Post by Dex on Apr 17, 2018 8:08:51 GMT -5
Many of those who watched the Boston Marathon — even the ones who follow the sport of running — had the same question Monday: Who in the world is Sarah Sellers?
Sellers crossed the finish line in second place at the prestigious 26.2-mile race, in rain-soaked conditions, as a virtual unknown. Few online road-race results existed for Sellers, and she was not listed among the elite field for Boston. In the wet and windy conditions, Sellers wore a nondescript outfit, with no visible sponsors, and crossed the finish line by simply clicking the timer on her watch.
Her time of 2 hours 44 minutes 4 seconds put her second among the seven American women who placed in the top 10. Desiree Linden was the first American woman to win the race since 1985, a historic finish in a race full of surprises. But Sellers’s finish may have been the most improbable.
“I mean, I still can’t believe I finished second,” Sellers, 26, said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “I’m going to wake up and this will be a dream.”
Sellers (nee: Callister) never planned to podium at Boston. Not when she was a standout runner at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where she grew up. Not even when she qualified for Boston after winning the Huntsville Marathon last September in Utah in 2:44:27.
She only signed up for Boston because her younger brother, 24-year-old Ryan Callister, was running it. (Ryan finished in 2:48:20.) Plus she’s also a nurse anesthetist who works full-time in Tucson. She doesn’t have an agent, or any sponsors, and has to fit in her workouts at either 4 a.m. before work or 7 p.m. after her 10-hour shifts at Banner Health Center.
Over the past few months, Sellers mainly trained by herself, running six days a week and up 100 miles.
Sellers may have been “one of the most sought after prep runners in the state of Utah” as her college bio states, but she was essentially an anonymous runner competing against the biggest names in the sport Monday.
She still views the professional runners she beat as idols, not peers — “not only the American women, but also the international field,” she said.
“Obviously the conditions were the wild card that everyone got dealt, but I think it played to my advantage,” Sellers said. “Looking at my time going into the race, I shouldn’t be on the same page as any of the top 20 women. … They’re in a different league than me.”
www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/who-is-sarah-sellers-the-boston-marathon-runner-up-is-a-26-year-old-full-time-nurse/ar-AAvXGjA?ocid=spartandhp&ffid=gz
