Sarah Sellers, a nurse anesthetist at a local hospital, was the women’s runner-up in this year's Boston Marathon.
After Banner-UMC nurse anesthetist Sarah Sellers finished second in the Boston Marathon last week, she became something of an overnight celebrity to a variety of organizations. Vanity Fair contacted Sellers, hoping to do a magazine piece on her. The chairman of the Lost Dutchman Mine Marathon made contact, hopeful that she will run in their event in Apache Junction. She talked to The New York Times and Washington Post. Sellers was a nine-time Big Sky champion at Weber State, where her coach Paul Pilkington has a story of similar overnight success. At the 1994 Los Angeles Marathon, Pilkington was hired to be a pacesetter, to run with a group of elite runners and keep them on pace to threaten American records. Pilkington, then 32, a former Weber State standout, didn’t drop out of the marathon, as most pacesetters in any distance race do. He kept going. He won the L.A. Marathon. He watched last week’s Boston Marathon, but not with the intent to see Sellers, who was ranked No. 42 among all women entrants. But when the race reached the 21st mile, Pilkington thought he saw Sellers in the background when TV cameras were showing the women’s leaders. Indeed, it was Sellers. She was in 11th place at the time. Pretty good story.
