More than a dozen runners who live in San Diego are preparing to compete in the upcoming Marathon Olympic Trials to be held Saturday, Mar. 29 in Atlanta, Georgia.
The top three men and top three women in Saturday's race in Atlanta will get to represent Team USA in Tokyo.
One of the fastest local runners is Dylan Marx, a graduate of Mount Miguel High School, who went on to compete in college.
Marx, 27, was mainly a 3 to 6 mile specialist until this past December when he ran his first-ever marathon and qualified for the trials with a time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.
“I have several minutes I think on the chopping block,” said Marx, who works at Milestone Runners, a local running store that allows him a flexible schedule to pursue competitive races.
Another local runner heading to the trials for the first time is Meriah Earle, who does private and high school coaching for other runners.
Earle, 41, is the who qualified with a personal best 2 hours and 31 minutes marathon time last year uses her story as a way of encouraging young athletes to keep working hard regardless of their initial results.
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Earle earned ‘most improved’ on her high school cross country after being unable to do a full workout without sitting down at the start of her initial season. By the end of the season, she improved to walking during hard workouts.
“So I’ve come a long way from someone who couldn’t run a mile, to someone who can now run 26.2 of them under a 6-minute pace,” Earle said.
Earle, who won the 2019 Carlsbad 5000, is 1 of 4 San Diego women over the age of 40, to qualify for the USA Marathon Olympic Trials.
San Diego natives have done well recently at the Olympic Trials with Meb Keflezighi and Desiree Davila both qualifying for the past several Olympics.
“To chase that legacy, and a few other San Diego names is fun,” said Marx. “I think in the next 4 to 6 years I can cement my name in a local standard."
The 2020 U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials airs Saturday at 9 a.m. on NBC 7.