UCLA triathlete places first in Nike Women’s Marathon

Upon signing up, fourth-year biochemistry student Emily Gordon wasn’t just thinking about completing the 26.2-mile Nike Women’s Marathon – her first marathon– on Oct. 20. Although completion alone would have been noteworthy for a first-time marathon runner, the UCLA Triathlon member had something far greater in mind.

Gordon was in part motivated by several of her teammates’ participation in the marathon. Having already done a half marathon in the past and fueled by a recent passion for running, Gordon saw this as a prime opportunity to do something she figured she was bound to do eventually: run a full marathon.

Her own triathlon teammates saw that Gordon had a high potential as to her performance in the marathon, and believed that such potential could be realized.

“I told her she was going to run somewhere between 2:45 and 2:50. I was pretty sure she was going to run fast, but seeing it written down and on the internet, it becomes real,” said Gordon’s club triathlon teammate Charara Mohammad. “You’re just really impressed that it actually happened.”

Gordon not only ran a stellar time, but finished in first place with a time of 2:51:56. Gordon had been training and competing for triathlon events since she joined the squad, but she had never run a marathon before and had not been solely training for such an event.

“This year, she has mostly been training for triathlons. Since a lot of the girls on the team were also doing this marathon, she decided she would go do it. She had been running really well lately and improved very quickly,” said Brady O’Bryan, Gordon’s triathlon coach. “I wasn’t really surprised at how well she did. But she wasn’t training specifically for a marathon.”

The potential is certainly there for Gordon should she decide to emphasize marathon running in addition to the triathlon. With the time she acquired, she is less than nine minutes away from being eligible to run in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.

She would need a time of 2:43 to do so. Gordon believes that since achieving an Olympic trial time is within reason, she may be motivated to look into more marathon running and a training regimen more focused on longer distance running.

“It’s a driving force, it would be really cool to find out. It is also very scary to hear that,” Gordon said of the Olympic trials. “The fact that I got to do it with all my teammates was a reason to do another, just to have that awesome feeling of getting across the finish line.”

For now, Gordon focuses more on her commitments to club triathlon at UCLA and her obligations as a student. But her future remains bright in both avenues, and she may also soon realize a new potential.

“I definitely committed to my triathlon team this year, so I definitely want to give that 100 percent of my efforts,” Gordon said. “Since it’s only been a week, I have definitely been thinking about how I can regroup for some marathon training.”

“I am not only thinking about my team but also thinking about my future, and so there is a way I can do both.”