Friday, April 13, 2012

Finish Strong Runners are Boston-Bound!


Finish Strong Racing will be well represented at Monday's Boston Marathon, with Christelle Gigant, Phillip DePrang, and Taylor Riall joining the nearly 27,000 marathoners making the historic trek from Hopkinton, Mass., to downtown Boston.

Taylor Riall is making her Boston Marathon debut, while Phillip and Christelle are returning to run the prestigious race.

In today's "In the News", Bernice Torregrossa reports on Taylor Riall's upcoming trip to Boston. The following is an excerpt from her article:

"The Boston Marathon is one of the few in the country that limits entry to runners who have turned in fast times at a previous marathon, judged on a goal time adjusted for age and gender.

In most years, fewer than 10 percent of marathon runners will qualify to run in Boston. This exclusivity, along with its 115-year history as the oldest marathon in the country, make the race a coveted goal for many runners.

For Taylor Riall, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch, the road to Boston began in Pittsburgh. She earned her Boston entry last May by finishing the Pittsburgh Marathon in 3 hours and 48 minutes.

“I qualified with six seconds to spare,” she said. “If I had to stop to tie my shoes, I would have missed it.”

An injury last fall nearly derailed her.

“I was in a cast in October, but by November, I was training again, this time with a coach, Dana Lyons,” she said.

She credits Lyons with getting her to the Boston starting line injury-free and ready to race.

“I’ve never trained with this much intensity or this much focus,” she said.

Riall is going in to the race without a set time goal.

“I just want to experience the Boston Marathon and be happy with whatever time I run,” she said."

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