Getting beat by a girl

I was talking with a friend recently about the only female who beat me at the Boulder Marathon a few weeks ago. I jokingly mentioned that while she looked familiar, all fit women who are kicking my butt look the same from behind.

Then I was trying to recall her name (I have a tendency to remember the names of the females that beat me) beacuse they are usually ones that show up at many races and you see all over. But I could not make it come into my mind. So I looked up the results and stared at them for a full five seconds.

Naoko Takahashi.

I then realized she was none other than the first female to EVER run under 2:20 for a marathon and the 2000 OLYMPIC MARATHON CHAMP! How the hell did I not put that together before?!?

I was so extremely disappointed in myself in not recognizing her name. I would have loved to have gotten her autograph. I did talk to her very briefly after the race and congratulated her on her win. Now I feel like a schmo saying "Way to go" to a person with a 2:19 PR who once held the World Record.

While her times have slipped as of late (a 2:44 is what she ran at the Nagoya Marathon in March of this year), there is something extremely satisyfing to know that she too did not run all THAT fast at Boulder!