Samuelson Hits Some Obstacles : Stomach Cramps, Collision Mark Return to Marathon

Joan Benoit Samuelson is an athlete who has come to personify grit. She is an uncompromising runner and a stoic competitor. This we knew.

What we saw Sunday in the New York City Marathon was a closer look at Samuelson, the human being. For the first time since 1981, Samuelson lost a marathon race.

The 1984 Olympic champion had two episodes of bad luck Sunday that may have cost her second place--an unsuccessful battle with stomach cramps and untimely collision late in the race. She was third with a time of 2 hours 32 minutes 40 seconds.

It is a measure of Samuelson’s grace and graciousness that she did not dwell on this. She is as good a loser as she is a winner. This, too, we knew.

We also found out this week that Samuelson is generous. Norwegian runner Grete Waitz, who ran away with the victory Sunday, revealed something of Samuelson’s character with this story.

After Waitz had arthroscopic knee surgery shortly before the Seoul Olympics, she called Samuelson at her home in Freeport, Me., to ask advice. Samuelson had similar surgery only 17 days before the U.S. Olympic trials in 1984 but recovered to qualify for the team.

Waitz had dropped out of the race in Seoul at 18 miles. “I followed Joan’s advice but not her example,” Waitz said.

Waitz’s point, however, was that Samuelson never hesitated to help a competitor.

So we have always known.

Sunday’s race may have helped Waitz, but did something less for Samuelson. Since winning the 1984 Olympic Marathon, Samuelson, 31, has run only one other marathon, 1985 in Chicago, where she set the American record of 2:21:21.

Since then, it has been one injury after another. She took a year off to have a baby. She has had leg problems. She has had a back injury. All of it nagging and all of it baffling.

Because of her tenuous physical state, Samuelson chose not to try for Seoul.

This race was to be her redemption.

But the two mishaps may have cost her a chance at second. The first occurred at 14 miles, when she was in third place. Samuelson began experiencing stomach cramps.

She fought it for a mile before stepping between two parked cars and “Did what I had to do,” she said.

Samuelson attributed her balky stomach to nerves, which to her was an encouraging sign. After 3 years away from marathon racing, Samuelson said she wasn’t sure if she would have the same fire. She said earlier in the week that she felt “edgy”--which meant to her the fire had been rekindled.

Her husband Scott confirmed that last Friday when he described his wife as having been “difficult to live with this week.” In context, it was a happy state.

After the bout with her stomach, Samuelson began to gain ground on second-place runner Laura Fogli.

Then something happened to Samuelson that served as a reminder that the marathon is, at the heart of it, a brutal and unforgiving sport.

Samuelson was at a water station at about 20 miles. She had just taken a drink when suddenly a young boy ran out in front of her, apparently trying to bring water to another runner.

The result was a perfect--and unintentional--cross-body block that sent Samuelson sprawling to the street. Because she had no warning she was not able to break her fall and landed hard on her stomach.

After a moment she got up and began to run slowly.

“I was stunned more than anything,” she said. “I felt a little bit of soreness but I was able to run it out. I’m very stiff now that I’ve stopped. I lost maybe 30 seconds in the fall and trying to get myself back in order.

“Would I have been battling for second at that point is a question. I never would have caught Grete, that’s obvious.”

Waitz, who was cruising along a mile ahead, was unaware of Samuelson’s fall. “Things like that . . . it really destroys your race,” she said. “I’m glad she didn’t hurt herself.”

Samuelson had started fine, mostly running conservatively on the hills in deference to her knee and leg problems.

“I was a little wobbly the first 5 miles,” she said. “From 5 through 10 I felt great. At about 10 miles I started to feel stomach cramps. At 13 I felt I was really battling the stomach cramps. I made the pit stop and felt much better after that but I lost too much time. But I would have fallen further behind had I not made that stop.”

Barring the mishaps, Samuelson may well have caught Fogli. The Italian was second in 2:31:26, almost 1 1/2 minutes ahead of Samuelson.

Waitz, running from the front and to prove a point, was uncatchable.

In the end, Samuelson didn’t want to talk about what might have been for her but to celebrate what was for Waitz.

“I’m pleased for Grete,” she said. “She deserves this after a tough break at the Olympics. This is really her race--she owns New York.”

Typical of Samuelson not to dwell on her own tough breaks. Typical, too, of Samuelson to have such balance and serenity in her tidy life that this rare loss has not sent her far off kilter.

This, we had a hint of.

Earlier in the week she made clear her goals for her stay in New York--”To finish a sweater I’m knitting.”