In the Loop: Mayo dietitian qualifies for U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials — five months postpartum

Just five months after having a baby, registered dietitian Mary Wirtz ran the race of her life and qualified to participate in this year's Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta.

At the end of this month, 675 runners from across the United States will lace-up and compete in this year's Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta, Georgia. Among them will be Mary Wirtz, a registered clinical dietitian at Mayo Clinic. "I'm really looking forward to it," Wirtz tells us. "Competing in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials has been a goal of mine for a long time, and one I haven't shared with a lot of people yet." (Well then, allow us.)

Another thing Wirtz hasn't shared with a lot of people is that not only is she going for the gold, she will be doing it just six months after giving birth to her daughter, Laney. While that may sound Herculean on its own, what's even Herculeaner (to us, anyway) is that last spring, mother and daughter ran their first marathon together. "I ran the Fargo Marathon in May while six months pregnant with Laney," Wirtz tells us. "I did that one more for fun. The Houston Marathon I ran two and a half weeks ago was different."

Different because she needed to run well in Houston to qualify for Atlanta. Really well. "The Houston marathon was the last race in which I could qualify for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials," she says. "I just had one final chance to do it."

Read the rest of Mary's story.
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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.