By Stowell P. Watters

Staff Writer

With a ninth-place, 2 hour, 45 minute, 37 second run at the 26.2 mile Philadelphia Marathon, Scarborough resident Kristin Barry said she has achieved her dream; to qualify for a position in the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in Boston.

“I don’t like to exercise, per se. I just love to run,” Barry said. “My goal and my dream has been to qualify for these trials.” 

Barry will join approximately 140 other women along-side her friend and fellow Mainer, Sheri Piers, in Boston April 20 competing for a spot on the Olympic Team. Unlike the traditional Boston Marathon, which will take place the following day, the trial will be a flat-ground run. 

“The Boston Marathon shreds your quads; all the hills,” Barry said, adding she has run the marathon twice. “It is extremely punishing.”

To qualify for the trial, runners had to beat a time of 2 hours, 47 minutes on any USA Track and Field sanctioned marathon during a three-month window. Considering the qualifying time necessary for the Olympic trials, runners – like Barry – must be able to run a mile in an average of at least 6.4 minutes.

Athletes in the trial will run past the Boston Public Garden, Boston Common, Beacon Hill and the State House on a level course, according to the Olympic Web site (www.bostontrials2008.com).

Barry said although she has countless races underneath her belt, she isn’t entertaining thoughts of winning one of the three spots for a trip to the Olympics in Beijing, in August. She said her dreams have already been fulfilled.

“This is what I wanted, I couldn’t be happier to just be in the trials,” Barry said.

At the trials Barry will be representing the Dirigo RC (racing club), a local group of runners and will be wearing the club’s traditional blue and black colors. With this club Barry said she has run the Beach to Beacon, the Yarmouth Clam Festival Classic and the Mid-Winter Classic – among other area races, as a DirigoRC member.

Barry said she discovered her love of running while competing for South Portland High School. She said she held the record for the fastest mile – 5 minutes, 21 seconds – while she was there.

After graduation Barry was accepted to Dartmouth College. There she became an Ivy League 10,000 meter champion while pursuing her degree in government. After college Barry studied law at Georgetown University’s Law School in Washington, D.C., and is now an attorney – although, she said, she spends more time with her children than she does in a court room.

“I do some consulting work, but mostly I am a mommy right now,” Barry said.

She and her husband Brian moved back to Maine three years ago. Together they have two children; 6-year-old Gwen and 3-year-old Zach. Although running in the Olympic trials is extremely important, Barry said her priorities are at home.

“I love my kids,” she said. “They use my promotional marathon t-shirts as pajamas.”

So where does a 34-year-old wife, attorney, marathon runner and mother of two find time to train? Barry said it is all about the sunrise and a little help from a friend.

“My friend Sheri and I go every morning at 5 a.m., we run anywhere from 12 to 17 miles a day,” Barry said. “I remember seeing the harvest moon going down as the sun was coming up at Prouts Neck, it was amazing.”

Barry said she runs every day, rain or shine. With Piers she runs three to four times a week. She said this winter in particular has been tough but with the help of a treadmill she was able to maintain her routine. Four weeks ago Barry was on a run with Piers and said she felt a sharp pain in her heel.

“I had to stop running and rest it, but after a few more tries it was apparent something was wrong,” she said, hoisting an air-casted foot into the air.

She said an MRI gave her some relief – there was no fracture of any sort. However, she said the doctor told her she would have to stay off of the foot for as long as possible because she was suffering from some tendon inflammation – often called tendonitis.

“I was going crazy,” she said, referring to an initial day without running. 

Although she didn’t take to the streets Barry continued to stay active doing low-impact running at a local pool. Piers, meanwhile, said she missed her friend.

“She was out for 10 days and I just about had a break down,” Piers said, laughing. “It is a different level with her and I, we motivate each other to the point where it is almost crazy. She is one tough lady.”

 Barry said while the inflammation is still healing, she plans to compete in the 10-mile Credit Union Cherry Blossom run in Washington before competing in the Olympic trials.

“I am not going to stop running. Ever,” she said.

Through all of her races her parents have remained extremely supportive, Barry said. Her father was a “big road racer,” and entered her into her first race – a one-mile run in South Portland – when she was 6 years old. Her parents attend as many of her races as they can, she said, and sometimes her father helps by passing out the special gel and water on the sidelines of races, she said.

“Hes great, before one race he got lost scoping out good places in which he could pass Sheri and I the gel,” Barry said. “One time her got in the middle of the track and handed us each a gel – it was hilarious.”

To track Barry’s progress visit the Olympic trials Web site www.bostontrials2008.com.