Running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other;
it is about our lifestyle and who we are. – Joan Benoit Samuelson
June, 1991
“I’m not looking beyond this race,” Joan Benoit Samuelson said before the Boston Marathon. “For me to continue, it’s necessary to run under 2:30.”
The 33-year-old, oft-injured mother of two raced past 10K in 31:43 – faster than her best race over that distance in recent years – to complete the BAA in 2:26:54. The fastest 4th place finisher in history. Her best time since setting the American record in 1985. Samuelson is back. Sorta.
Was she really going to bag it if Boston bummed her out? Yes, she was. “I knew my training was going well. I was doing the maximum I could do. I was back on the track for the first time in six years,” Samuelson says. ” I just figured, if I couldn’t do it now, I had no business hanging around the sport at this level anymore.”
Samuelson doesn’t know what she’ll do next. “I have no idea. I really don’t know what I’m thinking,” she admits. Watching older runners like Francie Smith continue to improve, Joanie isn’t worried about aging… or total retirement. She’ll always run; it’s what keeps her sane.
Several scenarios are possible. Short term, Samuelson will “concentrate” on shorter road races, like Bay-To-Breakers, and stay away from track races. A fall marathon is a possibility, but not if the Trials are held as early as rumored.
Then again… “I don’t know if I even want to run the Trials,” she says, “I don’t know if I want to go to another Olympics.” She sounds like she doesn’t really want to talk about it right now. Hey, she’s got time. And options. That’s really what Boston proved.
“I was thinking I’d try to make the team in the 10K,” Joan confides. “I think it would be more of an achievement to go to another Olympiad in a different event.” She’s not saying a marathon berth wouldn’t be difficult. But, she’s already done that. And there’s never going to another day like that one in the L.A. sun of 1984.
Feeling no ill effects from her Boston experience, injury-free for the first time in years, there seems to be a world of opportunity still ahead for Joan Benoit Samuelson.
That’s part of the problem…what to do next?
“The top priority now is the family,” Mrs. Samuelson explains. “I’ll be honest with you… I’ll do what’s best for them. What’s best for all of us.”
Guess that’s all we can ask.
post script. Joanie ran the New York City Marathon that fall, finishing 6th in 2:33:49.
