THWEATT RETURNS WITH BOUNCE IN STEP
SHE DIDN’T FINISH CHICAGO MARATHON LAST YEAR BECAUSE OF FOOT INJURY, BUT SHE OVERCAME ANOTHER TO RETURN
After Achilles injury knocked her out of Chicago Marathon last year, she’s the American to watch this year.
Laura Thweatt gets a redo. Well, more of a redo of a redo. On Sunday, Thweatt will be one U.S. woman to watch in the 42nd Bank of America Chicago Marathon. A month ago, that was doubtful. But on Sept. 11, she posted on Instagram: ‘‘So I’m happy to announce that I’m back training healthy and will be returning on October 13th to run the 2019 @chimarathon.’’
It has been more than a trek from training in Boulder, Colorado, to running the neighborhoods of Chicago. As Thweatt explained on Instagram: ‘‘In early June, a week after finalizing my decision to return and race this marathon, I was diagnosed with a grade four calcaneus [heel] stress fracture.’’
Last year, she came to the Chicago Marathon with great expectations as the fastest U.S. woman. She was coming off a victory in the 2018 Shamrock Shuffle 8K, the spring fling for Chicago runners, but she had to withdraw from the marathon before the 10th mile.
‘‘An Achilles flare up had been plaguing the last few weeks of my block but I refused to see anything past the 26.2 miles that I had been building back towards for nearly a year,’’ she described on Instagram. ‘‘Despite this injury I really did believe that I could still get out there and have that perfect day. Unfortunately my body believed differently and I was forced to withdraw not even half way through the race. So of course the only thing I’ve wanted since that heartbreaking moment was a shot at redemption.’’
That should come Sunday. She will be the U.S. woman with the second-fastest personal-best
time (2 hours, 25 minutes, 38 seconds), behind only Jordan Hasay (2:20:57).
‘‘Dropping out last year was heartbreaking, and I want to give it another go,’’ Thweatt said in a phone interview two days after announcing her return. ‘‘Definitely wanted to run another fast course. Happy to be there.’’ Expectations are different.
‘‘Goal right now is to race hard and compete and see how the race progresses,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m not sure timewise.’’
She kept doing lots of cross-training and was back to running in early September.
‘‘I am not sure what the overall results will
be; we will wait and see,’’ she said. ‘‘A marathon can be a good surprise. I am happy with where my fitness is, and I have to be patient and make sure.’’
Her trajectory is up. She finished seventh (2:28:13) in her marathon debut at the 2015 New York City Marathon, then ran her personal-best time and was the top U.S. women’s finisher in the 2017 London Marathon. Then a pelvic injury took her out.
‘‘I think that is where my love is now and that is where my strengths are,’’ Thweatt said of marathoning. ‘‘But I plan to do other distances. I love cross-country and shorter road races. Maybe try the track again.’’
She succeeded at various levels of running, including being the 2015 U.S. cross-country champion and the 2013 and 2014 USATF National Club cross-country champion.
But her focus now is Chicago. She will do short walks around her hotel before the race to make sure she doesn’t hibernate and go stir-crazy.
‘‘After the race, I want to find a really good pizza place,’’ she said. ‘‘I was really bummed I didn’t get my pizza last year.’’