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Watch NBCsports.com Race Highlights

Miss yesterday's Trials? NBCsports.com has video of the event, including the following:

Race highlights.

An interview with the three qualifiers.

Joan Benoit Samuelson's finish.

Hansons Women: Lessons Learned

By Jim Gerweck, Running Times

Photo by Jeff Dengate

For the women of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, it was like déjà vu all over again.

Four years ago in Birmingham, the Hansons men placed three runners in the top 13, as Brian Sell, running in just his second marathon, led the race for the first 20 miles. At last autumn’s trials race for Beijing, Sell used that experience to springboard to a third place finish and berth on the team.

The Hansons can only hope that history repeats itself. At today’s Women’s Trials in Boston, three of the team’s women placed in the top 14, and Desiree Davila, in her second race over the distance, came within a few seconds of third place and a team spot before fading over the last four miles.

Essentially, and hopefully in the view of brothers Keith and Kevin Hanson, their women’s program, started in 2004, is one Olympiad behind the men, who began in 2000.

“I think the lessons the women learned today will pay huge dividends in four years,” said Keith. “There’s no reason one of them can’t do what Brian did in New York in November.”

“This is no knock on our runners, but the bottom line is the three women who made the team paid more dues than ours have,” continued Kevin. “They just have the benefit of experience and four more years of training behind them. In four years, we’ll have that.”

For much of the race, it seemed like there wouldn’t be a four-year wait for yet another yellow, red and black-clad Hansons runner to be on the plane to Beijing as Sell’s teammate. Davila and Melissa White ran with the large chase pack behind early leader and eventual runner-up Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, looking comfortable matching strides with the likes of Olympians Deena Kastor and Kate O’Neill. Even more heartening, when Kastor dropped the pace after halfway and the pack began to shred, Davila and White were still in the top half dozen, with teammate Dot McMahan a few places back. By the time the runners were heading back across the Massachusetts Avenue bridge for the penultimate time, Davila was just five seconds behind Blake Russell, and seemed perfectly positioned to relegate her to her second consecutive fourth place heartbreak.

Alas, this time it was Davila’s turn to have her heart broken. “When the wheels came off, it happened fast and hard,” said Keith Hanson.

“I was having problems getting my fluids in,” said Davila. “I was getting dry heaves, so I couldn’t get much down. I think it really hurt me the last six miles — my calves were really cramping.”

White was also fading, while not as dramatically, but McMahan was moving the opposite direction through the field, passing several runners, including her teammates. “It wasn’t so much as I was speeding up, but just holding my pace,” she said. McMahan, a former middle distance runner before joining Hansons and moving up to the marathon, used her half miler’s speed to outkick Robyn Friedman in the final stretch down Boylston Street to nab eighth. “With 800 to go, I wasn’t sure I could get her,” said McMahan. “With 400 to go, I knew I had it.”

After the race, Davila was philosophical about her run. “I would rather have gone for it and finished where I did, than run cautiously and be seventh or eighth,” she said.

“Now they know what being contention feels like, and what it’s going to take to maintain it all the way to the finish,” said Keith Hanson. “They may have made a few mistakes today, but they’ll learn from them, and it will make them better runners four years from now.”

Lewy Boulet: 'I Did Not Plan to Be Alone'

By Toby Tanser

Photo by Jeff Dengate

It was the hard worker's way -- mile after mile grinding away, really and truly running her own race. Her face locked in a stern, determined fashion, with one mission, one goal:  to make the team.

Two weeks before the U.S. Olympic Women's Marathon Trials, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 34, PR'd on the track, racing to a third-place finish in the 10,000 meters at Stanford, clocking 32:33. A great time to hit a PR, if you have done the marathon training. But knowing that Magdalena is coached by Jack Daniels, and has been since the 2000, you just knew she had done that training.

The real journey began with the offer of opportunity, one that she is quick to reflect upon with every word. The opportunity of America. The daughter of Janusz, a long-distance trucker, and Lucja, a mother who holds a degree in agricultural studies, Magdalena grew up in Katowice, Poland, under a Communist regime. In 1988, following her father who had gone ahead to make the journey possible, she moved to Kiel in the north of Germany, before ending her voyage for freedom in Long Beach, California, in 1991.

"I actually started running because I realized I could get school paid for if I ran," she says. And run she did, straight onto a track scholarship at Berkeley. On September 11, 2001, she became a U.S. citizen at a shortened ceremony in San Francisco. "I was expecting a three-hour ceremony," she says. "It was five minutes. They said, 'Get in the car and go home.'" She learned about the tragedy of 9/11 on the car radio.

Soon after, she married Richie Boulet, a 3:53 miler, and started prepping for the 2004 Trials. That race proved to be disappointing as she finished fifth.  "I did not run my best race. I blew it between miles 23 to 24," she says. Shortly afterwards, she started a family -- but never lost her Olympic dream.

Fast forward four years. The mother of Owen, three years old next month, had been leading today's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials for well over two hours. It was a perfect day for running: bright, crisp skies with temperatures in the mid-50s.

"I did plan to run the pace I was running," says Lewy Boulet, "but I did not plan to be alone." And alone Magdalena was, maintaining a lead straight from the gun. Both race winner Deena Kastor and the third-place finisher Blake Russell professed that they had not recognized it was Lewy who made the early break from the large pack that stayed glued together. “If I had known…,” they both mused.

