Cure's second Disney Marathon a fairy-tale finish
ORLANDO, Fla. – Salve Regina alumna Lea Cure '16 (Altamont, N.Y.) wrote a happy ending to her own Disney story on Sunday morning, posting a personal-best time of 3 hours, 32 minutes and 34 seconds in her second appearance in the Walt Disney World Marathon.
Cure, who represented the Seahawks in 29 cross country races between 2012 and 2015, made her marathon debut at Disney in 2016. After training in cool and dry fall weather in Rhode Island, she struggled when heat and high humidity factored in to her first race at 26.2 miles.
She returned to Orlando with one goal in mind: An improvement over the 3:53:47 that she ran in 2016. Cure's end result, a 21-minute personal best, exceeded her own expectations when she also hit the qualifying standard for the 2018 running of the Boston Marathon.
The Boston qualifying standard for women ages 18 to 34 is 3:35:00. However, the cut-off for entry is often one to two minutes faster than the standard. Entrants for 2017 needed to be at least 2:09 under their qualifying time. For 2016, it was 2:28. With a time that is 2:26 faster than the standard, Cure will likely be on the bubble for 2018.
Cure had not planned to make a Boston-qualifying attempt until the Mohawk Hudson Marathon on Oct. 8. So, posting a Boston-eligible time on Jan. 8 made a second run through the Magic Kingdom all the more worthwhile. The race was run under a cold weather advisory, with temperatures in Orlando in the high 30s. Those conditions suited Cure – who trained in Newport and Jamestown – just fine.
"The weather conditions were perfect for the race, it started cold but I'll take that over Florida's humidity any day. My goal today was to set a new PR, but when I realized I was feeling really good, I decided to go after the Boston qualifying time," Cure said. "Sometimes the stars align just the right way for a race, and today was one of those days."
Cure was consistent in the opening miles, splitting five miles at 39:45 and 10 miles at 1:19:09. She maintained that pace – just under eight minutes per mile – through 13.1 miles and 20 miles. In the final six miles, it was clear to Cure that her goal was within reach.
"There are so many things about the marathon that are beyond a runner's control. Lea caught a bad break last year when the humidity spiked on race weekend. This year, conditions were much more favorable, and she got a much better idea of what she can do at that distance," said head coach Rob McGuinness. "I'm proud of Lea for training consistently and putting herself in a position to succeed. This is an excellent result."
Cure is the most recent in a series of young alumnae to post Boston-eligible performances at 26.2 miles. Classmate Shannon Holden '16 had a Boston-qualifying effort at the Bay State Marathon in October. Karen Krupa '13 and Mallory Goding '13 will run at Boston in April.
# # #
Courtesy of Rob McGuinness