‘Never Felt Better’: Woodbury Runner Ready To Ace Boston Marathon

WOODBURY, MN — A Woodbury runner will make her debut at the Boston Marathon on Monday, three years after first qualifying for the iconic race.

Kelly Turbett, a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual, was invited to participate in the 2020 Boston Marathon after finishing among the top 5 percent of women in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in October 2018.

Turbett trained vigorously to get herself in peak physical condition ahead of the Boston Marathon in April 2020, as she aimed to shave about 25 minutes off her previous time to finish the race in under three hours.

But her goals and countless hours of hard training were undone by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic just a month before the start of the race.

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The Boston Athletic Association initially delayed the race from April to September, forcing Turbett to start her training regime all over again. Turbett said she had worked her way back to “peak performance” before organizers called off the 2020 edition of the Boston Marathon.

After the marathon was canceled, Turbett took a few months off from running to “regroup my mindset” about the race, which she wasn’t sure she’d ever get another chance to run.

Runners who qualified for the 2020 Boston Marathon were not allowed to defer until 2021. Race organizers also slashed the field of runners from 30,000 to about 20,000 for the 2021 Boston Marathon.

That meant runners had to be almost 8 minutes faster than the original qualifying cutoff time to be invited to the 2021 race.

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The cancellation also extended the qualifying window for the 2021 race, giving runners more than two and a half years to post their best times.

After all the challenges and increased competition brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Turbett got a huge confidence boost when she learned earlier this year that her performance at the 2018 Twin Cities Marathon was still good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

“I felt like I was still standing strong,” Turbett said.

The 2021 Boston Marathon is set to be one of the most competitive races in its 125-year history, but Turbett is ready to rise to that challenge and post a personal-best time.

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Turbett said she “really hit (training) hard” over the past three months to improve her race-running strategies and prepare her body and mind to conquer the 26.2-mile course.

“For the first time, I feel like my stride is good, my nutrition's good, my pain (management) is good, my focus is good,” Turbett said. “I actually feel 10 times better today than I did back in early 2020.”

“If you would've asked me early this spring if I even thought it was possible to get back to where I was (in early 2020), I would have told you ‘no,’” Turbett said. “But somehow in the past couple months, I really dug deep, and I feel like I’m the fastest I’ve ever been.”

While Turbett’s main goal is to complete the Boston Marathon in under three hours, she is also looking forward to crossing another item off her bucket list after finishing the race.

“A big goal of mine is to shotgun a beer,” Turbett said. “I really want to do it right at the finish line, (but) we'll see how I feel.”

Turbett is one of 20 runners from Woodbury who are set to compete in the 125th Boston Marathon on Monday.

Woodbury runners in the 125th Boston Marathon

Grace Beinlich, 22
Katy Class, 57
Amy Dong, 49
James Engert, 63
Sheila Engert, 54
Christopher Gerlach, 52
Jessica Guile, 45
Rod Loran, 64
Kristie Luecke, 33
Anne Merrill, 41
Marissa Poissant, 39
Beverly Rinke, 62
Amy Sarne, 35
Stacey Storlie, 45
Jerusha Thompson, 51
Kelly Turbett, 36
Joanna Unger, 28
Jane Wasiluk, 61
Lauren Weum, 32
Michael Weum, 32