Running alone was not a problem for Lewy; that's how she does all of her training, either on the roads or on the treadmill. Due to her busy life, that's just the way it plays out. "I get up very early in the morning to run. I always have been working full time when I have been running. Before my current job (working as a coach at Berkeley for the men's and  women's running teams), I was in the sports nutrition world." Her husband, who holds the family marathon PR with a 2:25 (“that’s one of my goals!”), also works more than full time too -- he has a couple of running stores, called Transports, in Oakland and Berkeley.

When a smooth-running Kastor ultimately caught her at mile 23, Lewy Boulet  did not worry. "Because of the criteria course I knew I had about two minutes on Blake, and with two miles to go I knew I could still run six-minute miles and get on the team." As EPSN commentator noted on the finish line, "Even when she slowed down, the wheels did not fall off. That is when you could see she is a strength runner... she never even hit a six-minute mile."

Kastor professed that she thought Lewy Boulet was going to win the race; she was looking so strong. Kastor would have been content with that (“I had succumbed to second place”). Magdalena also thought she could pull off the win when she was zipping along. "I kept on hearing one minute forty, two minutes... but I knew Deena would be coming. When the crowd stopped telling me the time, I knew it was close."

If Deena was the overall winner, then Lewy Boulet should get the architect's prize for making the race. George Hirsch, chairman of the New York Road Runners, who was out in the sun on Boylston Street, marveled at Lewy Boulet at the mile-eight point. "She looks amazing, like a machine," he said.

It was a mechanic performance as her style from gun to tape remained the same; a marathon's fatigue could not falter her stride. "The marathon was planned months ago. I knew I would be running 5:30's to 5:40's the whole way. I planned to pass half way in 1:15; I think I was 1:14 something."

When she crossed the finish line, there were tears in the eyes of not only Lewy Boulet but her husband as well. "We both cried; it was just the moment."

The moment: A Polish immigrant and an American citizen minted on 9/11 now going to Beijing to represent the U.S. in the blue-ribbon event of the Games. "I'm really proud of myself. There was something my husband and my coach said to me, 'The race is not going to come to me, I'm going to have to go out there and get it.' "

Get it she certainly did.

Emily LeVan: One Trials Down, One to Go

By Scott Douglas, Running Times

You might think that Emily LeVan, the 12th-fastest qualifier for today's race and owner of a 2:37:01 marathon best, wouldn't be ecstatic about finishing 67th in 2:45:45. Yet there she was in the homestretch down Boylston Street, raising her arms triumphantly.

Why? Because she had met the goal she set in December: to run solidly at the Trials, despite her daughter, Maddie, then 3, being diagnosed with childhood leukemia in November. Oh, and while doing that, to raise at least $52,400 for the Maine Children's Cancer Program via Two Trials. That goal, too, she met, and then some. As of Friday morning, the last time LeVan got an update, she had raised $64,185. That figure should go even higher after a segment on Two Trials on the Friday night edition of NBC's evening news broadcast.

LeVan had a tough winter of training. Not so much because of living in Wiscasset, Maine, given that she's trained through other Maine winters to twice be the top American woman at the Boston Marathon. The real agenda setter was Maddie's draining treatment regimen of chemotherapy, blood test, steroids, and more.

"Going into it I knew that my preparation would be much more challenging," LeVan says, "and I've been surprised by how hard it's actually been, mentally and physically, just to do the type of training I want to do. And that's running 70 to 90 miles a week. In the past when I've been training for a marathon, running 110 to 120 miles a week and getting in the hard workouts has really been pretty easy, in terms of finding the time to do it, even though I was working and had all these other responsibilities. This time, just to juggle everything with Maddie's treatment has been completely different."

One thing that helped during LeVan's juggling-act buildup was the response to Two Trials. "I've been amazed by how much we've been able to surpass the goal and by how much widely received it's been and how much people have wanted to be a part of it," she says. "It's amazing how this vision we created has been embraced by so many people within Maine and nationwide."

Maddie's treatment will probably last another two years. LeVan and her family are moving to Vermont in May or June. So what happens with the 36-year-old's running now? "I really don't know the answer to that yet," she says. "I think after we move and get settled and see how Maddie is doing, I'll re-assess and see what I want my next goals to be as far as running goes."

After 4 Years, Vindication for Blake Russell

By Charlie Butler, Runner's World

Photo by Jeff Dengate

Blake Russell had four years to dwell on the disappointment of her last Olympic Marathon Trials. Fours years to replay in her mind how she went from leading the field for 18 miles (and by a wide margin) only to let the advantage disintegrate. Four years to remember being passed in the last half-mile of the race, finishing fourth, and getting shut out of a place on the American team that went to Athens.

Four years to ask, What if I had run that race differently?

Russell is no longer thinking of the past. She is now only thinking ahead, to Beijing.

Today, in Boston, in an obvious departure from her 2004 Trials, Russell ran what she called a "conservative" race  -- and the tactic paid off handsomely. She finished third in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Women's Marathon Trials, behind champion Deena Kastor and surprise runner-up Magdalena Lewy Boulet, to claim the final spot on the American team slated to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Her time, 2:32:40, fell far short of her finish in the 2004 Trials in St. Louis (2:30:32). But with a slower effort came the maximum result: a place on the Olympic team.

