Gato Boys @ 2024 Olympic Trials Marathon

As a field of a little under 300 runners descended upon Florida for the weekend to see if the roads of Orlando led to Paris, while one CT native had been there months already. Alex Norstrom, a CCSU alum and assistant coach had recently been invited to join coach Hanson’s Olympic development program. His performance of 2:16 at the 2023 Hartford Marathon was enough to both qualify for the Olympic Trials and to join the elite group. After hundreds of miles in preparation in the Florida sun, Alex ran 2:21. Not the time he was looking to get out of the race, especially after having to deal with someone inadvertently taking his bottles at the first three bottle stations. Regardless, Alex finished 81st, 15 spots better than where he was seeded at. It was a privilege to watch him run and finally get his opportunity to shine after all the 4:30am workouts I’ve seen him do on Strava.

credit @meteredexposure

Besides just watching Alex, the rest of the mens race was quite entreating with the BYU buddies, Connor and Clayton going 1-2 in the race. It will also be interesting to see over the next couple months if Lenny Korir makes the team, as he was the third finisher. It was also a big shock to see Fiona O’Keeffe win big in her marathon debut. A massive PR for her as she has now established herself as a marathon runner. Emily Sisson also competed as expected taking home silver, and another relative surprise being Dakota Lindwurm, being seeded 10th.