Boston Marathon qualifier continues training, inspires others to run

For 23 years, Pecan Plantation resident Nannette Samuelson has been running, biking and swimming — training daily for several marathons and triathlons that she participates in every year.

After missing the qualification cutoff for the Boston Marathon by 52 seconds in 2018 (two seconds a mile), the 61-year-old has now qualified for the Boston Marathon twice, once in 2019 and once in 2020.

“After my first marathon I thought , ‘I wonder what it would take for me to qualify for Boston,’ so I looked it up and thought, ‘That's probably doable,’ because I did this race, and I did it slow because it was my first marathon, and I didn't know what to expect. I felt good at the end,” she said. “You've heard people say they hit the wall at the end or something like that. I didn't ever feel that through that first race, so I said, ‘I'm going to actually try to do this.’”

In 2019, although Samuelson qualified for the Boston Marathon, she wasn’t able to participate because her finishing time was slower compared to others in her age group.

“Since there's so many people across the world who submit their applications, they go with the fastest qualifiers in your age group,” she explained. “(I had to beat) four hours and 10 minutes and I think I ran in four hours and nine minutes, so I just barely made it, but so many people in my age group were way below that, that I didn't get to run. So even though I qualified and got a cap that said, ‘Boston Marathon qualifier,’ I didn't get to run.”

In 2020, Samuelson had bumped up to the next age group and finished her race in four hours and 16 minutes and the cutoff was four hours and 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the Boston Marathon was postponed due to COVID-19, and the marathon was held in a virtual format.

“I did the virtual Boston Marathon right there in my neighborhood, got the medal and the T-shirt and everything, but it just wasn't in Boston,” Samuelson said.

Recently, officials with the Boston Marathon decided to host a requalifying round for those who weren’t able to run in the 2020 race. Unfortunately, officials also reduced the field size — limiting the race to 20,000 entrants — and lowered the cut-off time.

“You had to finish the race seven minutes and 47 seconds faster than your qualifying time. Mine was three minutes and 45 seconds, so I just got a notification the other day that I didn't make it,” she said.

Although Samuelson still hasn’t been able to run the actual Boston Marathon course, she will still continue to train daily to achieve her goal.

“I'll still try again. I'm not disheartened,” she said. “I mean, this is an unprecedented time where, you know, race directors have to do lots of things to keep people safe and comply with the health rules and things, so I'm still going to try again and eventually, I think I'll not just qualify, but get to actually run.”

Pecan Plantation resident Sandy Stultz first met her friend, Samuelson at a meeting a few years ago. Samuelson had just finished running a marathon and was decked out in her running gear.

“I did not realize she had only been doing this for a little while,” Stultz said. “I thought ‘Oh my gosh, that's a story in itself.’ I find her very impressive of what she has accomplished in what she's doing, even today. Not everybody gets to even put an application in (for the Boston Marathon) and she's qualified up to that point; I'm impressed.”

FROM 5K RACES TO TRIATHLONS

Samuelson was 38 when her then 8-year-old daughter, Lyndi convinced her to participate in the Fort Worth Cowtown 5K — and that was just the beginning.

Since then, Samuelson continued to train and work her way up, participating in 10Ks, 13.1-mile races, marathons and finally, triathlons.

“Triathlon training is much different than training for a marathon as it includes three disciplines, swimming, cycling and running. I was 44 when I competed in my first triathlon,” she said. “That was 17 years ago and I still totally love the sport. I raced a ton of sprint triathlons since that time, winning first in age group, masters and grand masters awards in many races. As with other things in my life, setting goals, discipline, planning and overcoming obstacles were keys to success in each of these goals.”

Samuelson has qualified for the Triathlon Age Group Nationals every year for the past 10 years. She is excited to compete in her first half-Ironman this October, which includes a 1.2-mile open water swim, 56 miles of cycling and a 13.1-mile run. 

TRAINING

As for training, Samuelson trains differently for each race, using different speeds and cadence (stride rate, or pedal rate) to achieve her goal.

"For triathlons, I swim two days a week, cycle two days a week, and run two days a week, and then some of those days, I'll do what we call a brick, where you do two. You either swim and bike, or you bike and run, so I'll ride my bike for 24 miles and then immediately get off and run three miles,” she said. “It just gets your legs used to that transition. .”

She said finding the time to train and avoiding injury are her two biggest challenges when it comes to preparing for her races.

COACHING TRIATHLETES

For the past three years, Samuelson has also been spending her time coaching triathletes.

“I love it. I love the sport, first of all, because it's just so much fun,” she said. “The community is really supportive and it kind of breaks things up. Some days you swim, some days you bike and it's a full body workout so you're really exercising a lot of different muscles in your body.”

Samuelson said she loves training triathletes because anyone can do it. Her youngest triathlete was 22 and her oldest was 57.

“I have people I've trained who just had a goal that said, ‘I just wanted to do a triathlon before I turn 50’ and it's really doable because in the pool, you don't have to be able to swim the whole way; you can swim a lap and stop at the edge, and then swim another lap. On the bike, you go at your own pace; you can coast if you need to. The run, you can always walk,” she said. “That’s how I take the fear out of it for newbies. I just think that anyone can do it with training. I've just loved seeing people that have had that goal of ‘I've never done anything like this before. I don't know where to start,’ and then they cross the finish line. High five, you're a triathlete.

“I love to get people into the sport because it's something they can do for the rest of their life.”