After Olympic goal falls just out of reach, Spokane marathoner sets new goals in masters races

The seed was planted early in Mariah McConnaughey’s running career.

She took up the sport after graduation from Valparaiso University in Indiana and found she both loved the sport and was good at it.

“I was never a runner in high school,” she explained. “I did soccer, and I was a skier. But when I got to college, I put on the Freshman 15 and started looking for a way to keep myself in shape. When I came out of college, I discovered that I liked running.

“When I was working in London, I got involved with a running club there, and I really enjoyed that. I got some very good coaching and found a group of people who knew what it was like to chase after a goal.”

One of her first marathons yielded her personal record for 26.22 miles, finishing in 3 hours, 1 minute.

“I didn’t think anything about it at the time,” McConnaughey said. “But my cousin looked at my time and said, ‘Hey, that’s almost fast enough to qualify for the Olympics.’ ”

Just like that, a dream was planted. In the dozen or so years since, it took root and grew alongside her family and her career – a triumvirate that do not always exist together peacefully.

But for McConnaughey, it has been like a three-legged stool that lifts her up and supports her.

Her career brought her to Spokane, where she is a development and outreach specialist as well as the philanthropy manager for Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners, SNAP. And her family grew.

“I’m getting close to 40 now,” she laughs. “I have a career, and I have a husband and a kid. Those aren’t conditions that make for intense training to make the Olympic team.”

McConnaughey doesn’t talk much about her dream, although she loves to talk about running with other enthusiasts. SNAP’s offices sit above the Spokane River, and she will sneak out at lunchtime for a run along the Centennial Trail.

And when SNAP hosts the annual Dad’s Day Dash, she’s in the middle of coordinating check-in and helping others check in.

When it comes time for the race to start, she slips away from the registration table to run, breaking away from the pack with a long, graceful stride that makes the act of running look like an art form.

By the time most runners cross the finish line, McConnaughey is back at the registration area, helping to coordinate the awards ceremony and congratulating other finishers.

“I do run with the Spokane Swifts and Heather LeFriec (who runs the club) has worked with me a lot,” she said. “Heather has helped me a lot. And Rachel Jaten is one of my mentors. She’s a two-time Olympic trials qualifier in the marathon. She’s now coaching the Swifts and has been a huge cheerleader and support for me.”

McConnaughey ran last year’s Bloomsday in 45:39 – the third fastest Washington woman in the race, a finish that earned her $500 in prize money.

“Shorter runs like Bloomsday or even a half-marathon, you can fake your way through those if you haven’t really trained,” she said. “You have to be serious about a marathon and train for it.”

And that would be the challenge.

McConnaughey really wanted to give that long-held dream her best shot one last time.

“My husband is great about making sure I get out and get my training runs in,” she said. “But I’ve had a run of injuries over the last year or so, and I haven’t put in the kind of miles you really want to put in for a marathon. I was lucky to get in one speed run or a long training run once a week.”

She set her sights on running the Chicago Marathon, but an injury sidelined her.

“My husband was great – he just said ‘OK, what’s the next race we can get you ready for?’ ” she said.

That race was the Houston Marathon, which runs the third Sunday of January every year.

She trained as best she could, but didn’t tell her co-workers about what she was attempting.

“I really didn’t tell anyone,” she said. “And I’m really not sure why.”

To qualify for the Olympic trials in Atlanta, McConnaughey would need to shave 16 minutes off her personal record – a 3:01 mark she had failed to improve on over the years.

She discussed the race with her coaches, even checking in from her stint in London. The consensus seemed to be she could improve on her PR. But a 16-minute improvement? That would be shooting for the moon.

McConnaughey started the race knowing she would need to push her pace further than she had ever pushed it for that distance.

But since this was the final marathon before the Olympic trials and the last chance to earn a qualifying time, there were quite a few women with the same goal and same mission in the race.

“I ran with a pack for the first 16 miles or so,” she said. “I kept remembering Heather and her annual speech at the Swifts party and how she tells the women that there is power in the idea of geese flying in formation.

“That was the first time since, well, maybe high school, where I really felt the benefit of running in a group.”

She pushed through after the 16-mile mark and found herself on the course alone, but with a big crowd of onlookers lining the course, there were cheers and shouts of encouragement – two things that can buoy a runner’s spirits during a race.

“I love running in front of a crowd,” she said.

By the time she crossed the finish line she had improved her PR by 10 minutes, running 2:51. She missed her target by 6 minutes, she said, but left Houston feeling great about her attempt. She left everything she had on the course and held no regrets.

“She called me and told me that she had just missed making the Olympic trials by 6 minutes,” SNAP CEO Julie Honekamp said. “I didn’t even know she was trying to make the Olympic trials. But I was so happy for Mariah and so glad she made that effort.”

Co-workers were just as elated with her effort as well.

And she’s happy to put the Olympic dream aside.

She’s preparing for another Bloomsday, where she will once again be seeded with the women’s elite runners. And new goals await, especially once she hits the Big 4-0 and qualifies to run races in the masters age group.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” she said. “But I am looking forward to it.”