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BOSTON (20--Apr) -- Keeping her cool after Magdalena Lewy-Boulet had built up a one minute and 56 second lead through the 14th mile, Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor zipped through the second half to win today's USA Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon in 2:29:35. For Kastor it was her third Olympic team berth and her second as a marthoner.
"It was a tough race," Kastor told NBC Sports' Ed Eyestone after the race. "I was panicking out there."
Kastor's panic was caused by Lewy-Boulet's brave front run which began right from the Boyleston Street starting line in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. Although Lewy-Boulet was not running particularly fast, around a 2:30 marathon finish time, the pack did not chase her. By the 14th mile, her lead had fattened to nearly two minutes.
"I was a little but surprised and confused when nobody went with me," said Lewy-Boulet. She said she planned to run an even pace because she didn't have the fitness to "drop a 1:12 second half like Deena."
Lewy-Boulet was consistently running miles in the low 5:40's, and sometimes faster. But a 5:57 for the 21st mile signaled that she was tiring. Kastor, surged away from the chase pack and was quickly closing in on Lewy-Boulet, gaining as much as 15 seconds per mile.
"Doubts go through your mind out there," said Kastor who knew she needed to get her legs going, soon, in order to insure victory.
Nearly two hours and 16 minutes into the race, Kastor caught Lewy-Boulet in the 24th mile. Running 5:35 miles to the finish line, Kastor won easily, waving a small American flag and blowing kisses to the crowds along the finish straight.
"The crowds at Boston never disappoint," she said.
Lewy-Boulet easily held on for second place, to set a personal best 2:30:19 and make her first Olympic team. The Polish-born athlete, who became a U.S. citizen on 9/11/2001, the day of the terrorist attacks in New York City, was bursting with emotion.
"It's a dream come true," she said, her voice cracking.
Shaking off the jinx of finishing fourth in 2004, Blake Russell finished a solid third in 2:32:40, making her first Olympic team.
"Redemption, finally!" she exclaimed.
The U.S. will send an all-California women's marathon team to Beijing as Kastor (Mammoth Lakes), Lewy-Boulet (Oakland) and Russell (Pacific Grove) all live in the Golden State.
Photo: Deena Kastor, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet and Blake Russell (photo by Jane Monti)
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