Brookline runner Lauren Matthews also dropped out after the halfway mark.)

And, unlike the BAA Marathon -- the OTHER Boston Marathon this weekend -- we waited for the last two runners to pass before we finally headed on our way.

It was a great event, well-staged and well-raced. Congratulations to the runners and to the organizers. And thank you to the weather gods for a decent day, so uncertain a proposition in April.

Results, Checkpoint History, and Commentary

New York Times Coverage