Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
ENLARGE
Caroline Cretti pulls ahead to win the 10,000-meter run at the May 2006 NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill. Cretti is one of three locals who will run in the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials on April 20 in Boston. (Mark Adkins/Post Independent file)
|
ENLARGE
|
Megan Lund crosses the line as the first woman and fifth runner overall in the 20th annual Turkey Day 5K on Thanksgiving day at the Glenwood Springs Golf Club. Lund, 24, was a top cross-country runner at Alpine Christian Academy, then Basalt High School before competing collegiately for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. (Kara K. Pearson/Post Independent file )
|
Nothing like a good, hard Roaring Fork Valley winter to toughen one up for the race of a lifetime.
At least that's what two of three valley women who are in the final week of preparation for the April 20 U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in Boston have been thinking for the past few months, as record snow and cold has prevailed over more favorable training weather.
The valley will be well-represented, as local standouts Megan Lund, Caroline Cretti and Mary Coté join some 180 top female U.S. distance runners at the marathon trials. The top three finishers will earn a spot in the Beijing Olympics this summer.
The race takes place in downtown Boston the day before one of the premier marathons in the world, the Boston Marathon.
Cretti, 23, was a two-time Class 3A Colorado State 1600- and 3200-meter champion for Roaring Fork High School in 2001 and 2002, and a 15-time All American cross country and track runner at Williams College in Massachusetts before graduating in 2006.
She is a member of the Reebok and Powerbar ZAP Elite team, training with a group of runners in the mountains of North Carolina. She qualified for the trials with a fifth-place women's time of 2 hours, 43 minutes, 13 seconds at the Twin Cities Marathon last fall in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Meanwhile, Lund and Coté have done their training at home in the midvalley.
At least that's what two of three valley women who are in the final week of preparation for the April 20 U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in Boston have been thinking for the past few months, as record snow and cold has prevailed over more favorable training weather.
The valley will be well-represented, as local standouts Megan Lund, Caroline Cretti and Mary Coté join some 180 top female U.S. distance runners at the marathon trials. The top three finishers will earn a spot in the Beijing Olympics this summer.
The race takes place in downtown Boston the day before one of the premier marathons in the world, the Boston Marathon.
Cretti, 23, was a two-time Class 3A Colorado State 1600- and 3200-meter champion for Roaring Fork High School in 2001 and 2002, and a 15-time All American cross country and track runner at Williams College in Massachusetts before graduating in 2006.
She is a member of the Reebok and Powerbar ZAP Elite team, training with a group of runners in the mountains of North Carolina. She qualified for the trials with a fifth-place women's time of 2 hours, 43 minutes, 13 seconds at the Twin Cities Marathon last fall in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Meanwhile, Lund and Coté have done their training at home in the midvalley.
"I've been averaging around 90 miles a week, but with all the snow and ice, I haven't been doing a lot of speed work," said Lund, 24, who lives and trains in Basalt where she was a top cross country and track runner for Alpine Christian Academy and Basalt High School before competing collegiately for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She now runs for the Colorado Women's Adidas Team.
"I think the coldest day was about minus-23 degrees," she said. "I remember looking at the thermometer one morning and thinking it said 23 [above zero]. When I got back from my run I realized it was minus-20.
"It's definitely been a good character builder training here this winter," Lund said. "It probably made up for the lack of speed work."
Coté, who also resides in Basalt with her husband, Gilles, and two sons, Jean-Paul, 12, and Jacques, 9, had the added pressures of taking care of a family while trying to train through a difficult winter.
"I feel like I'm ready, but it was very difficult for me," said Coté, who, at 43, is the veteran of the local contingent of qualifiers. She will be among just 14 Masters level runners (age 40 and above) in the trials. Gilles, an accomplished masters runner himself, will be running the Boston Marathon the next day.
This will be Mary Coté's second Olympic trials. She also competed in the 2004 marathon trials in St. Louis. She met the qualifying standard for this year's trials by just 2 seconds, with a time of 2:46:58 at last fall's St. George Marathon in Utah.
"It's definitely been a good character builder training here this winter," Lund said. "It probably made up for the lack of speed work."
