Sarah Sellers’ runner-up finish at the Boston Marathon started in Orlando
After running only the second marathon of her life in some of the most bonechillingly cold, wet and windy conditions imaginable, Sarah Sellers emerged in a fog.
On an otherwise awful third Monday in April, the kind where it is best to stay inside, Sellers crossed the Boston Marathon finish line unsure where she placed. She asked a race official, who informed her she came in second.
Sellers was incredulous that she finished so highly, so she repeated the question several times in search of confirmation. The answer held firm.
“That seemed out of this world, so my first thought was, ‘I need to talk to my husband or somebody that I know,’’’ Sellers said. “It was almost like this strange feeling that I don’t know what’s real at this point.’’
As Sellers — a former nursing student in Orlando — went through the information-gathering process, her father was just trying to find her.
Neil Callister, whose son, Ryan, also ran the Boston Marathon on April 16, could not check either of his children’s progress on his phone. The touchscreen was not cooperating because of the rain. He tried to follow Sellers at various points along the 26.2-mile course but was hindered by blocked-off streets and security.
Callister never saw Sellers cross the finish line in 2 hours, 44 minutes, 4 seconds, finally finding her at the hotel two hours later.
The roadblocks were not done.
“I’m running into security guards, and they’re saying, ‘You can’t go in,’’’ Callister said. “I said, ‘That’s my daughter right over there.’ They’re like, know that?’
“Dad about went postal right about at that point,’’ Callister said, laughing.
Sellers might not have gotten this far without rediscovering running in Central Florida.
A Big Sky Conference champion in the 5K and 10K at Weber State in Ogden, Utah, her hometown, Sellers battled stress fractures in college. Two were to the tibia in her right leg, and the third — to her left foot — ended her collegiate career and possibly her days as a runner.
Sellers lived here from 2015 until mid-2017 while studying to be a nurse anesthetist at Barry University’s Orlando campus and doing rotations at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies.
Sellers returned to running despite her busy schedule. She entered the 2015 OUC Orlando Half Marathon, arriving at the start line ‘How do we 30 minutes after getting off an overnight shift at the hospital.
“I thought the adrenaline from the race would overshadow any post-night-shift tiredness, but I actually felt pretty terrible during the race,’’ said Sellers, who placed second. “It was a mental challenge, but it was a fun experience.’’
It was an impressive run, especially considering the sleep deprivation.
“When you’re working in a hospital situation, you’re probably on your feet for 12 hours, and then to jump into a half marathon …’’’ Track Shack co-owner Betsy Hughes said.
Sellers finished as the runner-up again in the 2016 OUC Orlando Half Marathon and entered other area races. Her time in Florida likely would have been forgotten easily, a nice personal footnote for a woman who found running again, once she left and became a nurse anesthetist at a medical center in Tucson, Ariz. Boston changed that. “It’s been really cool because a lot of people relate to my story,’’ Sellers said. “There’s hopefully people who have seen what happened in Boston and are motivated to go after it and chase their goals.’’
Sellers was not considered a contender for the Boston Marathon, an off-theradar runner in a field full of them. Her coach, Paul Pilkington, thought she could finish in the top 10 “on a good day.’’
Pilkington said their plan was for Sellers to run conservatively early in the race because of a severe headwind, temperatures in the 30s and rain. Sellers was on the fringes of the top 10 with about four miles to go when she increased her pace.
“It’s always kind of a gamble when to go for it in a marathon,’’ Sellers said. She picked the right time. “That’s the great thing about our sport,’’ said Pilkington, who also coached Sellers at Weber State. “You have to race on the day, and everybody raced under the same conditions. Physically she was prepared, she was in great shape, and mentally she was just tough.’’
Sellers finished more than four minutes behind Desiree Linden, the first American woman to cross first in the Boston Marathon since Lisa Larsen Weidenbach in 1985.
Shalane Flanagan, considered the top U.S. woman entering Boston, came in seventh — behind five other female runners from this country, all surprisingly high finishers in their own regard.
“When the top field falls back in time like that [because of the conditions], it just opens up a lot of opportunities for all these people,’’ Runner’s World senior editor Brian Dalek said.
To Sellers’ credit, she took advantage.
“I was so excited when I saw the news,’’ said Cherry Castillo Morales, who worked with Sellers at Winnie Palmer. “They were like, ‘Who is Sarah Sellers?’ I’m like, ‘I know who Sarah Sellers is.’’’
Sellers said it took about a week for her to grasp fully what happened in Boston. In that time, she received congratulations from friends, families and accomplished runners.
She said Olympians Kara Goucher and Amy Hastings Cragg reached out, as did Shadrack Biwott — the third-place men’s finisher in Boston this month.
“They helped me feel like this wasn’t a fluke, that I really can compete at this level,’’ Sellers said.
In the days immediately after the Boston Marathon, Sellers’ father cruised social media late at night. Unshaven and with a bag of chips nearby, Callister — an orthopedic surgeon by trade — searched for reaction to Sellers’ improbable runnerup finish.
He felt “like some sort of junkie’’ as he found comments from people in farflung locales, including India and Mexico, commenting on the performance on the second-oldest of his and wife Andrea’s seven children.
“It’s just like Sarah said, ‘It seems like this is some sort of a crazy dream,’’’ Callister said.
Sellers plans to put in the work to make sure the dream continues.
“It changed everything in terms of my mindset,’’ Sellers said. “My initial impression was shock, and then that changed to an impostor feeling of, ‘I don’t belong here. There are people who are so much better than me.’
“Now my perspective is more grateful for what happened and also having confidence, moving forward, that I have that potential.’’
sruiz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5008