After work, she does either another run, cross-training or weight training. On Sundays she takes a longer run – 20 miles or more.
“It’s not easy to cram 20 hours a week of training in with a 40-hours-a-week job and having two kids,” said Benson, who will compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the marathon, Feb. 29 in Atlanta, Georgia. “It’s a way to get out of the house and have my own interest, and show my kids you can have a goal and go after it. I want to show them you can do anything you put your mind to.”
For Benson, long-distance running was a way to meet people when she moved to Ithaca – a passion she could pursue after having twins. For her running partner, Bailey Drewes, a clinical research coordinator in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, competitive running offered not just exercise but camaraderie.
Both women ran during middle school, high school and college, but didn’t feel they found their niche – or their community – until they started running marathons.
“I never ever would have imagined that I’d qualify for the Olympic trials,” Drewes said. “I didn’t feel like I reached my full potential in high school or college – I think I’ve always been a long-distance person. Running the marathon, I finally found where my heart was.”
Since qualifying for the trials – which, for women, requires running the 26.2-mile event in 2 hours, 45 minutes or faster – their goal has shifted to reaching the more elite “A” standard, requiring a 2:37 time. Their passion for marathon running reflects a nationwide trend: 511 women qualified for the 2020 Olympic marathon trials, compared with 198 in 2016.
The number of men qualifying increased more modestly, from 211 in 2016 to 260 this year.