By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
(07-Nov) — Former USA marathon record holder Keira D’Amato has never been to Spain, but that will change next month when she competes in the Valencia Marathon, her second marathon of the year and her first since a painful outing at the Boston Marathon last April where she finished 35th in 2:35:57. After coming through the first half in a solid 1:13:17, she struggled through the race’s famously difficult second half in 1:22:40.
“I got owned,” D’Amato told Race Results Weekly in a telephone interview yesterday from Park City, Utah, where she was finishing up a snack of homemade granola. She added: “I went into Boston this year totally under-baked. I was coming off of two serious stress fractures in my foot, I had to take three months totally off running, and I just don’t think I had enough time in the build-up.”
D’Amato, 41, said the going got tough in the first 10-K in Boston, and she wasn’t even sure if she could finish.
“Like around mile six the wheels came off,” she lamented. “I’m thinking, how am I going to run another 20 miles when I’ve already hit the wall? I’m so proud of myself that I found a way. It was far from my best day ever, but it was the best I could do that day.”
After Boston, D’Amato’s running needed a total reboot. With coach Ed Eyestone, she decided that a December marathon would make the most sense, giving her plenty of time to recover from Boston, work on improving her speed over the summer, then have a quality build-up for Valencia on December 7. Also, the launch of her memoir, “Don’t Call It a Comeback: What Happened When I Stopped Chasing PRs, and Started Chasing Happiness,” written with Evelyn Spence, was going to be released in September and she knew that would take up a lot of time and focus.
“After (Boston) I didn’t want to rush into another marathon build-up,” she said. “I wanted to be very intentional, and in between marathon builds I like to do speed. So, I talked with coach Ed Eyestone and we were going to focus on sharpening-up over the summer, and then I can get into a marathon build, and have a full build into December.”
D’Amato, who turned 40 a year ago in October, has had to learn to train differently as she ages. She said it was a constant learning process.
“You age so you need different things,” she said. “I’m constantly re-learning what I need. Keira now, at age 41, is different from Keira at age 35, is different from Keira at 25.”
It would be another 14 weeks before D’Amato would race again. She lined up at the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships on July 31, in Eugene, Ore., and ran a national over-40 record of 32:19.40 for 10,000m, good for seventh place. She went home and back to the training grind, and would not race again until the Copenhagen Half-Marathon on September 14, where she set yet another national over-40 record of 1:09:07. Things were coming together, and she was getting excited about Valencia, a “mass speed” marathon where last year 24 women broke 2:30 and 53 went sub-2:40.
“Part of the pull (of Valencia) is tucking in, shut the brain off,” said D’Amato. “I think that’s a pretty incredible plus for choosing a race like that.”
D’Amato chose Sunday’s Boston Half-Marathon as her only build-up race before Valencia. It’s a hilly, cold-weather race, and D’Amato has not done a dedicated mileage taper from her marathon program. She’ll go in with tired legs and hopes to get an honest reading on her current fitness.
“I’m excited about this weekend because it’s a grindy kind of race,” said D’Amato, who finished fourth in the 2023 edition of the event in 1:09:12. “I ran it two years ago. It was super-competitive, and people are tactically racing. I think going into Valencia where I’m going to be racing people, I think getting the experience being in a pack and just kind of tuning up that grind mode is going to be really helpful.”
Four strong Kenyans –Evaline Chirchir (1:06:01 PB), Grace Loibach (1:06:31), Monicah Ngige (1:07:29), and Mercy Chelangat (1:08:57)– and Ethiopian Fentaye Belayneh (1:07:31) will give D’Amato plenty of competition (Belayneh is the race’s defending champion). Fast times are possible (the event record is 1:07:40), but typically athletes focus on running for place, like a cross country race. The first place prize money is $15,000.
“I’ve run the course before,” said D’Amato. She continued: “I have some familiarity with that, and the B.A.A. (Boston Athletic Association) always puts on a great race. You can count on that: an incredible field and just well-run.”
D’Amato doesn’t have a specific time or place goal for Sunday, but is keenly interested in getting feedback on her training.
“I think I have a really good half in me right now,” she offered. “I’m half-fit, but the main goal for this year is crushing Valencia.” She continued: “I’m definitely focusing and want to have a great race.”
Conner Mantz, who set a new North American record for the marathon in Chicago (2:04:43), is one of D’Amato’s training partners, and she got a jolt of additional motivation from his performance and his return to Utah.
“It’s been really fun; it’s been incredible,” said D’Amato, when asked about Mantz. “I’m really proud of Conner, and I think the thing is, he just came back to practice like nothing had happened. You know, he’s so humble and so hard-working. He has all these goals; this is one on the way, on his journey. Just an incredible person to see day-in and day-out.”
An extra bonus for D’Amato for Valencia is that her two children –Thomas, 11 and Quin, 9– will accompany her to Spain. They are excited to work on their Spanish, she said.
“My kids are both in a Spanish immersion school right now,” D’Amato said. “So half their day is in Spanish, so I’m bringing them as, like, my translators. That’s going to be fun. They’ll stay with my mom before the race, then we’ll spend some time in Spain, after.”
PHOTO: Keira D’Amato winning the 2024 USATF 20-K title at the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Keira D’Amato in Back Bay in advance of the 2025 Boston Marathon (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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