Run to Win

Jeanne Hackett interviewed Sheri Piers and Kristin Barry this evening at Peak Performance Multisport as part of her “A Running Conversation” lecture series.

The talk went for about 50 minutes, with a little better than half of that time devoted to Kristin and Sheri answering Jeanne’s questions and the rest of the time devoted to answering audience questions. The topics centered mostly around the Olympic Marathon Trials this past April in Boston, including the training and discipline that it took to get there.

This year’s Olympic Marathon Trials was the 7^th running for the women, and was the second time that 4 women from Maine competed. (For the trivia buffs, the other time was in 1996.) The evening began with a quick background on all 4 ladies and the stories that they brought with them to the Trials.

The Stories

Emily LeVan was the top Maine qualifier, having run extremely well in Boston in 2005 and 2006. She had the 12^th fastest qualifying time for any of the competitors who ran. She was also dealt a large emotional blow last November when she discovered that her 4 year old daughter had Leukemia. Emily and her daughter Maddie started the Two Trials website in order to raise money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program, and they far exceeded their goals to raise a total of over $77,000 to date. (Click here to listen to an interview with Emily.)

Joan Benoit Samuelson won the first women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984, and has qualified for every Trials since then. She has competed in all but 2 of them. She was the oldest runner in the field at 1 week shy of 51 years old, and set an age group record for the marathon on her way to beating her goal of running a sub-2:50. She has a long and storied history with the Boston Marathon, and she wanted to finish her competitive marathon career in the city where it all began.

Kristin and Sheri’s stories are intertwined, because the two of them train and race together constantly. After months of training, they both went to run in the Philadelphia Marathon and crossed the line together with Trials qualifying times. Both women are in their mid-30s, both women work, and both of them managed to fit in their training around caring for their children.
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Today was the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials.

Congratulations to all of the women that finished!

Magdalena Lewy Boulet led most of the race, building a 40 second lead within 4 miles and extending that to almost 2 minutes throughout the race. In the last lap and a half, though, Deena Kastor dropped a few hammers and sped by her to win the race in 2:29:35. Blake Russell was 3^rd and will also represent the US in Beijing.

The Maine women had great races. Sheri Piers turned on the afterburners and ran a speedy 2:38:46, finishing 16^th overall. Emily LeVan was 67^th in 2:45:45, followed by Kristin Barry in 2:46:58 and a 74^th place finish. Joan Benoit Samuelson made her 2:50 goal, finishing with a time of 2:49:08 barely a week before her 51^st birthday. Great job ladies!

I’ll have more details later as well as a link to where you can view all of the over 200 photos that I took in a few days. In the meantime, you can look at the full list of results here: Boston Trials 2008 Results Page

I want to take this opportunity to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Emily and to Maddie LeVan for not only meeting but also exceeding their goal of raising $52,400 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. And not only have they exceeded their goal, but they did so with a week to go before the Boston Marathon and the Olympic Trials. The current number (not the final number) is $64,185.

There is also going to be a feature on tonight’s NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about the Two Trials fund raiser. Unfortunately, I’ll be at Maine Running Company this evening when it airs locally, but it will also be available after 10:00 this evening so that I can stream it over the internet.

For more information, click on these links:

• Two Trials – Emily & Maddie’s website where you can read about Emily’s training, Maddie’s treatments, and make a donation to further boost their donation to the MCCP.
• NBC Nightly News Broadcast Times – Find out what time the special will be aired in your area.
• NBC Nightly News Netcast – Find out how to stream the show over the internet.

Congratulations again to Emily and to Maddie, and good luck to Emily this weekend during the Olympic Trials. I’ll be down there to cheer her on along with the other three Maine women.

The Maine Running Company is holding a “fund” run for Emily and Maddie LeVan Thursday, April 3^rd, at 6:00. There will be a discussion about training for the Olympic Trials that will include Emily LeVan, Sheri Piers, and Kristen Barry. The Two Trials fund raiser has raised over $41,000 of the $52,400 goal so far, and there will be stations set up where you can receive a “Two Trials” reminder bracelet for a $10 donation. Following the talk, there will be 2 mile and 4 mile runs down by the Back Cove.

If you are going to be in the southern Maine area tomorrow evening, then I really encourage you to go and listen. It is bound to be a great talk, and all of the money raised will support a good cause. So far, Wright Express has offered to match $1000 for participation of 100 people or more, and the Maine Running Company has put out a corporate match challenge to help raise money.

I was really looking forward to going tomorrow night, but will unfortunately not be in attendance. I do not believe that I am contagious, but I don’t want to risk getting any of the 3 ladies sick just a few weeks before the marathon trials. Nor do I want to risk getting Maddie sick as she goes through another round of chemotherapy and steroid treatments. That being said, if anybody that does go is interested in taking some notes, video, audio, or photos of the event I would be more than happy to publish them here at Run to Win. Just send me an email or comment below to let me know how to get in touch with you.

