By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
Running down Boylston Street, closing in on the finish line, Elaina Balouris Tabb '14 scanned the crowd along each side of the course. Eventually she spotted Brian, her husband and training partner, doing his best to scream her name.
She beamed and waved. It was an epic moment for both.
Balouris Tabb finished last week's Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 30 minutes and 33 seconds, which placed her 12
th among the 15,000-plus women in the field. Only one American female, Nell Rojas at 2:27.12, finished ahead of her.
Oh, did we mention this was Balouris Tabb's first marathon? As in, ever?
"My expectation was to be top 15, but I thought that would be a pretty tough goal to hit, especially since the international field was so strong," said Balouris Tabb, who finished 88
th overall. "I definitely wasn't expecting to run 2:30 on that course. I was really pleasantly surprised.
"I didn't really know I was the second American (woman) at that point. During the race, I didn't exactly know who was in front of me. When I found out, I was like, 'Wow, that's really cool.'"
Brian was speechless — almost literally.
"I could see her coming all the way down Boylston, and I was waiting and waiting and waiting to be able to yell 'Let's go, Elaina, you're doing it!' he said. "But as I start to cheer and let her know I was there, my voice started to choke up.
"I could still wave and let her know I was there. To see that smile on her face, she knew it was a great day. It was an amazing moment."
Especially considering what happened almost four months earlier.
It was U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, and Balouris Tabb was lined up for the 10,000 meters — her best event. But eight seconds in, another runner clipped her right heel from behind, causing Balouris Tabb's shoe nearly to come off.
It took at least 12 seconds to fix the problem, by which time she had fallen to 41
st place in a 41-runner field. Once on her way, Balouris Tabb passed 17 runners and finished 24
th at 33:10.86 — pretty remarkable given the circumstances.
"It wasn't the perfect race I had envisioned," she said. "I saw the whole field running away from me and my hands were shaking as I tried to get my shoe on.
"You're sweaty and it's hot, all of those emotions are coming together. But I'm happy with how I competed because I just slowly reeled everyone in and caught back up."
Because she and Brian were moving from Boston to Pittsburgh, that was to be Balouris Tabb's final race with Boston Athletic Association, her club since 2014. Instead, BAA persuaded her to run one last race in their blue and gold colors.
The 124
th Boston Marathon, which would be held in October after being canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
Balouris Tabb, 29, took two weeks off after the Trials to reset. She had July and most of August to train full time before starting her job as a math teacher at Oakland Catholic High in Pittsburgh. Brian rode along on his bike and made sure she got plenty of fluids.
Her coach, Terrence Mahon, helped balance her training.
"He really factors in everything that's going on in your life when he designs a training plan," Balouris Tabb said. "He did it so I wouldn't burn out by October."
From suburban Pittsburgh, Balouris Tabb ran track and cross country at William & Mary from 2010-11 through 2013-14. She was a six-time All-American and four-time Colonial Athletic Association Athlete of the Year. She capped her collegiate career by finishing fifth in the NCAA 10,000 meters championship.
"She was a joy to work with," said Jill Miller, W&M's cross country coach during Balouris Tabb's final two seasons. "She was always open for constructive criticism of how she could get better. She wanted to grow athletically and be great, but she was also really interested in making sure the team was good."
In July of 2014, just a few weeks after graduation, Balouris Tabb signed a professional contract with the Boston Athletic Association, which is supported by Adidas. The 10,000 meters has remained her main event. In 2020, she ran a personal best 31:45.27.
Balouris Tabb also began running half marathons in 2018. Her most recent was in September when she finished eighth with a time of 1:13.47 in the Philadelphia Distance Run.
Preparing for Boston, Balouris Tabb's goal was to maintain a 5:45 pace, which would compute to a time of 2:30.45. That's exactly what she did. She overtook Dakotah Lindwurm for second place among American women in the 24
th mile.
"Once I got to Heartbreak Hill, I stopped looking at the times and my pace," she said. "At that point, I was going into attack mode and it didn't really matter what my time was. It was how many people I could catch.
"That's when I run fastest, when I'm not looking at my watch and checking my splits. I didn't even care about my time. I was just racing for place, and the time came along."
Miller, now head coach at Northwestern, wasn't surprised to see Balouris Tabb finish so high.
"I've always felt Elaina's strength is aerobic capacity, to be able to churn out miles at a high level," she said. "It obviously took her seven-plus years to say 'I want to run a marathon,' but deep down inside, I thought this would be her calling as a runner."
Balouris Tabb ranks her Boston Marathon performance as one of the three biggest moments in her career. Another came in 2015, when she finished sixth in the National Cross Country Championship to qualify for Team USA. She ran the 8K course in 28:29 on an unseasonably warm February day.
The third might come as a surprise. It was the Olympic Trials last June, the race when her shoe dislodged and she finished 24
th.
"Even though I didn't place as well as I was hoping, it was such an accomplishment for me to get there and compete even when things didn't go as planned," she said. "That one was really special to me."
The day after her Marathon run, Balouris Tabb was back in the classroom. Some of her students were tardy, but that was because they were getting signatures for a congratulatory card. She spent much of the day, and those that followed, answering questions about her experience.
The Marathon was supposed to be her final race, at least as a full-timer. She's now reconsidering that plan.
"This race reinforced that there's a little bit more in me than I thought," Balouris Tabb said. "I had a lot of fun training and I genuinely enjoyed the whole experience. I want to see how much I can get out of myself."
