Fast Women: Beatrice Chebet takes a step back from the sport
How Molly Maksin coached herself to an OTQ in her marathon debut
Issue 388, sponsored by Aletheia Run
The world’s best distance runner will focus on other priorities in 2026
Less than a week out from the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, World Athletics has yet to publish start lists for Saturday’s races. But it became clear last week that Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, the world’s best distance runner, will not be in Tallahassee to vie for her third-straight world cross country title.
Rumors that she is pregnant were already flying, and Chebet’s Instagram post from last week, in which she wrote, “Our hearts are full and can’t wait for this next chapter of life… See you in 2027!” seemed to suggest they were true.
Since then, she has addressed the matter in more straightforward terms. She told the Daily Nation (paywall), “I really pushed myself to the limit the last two years, and this year, I thought it wise to take time off and recover, and while at it, become a mother.” And she told journalist Michelle Katami, “This was my plan—to start a family. Balancing work and family is important to me. I will be back.”
In the U.S., runners often cite American athletes when discussing the fact that women can return to the top of the sport after having babies. But no one has shown that more times over than Kenyan women. Faith Kipyegon, Hellen Obiri, Edna Kiplagat, Mary Keitany, Lilian Odira, and Brigid Kosgei are among those whose greatest running accomplishments have come after they’ve had children.
Chebet is only 25, and the last two years of her career have been incredible. In 2024, she won the Olympic 5,000m/10,000m double, and in 2025, she did the same at the world championships. She also set world records in both events, and ran a world record of 13:54 for 5K on the roads as well. This year is the first without a major outdoor championship since 2020, so it’s a good year to take a step back.
Thanks to Alethia Run for sponsoring Fast Women this week
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How Molly Maksin qualified for the Olympic Trials in her marathon debut
Molly Maksin didn’t know what to expect going into her debut marathon, but it couldn’t have gone much better. At the California International Marathon (CIM) on December 7, she ran 2:36:38 and qualified for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Maksin, 25, was a standout runner for Colorado School of Mines, and running CIM was her first major post-collegiate goal. Preparing for the race meant figuring out how to balance serious training with her full-time job as a civil engineer. One of her most reliable training partners throughout her build was her five-year-old Belgian Malinois, Duchy, whose presence served as a reminder to make sure she was having fun along the way.
Becoming a top DII runner
Like many standout runners, Maksin started out as a soccer player. But as her competitors got bigger and she did not, running started to feel like a safer option. She switched to cross country heading into her freshman year at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado, but she didn’t get serious about the sport until midway through her junior year, when she realized she was fast enough to run in college.
As a senior, Maksin finished 16th in the highly competitive Colorado 4A State Cross Country Championships. She never qualified for the state meet in track, but she ran 11:35 for 3200m and 5:28 for 1600m at altitude, along with an 18:25 cross country 5K closer to sea level.
Maksin decided to attend Mines for academic and financial reasons, before meeting cross country and track & field coach Chris Siemers. But the school ended up being a good fit athletically as well. She entered college without many expectations as far as what she could achieve athletically, but with so many high-achieving teammates to look up to and train alongside, she set bigger goals over time.
Her first year of college was disrupted by the pandemic, but she used that time to build a stronger base. When competition resumed, she became an All American in her first season back. During her five years at Mines, Maksin earned a B.S. in environmental engineering, an M.S. in advanced energy systems, became a five-time Division II All American, and ran personal bests of 16:18.62 for 5,000m and 34:56.00 for 10,000m.
Maksin gradually built up to running more than 70 miles per week and managed to avoid major injuries. But during her junior year, the stress of college running caught up to her, and she developed an ulcer. “I’m definitely a worrier, so I think that caused me to put a lot of added stress onto my body,” she said. “But my last two years of college, I did a lot of internal reflection and tried to teach myself not to take things too seriously and just do my best.”
The idea of running a marathon took root while Maksin was still at Mines. She and teammate Zoe Baker excelled at tempo and long runs, and during the fall of Maksin’s fifth year, Baker—who was out of cross country eligibility—made her marathon debut, running 2:35:52 and qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Trials.
Baker’s success piqued Maksin’s interest in trying the distance, and it also made Trials qualifying feel like a more realistic goal. “I think Zoe believed in me more than I believed in myself,” Maksin said. “She’s a very good hype person.”
Moving to the marathon
Maksin finished her collegiate career in the spring of 2024 feeling burned out, but after a month of not doing much, her love for running returned. Post-collegiate running offered a clean slate, free from many of the expectations that had come with college competition.
“It’s a great way to clear your mind,” she told Fast Women. “But even more than that, I missed the people that came with running. I mostly got back into it so I could hang out with all of my friends. We are all so busy—if I wanted to hang out with the people I wanted to hang out with, I had to run.”
