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Logan Hanson Logan Hanson BVM Sports Journalist/Editor

From motherhood to the Olympic Trials: Runner Keira D’Amato’s unique journey 

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (BVM) — Four years ago, Keira D’Amato would not have expected to be where she is today. At that time, D’Amato was pregnant with the last of her two children and had not been running competitively for many years. A friend had asked D’Amato when she was going to run again, something D’Amato hadn’t thought of for a while, having been satisfied with how her running career had ended.

“Immediately I was like, ‘Nope, that’s not me anymore,’” D’Amato said. “I’m now a mom, a realtor, a spouse. Like that part of my life is over and I truly in that moment believed that.”

Today, however, D’Amato not only runs competitively, but is one of the better female runners in the whole country.

“I think part of the reason I have been successful lately is because I really did believe that,” D’Amato said. “I was ready to move past it and put that behind me and that was a chapter of my life that was now closed. … So there was no pressure for me. There were no goals to hit. I was purely running because I loved it. … It really gave me the freedom to come back into running in a way that was just my fun hobby.”

In late February, the 35-year-old D’Amato raced in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the marathon competition in Atlanta. She completed the race with a personal best time of 2:34:34, good for 15th in the women’s competition. Although only the top three runners would qualify for the Tokyo Games, D’Amato was able to show she could compete with the best of the best. Not bad for someone who had just rekindled their passion for the sport a few years earlier.

D’Amato finished 15th at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Atlanta with a time of 2:34:34. (Courtesy: Keira D’Amato)

Though D’Amato did not come into the sport as a novice, it had been some years since she had last competed. D’Amato had always had a knack for speed, having outrun the boys on the playground in first grade to excelling on the soccer pitch from a young age. Her first time competing in a running sport was when she joined her high school cross country team at Oakton High School as a way to impress the school’s soccer coach.

“My speed really helped me stand out as an athlete because I was so much faster than people,” D’Amato said. “I feel like I was always programmed in a way to be a runner.”

D’Amato’s experience in high school stood out among many of the others. She was one of the best in her region, but her performances were not able to get her into the national Foot Locker competition where she fell just short of qualifying. However, D’Amato had a successful running career at the collegiate level when she ran for American University and finished sixth in the 2005 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The accomplishment was a feeling of satisfaction for the runner who felt her running career was on the rise.

“It felt like I came a long way,” D’Amato said. “From a girl who couldn’t even qualify then not only was I qualifying for the national meet, but I was sixth overall. So that was really cool and to see that progression. For me in my career it’s the harder you work, the more consistent you are, and the smarter you are with your training that just goes such a long way. It’s just about that constant progression.”

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Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case for D’Amato right away. Following an injury that required surgery in 2008, D’Amato’s insurance wouldn’t cover it, calling it a pre-existing condition, and D’Amato figured that was the end of her competitive running days.

“That kind of pushed me out of the sport,” D’Amato said. “It was like, ‘Well I guess I need to go and start real life now.’”

Instead, D’Amato went about starting a family. D’Amato and her husband, Anthony, had both enjoyed running, having met in high school at a running camp, and always used it as a way to stay close friends as they got older. It was such an important part of their lives that by the time the two decided to get married, they ran a 5K the day of their wedding, along with over 100 of their wedding guests.

“It was so cool,” D’Amato said. “It was such a magical moment. My grandmother did her first and only 5K during that and she won her age group. It was so cool that my grandma was out there. It was really, really neat.”

After the wedding, D’Amato focused her leftover competitive energy into her real estate career and her newly forming family. During this time, her running aspirations went to the back burner as she has, even today, always put her family and her career ahead of running. However, after her two pregnancies when Anthony, a member of the U.S. military, was deployed, D’Amato found more time on her hands and an escape in her lost passion.

“I got a professional job, I got married and had kids and it was really never my plan to have a comeback,” D’Amato said. “After I had my daughter, I started running just to get back into shape. … I wanted that thing that could be mine. I needed that space and that me time in an otherwise crazy life and schedule.”

Originally done as a way to get back into shape, D’Amato’s running quickly turned competitive as she joined local 5Ks and pushed to try to complete a marathon. (Courtesy: Keira D’Amato)

D’Amato found that as she continued to do distance runs, the distance seemed shorter and her times got faster. Always competitive either with herself or other runners, D’Amato wanted to push herself in local competitions just to see how she could do starting at 5Ks before advancing to the more difficult marathon running. 

“My uncle was hosting a 5K on Veteran’s Day and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll jump in. I think I can run three miles at this point,’” D’Amato said. “I was never really afraid to put myself out there. In a way, I was really proud I was back and I was running.”

With the goal of finishing a marathon under three hours, D’Amato finished the Richmond Marathon in 2:47, two minutes off of Olympic Trials qualification. That was when D’Amato took her game to the next level.

“I was training now for months and months and months and it definitely didn’t come easy,” D’Amato said. “I was two minutes away from that and I was like, ‘Oh baby! I think I can make the Olympic trials!’ Like as a mom and a realtor I think I have a shot. That’s when I became a little more intentional with my training.”

