Woman has eyes on Beijing berth

As many of her peers prepared to increase the pace of their running lives, Michelle Lilienthal decided it was time to slow down. A lifetime of distance running had left her eager to experience life off the roads and off the clock when she graduated from Wisconsin in 2005.

She changed her mind once she tried the magical challenge of 26.2 miles. This morning, Lilienthal will attempt to make her first Olympic team when she lines up in Boston for the start of the U.S. Olympic trials for the women's marathon. Her time of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 51 seconds in the 2006 Twin Cities Marathon made the Iowa City native the sixth-fastest qualifier competing in the trials, and her time with the Team USA Minnesota distance-running group kept her strong despite injury problems.

Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, enters the race as a heavy favorite to claim one of the three spots the U.S. women will have in the Beijing Games marathon. Behind her, it's a wide-open race.

"I thought I'd be a recreational runner at this point in my life," said Lilienthal, who has lived in Minneapolis since joining Team USA Minnesota last August. "At Wisconsin, I knew a lot of people who were signing shoe contracts [to run professionally], and I thought, 'I'm so glad that's not me. What a pressure-filled life.' I was ready to relax and run for myself.

"Then I ran a fast time in Boston in 2006, and I knew I could do this for a living if I wanted to. I was really enjoying it again. Once I took a step back from competitive running, I rediscovered the passion I had for the competitive part of the sport, and I didn't have to think twice about what I wanted to do."

A seven-time Iowa high school champion in track and cross-country, Lilienthal competed in both those sports with the Badgers and became an All-Big Ten athlete. She moved to Philadelphia in 2005 to attend graduate school at Drexel.

While pursuing a master's degree in higher education administration, Lilienthal decided to run the Philadelphia Marathon just for fun. She finished in 2:49:22 in her first try at the distance. Her second marathon was the 2006 Boston race, when she placed 16th in 2:40:23 and was the second American woman across the line.

She heard about the Team USA Minnesota program from Katie McGregor, who was Lilienthal's roommate at the U.S. 25K championships last May. McGregor, a Team USA Minnesota member, convinced Lilienthal that she would flourish with the coaching, training support, funding and superb environment the group provided. Lilienthal earned her master's in May and moved to Minnesota in August.

Her training has been compromised by plantar fasciitis in her left foot, but Team USA Minnesota's vast network of resources helped her stay on course for the trials. Lilienthal cross-trained in the gym and ran on an underwater treadmill, which allowed her to maintain her fitness while reducing stress on her injured foot.

"I just got back on the road in February and didn't start running every day until a month ago," said Lilienthal, who turned 26 last week. "It was very frustrating to have that happen before the biggest race of my career, but I had to accept it. I'm just now starting to feel really good when I run."

Lilienthal's fiancé, Jacob Frey, finished 22nd in the men's marathon trials last fall and will be in Boston to cheer her on. So will other friends and relatives, who will watch her run a multi-loop course through Boston and Cambridge on the day before the 112th Boston Marathon.

Lilienthal still hopes for a top-three finish, but as a realist, she knows she will not enter the race in optimal shape because of the time spent dealing with her injury. Now that she has rediscovered the joy of competition, she views these trials as a starting point.

"Women distance runners tend to peak in their mid-30s," she said. "I feel like 2012 and 2016 will be my best shots to make the Olympic team. I'm enjoying it so much I definitely see myself competing seriously at least that long.

"This time, I want to run a smart race and run my best. I can't wait to race."