“Go Philly!”
Representing Philadelphia at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon
by Melissa Field
So you’ve just finished a great race. You ran a PR and you’re feeling ecstatic. You decide to scan the rankings and, as you glance toward the times of the top finishers, you think, “5 and 6 minute miles! Who are these people?!”
The top finishers are local women like Meredith Lambert and Abby Dean.
Like most other runners, Lambert and Dean lead busy lives that do not always revolve around running. Lambert is a first year law student at Temple University and Dean is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, specializing in Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism. Both women qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon. Dean placed 29th overall with a PR time of 2:41:25 and Lambert placed 80th with a time of 2:48:21.
At age 24, Lambert was one of the youngest women to qualify. She earned her qualifying spot at the 2007 inaugural Eugene Marathon with a time of 2:44:39. Lambert began setting records as an eighth-grader. She started running cross-country during her freshmen year of high school and won the state championship her junior year. She ran track for Princeton University where she competed at the NCAA Championships, but Eugene was her marathon debut.
Lambert won her first marathon and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials that same day. Not bad for a marathon novice.
Dean was not a high school or collegiate runner. She admits she tried but just wasn’t good enough. She took up jogging ten years ago when she graduated from college and couldn’t afford to join a gym right away. Her goal was simply to stay in shape. She started with slow runs and short distances. She decided to run a 5k and worked steadily to improve her 5k time. The rest, as they say, is history.
“If someone would have told me years ago that I would qualify for the Olympic Trials, I would have laughed at them,” Dean said. “I didn’t think I could ever get to this point.”
After years of running and working to improve her times, Dean faced a setback that nearly robbed her of her qualifying dream. Three hip surgeries over the course of 2003 and 2004 forced Dean to spend more time recovering and less time running. After her second surgery, Dean’s doctor told her she would never run a marathon again.
Dean was determined to reclaim her fitness. She bought a stationary bike and gradually resumed a running program that began with a slow mile every other day. It wasn’t long before her fast times returned and her dreams of qualifying resurfaced. Dean earned her qualifying spot at the 2007 Philadelphia Marathon with a time of 2:45:21. She was also named the 2007 Mid-Atlantic USATF Long Distance Runner of the Year.
“Having so many obstacles to overcome made it that much more exciting,” Dean remembers. “As soon as I came around that corner, saw the clock, and knew that I was going to make it, it was just indescribable—a wonderful, wonderful feeling.”
Lambert and Dean are members of the Philadelphia Runner Track Club, an elite running group for post-collegiate runners pursuing fast times, national championships, and the Olympics. The group runs together at various times throughout the week, but can usually be found on Kelly Drive or the Wissahickon trails on Sunday. Lambert and Dean both credit the track club, twice a week tempo runs, long weekend runs, rest days, and faith in their training programs for helping them reach their qualifying aspirations.
The experience of going to the trails was everything Lambert and Dean hoped for and more. The fast, flat course looped four times, which allowed the women to see running icons like Deena Kastor loop around. They were each allowed one athlete support pass, and Lambert gave her pass to her mom. Mother and daughter jogged together before the race. It was the first time in several years that Lambert, the only runner in her family, ran with her mom.
Inspired by the camaraderie they found within the group of qualifiers and the enthusiasm and support radiating from spectators, Dean and Lambert are already looking forward to their next marathon. Since Lambert was unable to secure a PR on trials day, she feels that she has yet to conquer the marathon and knows that feeling of unfinished business will bring her back to the distance. Dean has set her sites on qualifying again in 2012.
During the trials, both women wore shirts that said “Philly TC” for Philadelphia Track Club. The shirts prompted hundreds of people to shout “Go Philly!” as the women ran by. Lambert and Dean, our Philadelphia-area racing heroes, represent the community well. They are humble, passionate, and fiercely dedicated to the sport.
Their exceptional times and devotion to the marathon distance fulfils the words of running great Uta Pippig when she said:
I definitely want to show how beautiful the marathon can be. I am the opponent of all those who find the marathon bad: the psychologists, the physiologists, the doubters. I make the marathon beautiful for myself and for others. That's why I'm here.
Congratulations Meredith and Abby and welcome home.