Armijo Runs to an Olympic Trials Qualifier

Kandie and Armijo, side-by-side at CIM

After several previous attempts at a trials marathon qualifier, Albuquerque's Jesse Armijo put together a beaut of a race in Sacramento a couple weeks back, running to a sixth place 2hr 17:19 finish. That's a helluva run, especially considering it was a back-against-the-wall type situation. The qualifying standard for January's Olympic Trials race is a stiff 2hr 19min, and Sacramento's California International Marathon was likely the last fast race before the Houston Trials on January 14th. Armijo dipped under the standard considerably, running to a massive PR just ahead of fellow Albuquerque runner Solomon Kandie. Santa Fe's Joseph Mutinda converted his early morning rail-trail runs into a third place overall finish. Neither Joseph nor Solomon will be running in Houston.

Originally from California, Armijo has been studying and training in Albuquerque for several years with runners like Kris Houghton who had been targeting a qualifier himself. Jesse provides a pretty fascinating first-person account of his high-stakes marathon run in a great race report over at his blog. A clutch performance with a huge payoff after what I'd imagine was years of toil and effort. Way to go out and get it man! Along with Armijo, New Mexico will be represented at the Trials by Albuquerque's indomitable Mbarak Hussein, younger brother of former UNM All-American and multiple Boston Marathon champion Ibrahim Hussein. Mbarak ran a 2:16:57 qualifier to win the U.S. Masters Division title at the '10 Twin Cities Marathon. Dude's got wheels. 

Marathonguide.com has a listing of mens trials qualifiers and their seeded times here.

On the women's side, New Mexico will be represented in Houston by a couple of Los Alamos natives, All-American and former Adams State runner Heather McNiff (Wood) who qualified with a 2:43:53 run in June's Grandma's Marathon (MN), and former Oregon runner Magdalena Donahue (Sandoval) who qualified with a 2:44:41 run in May's Eugene Marathon. The women's Trials standard is 2hr 47min.

Marathonguide.com has a listing of women's trials qualifiers and their seeded times here.

Related Posts:
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  - Olympic Marathon Trial Showdown
  - New Mexican Runners Chase the London Olympic Standards