Olympic Sports

Long Journey
As Deena Kastor won the marathon trials, two other U.S. women earned redemption with their Beijing berths

FOR THE Best U.S. track and field athletes, the Olympic trials are a delicate dance—an attempt to make the national team without sacrificing potential success at the Games. Four years ago Deena Kastor won a bronze medal in the marathon at the Athens Olympics, and on Sunday morning at the women's marathon trials in Boston , Kastor sought to win the race while saving her best work for Beijing in August. "Get the most doing the least," said Ryan Hall , who won the men's trials last November and trains with Kastor at high altitude in Mammoth Lakes , Calif.

Planning is simpler than execution. More than 14 miles into Sunday's race, Kastor trailed Magdalena Lewy Boulet by nearly two minutes. Kastor had intended to stay with the pack and race hard only for the last 10,000 meters. "But there were a lot of miles where I thought that I'd misjudged it," she would say afterward.

Kastor, 35, the fastest U.S. female marathoner in history (2:19:36), set out after Lewy Boulet in the 16th mile. It took her nearly eight miles to run down Lewy Boulet before passing her in the 24th mile and finishing in 2:29:35, with Lewy Boulet 44 seconds behind and third Olympic qualifier Blake Russell another 2:21 back. "I had to run a strong last six miles to win," said Kastor. "I feel I can recover from this and move forward to Beijing ."

Lewy Boulet, 34, who is married to one-time 3:53 miler Richie Boulet, broke away less than a mile into the race, absurdly early. Except on out-and-back sections of the course, she didn't see another runner until Kastor caught her. Lewy Boulet's pace was not terribly fast (1:14:37 for the half-marathon), but excruciatingly lonely. "The plan was to run the pace I was running," Lewy Boulet said. "The plan was not to run by myself."

Lewy Boulet's performance was the pinnacle of a trying career. A native of Poland , she moved to Long Beach , Calif. , with her family at age 18 and was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Sept. 11, 2001, in a ceremony that was truncated because of the terrorist attacks that day. Lewy Boulet has a two-year-old son, but she does not have shoe company sponsorship and must hold down a job, rare among top runners. Last September she began work as a full-time assistant track coach at Cal after working for seven years as the research and development director for GU Sports, which makes a popular energy gel.

Even as Lewy Boulet built her early lead, she feared a collapse. "Many things went through my head," she said. She recalled that Russell had led the 2004 trials before fading late and missing the Olympic team by five seconds. Lewy Boulet thought, Oh boy, I hope that doesn't happen to me.

Russell hoped it didn't happen to her. Again. With Lewy Boulet far in front and Kastor looming in the pack, Russell knew that her margin for error was slim. "I have to be honest, it [was] hard not to panic," she said. "But I felt strong."

At 21 miles she led Desiree Davila by just nine seconds. But Davila crashed, and Russell made her first Olympic team by more than a minute. She called her redemption "surreal," because for every Kastor , for whom the trials are preparation, there are many Russells, for whom they are a dream.

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