If you are interested in learning more about the Two Trials fund raiser, you can listen to an interview that I did with Emily a month ago that touched on the treatment for her daughter’s cancer, her training, and the upcoming trials. You can listen to the interview over at my other site:
http://www.marathoning.org/members/41/an-interview-with-emily-levan.html

The interview this evening with Emily LeVan went really well. It involved a good mix of my own questions with the ones that were sent in to be asked. The replay of the call is live at Marathoning.org.

On the call, our conversation ranged from talking about Maddie’s condition, childhood cancer, and how this whole experience has affected Emily’s training for the Olympic Trials. We also discussed Emily’s racing history and what she thinks about the course for the Olympic Trials.

Do you know anybody that might be interested in listening to the interview, or do you have a website?

I would very much appreciate any attention that you can bring to both the interview and to Emily and Maddie’s website at TwoTrials.org.

The site where you can listen to the interview (or download it as an mp3) is at:
http://www.marathoning.org/members/41/an-interview-with-emily-levan.html

Now is the last chance that you will have to get your questions answered in the interview with Emily LeVan on Wednesday night! If you have a question, you can ask it here:
http://www.marathoning.org/ask/Emily-LeVan.html

If you just want to dial in and listen to the interview or ask your questions in person, or if you’d like to listen over the internet, here is the call-in information:

DATE & TIME: Wednesday, March 12th at 7:00pm Eastern
FORMAT: Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice
To Attend This Call on the Web: http://www.marathoning.org/listen
Phone-Number to Dial: 419-400-0203
Use Conference ID: 819002#

Some great questions have been asked, but there’s still time to add a few more if there’s anything that you would like to know.

If you had an opportunity to ask an elite athlete any question, what would it be? Would you ask about training? About racing? About diet? How about asking how difficult it is for your 4 year old child to be diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)?

On Wednesday, March 12^th at 7:00 I will be asking Emily LeVan your questions. If you know what you want to ask, you can do so here:
http://marathoning.org/ask/Emily-LeVan.html

Emily LeVan ran track in high school, but was a field hockey player at Bowdoin College. A few years after graduation, she debuted in the marathon at Sugarloaf in 3:16:24. She ran a 2:41:38 at the 2003 Boston Marathon, which qualified her for the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials.

Emily took a year off from competition and opted not to compete, instead giving birth to her daughter, Madeline. In total, she has run a dozen marathons, including 5 Boston Marathons (of which, she was the 1^st American in 2005), 2 New York Marathons, and the 2005 World Championships. She is currently the 14^th ranked woman in the Marathon Trials with her 2006 Boston time of 2:37:01.

Last year on November 5, Emily’s daughter Maddie was diagnosed with ALL and will spend the next 2 or 3 years of her life in a marathon of blood transfusions, x-rays, ultrasounds, spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, and chemotherapy.

Emily and Maddie are trying to raise some money for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program so that they can provide the same excellent that Maddie received to other children in need. In Emily’s own words:

My goal is to raise $52,400 (Maddie and I are now running two marathons, so 26.2 times two is 52.4) for the Maine Children’s Cancer Program during the roughly 3 month period that the fundraiser will be running. Every dollar donated will go directly to the Maine Children’s Cancer Program. The fundraiser will run (no pun intended) from January 18th, which is Maddie’s 4th birthday, through the Olympic Trials on April 20th.

So far they have already raised over 60% of their goal in the past 8 weeks. If you have anything that you would like me to ask Emily or if you would just like to be on the call, then head over and let us know what kinds of questions that you would like answered. The address for that is: http://www.marathoning.org/ask/Emily-LeVan.html

We will leave it up to you to decide what sorts of topics we discuss on the call. Click here to ask your question and to get the call in details. There will be a webcast available for anybody that wants to listen but doesn’t want to pay long distance or international phone rates.

The following letter was sent to me at the beginning of the year and I am republishing it here with permission. Please join me in supporting Emily Levan in her Olympic Trials bid, as well as her daughter Maddie in her war against the cancer in her body.

The “Two Trials” fundraiser kicks off today, January 18^th, 2008. Join me, Emily LeVan, at www.twotrials.org as I begin my training for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials – Women’s Marathon and my fundraising to help research, treat, and cure childhood leukemia.

Why leukemia?

On November 5, 2007, my daughter, Madeline (we call her Maddie), who will turn 4 on January 18th, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Suffice it to say, that my husband Brad and I were devastated and crushed by this diagnosis. In early November, Maddie, Brad and I spent 10 days at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME where she had numerous blood transfusions, x-rays, ultrasounds, spinal taps, bone marrow biopsies, and chemotherapy. Our world was completely turned upside down. We learned that we were embarking on a new kind of marathon; one that, if all goes well, will last the next 2-3 years of Maddie’s life.

Since we were sent home from the hospital, we’ve developed a new kind of routine; one that involves weekly trips to Maine Medical Center in Portland or the Maine Children’s Cancer Program Clinic in Scarborough. In terms of the leukemia, Maddie’s body has responded well to the treatments; her blood levels and bone marrow biopsies are all very encouraging. We are tested, however, by the day-to-day challenges of fighting this disease. While the chemotherapy drugs and other supportive medications are doing a good job of knocking out the cancer, the results do come at a cost. The side effects of the medications are numerous and challenge all of us daily. We keep charging ahead, though.
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