"I wanted to be in the top three, by an inch or a mile," said Russell, 32, a native of nearby Acton, Massachusetts. "As long as I was third I was going to be happy. I just didn't want to be fourth, again."

Russell avoided that fate when she grabbed the third spot around mile 15 and maintained it through the finish line on Boylston Street. Over the final 11 miles she received a little pressure from Desiree Davila. In fact, Davila pulled to within seven seconds of Russell at the 21-mile mark. But at that point  Russell, who now lives in Pacific Grove, California, used the speed that got her into the trials -- she was the only runner who qualified with a 10,000-meter time -- to put away any challengers. Fourth-place finisher Zoila Gomez was 1:13 behind Russell at the end.

Like most of the field, Russell decided not to go after Lewy Boulet when she broke from the pack in the first mile. At first, Russell said, she did not even realize it was Lewy Boulet who had taken the surprise early lead even though the two had competed against each other in a 10,000-meter race at Stanford just two weeks earlier. Russell decided to stick with the rest of the pack, which included Kastor and several other pre-race favorites, and hoped Lewy Boulet would come back.

"I told myself to stay calm," Russell said afterward. "I didn't want to get caught up running too fast. I know I can run better than 2:32."

She did admit, though, that "it was hard not to panic" -- especially with memories of 2004 still fresh and with Lewy Boulet stretching her lead to as much as 2 minutes. Russell said she kept to her race plan. "I knew I was strong and I knew I had a kick and a history of running faster."

The Trials was Russell's first marathon since 2005, when she finished sixth in Chicago. The past two years she has struggled with injuries. She broke the second metatarsal in her foot in 2006 when she dropped luggage on it.

Today, on a course not far from where she grew up, and cheered on by friends and family, she proved the wait between 26.2's was worth it. While she was rewarded with a trip to Beijing, Russell said a more immediate prize awaited her.

"A giant coffee from Dunkin' Donuts," she said with a grin, "and a roast beef sandwich."

Deena Kastor Takes Trials

By Dave Kuehls

Photo by Jeff Dengate

Deena Kastor reminded us once again Sunday that when it comes to women's marathoning in the United States, there is Deena Kastor…and then everyone else.

Off a conservative early pace, Kastor closed convincingly over the final miles to pass early leader Magdalena Lewy Boulet to take the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials--Women's Marathon in 2:29:35 seconds.

"I accomplished my two major goals coming into this race," said Kastor. "First was to make the team, to solidify a spot, and the second was to win."

Kastor, the bronze medalist in the marathon at the Athens Olympics, came into the race as a heavy pre-race favorite. Her qualifying time of 2:19 was 12 minutes faster than the second fastest qualifier and she was a big-time marathon performer having won marathons in Chicago and London.

Yet there was a moment or two of doubt about the outcome, especially when Lewy Boulet took off on her own right from the outset, and when Kastor, near mid-race began to give chase.

"I thought for many miles that I may have misjudged," said Kastor. "I wanted to be as comfortable as possible the first half of the race and there was a good portion of the middle section where I thought I may have misjudged Magdalena's strength. But as I picked up the pace half-way through, the crowds kept yelling I was a minute and 40 seconds back.

"So I picked up the pace a little bit more, trying to make all my moves conservative. I kept hearing a minute 40. So there was a big section of the race where I said, "Well, at least I'm going to get my goal of making the team. So I was already sort of succumbing to second place. I then tried to pick it up a little more--not dip under anything of 5:20-25 pace because I wanted to make sure that I was staying in the right energy zone--and that gap started to shorten a little bit. And that kind of fueled my fire. I started to gain confidence again going into the last loop."

At 23.5 miles Kastor, who had been running 5:30 miles to Lewy Boulet's 5:50s at that point, pulled up to make the pass. It was an emotional moment for Kastor whose major marathon disappointment was failing to win the trials in 2004.

"The moment that I was getting ready to pull into the lead, I was just fulfilling the second half of my dream of this race," she said. "Maybe succumbing to second place in the race and then being able to rally. My coach gave me some great advice leading up to this race, it was all about drawing on the strength of my teammates. That sometimes as individuals we don't have all the strength to get through a race, so my teammates were there for me today and I felt that. I was drawing on the collective strength of my Team Running USA. It has all the strength in the world. I drew on the team strength today and really used that to rally and start pushing toward Magdalena to pass her. Then, the excitement of moving into first place is what moved me to the finish line--a surge of energy that kind of takes care of itself after you do the work to catch somebody."

Kastor's win qualifies her for her third straight Olympics team. "It's an absolute honor," she said. "I was in Sydney, Australia in the Olympics in the 10K. I was really proud to make my Olympic team then, and it feel just as sweet the third time around. It's just an honor to be on a U.S. team again, and I'm really grateful to be going over with two very talented women."

Kastor, Lewy Boulet, Russell Run Their Way Onto Olympic Marathon Team

By Amby Burfoot, Runner's World

Photo by Jeff Dengate 

On a near-perfect race morning in downtown Boston and along the Cambridge embankment of the Charles River, Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and Blake Russell made the USA Olympic Marathon team that will be competing this August in Beijing. The race developed much as expected, but also very differently. Like past Women’s Marathon Trials, there were many surprises, disappointments and emotional high points.

