Marathoner Wodak has quad muscles seize, stomach cramping in failed bid for Olympic standard

The Paris Olympic dream is over for Canadian marathoner Natasha Wodak.

A 15-month journey to run under the 2:26:50 automatic Olympic entry standard ended unsuccessfully in Hamburg, Germany, where Wodak clocked two hours 30 minutes 24 seconds on Sunday, two days before the qualifying window closes.

The 42-year-old was on pace for a sub-2:26 finish midway through the 42.2-kilometre race before her quadricep muscles seized around the 30 km mark. She opted to keep running, even though she had experienced abdominal cramping from the outset that didn't subside after surfacing on Friday night.

"Sadly, my Olympic dream has come to an end," the national record holder said in an Instagram video post from her hotel room. "I'm proud of finishing, of hanging in there when it wasn't my day.

"I came [into the race] like I was in 2:24 shape but that's marathoning for you. This sport can be amazing but also cruel."

Wodak had been running at marathon pace — three minutes 25 seconds per km — in recent workouts and was in that range early Sunday on a comfortable day for running (about 15 C with light wind).

"It seems unfair," the Vancouver athlete said, "to run 2:23:12 [in Berlin in September 2022] and know that I'm in that same shape and not be able to get that Olympic standard."

The Paris window opened five weeks after Wodak took down the Canadian record from good friend Malindi Elmore that September day in Germany.

At last year's World Athletics Championships, Wodak was in the mix with the lead group but later felt nauseous, she said, racing in the heat of Budapest, Hungary, where she finished in 2:30:09.

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Wodak was "frustrated and heartbroken" after competing with tight hamstrings and a cramp in her right calf late in the Houston Marathon this past Jan. 16, finishing nearly two minutes shy of the Olympic standard (2:28:42).

She wasn't 100 per cent recovered a month later but decided to build for Hamburg, and impressed with a 1:11:52 performance on March 26 at the Comox Valley Half Marathon in B.C.

While she couldn't properly fuel during Sunday's race, Wodak said the pace was otherwise manageable, but she didn't have an answer for the way it played out.

"The last year of hard, consistent work leaves me feeling confident and ready," she said earlier in the weekend. "While there have been minor injuries, crap workouts and failed marathons, the majority of my training has been awesome."