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Once she finally got to Australia, all the stars aligned for Keira D’Amato.
On July 1, she ran the Gold Coast Half Marathon in 1:06:39 and broke Emily Sisson’s American record by 13 seconds.
In perfect conditions—temperatures were 50 degrees with just a touch of wind from the west—D’Amato, 38, ran behind a pacesetter on the flat course and averaged 5:05 per mile.
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Getting to Oz, however, was full of travel challenges. D’Amato’s flight from her home in Virginia on Sunday was delayed and then canceled. The same happened on Monday. When she finally made it to Los Angeles, she missed her connection, had to spend the night (and do a track workout in there, according to her Instagram).
Once in Australia, D’Amato soaked up the cheers from the local fans.
“The crowds were amazing,” she said in a post-race interview on the race broadcast on YouTube. “Being from another country, hearing my name all over course, it made me feel so powerful today.”
Meanwhile, the back-and-forth duel between Sisson and D’Amato over American records continues.
D’Amato held the American record in the marathon from January 16, 2022, until October 9, 2022, when it was broken by Sisson.
Sisson held the American record in the half marathon from May 7, 2022—until D’Amato broke it.
D’Amato’s next marathon will be at the World Championships in August in Budapest, Hungary.
She makes it clear with every interview that she’s enjoying her return to elite running after 10 years off and having two kids.
“I think when I first came back into running, it was for me,” she said during the post-race interview. “Somewhere along the way, it turned into a we. Doing this for all of us that think, ‘We’re too busy’ or ‘We’re too old.’ Or too whatnot. Feeling people cheer for me, I felt like they were part of my journey.”
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