In the latter category, Joan Samuelson again covered herself in glory in a Marathon Trials that was almost but not quite a Boston Marathon. In what she has been terming her last competitive marathon, Samuelson finished in 2:49:08, achieving her goal of a sub-2:50 at age 50 and setting a new American record for women over 50.

Kastor won the competition she was expected to win four years ago in St. Louis, but couldn't. At the 2004 Trials, she finished second to Colleen DeReuck. Today she trailed Lewy Boulet by a wide margin at midrace, but closed strongly to break the tape in 2:29:35.

Lewy Boulet, fifth in St. Louis, held on impressively to place second in 2:30:19. And Russell, the fourth-place bridesmaid in 2004, fought off the demons of a possible repeat fourth to take third in 2:32:40.

All three finished close to their times in St. Louis: Kastor, 2:29:38; Lewy Boulet, 2:30:50; and Russell, 2:30:32. For their efforts in Boston today, they won $60,000, $50,000, and $40,000 in prize and participation funds.

The race was also like St. Louis in the unexpected and big breakaway of a single runner. Today it was Lewy Boulet; in St. Louis it was Russell. But there were differences even in the similarity. Russell ran some crazy early splits in St. Louis; Boulet simply ran a sane, consistent pace and wondered where the rest of the field was. At the end she was rewarded for her consistency where Russell was penalized for her excesses.

After a jogging first half mile, Lewy Boulet went to the front and passed the mile in 6:03. From there she motored down to the 5:40s that she and her coach, Jack Daniels, had determined were appropriate for her. Incredibly, two dozen other top runners elected to run over 6:00 minute pace. “I didn’t do anything crazy, I didn’t run a 1:11 for the half,” noted Lewy Boulet. “I ran 1:14:30. That was the plan. But I was surprised and confused that no one went with me, and a little worried that I might end up as this year’s Blake.”

Behind her, a large pack jostled for position, finding it hard to get to their drinks at the water tables. Kastor missed her first drink, and Russell her first two. Both said that they didn’t recognize Lewy Boulet, because she wore her hair in a long braid, different from her normal racing style. And both said: “If I had known it was Magdalena out front, I probably would have gone with her.”

But no one did, and it fell to Kastor to finally force the pace a little after the halfway mark, which she reached in 1:16:30, about two minutes behind Lewy Boulet. “I kept running a  little faster and hearing that her lead had increased by a few seconds,” Kastor said, “so I had just about succumbed to finish second. That was the primary goal of the weekend, to make sure I made the team. But the second goal was to try to win the Trials.”

Kastor got there at 23.5 miles, sweeping past Lewy Boulet in Cambridge. “You have to be happy any time you can stick to your race plan, and win against a talented field like this,” Kastor said. “I’m even more pleased about the way my recent training in Mammoth Lakes has been going. If I can go back and do more of the same, I’ll definitely be on course to achieve another of my goals for the year.”

While Lewy Boulet slowed in the last lap, she never hit the wall or faded in a big way, and she still looked strong at the finish, achieving what she called “a big dream” in making the Olympic Team. Those are words used by every Olympian, but they have a deep meaning in Lewy Boulet’s case. She was born in communist Poland and lived in Germany for several years before her family immigrated to the United States. Through all her professional running career, she has worked full time at one job or another (currently as a track coach at the University of California) and been astonished by the opportunities that opened up to her. She’s married to former top American miler Richie Boulet, and they have a 3-year-old son, but she doesn’t have a shoe contract. She received her American citizenship on September 11, 2001, in ceremonies abbreviated by the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

“I followed the plan that we set up probably three months ago,” she said. “I knew I wanted to run 1:15 the first half and then try to maintain pace. I know everyone trains hard and wants to make the Olympic Team, but I really wanted to make it. I kept thinking that I wanted to give our son something he could look up to and be proud of.”

Russell worried that she might face the same fate as four years ago. At the 21 mile mark, she was being closely stalked by Desiree Davila. “I didn’t want fourth place in the Trials to be my claim to fame,” she said,” but I could see that Davila was close to me and she looked good. It was scary. I told myself to stay calm, to focus on my form, and not to panic. I was able to run a couple of good miles and open up a gap.”

After finishing and receiving American flags over their shoulders, all three qualifiers stood at the finish line to greet Queen Joan 15 minutes later. “We just wanted to congratulate her,” said Kastor. “She has always been a great inspiration, and she achieved another tremendous feat today with her American record for age 50.”

Samuelson seemed relieved and happy to finally have the race behind her, admitting that she had put a lot of pressure on herself to get ready for her final Trials and was close to the breaking point in her training. “But I felt very strong out there today, and feel surprisingly good right now,” she said at a post race press conference. “I was worried about the flat course and turns, but now I have to give my kudos to the BAA for designing a course that was both spectator friendly and a good one for the runners.”

All along the course, Samuelson was greeted by thunderous acclaim. Boston has been a pivotal scene in her running career, which goes all the way back to teenage track races for the Liberty AC, two Boston wins, coaching at B.U., and many appearances in the Tufts 10K and other area races. “It was tremendous to end my competitive racing today in a race with the best in the country,” she said, “and it meant a lot that the winners were waiting for me at the finish line.

“Now I want everyone to know that I’m passing the torch to Deena to let her run with it. And I’m sure she will.”

