Australia’s marathon running super-mum Lisa Weightman has placed second at the Houston Marathon, all but securing her place at the Rio Olympics.
Running her first marathon since the birth of her first child 13 months ago, Weightman led for the first 30 kilometres of the race before being overtaken by eventual winner Biruktayit Degefa of Ethiopia.
“It was a little bit of a shock in that second half for the legs to remember what running a marathon is like,” she said.
“I guess I’m probably underdone in the race. I need to get some more races in my legs in the lead up to Rio. It’s a little bit harder in the second half.”
While disappointed she wasn’t able to hold on for the win, her time of 2:27.35 is well inside the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:30, and is the fastest time by any Australian over the marathon distance since the qualification period for the Rio Olympics opened.
“I wanted to qualify for the Olympics. I now have the fastest time for Australian women. That was the number one purpose of coming here.”
Weightman represented Australia at both the Beijing and London Olympics.
In London, the 37 year-old became just the third Australian to finish in the top 20 at an Olympic marathon, running 17th in a then-PB of 2:27:32.
At the 2013 Melbourne Marathon, Weightman clocked a personal best time of 2:26:05, which sits her fifth all-time in Australia.
Weightman and her husband, Lachlan McArthur left their 1-year-old son Peter with Weightman’s family in Melbourne as they went to Houston.
McArthur and Weightman regularly train together, with McArthur also running the marathon in Houston, running with his wife for the majority of the way before finishing in 2:28:41.
Weightman arrives back in Australia on Wednesday afternoon.