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Feb-23-2008
Trials Hopefuls To Converge on Napa Valley Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
So powerful is the lure of competing in the USA Olympic Team Trials - Womens' Marathon that athletes are still trying to qualify, despite the fact that the event is being held in less than two months time.
Enter the Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley, set for Sunday, March 2, in Napa, Calif. A handful of women who have a chance to make the 2:47:00 qualifying standard are entered, and they will be looking for inspiration from Olympic gold medalist Joan Samuelson who will be attending the event.
"Qualifying for the Marathon Trials is a goal that women definitely put out there, and people, by nature, try to achieve their goals," said the 50 year-old Samuelson through a press release. "For a woman who's competitive, the Marathon Trials is a logical goal. That's the reason these women are coming to Napa."
Leading the charge at Napa are two former Stanford University athletes, Shaluinn Fullove and Caroline Annis. Fullove, who works as a marketing manager for Internet giant, Google Inc., is a thyroid cancer survivor with a 2:51:06 personal best. She's hoping to make her first Trials with help from Annis, who has already qualified and who will run for an undetermined portion of the race "right on qualifying pace," according to her coach Tom McGlynn, who also coaches Fullove.
"It's been a longtime goal. It's taken two years to get here," said Fullove. "For someone who's used to being really healthy, and takes pride in being fit, it really rocked my world," she said of her 2005 cancer diagnosis. "Now, I'm ready for this (Napa). Hopefully, it's just the beginning."
Other Trials hopefuls include triathlete Ginger Reiner of Cambridge, Mass., and Dr. Kari Bertrand of Gilroy, Calif., a gynecologist who ran the 2004 Trials when she was ten weeks pregnant.
The Kaiser Permanente Napa Valley Marathon starts at 7:00 a.m. in Calistoga on the Silverado Trail, and finishes at Vintage High School in Napa. About 2500 athletes are expected to take part.
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