Coffee shop worker Molly Seidel 25 runs first ever marathon qualifies for Olympic team

A woman who works in a coffee shop in Boston is to represent the US at this summer’s Tokyo Olympic games after coming in second place whilst running in her first ever marathon.

Molly Seidel, 25, will now be running on behalf of the entire country along with two other female teammates.    

Her securing a place on the Olympic team is all the more remarkable given that it was the first time she had ever run a full marathon – 26.2 miles – competitively.

Molly Seidel appears utterly bewildered after finishing second in the Women’s U.S. Olympic marathon team trials on Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia

Molly Seidel, left, Aliphine Tuliamuk, center, Sally Kipyego, right, pose after finishing in the top three of the Women’s U.S. Olympic marathon team trials

Molly Seidel, 25, who works in a coffeeshop and does babysitting in Boston scored second place at the trials finishing in 2hrs 27mins 31sec

The women’s Olympic marathon team for Tokyo 2020 will consist of winner Aliphine Tuliamuk (center), runner-up Molly Seidel (left) and third-place finisher Sally Kipyego (right)

Aliphine Tiliamuk reacts with Molly Seidel after they finished first and second in the race

Seidel had been a standout athlete while she was in college at Notre Dame, Indiana but after she left the running became more of a hobby while working in a coffee shop and babysitting to make ends meet, according to the New York Times.  

Nevetheless, her speed saw Seidel coming in second place as she finished this weekend’s race in 2 hours 27 minutes 31 seconds on a chilly, windy day in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Numerous photos that were taken of her in the minutes after her personal victory see a look of complete bewilderment upon her face as she struggles to take in the magnitude of what she has achieved, as if it were almost by accident. 

‘I don’t know what’s happening right now,’ she said to NBC Sports after being asked how she felt about her incredible achievement. 

Seidel has previously performed well in both 5,000- and 10,000-meter races.

Molly Seidel finishes second in the women’s U.S. Olympic marathon trials on Saturday

She qualified for the Olympic trials after running a half marathon in December

Her 2nd place finish earns her $65,000 and a ticket to Tokyo to compete at August’s Olympics

She won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship in 2011 when she was at high school and has four National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.) titles. 

Last year she ran the Manchester Road Race in Connecticut and tied the 4.74-mile race. 

But it hasn’t been easy for her getting to this point. Seidel had numerous injuries over the years including a stress fracture in her lower back and pelvis. She also suffered from an eating disorder which led to even more problems. 

She ended up qualifying for last weekend’s Olympic marathon trials after performing well in a half marathon in San Antonio three months ago. She finished in 1:10:27 which was well under the 1:13 required to qualify.

Aliphine Tiliamuk reacts with Molly Seidel after they came within seconds of one another

Seidel flew under the radar until she broke away from the pack along with Aliphine Tuliamuk and Sally Kipyego in Mile 21 

Seidel’s parents Fritz and Anne Seidel flew in from Wisconsin to cheer on their daughter

The pair brought in some enormous cardboard cutouts of their daughter’s face

‘I had no idea what this was going to be like,’ she said to the Times speaking after the race.’I didn’t want to oversell it and put way too much pressure on myself, knowing how competitive the field was going to be. But talking with my coach, I didn’t want to phone it in just because it was my first one.’

During the race, Seidel stayed with the pack until she finally broke away around mile 21. 

She ran with two other runners, Aliphine Tuliamuk and Sally Kipyego, who both qualified for the Olympics along with her. 

Her parents Fritz and Anne Seidel even flew in from Wisconsin to cheer their daughter on. At one point, she swerved across runners in order to give her sister a hi-five at mile 7. 

Running was something of a hobby for Seidel and is pictured in a Thanksgiving 2019 race

Runner Molly Seidel in a 2016 photo from her Facebook page after graduating at Notre Dame

Runner Molly Seidel holds waffles in a photo from her Instagram page. She admits to suffering from an eating disorder which led to various injuries 

Seidel is pictured recovering from an injury in July 2018 in which she fractured her pelvis

‘Going into it, I was just trying to keep a clear head,’ she said to Runners World. ‘Truthfully, I wasn’t really thinking a lot the first half of the race. My coach and I have a little saying, ‘No brain, no pain.’ I was just trying to float through it. Not paying attention to miles, not paying attention to pace, just going off feel.’ 

Although she had spent January and February training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, Seidel was living an ‘ordinary life’ as she shared an apartment with her sister in Boston while working at the coffee shop and babysitting.

‘I usually get up, do my main training session, come back, work a couple of hours at the coffee shop or go babysit, then can run later in the day,’ she to the Times. ‘But things might be changing up a little bit when I get back to Boston.’

Seidel wins $65,000 for her second place finish in Atlanta. 

The women’s Olympic marathon is scheduled for August 8 in Sapporo, Japan.

Seidel, right, wearing number 1221, is pictured in 2015 during a 10,000m NCAA competition

Siedel won several races while she was at Notre Dame college. She has four National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.) titles

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk