OLYMPICS — WOMEN’S MARATHON

She just kept grinding along. She was an unfamiliar sight running in only her third marathon and each time she remained in step with the front runners from Kenya, it was like “Who dat.”?

That was 27-year-old Molly Seidel of Wisconsin whose dream was realized when she hung around long enough to finish a strong third in Saturday morning‘s women’s marathon at the 2002 TokyoSummer Games.

She was an early fan of track and field who actually forecasted this day when she was a kid. In fourth grade, she wrote a note to herself and even showed it to her parents. One of her goals was to make the Olympics, and even more specific: Earn a gold medal.

Well, she wasn’t far from that, finished behind Kenya’s well-traveled Peres Jepchirchir’s, who was in the top three since the start through the streets of Sapporo, which is 500 miles north of Tokyo, and ran 2 hours, 27 minutes, 20 seconds.

When it was Jepchirchir and country mates Brigid Kosgei and Aliphine Tuliamuk, a part-time Santa Fe resident, remain together on one side of the road before a limited number of spectators, Seidel was cruising along as an unknown on the other side of the road.

With No. 1192 with United States on her jersey, she always looked confident, like she had been doing it for ages. She maintained the same pace, and when Tuliamuk slowed down and walked out of the race with about two miles to go, it gave Seidel a chance for a medal, at this time a bronze.

Jepchirchir and Kosgei were then running shoulder-to-shoulder late in the race when Jepchirchir made her move. Seidel didn’t follow and now needed to stay where she was and get the bronze medal.

And when others continued to watch, there was Seidel about 50 yards ahead of the fourth place runner, and she crossed the finish with a scream and yelled “Hi” into the camera to her mom, dad and the rest of her supporters.

Bronze felt so satisfying.

“I came in today with a whole lot of expectations,” Seidel said. “I was hoping to be in the top 10, but I just kept trying to stick my nose where it didn’t belong and just kind of get after it. I mean, Olympics only happens once every four years, and you might as well take your shot.”

In the Olympics trials, Seidel ran well and had the USA’s second-fastest time. But now she tried to stay cool anyway possible. Almost everywhere on the course, runners were grabbing bags filled with ice, and Seidel was seen at the halfway mark quickly drinking some water and then pouring some over her head.

She became only the third American to finish in the top three of the summer Olympics. Some of the competitors got a taste of the furnace-type heat and humidity at the 2019 world championships in Doha. That race was run at midnight and the temperatures still hit 88 degrees.

It was similar this time, and after the sun started to come out, it led to nearly 30 runners not reaching the finish line. The starter’s gun went off near 6 a.m. under a sunny sky, and with the temperatures reading 77 degrees. It climbed to 86 degrees near the finish, with a humidity of around 66 percent.

But Seidel made her way from start to finish and became quite a story as she turned in a time of two hours, 42 minutes and 37 seconds. Runner-up Kosgei clocked 2:35.28.

On Instagram, Seidel wrote, “Other kids wanted to be astronauts or firefighters, I wanted to be a runner. Even on the hardest days I try to remember how blessed I am to do the thing my 10-year-old self only dreamed about.”

One more thing after she found a place to sit and be interviewed.

“Let me tell you,” she said, “it’s no doubt exciting to go down the course and see people cheering and see people with the flags out, especially those of the United States.”

And back in Wisconsin, it was one happy time for her family and friends.