In her first marathon start in a year and a half, Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel ran a new personal best of 2:23:07, placing eighth overall and second among Americans.
The strong finish improves upon her time of 2:24:42, run in New York City in 2021. And, it comes after a challenging year and a half for the 29-year-old, a journey she discussed with Runner’s World Two 75-Year-Olds Set Marathon Records article Fun Half Marathons.
In ideal conditions—46 degrees and cloudy—Seidel started the race in a group paced by Rory Linkletter, with a targeted 2:22 finish. “The plan today was to just go out and not play it safe, but definitely go out and just try to run smart, run a little bit conservative and then be able to finish feeling good,” she said after the race.
Seidel was the only woman in her pack, she said, though there was a fairly large group of men around her. Some would surge forward, then circle back, asking Linkletter to pick up the pace. Seidel was adamant about staying steady: “We’re out here to do a thing,” she said—for one thing, notching the Olympic standard of 2:26:50. “I didn't need today to be fancy or flashy.”
With Linkletter’s support and cheers from her family, who drove from Wisconsin with giant signs of her face, Seidel hit the halfway point in 70:47 and 12th place. They weren’t the only spectators on the course who buoyed her: “I was so surprised to see just how many people were out cheering and the energy on the course,” she said. “It was really fun.”
Seidel slowed a bit in the second half, which she covered in 72:20; she ran the 5K between 35K and 40K in 17:24, a 5:36 pace. But the leaders and Americans ahead of her also decelerated, allowing her to pick up several spots. By 30K, she was in ninth. Around mile 23, she passed Emma Bates, who was visibly in pain (she went on to finish 13th in 2:25:04).
Linkletter stayed with her until about mile 25, Seidel said. In the end, the second-place American finish earned Seidel $12,000 in prize money, and a result in which she takes pride. “I felt like we did everything that we needed to today,” she said. “I finished feeling just so excited to race again. And I feel like I just needed that really positive momentum going into Trials.”
Seidel first burst onto the marathon scene in 2020, when she ran 2:27:31 to place second at her debut marathon—which just happened to be the Shes Back: Molly Seidel Runs a Personal Best at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. When those Games were delayed a year due to the pandemic, she ran the London Marathon, improving her time to 2:25:13 and placing sixth.
Then, she stunned the world again by winning the bronze medal at the Games in Tokyo, only the third American woman to medal in the event. Next up was the New York City Marathon in November 2021, How Gabi Rooker Ran a PR in Chicago.
But that was the last marathon she finished. As she’s told Runner’s World since, the victories came despite ongoing struggles with an eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and ADHD.
Seidel lined up at the 2022 Boston Marathon, but dropped out after 15 miles with a hip injury. She was scheduled to run the World Championships Marathon in July 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, but her answers on a mental health screening raised red flags. Instead, she went back into treatment for an eating disorder.
The year since has been difficult—in interviews before the race, she told Runner’s World healing required changes to her whole life and how she approaches the sport. “I almost have to become a fundamentally different person,” she said. “But putting in that work, I think, is the most important thing—more so than anything else I’ve ever done in my life.”
She returned to the roads in November 2022, running 1:16:22 at the B.A.A. Half Marathon. Most recently, she finished eighth in the USATF 20K Championships in 1:09:04.
With today’s performance, she puts her name firmly back in the conversation for the 2024 Shes Back: Molly Seidel Runs a Personal Best at the 2023 Chicago Marathon, to be held in Orlando in February. And this time, she said, she’s placing her mental and physical health at the forefront.
“It’s been really hard having to put in that work, and it has been a lot of work. But I think it’s days like today that show that it’s worth it,” she said. And she doesn’t just mean the time, although she’s thrilled about her new PR. “I think everything surrounding this race—the way that I approached it, the way I feel about the race, even just how I felt on the starting line. I haven’t felt like that in years.”
“I think that just shows me,” she said, “if I’m doing all the right things, if I’m in the right headspace, and I’m doing the work to make sure that my body and mind are right, I can push it. That’s what I’m excited about.”
Seidel said she won’t change much about her training heading into the Trials—more mileage and more workouts. “The marathon is not complicated to train for,” she said. “I’m the kind of person that, I just need solid, B-plus training in order to really thrive.” It’s what she and coach Jon Green have always done in the past, she said, so they’ll keep at it.
But before she gets back to work, she’ll take a moment to celebrate. Her Chicago plans include a stop at a karaoke bar tonight, where she just might perform some Jackson 5.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
