By Less than five years ago, Louise Knudson had never run a marathon. Today she is training for her next 26.2 mile race in January, which could earn her a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
A nurse at the University of Virginia Health System’s Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery Post-Operative Intensive Care Unit, Knudson’s only running experience was two years on her high school track team and a couple of 5k’s during college before she decided to run her first marathon while attending nursing school in Denver. After running two Denver Marathons, she qualified for the Boston Marathon in April of this year and ran with a time of 2:42:42, beating the 2:46 requirement to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Now Knudson is training with Ragged Mountain Racing, a team of post-collegiate distance runners and will compete in the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon this coming January. To make the team, she must finish in one of the top three spots.
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