Samuelson Returns to Set Another Record in Boston

By Parker Morse

Photo by Larry Maurer

In 1979, a young woman in a black Bowdoin singlet stormed down Boylston Street to a course record of 2:35:15, wearing a blue Red Sox cap she'd picked up late in the race.

It wasn't quite 30 years later, but Joan Benoit Samuelson came storming down Boylston Street again today, with another Red Sox cap, to another record. Finishing 90th in the 2008 Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon, Samuelson, who won the first Trials in 1984 and went on to win the first Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles that summer, clocked 2:49:08 to lower the American Record for the 50-54 age group. The old record was 2:50:26 by Shirley Matson, set in 2006.

"There have been some great years and some not so great years since then," Samuelson said after the race, "for both the Sox and myself."

Samuelson was listed as representing the "Livestrong" team, affiliated with Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation and Nike, Samuelson's longtime sponsor, and she started the race in a hat of that organization's signature yellow. She ran a "conservative" race, she said, off the lead pace early but well within herself.

"I put immense pressure on myself coming in," said Samuelson. A hard winter at her home in Maine and her own busy schedule limited her training, but she was aware of the 2:50 mark and hoped to make a run at it.

"The support was unbelievable," she said of the crowds on the course. "They kept me going." As a two-time winner of the BAA Boston Marathon, Boston claims "Joanie" more than any city outside Maine, where she founded the popular and successful Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth. Spotters along the course reported that in many places, cheering for Samuelson was louder than for the race leaders.

When Samuelson crossed the line, finishing what will probably be her last Olympic Trials Marathon, Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell were waiting to congratulate her. "It was tremendous to see her coming down Boylston Street," said Kastor, who watched Samuelson's L.A. run as a young girl. "It was a testament to the person she is on and off the race course."

Race Day Coverage Here

Finish: Come back in several hours, after all the press conferences, to read full, feature stories about the race and all the top finishers, plus Joan Samuelson. Go here to see it all.

Finish: Turena Johnson Lane, Ann Alyanak, Dot McMahon and Robyn Friedman are the next finishers in 2:34:17, 2:34:46, 2:35:02 and 2:35:02.

Finish: Zoila Gomez outkicks Tera Moody by one second in 2:33:53.

Finish: Blake Russell a clear third in 2:32:40, greeted by Deena, jumping up and down with joy, and by Lewy Boulet.

Finish: Boulet second 2:30:18.

Finish: Someone gave Deena an American flag, and she's having a great time with it and with her Olympic Marathon Trials win in 2:29:35. Blowing kisses to all.

Finish: Deena's enjoying a big smile running down Boylston to the finish. Huge cheers all around her. She took off the shades to enjoy it all.

25 mile split: Deena hits 2:22:46 and has 30 seconds on Boulet.

25 miles: Kastor running strongly, as are Lewy Boulet and Blake Russell. All are getting huge crowd support in Cambridge and Boston now. Tera Moody is trying to run down Russell, but it appears she's too far back.

24.5 miles: Tera Moody has moved into 4th. She ran 2:46:40 in the heat of Chicago last October. Before joining the University of Colorado "Buffaloes" track and cross country team, she was a high school star in Illinois. She's 27 and still living in Boulder.

24 miles: It appears that Kastor will win in 2:29something, followed by Boulet in 2:30xx, and Russell in 2:32xx. Fourth is in question.

23.5 miles: Deena passes Lewy Boulet on the other side of the road, but then Boulet comes over to latch onto Deena. And, very gritty, she hangs on Deena's shoulder. Russell leads Davila by 41 seconds, and little-known Tera Moody might move all the way up to 4th.

23 miles: Deena is just 11 seconds behind Lewy Boulet. She'll take the lead in the 24th mile.

22 miles split: Deena just 30 seconds behind Boulet. Deena ran 5:32 for her last mile. Blake Russell has 23 seconds on Davila in the race for third. Tera Moody is making the biggest move in the second five. She has a previous PR of 2:46 but is going to run more than 10 minutes faster than that today.

22 miles: Some are beginning to wonder: If Boulet begins to unravel more, could more runners than just Kastor catch her. Russell? Even Davila? That's why the Marathon Trials is so tension-filled.

22 miles: Russell has gone 9 seconds up on Davila and might be building it. Now it's 12 seconds. Kastor continues to cut into Lewy Boulet's lead. Lewy Boulet's last mile was 5:57, about 20 seconds slower than her mid-marathon pace.

21 miles: Kastor is running about 15 to 20 seconds per mile faster than Boulet at this point. That could bring them together at the 25 mile mark, or thereabouts. But Boulet still leads by a minute, and still looks strong. Russell seems to be extending her lead over Davila.

20 miles: Davila is stalking Russell, looking very comfortable. She's 7 seconds back at 20 miles. This is the Hansons/Brian Sell strategy that we saw work to perfection last November in Central Park. And Davila is in the great catbird position. Deeja Youngquist and Kristin Price have dropped out.

20 miles: Boulet hits 20 in 1:53:47. Her last mile, 5:51. How badly does Deena want to win? Or would she be happy to punch her ticket to Beijing? And who will be third? Those are the stories for the last 6-mile loop of the course, which is where the runners are now.

19 mile gap: Boulet leads Kastor by 90 seconds. Kastor has said she wanted to win this race, but it's not an imperative. She finished second at St. Louis in 2004, and went on to her great race in Athens. Russell is 32 seconds behind Deena, and then Davila. Dryer has just dropped out. Davila is about 7 seconds behind Russell. Fans on the course say that Davila looks great.

