Ruth Brennan Morrey - 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Runner's World

When Ruth Brennan Morrey needs a confidence boost during a tough workout or race, she thinks of the girls soccer team she coaches in her hometown of Rochester, Minnesota.

The group of 12-year-olds—which includes her middle child of three, Shea—are guided by team values like “fearlessness, courage, work ethic, fun, respect, and giving back to others,” which are outlined by the teammates themselves at the beginning of the season. Morrey often celebrates when a player demonstrates these values on and off the field.

At 44-years-old, the former pro triathlete exemplifies courage in her pursuit of athletic goals. At the 2019 California International Marathon in December, she ran a personal best of 2:43:41 to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials almost 20 years after she competed at the championship in 2000.

Achieving the Olympic Trials standard was just one of many “intimidating goals” that Morrey has approached with a smile: playing Division I and semi-professional soccer, qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Trials, and becoming a professional triathlete before returning to running, to name a few. But as she guides the younger generation at the start of their athletic careers, Morrey’s courage has taken on new meaning.

“Telling [the players] my story doesn’t mean anything unless they can connect with it,” Morrey told Runner’s World. “[Having] courage and being able to strive for character first and results second is what I hope to instill in them.”

Two Roads to the Trials

Though she was always a competitive athlete, Morrey didn’t start running until her senior year at the University of Wisconsin, where she starred as a midfielder and forward on the women’s soccer team. In the summers, she played semi-professionally for the Chicago Cobras. When her NCAA eligibility ended in 1998, Morrey enrolled in a marathon training class at Wisconsin where in order to pass she needed to complete a marathon. At the 1998 Madison Marathon, Morrey debuted with a time of 3:15.

The following year, she trained for Grandma’s Marathon with the goal of breaking three hours. To her surprise, she ran 2:48:20, which was good enough for the Olympic Marathon Trials “B” standard at the time and earned her a spot on the starting line at the 2000 Trials. At age 24, she went on to finish in 2:48:17, placing 34th out of 210 competitors at the championship in Columbia, South Carolina.

After the 2000 Trials, Morrey competed in local races but felt burned out from a cycle of injuries and stopped racing in 2002. For eight years, Morrey took a break from competition while pursuing her career and growing her family. She got married, earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology, and had three children between 2002 and 2010.

“During the eight years away from sport, I grew in my faith, developed a purpose in my running and sport goals, and promised myself that my purpose would always come first,” Morrey said. “This was such a critical part of my journey.”

Missing the thrill of competition, Morrey decided to test her endurance in duathlons and triathlons after giving birth to her third child in February 2010. In 2011, she competed in her first half Ironman, the Chicago Lakes Triathlon, where she finished third in 4:43:19. That same year, she qualified for the ITU Long Distance World Championships. She finished as the first overall amateur and ninth among the professional field in Henderson, Nevada. After breaking four course records in 2012, Morrey turned professional the following year.

During one Ironman, Morrey recorded a 2:57 marathon after completing nearly 115 miles of combined swimming and biking.

Unfortunately, she was sidelined for an entire year in 2017 with a hamstring injury, which forced her to reconsider her commitment to the sport. In 2018, she decided to retire from triathlons, but she maintained a desire to chase competitive goals.

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“I felt triathlon was too intense. I was really tired all the time. I had it down time-wise how to fit in my training with my family, but my energy was lacking when I did have time with them,” Morrey said. “So I decided to dial it back and focus on running, which was always my big love.”

Always a Goal-Seeker

Twenty years after competing at her first marathon championship, Morrey decided to pursue her goal of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Trials on February 29, 2020.

This time around, Morrey had a lot more responsibilities on top of running. Along with spending time with her children—Conner (14), Shea (12), and Finn (9)—and her husband, Mark, Morrey was studying to take her final boards exam, which will qualify her to become a licensed psychologist.

To earn a spot in the 2020 Olympic Trials, Morrey had to chase a time under the “B” standard of 2:45:00, more than three minutes faster than her personal best from 2000. Despite the added challenge of getting faster 20 years after setting her personal best, Morrey wasn’t fazed.

“I’m a goal-seeker and I have that drive to achieve something big. It’s in my blood,” she said.

In December 2018, she started training for the marathon distance under the guidance of her triathlon coach Phil Skiba. For months, she built up to 60 to 70 mile weeks in preparation for Grandma’s Marathon in June 2019, her first official 26.2 since the 2000 Trials.

Morrey fell short of the “B” standard at Grandma’s, finishing in 2:53:55 after going out too fast in the first 15 miles. Still adjusting to marathon-specific training, she felt unusually fatigued throughout the cycle and decided to take on the next phase with a self-guided approach.

“I have a bigger fear of potential regret than I do a fear of failure.”

Despite feeling depleted after Grandma’s, Morrey remained persistent while logging runs on her own terms and stayed patient on the days when she needed to cross-train on the bike instead of run. In the end, she was unable to determine a cause for the fatigue, but in the fall, her dedication began to pay off.

“I couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but I just kept showing up every day and I had this peppy spell that started at the beginning of September. I really started to perk up and feel really good on my runs,” she said.

Before her taper for CIM, Morrey was logging between 80 and 90 miles per week. To lessen the impact on her legs, she broke up her runs into doubles four days a week.

Being a ‘Positive Light’

When she arrived at the CIM starting line on December 8 in Sacramento, California, Morrey focused on a new mental strategy that she honed after Grandma’s. Her mantra was “stay here,” which meant “manage body respiration, cadence, and tension, and be in the moment,” for each portion of the race.

Running with the pack of 72 women who clocked sub-2:45 in Sacramento, Morrey split 1:22:09 at halfway and negative split the second half, finishing in an official time of 2:43:41.

“It’s something I’ll never forget. It’s a big lesson in terms of what you can do when you set your mind to something intimidating and smile at that intimidating goal,” Morrey said. “My whole life has kind of been like that—trying to go after huge goals and not really caring about whether I failed at anything. I have a bigger fear of potential regret than I do a fear of failure and I think that is taking me far in my life.”

In her 40-49 age group, Morrey was one of 23 women who ran under three hours at CIM. Her performance was almost five minutes faster than her personal best from 2000, which she ran at age 24.

“I think you can do a lot when you’re 44, and I just love that women are still striving [at this age],” she said. “I think a big part of it is seeing other women like me and having that renewed belief in myself that it’s not too late. Good things can happen if you take care of your body.”

After she hit the standard at CIM, Morrey received several encouraging messages from her soccer players who congratulated her on the achievement. In weekly practice with their coach, the girls have grown to understand what that OTQ meant to her. Morrey’s hope is that her athletes connect with her story and be courageous in their own lives.

“It’s not even a choice for me. It’s a responsibility for me to give back and to be a positive light for these girls,” Morrey said.

Taylor Dutch Contributing Writer Taylor Dutch is a freelance writer living in Chicago.

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