Horner qualifies for 2024 US Olympic Team Trials in marathon

Jun. 29—Kim Horner discovered her love of running while growing up in Logansport.

Horner was a standout cross country runner at Logansport High School, where she graduated in 2007. She went on to run at Luther College, a Division III school located in Decorah, Iowa.

Her running has steadily improved as she has gotten older while at the same time she has added more distance. She ran her first marathon in 2015.

Fast-forward to the present and Horner has qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials in the marathon.

The 33-year-old cut four minutes off her PR to place 17th overall with a time of 2:36.41 at Grandma's Marathon on June 18 in Duluth, Minnesota to qualify for the Olympic Trials.

"This has been a goal of mine that I've worked toward for years," Horner said. "I have had an amazing support system of people who believe in me including my coach, Kyle Bennett of Loughborough University, my training group at Mill City running, and friends and family who have shown up and cheered me on for years."

Horner knew she would have to run her best-ever time to qualify, as USATF lowered the standard in December from 2:45 to 2:37 to qualify.

"I've improved with each marathon," Horner said. "I ran Twin Cities Marathon in 2015 in 2:56:23, Twin Cities Marathon in 2016 in 2:51:15, London Marathon in 2019 in 2:48:54 and Indianapolis Marathon in 2021 in 2:40:48."

Horner never ran past the semistate level in high school but will find herself in the Olympic Team Trials in two years. The trials are usually held in February. A location has not been set yet.

"In the last year I've set PRs in the 5K, 10K, 10 mile, half marathon and marathon," she said. "Getting faster at those shorter distances also helps with speed in the marathon."

Horner said she ran a 16:55 in a 5K this past year. She completed a 10-mile course in 57:25.

"I'm not sure how many other women are in a similar position to me — I know I'm fortunate to have training partners chasing the same goals and one of my close friends and teammates at Mill City qualified the same day," said Horner, who added her friend Gabi Rooker also qualified.

Horner's running career started in her hometown of Logansport.

"I am really grateful for my coaches in Logansport, including Denny Crum, Carol Tuggle and Monty Ream," she said. "They always encouraged me and challenged me. And my biggest supporters were always my family — my parents [Todd and Mary Horner] and my sister [Nikki Miller] have always been my No. 1 fans."

Horner studied anthropology at Luther, where she graduated in 2011.

"I would also mention that it was my college coach, Yarrow Pasche at Luther College, who first encouraged me to pursue the Olympic Trials standard and who coached me through my first two marathons," she said. "Running at Luther was foundational to my love for running continuing after college, and then I met Kyle Bennet, my current coach, at the University of Oxford when I ran for a year at Oxford during my master's degree from 2017-2018."

Horner earned her Master of Migration Studies at Oxford, one of the most prestigious schools in the world located in Oxford, England. She is now pursuing a PhD in Public Policy at the University of Minnesota, focusing on US immigration policy.

"I'm focused on the role that city governments play in immigrant integration and also have done some work related to refugee resettlement and the impact of COVID-19 in immigrant communities," she said. "I've done work that focuses on Minnesota and I'm doing some research in Seattle and Atlanta, as well as at the national level.

"I'm ABD status right now (all but dissertation), so I'm hoping to complete my dissertation and PhD by the end of next year."

She added she is unsure on what she will do after she gets her PhD.

"I've considered both academic career options as well as returning to non-profit work. I think I could contribute and be excited about working in either environment."

She's also running 55-65 miles per week for her running career at the same time she's earning a PhD.

"I'll continue to work with my coach, Kyle. He writes my training and then I also will work with a strength coach in the gym here in Minnesota," she said. "In general I've run lower mileage than many marathon runners due to some injuries that have cropped up, but it's been working. Hopefully with continued strength work I'll be able to do higher mileage for upcoming races and we'll see if that leads to any improvements. But overall we probably won't change my training too much."

She added it's unlikely that she'll make the US Olympic Team in two years. She will need a top three finish at the trials to make the team. There will likely be around 100 competitors.

"Realistically? No. There are incredible women that will be in the field who I continue to look up to and who are miles ahead of me in fitness," she said. "But to be honest, that doesn't change at all how awesome it will be to get to toe the line with them and run the race."

She added she'll probably have to run a sub-2:30 to have a chance.

"I suppose the time needed depends on the course. The trials were on a challenging course in 2020 and it still required a sub-2:30 marathon to make the women's team," she said. "To be honest, just having the opportunity to go and run the event is my goal and I'm excited for it."