19 miles: Davila is chasing Russell for third. Grouped behind her: Gomez/Akor/White together.

The fight for third: Davila is making a run after Blake Russell. There's a 7-second gap between them now.

18 miles: Behind the top 3: Davila, White, Gomez, Akbar, Alyanak, Dryer, O'Neill. Dryer and O'Neill are having more trouble that we might have expected. Both were in many Top 4 picks, but it doesn't look like today will be their day.

17 miles: We still have 10 miles to go, but for now the Olympic Team is Lewy Boulet, Kastor, and Russell. Russell is about 50 meters ahead of Akor, and Akor about that far ahead of the now-smallish pack behind her. Boulet and Kastor both look good.

16 miles: Deena's in her stride now, looking more comfortable than she did when trapped in the pack. Now she has to decide how to give chase to Magdalena Lewy Boulet. Actually, there's only one way: mile by mile, second by second. Deena's smart enough to know that. In her head, she's probably doing a tempo run back in Mammoth Lakes right now. So we have, for the moment, two races: Who wins? Who gets third? Blake Russell is putting a few yards on Mary Akor.

15.5 miles: Deena running alone in second. Akor and Russell running third and fourth. Rest of pack at least 7-10 seconds back.

15 miles: Kate O'Neill has apparently fallen off hardest from the second pack. It's Deena, Akor, Russell. Lewy Boulet still 1:50 ahead of them.

15 miles: It's not so much about pace now, as it is place. Deena is definitely cooking a little right now, and we don't mean fritatas. Going with her: Russell and Akor. They might have 20 yards on the rest of the pack at this point.

14 miles: Excitement now in the main pack, as we find out who can hang with Blake Russell, Deena Kastor as the pace picks up a little. It hasn't splintered however. We still have 10 runners tightly bunched. Ann Alyanak might have gotten herself back into it.

Half-marathon: Suddenly Kastor, Russell, Akor are 10 yards ahead of the pack. O'Neill struggling to get contact.

13 miles: Here's the full main pack: Kastor, Russell, Dryer, O'Neill, Akbar, Samia, White, Davila, Ficker, Gomez.

13 miles: Heading toward the half-marathon, we have a race where the expected winners have to be very worried about the runner far ahead of them, Magdalena Lewy Boulet. If you give Deena Kastor a likely top finish, then the other Olympic contenders have to be worried that there might only be one spot remaining on the team. Of course, there's a long way to go, and much can happen in the marathon.

12 mile split: Boulet hits 1:08:20. The main pack hits 1:10:10. Deena might be pressing a little at the front now.

12 miles: Deena has moved to the front, center of the main pack, but it might have been just to get a good position for a water stop. Still 10 runners in the main pack. Mary Akor, the only runner in a long-sleeve jersey, has been near the front of the main pack since the beginning.

11 miles: Lewy Boulet runs with a strong, energetic motion, her arms and shoulders helping her to maintain a fast pace. She's wearing shades and has her hair in a ponytail that bobs back and forth behind her head. At 11 miles, she leads by 1:40. Her lead is actually getting a little bigger mile by mile.

10 miles: Boulet hits 57:11, the pack is 58:42. At 9 miles, Joan Samuelson is on about 2:48 pace, according to a street side reporter.

9 miles: Boulet leads by 1:25. She's running the pace she and many in the field thought they would need to make this Olympic Team. It's just that the following, main pack has not yet started running their pace.

8 miles: Boulet extends lead to 1:21. Main pack is 12 runners strong. No one has yet taken control of the pace, however. Elva Dryer has been at or near the front in recent miles. Boulet is on 2:30 pace and the pack on 2:34 pace. But there's a lot of talent in the pack, so things will change at some point.

7.5 miles: Magdalena Lewy Boulet, 34, was a Polish citizen until receiving her American citizenship on 9-11-2001, so if she can make this USA Olympic Team, she'll have a great story to tell.

7 miles: Boulet ahead by 1:13. Main pack still includes 12-15 runners, including two Hansons teammates, Desiree Davila and Melissa White. Desiree Ficker also has put in an appearance up front.

6 miles: The pack hits a split of 35:32, picking things up just a little. Boulet is still a minute ahead. Things are getting just slightly stretched out in the main pack, with Dryer, Akor, Kastor, Russell, and O'Neill at the front.

5.5 miles: Elva Dryer and Mary Akor are now leading the main pack, followed by Blake Russell, but everyone else is still there. The pace might be starting to increase. The temp is in the mid 50s and there remains remarkably little wind on the river. Great conditions.

5 miles: The main pack hits 29:54. Lewy Boulet is now 1:12 ahead. She's the Blake Russell of this year; we'll see how the strategy works for her. The main pack includes everyone you'd expect plus a few others who have unexpectedly found themselves in the thick of things, due to the modest pace.

4.5 miles: Boulet has also, like Gallagher, trained some in Flagstaff, even though she lives in Oakland, California, with her husband Richie, a former elite miler. Boulet comes to Flagstaff to work with her coach, the well-known Jack Daniels, who lives in Flagstaff. Boulet also set a PR for 10,000 meters, 32:33, in a Trials tune up several weeks ago.

