Amazing: 2:31 US Marathoner Bethany Sachtleben had no idea that runners ran workouts when she started running in college

---

rojo wrote:

After world xc last week, I thought I had my favorite 2:31 marathoner in the world for life in Kelsey Bruce but I've just come across a story that gives Bruce's a run for her money.

Take a look at this profile of Bethany Sachtleben in the Washington City Paper:

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/sports/article/21060777/bethany-sachtleben-took-an-unconventional-path-to-the-olympic-marathon-trials

Sachtleben was a homeschooled soccer player for most of the time she was growing up but then quit soccer. She then started running on her own to stay in shape and signed up for a marathon. Worried she wouldn't be able to finish, she ran 20 miles on a treadmill the day before the race ( her longest run before that was 8 miles). She never looked up a training plan online or even wore a watch in the race, but she ran the marathon in 3:08 and then walked on to George Mason.

Now 27, she recently was 2nd at the US 15k. She ran 2:31:20 at CIM (for 6th in December).

"I literally did not know running had workouts in it,” Sachtleben says on a recent afternoon, sitting just a few feet from the school’s indoor track. “I never watched track. I watched the Olympics, but I was like, ‘Oh, track’s boring. I don’t want to watch.’ So I never watched those events … I watched gymnastics, figure skating, all the fun sports.”

---

---

malmo wrote:

I've never looked up a training plan online in my life, and none of my peers did either. Sometimes I've worn watches in races, but only out of habit. I'm not sure how someone runs without knowing that every run is a workout? But then again, had Nostradamus told me that one day boys would be winning girls races I'd have told him, "Get the efff out of here, you're out of your effing mind!"

---

---

malmo wrote:
I've never looked up a training plan *online* in my life, and none of my peers did either

---

---

Gucci wrote:

Did any of you idiots read the article?? The quotes are describing her mindset before her first marathon in 2012. She ran a 3:08, and then, as a college student, walked on to George Mason's team. With structure and an understanding of running, she went on to set school records in college, and post-collegiate runs professionally, and has recently run a 2:31.

So obviously she trains "for real" now. She has been for 7 years. But she didn't when she was 19 or whatever when she picked up running.

Jesus people, read the darn article.

---