2004 US Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon: Chad's Race Recap
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For those of you that never saw the course map, this was an awesome course for spectating. I was able to bounce back and forth between 3 spots (each about a 1 minute jog apart) and see the runners at roughly miles 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20.5, 22.5 and 26. After reading about the men's race, I thought the women's would follow the same pattern with the favorites staying in a pack and biding their time. Needless to say I was shocked when I saw Blake Russell leading by 45 seconds at the 3 mile marker. I've never had to report what was going on in a race while it happened, so I wasn't really prepared to give Senthil an update. I told him Russell was leading by about 45 seconds and that DeReuck and Kastor were leading the chase pack, but that's all I really knew. Afterwards I learned Russell ran a 5:05 2nd mile. Hmmm, no wonder no one went with her. Next, I walked over to the 10k mark where they had an official clock, so I was able to get my watch in synch. I also had enough time to look at my paperwork and put some of the top names with bib #s and figure out that I needed to track how far back everyone was from the leaders. Russell had increased her lead to 1:00 at the 10k mark (33:30). I was a little surprised to see that Kastor and Mosqueda were already going after Russell and had put 17 seconds on DeReuck, Rhines, Boulet, Spangler and Youngquist. Granted Russell was seeded #4, so it wasn't a break away like Teddy Mitchell from the men's race. However, I still thought it was a little early to go after her. Just after 9 miles Kastor had broken away from Mosqueda and closed to within 45 seconds of Russell. Mosqueda was now running solo, 1:14 behind the lead. Rhines, Boulet and DeReuck were still running together, 1:39 behind Russell. The rest of the leaders began to get strung out with Spangler another 16 seconds back, followed by Youngquist and Hanscom. Running together, Wells and Beck rounded out the top-11, 2:37 behind Russell. Just before mile 13 I was able to watch DeReuck blow by Mosqueda to move into third place. Looking at the half splits, Kastor was 43 seconds back of Russell's 1:12:17. DeReuck was +1:24 and Mosqueda was about +1:30. Rhines and Boulet were still working together in 5th and 6th (+2:15), as were Wells and Youngquist in 9th and 10th (+3:11). In between those two couples were Hanscom (+2:41) and Spangler (+2:44). Beck, still in 11th, was dropping back slightly (+3:21). Between miles 13 and 16, only Kastor and DeReuck were able to close on Russell, making up 28 and 19 seconds, respectively. Mosqueda lost another 17 seconds, Boulet and Rhines lost 9, Hanscom 4, Spangler 53, Youngquist and Wells 29, and Beck 24. As you read this now, you probably think I have all this down as it's happening and know exactly what's going on. However, with all the bib #s, mile markers, split times, times behind the leader, etc. floating around in my head, it was a little difficult to keep it all straight. By now I figured Kastor and DeReuck were going to catch Russell. It was just a matter of whether Russell could hang on for 3rd or not. I also knew I'd be able to see the runners at 20.5 and 22.5 and I wanted to pay very close attention to the top 5 or 6 runners at those spots. When I saw the runners again at 20.5, Kastor was now in 1st, 36 seconds up on DeReuck. While Russell had fallen to 3rd (+:44), she was still 1:39 up on Mosqueda in 4th. While Boulet and Rhines were still working together, they'd only made up 12 seconds on Russell over the last 4.5 miles and were still 2:12 down. At 22.5, DeReuck had made up 7 seconds on Kastor, but was still 29 seconds down. Next came Russell, down 1:20. More importantly would be how large her lead was over 4th. Looking down the road about 200 meters, I saw Mosqueda stop and walk and eventually DNF. As a result, Rhines, who'd broken away from Boulet, was now in 4th. She made up 52 seconds on Russell over the last 2 miles and was now only 1:20 down. Hmmm, if she continued to make up 26 seconds a mile, she'd pass Russell around mile 25.5 to 26. Boulet was making up ground on Russell too, but she was now 26 seconds behind Rhines. While walking to my final vantage point, about 200 meters before the 26 mile mark, Senthil called to say that DeReuck had passed Kastor around the 24 mile mark. I was a little surprised, since that meant she was running about 20 seconds per mile faster than Kastor, whom I thought still looked pretty strong the last time I saw her. As I waited for the runners to pass I was surprised that no one was really standing where I was. The vast majority of spectators were lining the last .2 miles of the course. After watching DeReuck and Kastor go by, I was in perfect position to watch Rhines pass Russell on her way to 3rd place. I wish I had a digital camera to capture that image. The St. Louis paper mentioned that 27 women PR'd, including 13 of the top-20. I thought it was interesting that only 2 women ran negative splits and only 5 women ran even or near-even (within 40 seconds) splits. Obviously, my choice for race of the day goes to Rhines. Not only did she bide her time and put herself in position to run a fast last 10k, but she was always working with someone, until she decided to go after Russell. I also thought Hanscom ran a great race, PRing by 6:06. Wells ran smart too, as she worked Beck and then Youngquist for the majority of the race. On the other end of the spectrum, Kim Fitchen-Young's 1:17:45/1:42:41 => 3:00:26 looks brutal. |
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