Lindsay and I at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials
It has been 3 weeks since I ran in my first Olympic Trials Marathon and have really enjoyed some relative down time (6 days off) to reset the body in preparation for a spring campaign. Although my official time in Houston was a far cry from what I am capable of accomplishing, I am 100% proud of it.
We (Lindsay and I) had an incredible experience and are very honored and humbled to have taken part in the best U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to date. The top four women broke the previous Trials record, and the top four men ran under 2 hours, 10 minutes. Previously, no more than one man had done that in the Trials. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I was given the royal treatment by the Houston Marathon Committee and USATF staff — definitely unlike any other sporting event I’d ever taken part in.
My race went about as I expected. It was my third marathon in three months (Chicago, the California International Marathon in Sacramento and the Trials), which in of itself doesn’t bode well for a great performance. On top of that, one week after the CIM I learned I had a staph infection in my foot, which forced me to take off significant time from training. My focus changed from the Trials to keeping my foot, as it ballooned to nearly twice its size in 24 hours. Following the setback, I began the slow grind of getting back into shape for Jan. 14.
Day 1
24 hrs later…
Based on my fitness leading into the race, I knew the best-case scenario would be about a 2:22-2:24 marathon. Due to the elite field, however, I knew that to run that pace I would be well off the back of the pack running solo. So, when the gun went off, I rushed out at a much faster pace than I had any business trying to run. (The great thing about the trials was that they had the aid stations down to a fine art! The night before we were given the table number and a map of our bottles position on the table for each station! At my last marathon, CIM, I missed ALL of my bottles and gels because of the chaos at each station. This time I was able to easily nab my bottle w/PowerBar Chocolate Energy Gel strapped to each one and not worry about a thing. SO NICE.)
The pack I was with went through 16 miles at a 5:21-per-mile average (a 2:20 marathon pace), and my body was already showing signs of distress. As I predicted, the wheels began to fall off and I found myself running 5:40s. Not long after, I realized I had pulled a rookie mistake by forgetting to double knot my shoes and at mile 21 both had become completely undone. Knowing that pace had become irrelevant, I stopped to retie them at mile 21 and that was when the pace dropped from 5:40s to 6:10s. Never in my life has it been harder to restart up a run than it was at that very moment!
2012 Olympic Trials
Every mental demon was screaming at me to drop out. Despite running a pedestrian pace nearly a minute slower per mile than my personal best, and the medial side of both knees beginning to bleed secondary to chaffing from both hip abductors giving out, I kept my slow, somewhat embarrassing pace all the way to cross my first Olympic Trials finish line in 2:26:58.
Honestly, the time was irrelevant. I know I’m capable of running 2:17 under the right conditions. It was all about finishing what I set out to accomplish, and regardless of how painful and slow the run became, I was not about to drop out knowing so many others will never get the opportunity I was given. In a very strange way, I viewed that race as an extremely painful 26.2-mile victory lap for a breakthrough season that resulted in something many people never thought was possible for me.
I left Houston happy and excited for the next four years of training. I predict that in 2016, I’ll toe the line at the Olympic Trials a much different runner and ready to truly mix it up with the other top contenders for the Olympic team.
Tim Tollefson 