On Feb. 13, 244 women from across the country will toe the start line of the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles — and three of them are from Utah.
Merrilee Blackham, Amber Green and Cynthia Fowler all made the cutoff time of 2 hours, 45 minutes, earning a spot to run against the best in the nation in an event that happens once every four years.
But it isn’t just running that these women have in common. All are mothers, and all share a faith in God — things these women acknowledge as key factors in their success.
Merrilee Blackham, 38, of Ogden, ran in high school and then took her talents to Southern Utah University. While she did well on both teams, Blackham said, she left feeling like she had a lot of untapped potential.
It was in 2013, less than a year after having her fourth child, that Blackham decided to see what her running legs were capable of. That year, she ran the St. George Marathon in 2 hours, 46 minutes. While it was wind-aided and on a non-qualifying course, it was the breakthrough she needed.
“Being so close to the Olympic trials qualifying time, I knew I needed to give it a try,” Blackham said in an interview. But as a mother — now of a teenager, a toddler and two in between — the decision to go for her goal was a hard one.
“I had a difficult time deciding if I should pursue qualifying for the Olympic trials,” she said. “I knew it would take a lot of time, effort and money, and I wasn't sure, as a mom, if it was fair to ask my family to sacrifice to reach my goal. I wondered if I was being selfish. In the end, it was a prayerful decision and I felt like it was something that the Lord wanted me to be doing right now.”
Blackham recalled sitting in her hotel room the night before the Chicago Marathon, overcome with nerves.
“I was starting to realize just how badly I wanted to achieve this goal I'd been working toward, and found myself reading in Isaiah when I came across this passage: ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint’” (see Isaiah 40: 31).
“It was such a calming influence on me as I remembered to trust in the Lord,” she said. “I don't know why the Lord has blessed me the way he has, but I truly believe I wasn't alone on the streets of Chicago that day.”
Blackham qualified with a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 59 seconds.
Amber Green, 34, of St. George, ran her first marathon in college after being inspired by her own mother. She spoke about when she was 12 years old and watched her mother run the St. George Marathon, forging to the finish line. She heard her mom talk about making small goals along the racecourse that led her to reach that finish line.
“My mom inspired me,” Green wrote in an email. “If she could complete a marathon, not being a real ‘runner’ by definition, then I certainly wanted to try it, too.”
Green went on to run 29 marathons, all while managing life as a stay-at-home mother of three growing boys. And much like her own mom, Green reached one goal at a time, with each bringing her closer to a goal she once deemed unattainable: running at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
“I trained. Oh, how I trained!” she wrote. “Juggling being a wife and mother of three and logging 100-plus miles a week was not easy. I know many women who handle careers and motherhood beautifully, and I admire their dedication and organization. While my home was my workplace as a homemaker, my second job became running.”
In June 2015, Green reached her goal by running a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 19 seconds at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota.
“Running brings me so much joy and such a feeling of freedom,” she said. “It's not always easy, but I feel like it's been a huge blessing from God to discover this little gift of running.”
Cynthia Fowler, 35, of Farmington, has long been a competitive runner. She was a top runner in her high school in Delta and went on to be an All-American while running at Weber State University.
After college, Fowler kept her momentum going and was able to qualify and run at the 2008 Olympic trials in Boston — an experience she would never forget and hoped one day to replicate.
“It was really cool to watch the Olympics and see the women that I raced against a few months prior," Fowler said in an interview. "I made it a goal to make it back to run in the trials again. When the 2012 trials came around, I had just had a baby and wasn't in shape to run a fast marathon. I was hoping I could get in shape and make it happen in 2016.”
This time, however, her goal was made with her three boys in mind.
“I want my boys to see me being active and doing what I love,” she said. “I want them to see me set goals and achieve them. I've tried to teach them that if they work hard, they can do great things. There's nothing better than seeing my little family at my races, cheering me on.”
And on Dec. 4, 2015, at the California International Marathon — just weeks before the cutoff — Fowler ran a personal best time of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 36 seconds, solidifying her spot at the trials.
“I truly believe running is one of the talents that I've been given, and knowing that makes me determined to work hard at it so I can do well,” she said. “I thank God daily for a strong, healthy body that allows me to run and feel good. There's a spiritual part of running that's hard to describe, but it just feels good and right — like everything is in balance. Running is a big part of who I am, and I'm so grateful for it."
The trials will be broadcast live on NBC starting at 11 a.m. Mountain Time. The race also will be streamed nationally on the NBC Sports Live Extra app on desktops, mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs.
Arianne Brown is a mother of seven young children and is a Salomon at City Creek, Nuun and Unshoes sponsored athlete. For more of her writings, search “A Mother’s Write” on Facebook. Twitter: A_Mothers_Write