Once upon a time, Michelle Lilienthal was a short and skinny junior high school volleyball player from Iowa. A few years later, her father convinced her to run cross country during her sophomore year of high school. Since then, Lilienthal has become one of the top female marathoners in the country, and only in a matter of a few years. Lilienthal will be running in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials Women’s Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 20. Lilienthal, 25, recalls her very first workout with her high school cross country team. “The first day of practice, I was very intimidated. It was a hilly six miles, out and back. The longest I had ever run before that was three miles,” said Lilienthal. One of Lilienthal’s teammates, a girl who had won state that year, was leading the group during the run. At the turn-around point, she witnessed this same girl vomiting on the Head Coach’s shoes. As she saw this unfold before her, all Lilienthal could think at the time was, “Oh God, what did I get myself into?” Even though she might not have realized it then, Michelle Lilienthal found her calling. Soon after that first day of practice, Lilienthal was a seven-time state champion in track and cross country for Iowa City High School. She was a top finisher at the 1999 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. She later ran at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where she competed at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and ran the 3000, 5000 and 10,000. While studying for her master's degree in Higher Education Administration at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, Lilienthal decided to focus on the marathon. Lilienthal ran a 2:49:22 debut at the 2005 Philadelphia Marathon while training with the Philadelphia Track Club, and then ran her second-ever marathon at the 2006 Boston Marathon in 2:40:23--within only a few months. In her third attempt at the marathon distance, she ended up dropping her personal-best time down to 2:35:51, obtaining the Olympic Trials “A” standard and earning a solid fourth-place finish at the 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. Going into last year, Lilienthal also achieved a major personal-best in the half-marathon distance, clocking a remarkable 1:12:46 at the 2007 U.S. Women's National Half-Marathon Championships in Houston, TX. She finished in third place, behind Elva Dryer and Kate O’Neill. However, Lilienthal now thinks that she is most competitive at the marathon distance. “[The marathon] is easy to love when you are getting better at it all the time,” said Lilienthal. “There are a lot of good runners that I look up to, but one day I’d like to beat them.” Since August 2007, she started training with Team USA Minnesota, and is now coached by Dennis Barker. Lilienthal joins a strong group of women in Minneapolis: Carrie Tollefson, Katie McGregor, Emily Brown, Mandi Zemba, and Kristen Nicolini Lehmkuhle. It will be exciting to see what is ahead for Lilienthal as she starts her 2008 racing season under the guidance of Coach Dennis Barker. Barker has been the coach of Team USA Minnesota since it was formed in 2001. “[Barker] is a great, smart guy. He genuinely loves the sport. There’s a purpose behind everything he says,” stated Lilienthal. Lilienthal also regularly keeps in touch with her high school coaches, Tom Mittman and Steve Sherwood. “They’ve always been a big part of my career,” said Lilienthal. “They are a big part of the mental and emotional aspects of training and racing. They keep me grounded.” Michelle’s original plan was to run the AT&T Austin Half Marathon last month. However, a bout with plantar fasciitis kept her from running the event. Her fiancée, Jacob Frey, ran in the full marathon in Austin on February 17 and won in 2:20:38. Frey proposed to Lilienthal two weeks ago at the Twin Cities Marathon host hotel, where they first met in 2006. “It was love at first sight,” said Lilienthal. Despite cortisone injections, Active Release Technique (ART) therapy, icing, stretching, and custom orthotics, Lilienthal believes that the plantar fasciitis has been one of the worst injuries that she has ever had. “It started last summer, and has been a very slow, nagging injury,” said Lilienthal. “Some days I wake up, and it’s frustrating. This has been going on for eight months. If there wasn’t a race coming up, I’d take completely off [from training].” Right now, the upcoming Olympic Trials Marathon in Boston is helping to keep Lilienthal motivated to maintain her fitness. She has been running on the underwater treadmill, working out on the stationary bike at the gym, and running as much as she can without pain. “I love long tempo runs at marathon race pace. I’m in the zone. I can go at a pace that gives me confidence going into the marathon,” said Lilienthal. “The half [marathon] seems so short now.” Even though the injury has been an unwelcome one, she is staying positive. “Jacob has been a big help. He makes me feel better, and a stronger runner,” said Lilienthal. Frey and Lilienthal sometimes run workouts together. With her 26th birthday coming up on April 15 and only a mere five days before the Olympic Trials Women’s Marathon, Lilienthal does not plan on celebrating it until after the race. According to Lilienthal, it will be hard to get excited for any birthday celebrations until after the big test at the Trials. Lilienthal might surprise herself with a solid marathon finish in Boston, and maybe a trip to Beijing could be the ultimate birthday gift. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Photo by Victah Sailer (www.photorun.net) To read Michelle Lilienthal's NYRR journal, please visit http://www.nyrr.org/races/pro/usa_distance/michellelilienthal.asp.