Six Final Thoughts About The Marathon Project: 2:09 Isn’t 2:09 Anymore, Des Linden Says America Needs to Join the 2:19 Party, & More
December 22, 2020
The Marathon Project is in the books, and with it, the 2020 racing season. It was an event American marathoners (and marathon fans) were desperate for after a year rocked by COVID-19, and it was a staggering success. Nothing can replicate the energy, importance, and emotions of the Olympic Marathon Trials held earlier this year, but this was the closest an American event has come to those feelings since that blustery day in Atlanta 10 months ago. London, Valencia, and the World Half were great, but they were also held in the middle of the night in the United States and featured barely any Americans. Watching on Sunday morning, it felt like the largest gathering of US distance fans since the Trials even if most of that gathering took place on Twitter or the LetsRun messageboards, rather than the barren streets of Chandler, Ariz.
RRW: The Marathon Project Delivers Fast Times, Great Racing
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2020 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(20-Dec) In this pandemic year marked by so much pain, struggle and loss, The Marathon Project today in Chandler, Ariz., provided a much-needed high note before 2020 passes into infamy, at least for fans of distance running. Today’s elite-only race –bootstrapped by Josh Cox, Ben Rosario and Matt Helbig– ended up being one of the best-ever marathons on U.S. soil for North American athletes, punctuated by exciting victories for Sara Hall (2:20:32) and Martin Hehir (2:08:59). Depth was impressive for a mostly domestic race, with 12 women going sub-2:30 and 13 men going sub-2:12 (seven sub-2:10).
They come to Flagstaff in moving vans or sedans stuffed with possessions and expectations. Their satchels brim with hope and anticipation, be it an opportunity to hit it big or maybe just cobble together a fresh start with a clean slate. They are looking for adventure, perhaps, or just a foothold of stability.
People move to town for any number of reasons, and inherent in such life changes is a measure of uncertainty compounded now by the specter of COVID-19 and all the economic and social upheaval that has engendered.
Some moves are pandemic-related, attempts to find work or just a safer place to stay, or to hunker down closer to loved ones. Other moves, though, have little to do with our current fraught times; they simply reflect Americaâs storied migratory history, alighting for new horizons to chase oneâs dream of success.
Lori Ewing
Natasha Wodak ofCanada celebrates winning the gold medal in the women s 10000m final during the athletics at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019. Wodak finished fifth in The Marathon Project on Sunday and achieved the Olympic qualifying standard. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Martin Mejia December 20, 2020 - 2:43 PM
In the middle of a global pandemic that cancelled almost every major marathon over the last nine months, Natasha Wodak felt blessed to even be on the start line Sunday.
The 39-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C., made the most of her opportunity.
Wodak ran the second-fastest women s marathon in Canadian history and also raced well under the Tokyo Olympic qualifying standard to finish fifth in the The Marathon Project in Chandler, Ariz.