4 miles: Boulet is ahead by 50 seconds. Mary Akor has been at the front of the main pack. Now Michelle Gallagher from Flagstaff, Arizona, has gone 5 meters up. She runs for the McMillan Elite team, but we know little about her. Except that she's young, 22, and has a qualifying time of 2:43:31.

3 mile split: The pack hits 18:12 at 3 miles. Boulet hits 17:29, so she is running a sensible pace, about 2:32. The others are certainly capable of this. And at some point they'll go after her.

3 miles: No changes. Lewy Boulet far ahead. Deena not even leading the second pack, but tucked into the second row, middle, very safe. There are at least 20 runners in the pack surrounding Deena.

2 mile split: It was 11:50 for Boulet with the pack 35 seconds back. So the pack is running about 2:42 pace. That, of course, won't last forever.

2 mile: No splits yet. Boulet could be as much as 100 meters ahead. The second pack would appear to be running no faster than 5:50 to 6 pace. But that's just a guess until we get splits.

1 mile: No split yet. Boulet big lead all by herself. Everyone else together but perhaps 50 yards back.

8:05 am: Magdalena Lewy Boulet bursts to a big early lead. She was fifth in the 2004 Trials and definitely on the short list of contenders.

8:01 am: Clean start. Moving quite slow. A jog initially. Blake Russell started next to Deena. There's no separation of the pack in the first quarter mile, must be over 6:00 pace. This will break up when someone gets anxious. Most of the women are running in singlets, a few wearing gloves, but not that many. It appears they're not worried about getting too cold. After 200 yards, they will pass under the traditional Boston Marathon finish line, also theirs today, and then continue the laps that will bring them back.

7:58 am: The race starts in two minutes. We're hoping to give you updates every mile or so. Deena Kastor isn't expected to shoot to the front from the start. Rather, says her coach Terrence Mahon, she will use the first lap or two to ease into a comfortable rhythm. We don't know if she and Running USA teammate Kate O'Neill will work together or not. But we would expect the other runners to key off them. Blake Russell will be less likely to rush to a big early lead than she was in 2004.

7:50 am: The women are warming up on Boylston St. in front of the Prudential Center. Deena is smiling broadly and waving to the crowd. She's in sweats now, but it looks like she might start the race in gloves and the white Asics cap she often favors when racing. We're looking at the changing tent where many of the women are selecting their final racing layer(s). Joan Samuelson is also smiling as she talks with a race volunteer.

7:40 am: The race starts in 20 minutes. Deena Kastor is the heavy favorite, followed by Kate O'Neill, Elva Dryer and Blake Russell. Many marathon experts believe only these four have a strong inside track to Beijing. Others argue that the Women's Trials always produces surprises, and this year could be no different than other Trials. Many of the Trials spectators will be saving their loudest cheers for Joan Benoit Samuelson, running her last Trials and what she is calling her "last competitive marathon." Samuelson would love to break 2:50 at 50, but is unhappy about the flat, looping downtown course. She would much prefer the traditional hilly Boston Marathon course.

7:20 am: The race start is at 8 am. The local weather just reported partly sunny with highs in the mid 50s, which possibly means sub 50 during the race. There could also be winds of up to 15 mph, fairly typical for Boston in April. No doubt the Women's Trials runners will feel those winds as they run up and down Memorial Drive in Cambridge right on the edge of the Charles River. This opens a strategic opportunity for someone who chooses to tuck behind others for much of the race, and then finish hard and fast.

7:00 am: Near perfect weather in downtown Boston. Back soon.

This is where you'll find our near-live Trials updates on Sunday morning, Apr. 20, starting around 7:30 a.m. Boston time, provided by RW's own Editor-at-Large, Amby Burfoot. The USA Women's Olympic Marathon Trials race gets under way at 8 a.m.

A Brief Chat With Deena Kastor

By Amby Burfoot, Runner's World

Deena Kastor is such an overwhelming favorite for Sunday morning's USA Women's Olympic Marathon Trials that the race has an almost no-win aspect to it for her. If she succeeds, she merely does the expected, and probably not in a very impressive time. On the other hand, if she has a bad race... now that would be news!

No one doubts Kastor's basic advantage over the rest of the field. She did, however, falter in 2004 when she placed second at the St. Louis Marathon Trials before her brilliant bronze medal effort in Athens. Also, she has run sub-par performances in her last two marathons--a 2:27:54 (sixth place) at New York in 2006 and a 2:35:09 at Boston a year ago (5th place). Friday afternoon she faced the media at a Women's Trials press conference.

Runner's World: How are you feeiing?
Deena Kastor: Like it's about time to get going in this thing. Since we touched down last night in Boston, this is hands down the best weather that has ever greeted us in Boston. I've been here when it was miserably hot and humid, and when it was cold and rainy. So I'm really happy with the conditions. They should promote a fast race, which is good because it will give us an honest team. I'm very excited to be here. I love Boston. I've got great friends and fans here.

Are you concerned about something going wrong in your race?
Last year's Boston taught me a lot about the marathon. It showed that no matter how well you've prepared, the marathon can get you. For me in the Trials, that means there's no sense in focusing on anything but running as fast as I possibly can in the Trials race. I'm certainly taking into account that there are 150 other very hungry women who are focused on running the race of their lives in the Trials. I respect them tremendously, and of course I respect the marathon itself.