D’Amato put a greater focus on her training, bringing on her former coach Scott Raczo to help her go from being satisfied competing with the best to trying to qualify for the best. Although the workouts were grueling, they were worth it to D’Amato as she could feel herself improving after finishing each one.

“I got myself into the best shape of my life,” D’Amato said. “I’ve been hitting times that would beat my college self and that kind of rocked my world a little bit. … In a way, it didn’t make sense. Running was my world in college; it was everything I cared about. Now it’s my hobby and how am I faster than I was in college?”

On Father’s Day 2018, D’Amato achieved her goal. Competing in Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., D’Amato qualified for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials by finishing under the 2:45 mark. For D’Amato it was a celebration unlike any other both because of the day and because she brought her family with her.

“I remember feeling so much pressure that I dragged my family across the country to do this on Father’s Day,” D’Amato said. “I felt like it would be a family win. I ran 2:44 flat and I was through the roof. I feel like I celebrated like I won the Olympic gold just because I was kind of baffled this is where my story was going. It was super special that my husband was there and my two kids were there to be part of that moment with me.”

Arriving in Atlanta in February, D’Amato set herself up to compete. She was prepared to prove all the people who saw her age, her career, her family, and thought she didn’t deserve to be there wrong. She may have been going up against the purely professional runners, but she was ready to beat anyone there.

“Part of me was just so thankful for the whole journey and it was a journey that a lot of people went on with me because I needed a lot of help and support,” D’Amato said. “Just to be there on the starting line, it was pretty emotional for me because I feel like I made it. … The other thought was I have this huge secret, no one knows how fit I am, and I am going to try to beat everybody today. That was my goal. I am seriously going to try to win this.”

When the finish line was in reach, D’Amato let all of her emotions go. Pumping her fists, with her arms stretched out, acting like a plane landing at its final destination, D’Amato felt she had conquered the world.

“I was thrilled it was over because that course was very, very hard,” D’Amato said. “A marathon takes everything out of you physically, mentally. Blood, sweat and tears … once I had a couple seconds to catch my breath I thought that was awesome. Kind of full circle. I can’t believe I am here. Top 20, that’s something to be really proud of, but also ‘Man, how did 14 women beat me?’”

Although she would not end up among the top three in the Olympic Trials, D’Amato’s work was not without some reward. 

While preparing for her competition in Atlanta, D’Amato participated in the Houston half marathon where she finished eighth with a time of 1:09:59. The finish was enough for D’Amato to receive an invitation to compete with Team USA in the World Half Marathon Championship in Poland in October. The news of her invitation caught D’Amato off-guard, as she took the email as more of an interest-gauging measure rather than the real deal.

“The way I had interpreted it was (they were asking), ‘Is this something you’d consider if you’re picked?’” D’Amato said. “And so I wrote back, ‘Yeah I’d love to be considered. Please whatever you need from me,’ and they wrote back, ‘Maybe you didn’t understand us. Congratulations, you have officially been selected for Team USA!’”

For D’Amato, the invitation means the world.

“I was like doing victory dances around my house,” D’Amato said. “I was doing touchdown end zone dances celebrating. It was really, really cool. That was something that’s always been a dream of mine back when I was running before that I never accomplished.”

Moreover, with her being a veteran wife, the feeling of being able to represent the United States on a national scale hits differently for D’Amato.

“To be able to run with Team USA on my jersey, I can’t even tell you how much pride I take in that,” an emotional D’Amato said. “My husband is in the military and served the country through the Air Force for over 14 years now and he has represented the country in the way he knows how. I just felt like it was my opportunity to represent our country in the way I know how. … I would be so incredibly proud.”

For many mothers out in the world, D’Amato serves as an inspiration. She has become a world-class athlete while balancing a family and a career among other duties. She didn’t set out to be a model for mothers, but wants to continue helping those mothers who look to her as motivation.

“Through my journey, I have had a lot of moms reach out and tell me I’m an inspiration to them and I had a tough time wrapping my head around it at first,” D’Amato said. “As a mom, typically it’s about your kids and your world revolves around other people and it’s difficult sometimes to remember to take time to yourself and do something that you love. … It’s such a rewarding thing being a mother, but it’s important to have something on your own. … I don’t look at it as I’m doing something special, I’m just doing something I love.”

D’Amato, with her typical competitive flair, will work just as hard being a supportive wife and mother as she does for an Olympic qualification.

“The fact that I can share with my kids that if they have a goal, something they want to do, have a crazy dream to just go for it and go do it,” D’Amato said. “If they can find something in their life that they feel passionate like me to go after, it will be a really cool thing. … I’m going to be the loudest mom, front and center with T-shirts with my kids’ faces on it. I’m going to support the heck out of whatever they’re going to do.” 

With a world competition on the horizon and many more events in her future, D’Amato will be a name to watch for in the distance races of the future. Not bad for someone who hadn’t even considered being in the competitive running scene just four years ago.