“Who is that?” “It’s Magdalena somebody...who is she?” “Can she keep this up??”
These were the questions flitting through the throngs of spectators lining the intersection of Massachusetts Ave and Memorial Drive in Cambridge on Sunday, April 20th, the morning of the US Olympic Team Trials Women’s Marathon.
I’ve only met Magda once, but her legend as an incredible runner and an equally incredible individual lives strong at GU. For years she worked in our R&D department before leaving to focus more intently on her family and her running. Seems like she made a wise choice.
Four years ago Magda finished 5th in the Olympic Trials. While her marathon PR ranks her with the top runners in the country, the performance that qualified her for this year’s Trials was not one of her fastest. Therefore she wasn’t highly touted as a team hopeful, she wasn’t paid heed as a favorite in the pre-race media coverage and she pretty much flew into Boston under the radar. A spot on the Olympic Team was surely on her mind, but likely more as a dream than as the solid reality that she pounded into the field of competitors on Sunday.
It was a brilliant race to watch. I arrived after the first pass of the 5-loop course, but a text message from my co-worker Tommy, saying “Go Magda!!” immediately informed me she was leading the pack. It wasn’t until she flew past on loop #2 a few minutes later that I realized the size of her lead: 1:50 separated Magda from her closest competitors and she showed no signs of relinquishing a single second of that gap. It was surreal and exciting, everyone scrambling to learn what they could about Magda, this running phenom who was taking them all by surprise. I answered questions as best I could. She’s Magda, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet. She was 5th at the last trials. She’s a coach at Cal Berkeley, she and her husband own running stores in Oakland & Berkeley (TranSports), she used to work at GU. She’s a wonderful person, she deserves the win, she is fast enough. Yes, she can keep it up, she’s amazing. She’s Magda!!
And keep it up she did. Yes, she was caught in the final two miles by US favorite and unbelievable runner Deena Kastor, but she held on hard to 2nd place, finishing over 2 minutes ahead of the 3rd and final Olympic Team qualifier, Blake Russell, who also ran her heart out to victory. 1-2-3 was all that mattered Sunday, the numbers these women had been dreaming of, the coveted spots on the US women’s team bound for the Beijing Olympics. For all of them, it was a perfect day, a dream come true of epic proportions.