Graduation brought other changes as well. Maksin remained in Golden, Colorado, and she accepted her dream job working as a civil engineer designing renewable energy sites such as solar fields and wind farms. And she and her partner, John O’Malley, adopted Duchy.
She spent her first year out of college racing occasionally, but when the Olympic Trials qualifying (OTQ) standard of 2:37:00 was announced in June, she had her first big post-collegiate goal. Maksin is one of a growing wave of young, talented runners who are transitioning to the marathon soon after college. So far, 25 runners who are 26 or younger have qualified for the 2028 Trials. It helped that several of Maksin’s former teammates had successfully made the move.
“I like the feeling of finding success,” she said. “And for people in my place, it’s hard to find that same level of success on the track, because you have to be extremely fast and amazing to make it to the track trials. [Based on] what I wanted to get from the competitive aspect of running, going to the roads and the marathon made the most sense.”
Maksin coached herself throughout her CIM build, but she got marathon training advice from Siemers and Baker. O’Malley was also chasing an OTQ, so she saw what he and other men from Colorado were doing and adapted some of the workouts to work for her. “It was definitely a lot of guessing and experimenting this build, which made it kind of scary going into the race,” she said. “I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know if I did enough in training, or if I was underprepared.”
Maksin was able to join the Mines team for a couple of workouts and long runs, serving as a pacer, friend, and sounding board for the athletes on the team. And though she and Baker were based in different places, their travel schedules allowed them to overlap for a couple of long runs leading up to CIM.
But one of Maksin’s most consistent training partners was Duchy, who joined her for all of her easy runs—about 30 miles per week. As Maksin’s goals have grown more ambitious, she has worked to avoid the pressure she felt during college, reminding herself that she’s choosing to run, and that it needs to remain enjoyable. Duchy, who always dictates the pace on their runs, helps reinforce that mindset.
“She’s taught me a lot about taking things less seriously,” Maksin said. “It’s nice to run for her, and not really myself, on my easy days. Sometimes we’ll stand in the middle of a field for 20 minutes during the run. Our elapsed time is horrible, but at the end of the day, as long as you’re consistent, those things don’t matter. Having her has helped a lot with [finding] joy in running.”
The debut
Going into CIM, Maksin would have been happy with anything in the low 2:40s or faster. But she knew that on her best day, running an OTQ was possible, so she committed to that pace from the start, so she wouldn’t have any regrets.
A few miles in, she found the large OTQ pack stuck with the group until about halfway, which she reached in 1:18:26, right on pace. Wanting a slightly larger cushion, she picked up the pace in the second half, running 1:18:12 for a small negative split. Maksin has raced only one half marathon, and it was on a tough course at altitude, so both halves of her marathon were personal bests.
“Being around all of those really fast and amazing women was super exciting,” Maksin said. “Every time I found myself with another woman, we’d tell each other, ‘Good job. We’re doing this. We can do it!’ It was super exciting to feel like I was on a team, even though I’d never met any of them.”
At the finish line, Maksin was greeted at the finish line by O’Malley, who ran 2:18:59 and was only three minutes away from an OTQ in his own debut. The two have been together since high school, where they met on the cross country team, and both ran for Mines. They got engaged in September and will be busy planning their June wedding during the coming months.
Until CIM, Maksin hoped to get her OTQ out of the way and then not run another marathon until the Trials. But her experience in her debut may have convinced her to run more marathons. “The atmosphere was super heartwarming,” she said. “It reminded me of the plain joy of running. Seeing everyone happy and accomplishing big goals was a really good feeling.”
Additional News
Sunday’s Houston Marathon and Half should produce some excellent performances. On paper, Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama goes in as a heavy favorite in the half. Last March, she ran 1:04:21 to win the Lisbon Half Marathon, but the rest of her year was not nearly as strong, so I’ll be curious to see if anyone can challenge her. Taylor Roe, who will be racing for the first time since the world championships, leads a strong group of U.S. runners. Also in the field are Amanda Vestri, Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Popehn, Susanna Sullivan, Makenna Myler, Erika Kemp, Natosha Rogers, Maggie Montoya, and Nell Rojas. And Annie Rodenfels will be making her half marathon debut. Great Britain’s Calli Hauger-Thackery, who won the Honolulu Marathon on December 14, headlines the marathon field. And Biruktayit Degefa, who ran 2:30:39 at the California International Marathon December 7 is another of the top seeds. So it will be interesting to see how both bounce back. Dot McMahon, 49, is also entered and if she can run 2:37:00 or faster, she’ll qualify for her sixth-straight U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. The start lists also indicate that the race will have some celebrity pacers in Fiona O’Keeffe and Sara Hall. (Full elite fields)
Canada’s Lucia Stafford talked to Canadian Running about her decision to join the M11 Track Club. She said that after her training partner, Maddy Kelly, retired from the sport, she wasn’t having as much fun. And she’s hoping that training with M11 will help her enjoy the process more.
