Photo courtesy of Wilkerson Given.
Wilkerson Given, a 2009 Mountain Brook HighSchool graduate, will run the marathon at the U.S.Olympic Team Trials on Feb. 29 in Atlanta.
During his senior year at Mountain Brook High School in 2009, Wilkerson Given had a good race if he ran two 5-minute miles in a row.
A decade later, he measures success differently. Given, 28, strung together 26 such miles at the Chicago Marathon last October en route to a top 20 finish against an international field. It was his last major tune-up ahead of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Feb. 29 in Atlanta.
“I think that just speaks a lot to the coaches I’ve had over the years and the commitment to the sport,” Given said, “the hard work and the grind of it all.”
The Trials will be Given’s second shot at making the U.S. Olympic Team. He ran his first-ever marathon at the 2016 Trials in Los Angeles and finished 54th after cramping with about 8 miles remaining.
“The marathon is a brutal race,” Given said. “You can be feeling great and then all of a sudden things can flip in a second, and it can go downhill very quickly.”
At the time, Given was living in Greenville, South Carolina, and training with the Furman Elite professional running group. After a successful prep career at Mountain Brook, he competed for Furman University from 2009-13 and developed into one of the Paladins’ top athletes.
Given moved to Houston following the 2016 Trials to take a job with SOS Hydration. He was in Texas until relocating to Atlanta in May 2018, when he joined the Atlanta Track Club Elite group. He has been running under the guidance of renowned coaches Andrew and Amy Begley.
“It’s a good team culture,” Given said, “and I really like our coaches as well.”
Given qualified for the upcoming Trials in early 2018 at the Houston Marathon. His fall showing in Chicago, where he ran 2:11:44, represented a four-minute personal best. That he did it only three weeks after straining his hamstring presages a strong performance in Atlanta.
“It makes me really excited for the Trials, that there’s a lot left,” he said, “If I can just not strain my hamstring right before the race, it’ll hopefully be a better build-up than Chicago.”
In preparation for the Trials, Given spent a month in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to train at altitude. He’s been running up to 120 miles per week and testing his fitness with challenging workouts. He also recently started a company called Grind with one of his college teammates. They purvey a substitute for peanut butter.
“The idea was to create a more nutritionally complete alternative that’s kind of focused on being the best nut-and-seed butter spread that you could eat before exercise,” Given said.
At the 2016 Trials, Given ran with the leaders through the first 18 to 20 miles before cramping. He plans to race aggressively again this year and position himself near the front.
He knows what he’ll need to do if he wants to punch his ticket to Tokyo. Only the top three finishers advance.
“Trusting in the training, that what I’ve done is sufficient,” Given said, “and just having faith and trusting God to get me there.”
