TEAM OHLORU

RECAP: Ohio River Road Runner’s Club Turkey Trot

Riverfront Park, Miamisburg, Ohio

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Recap

Not much to say about this year’s Turkey Trot other than to thank the Ohio River Road Runner’s Club for organizing another great event. Dayton has a deep pool of competitive runners and it was good to see many of them come out to compete in Miamisburg. I appreciated seeing the crew from down South, Cincinnatus Elite, taking part in the race. It’s always good to connect faces with names and they are building what appears to be a tight-knit club with some serious contenders. Shout out to Kyle Klingler (@klingsisland) who gave me some kind words of encouragement as we crested the one major hill in the race. Solid finish Kyle, I enjoyed racing with you!

Looking Ahead – U.S. Olympic Team Trials

There are 12 weeks and 5 days until the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials take place in Atlanta to select our Marathon competitors. You can learn about some of the athletes competing here: https://www.atlanta2020trials.com/athletes.

In order to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team (3 men and 3 women) you must first qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Runners must run the U.S.A. Track & Field “B” standard (the exact time or under) by January 19, 2020 in order to qualify.

The Trials will be held in Atlanta on Saturday, February 29, 2020, a little over 5 months before the Olympic Games to give selected athletes time to recover from the Trials race and train for the Olympic Marathon races in August 2020.

It has not been an easy road for the Olympic Trials qualifiers. In addition to achieving the USATF time standard, there was confusion at the beginning of the year regarding whether U.S. athletes had to achieve the World Athletics’ (IAAF) time standard (2:11:30 for men, 2:29:30 for women) in order to be competitive for selection to the U.S. Olympic Team. Fortunately, this is not the case and the top 3 male and female athletes in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials race will have the opportunity to compete in the Olympic Marathon.

According to MarathonGuide.com, there are 26 runners from Ohio who have qualified for the Trials (Note: I have not scrubbed this list for accuracy, but it appears to be fairly accurate). This is a significant accomplishment and milestone achievement, especially considering that most, if not all, Ohio runners support themselves (i.e. do not have a professional contract).

Runners from Ohio (or with an Ohio background) who have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the Marathon (According to MarathonGuide.com)

This is a very exciting time to be a runner, whether you are competing in the Trials or not. The runners listed above will be focused and training hard this winter and I think we can all join them in focusing and preparing for our next big race. Ohio runners are tough and experienced at racing in all conditions and I will not be surprised to see representatives from our crews and our neighborhoods mixing it up with the best U.S. athletes in Atlanta.

“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.” – LeBron James

Running is an awesome sport and we have the opportunity each day to contribute to what makes our community special. If you see an Olympic Trials Qualifier out there running in your neighborhood this winter, be sure to congratulate them on their achievement and commit yourself to training with the same focus and intensity as they are putting into their Trials buildup. I can’t wait to take this winter head-on and see what results I can accomplish this upcoming Spring. Stay tuned and let me know how I can support you this winter – I’ll be doing my best to share my runs/workouts to let you know you’re not alone when training hard with big goals and dreams in mind.

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