PUBLISHED 09/25/2006
The Dreamer: Deena Kastor
Prognosticators never considered her a threat. But Deena Kastor's sole moment of trepidation at the Athens Olympic Marathon on August 22 came at the start, where she saw a thermometer that read 101 degrees.
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| ©Patrik Giardino |
"I thought, 'This is going to be the most taxing, brutal, challenging death march of my life,' " she says. Kastor, 31, knew, however, that her 140-mile-a-week training for Athens was the hardest she'd ever done. She ran conservatively, patiently picking off runners until she passed Ethiopia's Elfenesh Alemu to move into third. She wasn't even sure what place she held until 100 meters from Panathinaiko Stadium. Kastor wept as she crossed the finish line in 2:27:20, giving the U.S. its first Olympic Marathon medal since Joan Benoit Samuelson won the inaugural Women's Olympic Marathon in 1984. An amazed America watched her on TV as she graciously thanked her coach, Joe Vigil, and her massage-therapist husband, Andrew. Of those who doubted her chances, she asks, "Don't these people know the power of dreaming?"
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