BLAKE RUSSELL BECOMES A MOTHER
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
Blake
Russell, the only American woman to finish last August's Olympic
Marathon in Beijing, became a mother on Tuesday, April 27, giving birth
to her first child, Quin Robert Russell. Quin's birth came early for
Russell and husband Jonathan, and he weighed 6 lbs, 4 oz (2.8 kg) and
was 20 inches (51 cm) long.
"Quin Robert Russell decided he was
ready 3.5 weeks early and surprised us at 1:30 a.m. Monday with a quick
water break," Russell said in an e-mail message to friends. "We are
all both doing great and looking forward to going home Wednesday."
Russell,
33, made her first Olympic team when she finished third at the USA
Olympic Marathon Trials in Boston in 2008. In Beijing she finished
27th in 2:33:13; her teammates Deena Kastor and Magdalena Lewy Boulet
both had to drop out with injuries.
A versatile distance
runner, Russell was the USA 15-K champion in 2006, competed in the
10,000m at the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki in 2005, and
doubled in the 4-K and the 8-K at the 2006 IAAF World Cross Country
Championships in Fukuoka, finishing 18th in the shorter event and 11th
in the longer.
Coached by Bob Sevene, Russell lives in Marina, Calif.
ENDS
