Back on November 15th, Meagan Nedlo ran herself one heck of a race at the Anthem Richmond Marathon. The 32 year old Kenyan Salem, MA resident finished in 2:40:48. This placed Meagan 3rd amongst the ladies racing that day and was also good enough for 16th overall. Also, that time will get her into the 2016 Olympic Trials for the marathon.

Here’s our follow up interview with Meagan:

It was a very close race, with only about 80 seconds separating 1st and 3rd. Were you expecting such a tight battle?

To be honest, I hadn’t really done any homework in advance of the race regarding who else was competing and what their finish times might be. I was solely focused on running my own race and trying to achieve the OTQ standard of sub-2:43. I figured if I accomplished that, placing high and competing well would come along with it!

You three were right together halfway, and the top two were still together through 20 (were you with them? it doesn’t state your split in the results?)…at what point did the race break?

Not sure why my 20-mile split didn’t take because I distinctly remember running across the mat…at any rate, yes I was still with them (the two African women who would ultimately finish first and second). Actually, from literally the first few steps of the first mile they latched onto me and proceeded to run right on my heels (on multiple occasions actually stepping on my heels) until just past the 22-mile marker, at which point they launched into another gear and went around me like I was standing still. That must’ve been their plan all along as they were content to run directly behind me regardless of pace fluctuations (ranging from a 5:44 downhill mile to a 6:35 uphill/into the wind) but didn’t hesitate to move at 22.

2:40…tha’ts a monster time! So the race results have you listed as a…Kenyan? Is there something you’re not telling us? You ran so fast that they assumed the woman hanging with the two Ethiopians was also East African.

Ha, my family and friends have gotten a kick out of that. I have no idea how or why I got listed that way but I’ll take it as an accidental compliment!

Will you race the marathon again between now and the trials?

I would like to! I really think based on how I felt and competed in Richmond that I could be primed to take a crack at the “A” standard of sub-2:37 if I have another solid training block and the opportunity to run another smart race.

With the OTQ under your belt, how do you reload and stay focused between now and the Trials?

I think, as I said above, going after a faster qualifier will be good motivation. I also have plenty of room to lower my PRs in every other distance, which are embarrassingly disproportionate in comparison to my marathon.

Having been there before, are you more excited this time around?

When I ran the Trials in 2012 I was just thrilled to be there and fervently hoping not to finish last. I wanted to have a positiev experience and soak up every second of it, and I did just that. This next time around, I’d really like to be more aggressive, take some chances, really put myself out there to PR and fight for a top-20 or top-30 finish.

What have you been up to since then? Did you give it a go at a turkey trot?

I actually did two “turkey trots” this weekend, Gabe’s Run XC Challenge (11/28) in Hamilton and the Back the Track 5k in Marblehead (11/29). After doing basically nothing for the past two weeks, these back-to-back efforts were quite the rude awakening to my body! If anything, this actually indicated to me that I’m not as close to being recovered from the marathon as I’d thought/hoped (my 5k splits looked suspiciously similar to a handful of my Richmond splits), so I’ll probably take another few weeks easy before attempting to get back into the normal swing of things.

Meagan won both Gabe’s Run (21:22 for 5k XC in the snow) and the Back the Track 5k (18:04). Believe it or not, Meagan’s overall finishing place at the Richmond Marathon (16th) was higher than her finishing place at the Back the Track 5k.