The top two women finishers in the 2018 Boston Marathon were unique, if not unprecedented.
For the first time since 1985, a woman from the United States claimed victory, with Desiree Linden crossing the finish line on Boylston Street in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds. But finishing just under five minutes later in second place was Sarah Sellers.
Sellers hardly is a competitive runner. The 26-year-old ran in college at Weber State, is not sponsored by any athletic company and works as a full-time nurse in Arizona.
Oh, and Monday only was her second marathon. Ever.
That’s right, while some people have made it their careers to race in events like the Boston Marathon, Sellers instead wakes up at 4 a.m. to get her training in before going to work as a nurse anesthetist, according to The Boston Globe.
“Someone had to tell her (she finished second), and she still didn’t believe them,” her husband Blake Sellers told The Globe.
As a result of her success over the 26.2 miles in the outright miserable conditions, she is in line to win $75 thousand in prize money, while also qualifying for the Olympic Trials.
And among some of the elite women she beat Monday was defending champ Edna Kiplagat and Shalane Flanagan, with the latter holding the course record for American women.
All things considered, sounds like a pretty memorable trip to New England for Sellers.