From the last Olympic Trials I know that things can go wrong, but I truly believe that the threat of not making the team in the 2004 Trials helped me for Athens. It made me dissatisfied, it feed my hunger, and it was one of the things responsible for my medal in Athens. In the Trials you absolutely cannot take anything for granted. But my coach Terrence Mahon has gotten me as ready as possible for this race.

Are you concerned that you might be running alone?
I want to run a quick race. That's why I'm so excited about the weather. I don't ever feel alone when I'm out there. I feel that there is a ghost over my shoulder. I know the other runners will be hounding me until I cross the finish line. Until I reach the line, I'm not taking anything for granted.

Does your team training help a lot, and are you motivated by Ryan Hall's success in London?
We definitely have a unique team with athletes who are training for events from the 1500 to the marathon. Everyone there is training to some day be the best. We probably should have been asleep when Ryan was running London, but we couldn't help but get up and watch the webcast on the computer. And of course it was very inspirational to see Ryan run such a beautiful race.

Other comments made by Kastor in a USATF media teleconference:

Q: Could you talk about your training leading up to Sunday's race?
A: I'm so excited. My plane landed in Boston last night and we were joking that it was phase 113 of 115 to go. It seems like it's been a long haul in training the last few months, but I feel ready and excited to be a part of this Olympic Trials. I feel very well prepared and I think I had a little ghost from the 2004 Olympic Trials kind of undermining the distance and the competition a little bit and I'm not going to make that same mistake twice. I'm very well prepared for this Sunday's race and know that between the competitors and the 26.2 miles that I'm going to have my work cut out for me.

What are your thoughts about the course you'll be running on?
I love the course here in Boston, both the traditional, historic course, as well as the race they have set up for us in the Trials this weekend. I came out in the fall of last year to preview the course, and then also ran on parts of it this morning as part of my last workout and training run. I'm very excited to get it under way and with the beautiful weather conditions we have, and a seemingly fast course, except for the first couple of miles when we go around Boston Common to drop down on to the loop that we'll be competing on for four rounds, I think it's setting up to be a fast day out there so we'll get a nice, honest team out of this race.

When you think back to 2004 and crossing the finish line at the Olympic Games, what comes to mind?
I guess what comes to mind when I think of Athens was great preparation, which is what every marathon starts with, and the support I had along the way. I've always accredited my success to the team of people that surrounds me. I've been very grateful in my support system and the knowledge I'm surrounded by. I could never be a coach, and could never be a manager, and could never be as supportive a spouse as what I have here in my team that's with me and helps me prepare. I guess I'm smart enough to know that I don't know everything and to get the right people on board to allow me to fulfill my dreams.

You'll have a lot of local support on Sunday -- will that give you an edge?
I definitely feel that when you're out there running a marathon that support is everything, and I definitely feel a tremendous amount of support coming back here to Boston with family and friends and a big entourage of people that believe in me and helped me to get to the starting line healthy and it's my job on Sunday to perform well to show them and honor the work that they've put in to this. I feel very grateful for the family and friends that travel with me and that are here in Boston welcoming me and supporting me this weekend.

Can you talk a little bit about the intensity of your training?
I guess the marathon is mostly just getting out there and performing each day when you're tired from the day before. An example of that would be a 12-mile tempo run on a Friday morning, then a 10-mile run the following day on Saturday and coming back on Sunday with a 23-miler, with the last four miles being a hard effort. Those are pretty taxing weekends when we have to come back after a hard effort to perform and go a long distance. I definitely feel those weekends have prepared me well for this week and this weekend. I have high hopes that my main goal is to make this Olympic Team, but secondly I'd like to win the race in a very fast time.

What type of times do you expect on Sunday?
I'm pretty sure the race is going to go sub-2 hours 30 minutes, so I'm hoping for about a 2:25 if all goes well.

As the favorite, was it disappointing to finish second at the 2004 Trials?
It was disappointing in 2004 because I wanted to win that race, but I guess I didn't want it or respect it well enough back then, so that was my biggest mistake. I know not to make the same mistake twice, so here I'm not feeling pressure, but I feel the support of everyone around me and I feel confident in my preparations and my hunger to get out there and fulfill the rest of my goals for the rest of the summer.

Have you given any thought at all that this might be your last Olympics?
No. I always take it one race at a time and it's usually when I'm competing that I have a narrow focus and I don't know what I'm doing next, but in this case I know that if I make this team my next competition, or my next focus will be Beijing and after Beijing I'll see what goals pop up. I'm really driven by my goals and that's the only thing that gets me out there. If I don't really believe in something, or want something bad enough, I can't get out there on a daily basis to put in the work necessary, so I'll see what creates itself after this summer to see how the rest of my career goes.

Could you talk about the progress you've seen in American distance running, and perhaps your role in that?
It's definitely been an honor to be a part of the growth and resurgence of American distance running, both on the men's and women's side. Seeing people break down barriers and being inspired by one another and I think it's in a wonderful place right now to continue to grow. We have tremendously talented younger athletes coming up and graduating from college, a couple years out of college, that show a huge amount of potential both physically and mentally to take on the challenges to be one of the best in the world. It's wonderful to see, but we haven't seen the peak of it yet. I think we're definitely in the beginning stages of it and it will be exciting to see what comes out of American distance running in the next 4-8 years.