Can an underdog make the Olympic team?

Michael Wardian thinks it's possible, though he'd be satisfied with a personal best on November 3

By Cecil Harris

Nobody has to tell Michael Wardian that he’s a long shot to make the Olympic team. His qualifying time and personal best is 2:21:37, set on March 18 at the Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon in Virginia Beach. “I don’t know if I’m going to get faster, but it’s been a pretty good progression from my first marathon time of 3:08,” he said.

“My goal for the Trials is to run a personal best. But to make the Olympic team, I’d probably need to run between 2:10 and 2:12. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that, but I’m going to make every effort to get there.”

Giving his best effort, in a competitive race or in trying to set an unusual record, has been a constant for Wardian, an athlete who brings an Everyman quality to the physically and mentally grueling sport of marathon running.

Since graduating from Michigan State in 1996, Wardian, 33, has held a full-time job as an international ship broker for Potomac Marine International (PMI) in Alexandria, VA. PMI, which represents American flag vessel owners, and delivers humanitarian food aid to countries in need.

Despite the demands of a time-consuming job, Wardian always makes time to indulge his passion for running. “My bosses are really accommodating,” he said. “They allow me time to get in a good run at lunchtime. That’s my second run of the day. I get up at 4:45a.m. and do my first run before work.”

Time after work is spent with wife Jennifer and son Pierce Miler and their two Labradors. Pierce doesn’t just have a running term for a middle name; he’s something of a marathon veteran himself, and a part of history. While running a marathon in Toronto, Wardian saw a competitor set a world record for running the distance while pushing a baby in a stroller. Wardian broke that record this past May 6 at the Frederick (MD) Marathon, pushing nine-month-old Pierce while finishing third in 2:42:22.

“It was a gusty, chilly day, so we were fortunate to make the record time,” Wardian said. “A stroller is hard to push in those kinds of conditions. Pierce was really good. I didn’t know if he was going to start crying or need to go to the bathroom. But he just sat there the whole time and hung out. I had water for him because that’s all he drank at the time besides breast milk.”

It should come as no surprise that the holder of a Guinness world record for nontraditional marathon running would be introduced to the sport in an untraditional way. Wardian played lacrosse at Michigan State and did not run competitively until after college.

After learning that a friend’s mother had run the Boston Marathon, he bought a book on marathon running and began to coach himself. Wardian, a vegetarian, completed his first marathon in 1996 with a time that qualified him for the Boston Marathon. He’s been running marathons ever since, and not always on the road. In 2004, he set a world record for the fastest marathon on a treadmill—2 hours, 23 minutes—at a Pacers running store in his hometown of Arlington, VA. (Eric Blake has lowered the record to 2:21. Wardian vows to recapture it after the Trials.)

“I want to do some different stuff next year,” Wardian said. “I want to do a few ultra marathons— the 50K championships, a 100-miler, the 100K championships—and work on qualifying for Ironman Hawaii.”

Wardian has already run 10 marathons this year. He ran an astounding six marathons in seven weeks, and won three of them. 2007, so far:
Date            Race                                                  Time            Place
1/14/07        Houston Marathon                              2:31:23         43     
3/4/07          B&A Trail (MD) Marathon                 2:25:30         1
3/18/07        Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon           2:21:37         3
3/24/07        National (DC) Marathon                      2:26:36         1
4/1/07          Knoxville Marathon                            2:45:39         2
4/7/07          Ocean City (MD) Marathon                2:41:20         1
4/16/07        Boston Marathon                                2:33:22         68
5/6/07          Frederick (MD) Marathon                   2:42:22         3
5/27/07        Vermont City Marathon                      2:25:10         2
7/29/07        San Francisco Marathon                     2:28:50         2

“Six marathons in seven weeks was a way of testing myself,” said Wardian, who did a training run in Central Park this past February to preview the Trials course. Among his tune-up races before the Trials will be a 5K to raise funds for those victimized by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a 9/11 run in Arlington, VA, where the Pentagon was attacked by terrorists six years ago. He’ll also compete in the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis on October 7.

“I’m going to rest after Twin Cities and get ready to shine at the Trials,” said Wardian, who hasn’t had a coach since 2003. “A lot of the guys I’m competing against at the Trials are full-time runners. That makes it hard. I’m at my desk at work every day thinking about those guys out there training all the time. I think what Peter Gilmore is doing—leaving his day job to just focus on running and prepare for the Trials—is courageous. But I love what I do at the company and I wouldn’t be able to take time off like that.”

Rather than lament not having the advantages of others at the Trials, Wardian embraces his status as an underdog. “What’s cool about the Trials,” he said, “is that guys like me who are not professional runners have a chance to run against those guys. We have the same chance to make the United States Olympic Team as those guys. Every day I think about the Trials. November 3 could be my day. It could be Peter Gilmore’s day, Ryan Hall’s day, Meb Keflezighi’s day, Alan Culpepper’s day, Brian Sell’s day. We’ve all got a chance, and that’s great.”