The "2:45:01 and Beyond" Series

Throughout my OTQ-chase I met many amazing women with the same goal.  Some went on to achieve the standard, and others did not.  Seeing both paths made me realize that all of these women have amazing stories to tell, and the narratives of the non-qualifiers are just as inspiring as those of the qualifiers, without the happy endings.  I also saw firsthand the huge differences in emotions a 2:44:55 marathon and a 2:45:05 marathon produced - even though those are really pretty much equivalent marathon performances.

Throughout the month of February, I'll be posting stories of the non-qualifiers, which I will also link below.  If anyone in website development wants to help me build a page like this for my NoTQ project, I will not complain!

If you prefer shorter clips, each woman profiled will also be featured on my Instagram.

Inspiration beyond 2:45:
Tiana Abdulmassih Liz Anjos
Rachael Brewer 
Kristen Briglia
Tawny Bybee
Susie Duke
Elle Ellender
Jen Goff
Bryanna Gondeiro-Petrie
Julie Hartenbach
Jamie Hershfang
Jen Hughes
Sara Ibbetson
Heather Laptalo
Kristen Leslie
Morgan Lingar
Amy Manning
Ashley Mena
Shannon Miller Bain
Molly Nuun
Holly Read
Lauren Ross
Elizabeth Scott
Erin Swain Taylor
Taryn Thor
Danielle Turk-Bly
Rachael Warner Sanchez
Amy Wachler 
Marissa Ward
Shawanna White
Bean Wrenn
Sam Yeager

Related content:
The chart below was created by Fast Women mostly to illustrate the huge increase in qualifiers for the 2020 Trials, but it also shows how many women featured here would have qualified for the Trials other years, with standards ranging from 2:46:00-2:51:16.

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I wrote about the last-minute OTQ chasers at Houston here.

Runners World profiled a few runners, male and female, who missed the standard here.

Peter Bromka has probably the most famous OTQ near-miss, running 2:19:02 at the 2019 California International Marathon 2019 (which he followed up with 2:19:19 at the 2020 Houston Marathon).  He spoke about missing the men's standard by 2 seconds on the Road to the Olympic Trials podcast, on the Morning Shakeout podcast and on the Full Tub with Nick Roche podcast.   An article about his 2018 2:19:40 is here.  Although I'm highlighting women who NoTQed, I think his journey is quite relatable!