The 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon was not an ideal race. The extreme heat and humidity caused many to drop out, over 300 runners to be hospitalized and one death that prompted the cancellation of the event. For Olympic hopeful Kate O’Neill, 27, it was her first marathon experience. O’Neill, a 2004 Olympian in the 10000-meter run, from Milton, MA, finished third in her debut marathon with a time of 2:36:15. This performance qualified her for the 2008 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team Marathon Trials, April 20, in Boston, MA. “I think it worked out well for me in that race,” O’Neill said. Although O’Neill accomplished her goal of qualifying for the trials, she explained that it was a difficult marathon. The weather was unseasonably warm for the October 7 race. She said it caused her to slow down “quite a bit” during the second half of the run. “It was pretty bad,” O’Neill described, “I never would have expected it. No one expected the heat.” Once she finished the race, O’Neill thought she would never run another marathon. Then, as she began to recover, she suddenly had a change of heart. “That was really great,” she said she told herself, despite some pain. O’Neill credits her performance to solid preparation. While training for the marathon, she ran high mileage, often more than 90 miles each week. An example of a 20-mile workout she did is a 10 mile warm-up, 8 mile tempo run, followed by a 2 mile cool-down. “I started running a lot more mileage,” she explained, “You have to get in the extra mileage.” O’Neill is a member of Team Running USA, in Mammoth Lakes, CA. The team is coached by Terrence Mahon, Bob Larsen and Joe Vigil. Her training partners include Deena Kastor, Jen Rhines, Sara Hall, Ian Dobson, Gabe Jennings, Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall. Since everyone is in a different phase of training, O’Neill does the majority of her workouts alone. However, she and Kastor will race each other at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. “Deena sets the bar pretty high,” O’Neill said. O’Neill expects Kastor will win the trials, but she will vie for a top-three finish to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She said the race is filled with tough competition, including Elva Dryer and Blake Russell. “You never know what’s going to happen,” she explained, “There are people qualifying with 10k times too.” A 10000-meter time of 33:00.00 or faster qualifies as a “B” standard for the marathon trials. O’Neill has a personal best of 31:34.47. Recently this year, she ran 33:08 for the distance at the USATF Championships in June. O’Neill specialized in both the 10000 and 5000-meter runs during college at Yale University, where she was a seven-time All-American. Her identical twin sister, Laura, was her teammate at Yale and in high school. O’Neill said running with her sister was a lot of fun. Not only did the O’Neill twins run together, but they were both history majors. She described Laura as being “really helpful” athletically and academically. O’Neill explained that adjusting to college was difficult at first. “It’s hard to find the balance of being a student-athlete,” she said. Fortunately, she found the balance and went on to a successful professional running career. Since her 21st place finish left her feeling somewhat unfulfilled in 2004, O’Neill is eager to return to the Olympics next year and possibly in 2012. Right now she is focused on the marathon, but has not completely given up with track. “I do want to return to the track,” she stated. O’Neill believes her best races are in front of her. She hopes to compete as long as she can and continue to set and accomplish her goals. “There’s a lot more I want to do,” O’Neill said. To read Kate O'Neill's journal, visit this page