Coté, who also resides in Basalt with her husband, Gilles, and two sons, Jean-Paul, 12, and Jacques, 9, had the added pressures of taking care of a family while trying to train through a difficult winter.
"I feel like I'm ready, but it was very difficult for me," said Coté, who, at 43, is the veteran of the local contingent of qualifiers. She will be among just 14 Masters level runners (age 40 and above) in the trials. Gilles, an accomplished masters runner himself, will be running the Boston Marathon the next day.
This will be Mary Coté's second Olympic trials. She also competed in the 2004 marathon trials in St. Louis. She met the qualifying standard for this year's trials by just 2 seconds, with a time of 2:46:58 at last fall's St. George Marathon in Utah.
"I'm used to doing a fall marathon, so I usually take November and December off to ski, and run a little bit," Coté said. "This is the first time I ever really dedicated myself to training through January and February, and of course it happens to be one of the biggest snow winters ever.
"I was on the treadmill a lot, but it got to the point where I got sick of the treadmill and I just had to go outside," she said.
Sharing the coaching expertise of Art Siemers with Lund, Coté also achieved some training firsts along the way, pushing her mileage up to 90 miles a week in February. Siemers is the head track and co-head cross country coach at the Colorado School of Mines, and also coaches a number of elite women runners.
"He has really taken my training to the next level," said Coté. "St. George is really the only marathon where I could run fast enough to qualify. [The trials] will be my chance to try to do a personal best on a harder city course."
Lund also qualified at St. George, finishing in 2:41:59. She enters the trials with the best qualifying time for runners under age 25.
"It was just one of those incredible days; the whole experience was amazing," Lund said of her breakout run at St. George, where she ran with her dad, Basalt track coach Ron Lund, in honor of his 50th birthday.
"I was on the treadmill a lot, but it got to the point where I got sick of the treadmill and I just had to go outside," she said.
Sharing the coaching expertise of Art Siemers with Lund, Coté also achieved some training firsts along the way, pushing her mileage up to 90 miles a week in February. Siemers is the head track and co-head cross country coach at the Colorado School of Mines, and also coaches a number of elite women runners.
"He has really taken my training to the next level," said Coté. "St. George is really the only marathon where I could run fast enough to qualify. [The trials] will be my chance to try to do a personal best on a harder city course."
Lund also qualified at St. George, finishing in 2:41:59. She enters the trials with the best qualifying time for runners under age 25.
"It was just one of those incredible days; the whole experience was amazing," Lund said of her breakout run at St. George, where she ran with her dad, Basalt track coach Ron Lund, in honor of his 50th birthday.
"I'm just really excited to be able to run with so many talented women," she said of the trials. "I never realized I'd be able to qualify for the trials this soon, but I really feel like I do belong in the field."
Cretti is keeping her goals for the trials to herself.
"Let's just say I want to have a good experience, but I have sort of two levels of goals," she said in an e-mail interview this week. "One goal is if April 20 turns out to be the perfect day, and one goal is sort of the 'B' goal, but still a good one."
Following a highly decorated college running career, Cretti turned to road racing and longer distances. Working with coach Pete Rea, she decided to move up to the marathon distance after running the U.S. 25K Championships last May.
"The 25K was my first race over 10 miles and it just really worked well for me," Cretti said. "I think being from Colorado has helped me develop a lot as a runner, aerobically as well as just the passion for the sport."
Except for a minor achilles injury she has been working to rehab, Cretti said she is running healthy and is ready for the marathon trials.
Cretti is keeping her goals for the trials to herself.
"Let's just say I want to have a good experience, but I have sort of two levels of goals," she said in an e-mail interview this week. "One goal is if April 20 turns out to be the perfect day, and one goal is sort of the 'B' goal, but still a good one."
Following a highly decorated college running career, Cretti turned to road racing and longer distances. Working with coach Pete Rea, she decided to move up to the marathon distance after running the U.S. 25K Championships last May.
"The 25K was my first race over 10 miles and it just really worked well for me," Cretti said. "I think being from Colorado has helped me develop a lot as a runner, aerobically as well as just the passion for the sport."
Except for a minor achilles injury she has been working to rehab, Cretti said she is running healthy and is ready for the marathon trials.