I loved this post about ultrarunning legend Ann Trason’s latest feat of endurance.
This article features Lisa Goodin, who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials last month at age 39.
Sponsor changes
With the new year comes changes in athletes’ sponsorship status. Last week’s announcements included:
Courtney Wayment, who was previously with On, has signed with Nike. Based on what we know of the Swoosh TC model, a number of non-Nike athletes are currently grandfathered in. But when their contracts are up, they either need to sign with Nike or find another coach. Given that Wayment has been working with Diljeet Taylor since college, it’s no surprise that she wanted to stay put.
New Zealand’s Maia Ramsden is still with On, but she has left the On Athletics Club and will be based in Boston. (If you’ve been paying close attention, this one was not a surprise.)
Great Britain’s Ellie Leather heads into the year unsponsored, after 3.5 years of working with Under Armour.
Great Britain’s Phily Bowden is no longer working with On, and it sounds like she’ll have an announcement about a new partnership soon.
Hannah Steelman has also parted ways with On.
Germany’s Smilla Kolbe has signed with On.
Jennifer Lichter has parted ways with The North Face, and it sounds like she has something else lined up.
Great Britain’s Carla Molinaro is no longer with Hoka.
Results Highlights
On New Year’s Eve, Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw won Barcelona’s Cursa dels Nassos 5K in 14:23, which tied her for fifth on the world all-time list. France’s Agathe Guillemot was second (15:04), and Great Britain’s Jemma Reekie, who usually focuses on the 800m, was third, running 15:21 in her first-ever road race. Spain’s Marta Gailmany won the 10K in 31:36. (Recap | 5K results | 10K results)
Belgium’s Jana Van Lent, 24, took a whopping 67 seconds off of her personal best, winning the Prom’Classic 10K in Nice, France, in a pending European record of 30:10. (Results)
Spain’s Marta Garcia won the San Silvestre Vallecana 10K in Madrid on New Year’s Eve, running 31:12. Diane van Es of the Netherlands took second in 31:19. (Results)
Italy’s Nadia Battocletti won her third-straight Boclassic Alto Adige 5K in Bolzano, Italy, on New Year’s Eve, running 15:51 for 5K. (Results)
Great Britain’s Alex Bell won Friday Nights Under the Lights x Mizuno 5K on New Year’s Eve, running 15:24. And according to Athletics Weekly, Clare Elms’ 18:15 is a world best for the 60-64 age group. (Results)
Innes FitzGerald recorded the fastest Parkrun by a British woman, running 15:27 for 5K at the Exmouth Parkrun.
Alosha Southern won the NYRR Midnight Run 4 Miler in 22:17. (Results)
Shelby Houlihan won the Christiansen Trail Run, a 13.9-mile race in Phoenix, outright in 1:34:12. Houlihan said in an Instagram post that her goal for this year is to make running fun again, hence her trail debut. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
I enjoyed listening to Sarah Lorge Butler and LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault discuss journalism in track & field on Fast People. And yes, the conversation briefly touches on the fact that while he’s a very good journalist, he works for an outlet that has done significant harm over the years.
Maya Weigel discussed running 2:28:45 to finish fifth at the California International Marathon on Road to the Trials.
Carter Norbo talked about qualifying for the Olympic Marathon Trials only four months after having her third child on the StillStraightFire Running podcast, which is only on Spotify.
Additional Episodes: Molly Seidel on The Drop | Jess Brazeau on Women of Distance
Saturday’s World Cross Country Championships will apparently air on Peacock, but again, less than one week out, it’s difficult to find some of the basic details about the event. The competition kicks off with the mixed relay at 9:45 a.m. ET. The schedule is available here.
Sunday’s Houston Half Marathon starts at 7:45 a.m. ET, and the marathon begins 10 minutes later. The race will be broadcast on ABC 13, and you can find more ways to watch here.
Fast Women will turn seven this week, and this venture would not be possible without all of you. Thank you to all of you who have helped keep this newsletter going by being a subscriber and/or providing financial support via Venmo or Patreon. And a big thanks to Sarah Lorge Butler, who has edited about 386 of the 388 newsletters I’ve sent out over the years.
Happy New Year to all of you!
Alison
Happy birthday! Thanks for making the sport more accessible!
This is a great newsletter. I have only recently discovered it. What took me?! There's loads of good info in here, which must take a lot of time to research and write. I like the curated content too. Thank you, Fast Women!