Yep, someone is heading to Tokyo this summer for the 2020 Olympics and couldn’t be more thrilled!!
However, that person is not me.
The person I’m talking about is my new favorite runner and will be competing for the U.S. in this year’s Olympic marathon.
Molly Seidel’s Olympic Trials race this past Saturday was epic for many reasons, including the fact that it was HER FIRST EVER MARATHON!
This article from the NY Times does an amazing job of digging a bit into who Molly Seidel is as a person and how her Trials race went down. I’m glad a friend of mine forwarded me the piece because I was captivated by her after watching the race live, but now I’m officially a fan of Molly Seidel!
Here are a few of the highlights I enjoyed from the article:
“Seidel, 25, has two jobs, shares an apartment with her sister and runs turkey trots in costume. No, she can’t believe this is happening, either.”
“I had no idea what this was going to be like,” she said after the race on Saturday. “I didn’t want to oversell it and put way too much pressure on, knowing how competitive the field was going to be. But talking with my coach, I didn’t want to phone it in just because it was my first one.” – what a great mindset to have, something we can all learn from, especially when trying something new.
“While Seidel spent the past two months training at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., her life in Boston has been rather ordinary compared to that of some of the competitors she faced on Saturday. She goes to work, shares an apartment with her younger sister and soaks up the gnarly weather conditions in Boston.” – kind of sounds like Duluth 🙂
“When’s the last time you saw a professional athlete swerve midcompetition to high-five a family member? Exactly.” – this is pure awesomeness!
Talking about how she has struggled with disordered eating: “Your long-term health is more important than running a fast 5K three months from now,” she said. “For people who are right in the middle of it, that’s the worst thing. It’s going to take a lot of time. I’m probably going to deal with it for the rest of my life. You have to treat it with the gravity that it demands.” – wow, powerful stuff. No race is worth damaging your long-term health! And acknowledging something might be a bit off, then addressing it based its seriousness is so important.
I encourage you to go check out the full article and learn a little more about one of the amazing women running for our country this summer in Tokyo. I would also invite you to read up on the women who took 1st and 3rd (Aliphine Tuliamuk and Sally Kipyego). Their interviews after securing spots on the team were amazingly heartfelt and they could not be more proud to represent the U.S. this summer.
Can’t wait to tune in this summer for the marathon and other events during the Olympics!