Kim Loeffler Racing

Kelly Wins The Miami Marathon!!

After a rough 3 years, Kel proved she is back in the game, winning the Miami Marathon.  After winning the Houston marathon in a PR of 2:32, and setting PR in the 1/2marathon (1:12) and 10K, Kelly encountered injury after injury for 3 years.  A year ago, she said goodbye to marathon racing and shifted focus to a new sport, Ironman.  She trained  for Ironman Lake Placid in 2007 and finished 9th despite a 15 min delay on the bike course due to mechanical problems.  While triathlon training, she found herself healthy and strong and her passion for marathon racing was rekindled.  The turning point was after reading Paula Radcliff’s book.  She states that you should never not do something because of fear of failure.  It is simply not acceptable.  The day after Christmas,  Kelly decided to give it a go and with 8 weeks to train, set her sights on the Miami marathon as her Olympic Trials Qualifier.  Unfortunately 4 weeks before the race, Kelly fell ill to bronchitis and a sinus infection.  With only 1 long run under her belt and still on antibiotics, Kelly ran a 2:47:13. Good enough for her second marathon win, but fell short of the qualifier by 13 seconds.  It was a bittersweet victory.  Of course, she will give it another go in March.

My mom and I flew down to Miami 2 days before the race.  I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of seeing Kelly at the starting line, leading the race at mile 16, and breaking the tape, after the 3 years she has had.   I am so happy that she is back doing something that she loves and that she is a “runner” again.  I am always so inspired to watch Kelly race.  She races like a starving animal (in a good way!). For her to miss the cut off by 13 sec, well I can’t even begin to imagine how much pain she was in, ouch!!