Name: Edna Havlin
Nationality: United States of America
Category: F45-49
Fastest Major: 3:13:32 (New York 2019)
Total AbbottWMM Stars: 6
Edna Havilin is aiming for a hat-trick of AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championship appearances when she toes the line in Chicago.
The 47-year-old originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has the added motivation this time of running in the city she calls her second home.
Mother of three Edna, who became a Six Star Finisher in 2019, qualified for the first two championships, both in London, in 2021 and 2022, and as soon as she knew the third edition of the race was heading to the Windy City, she was determined to be a part of it again.
“I was lucky to be in London first time because Brazil was a red zone country in 2021, but I was in the USA for a funeral, which meant I was able to quarantine in an amber zone so I could fly to London,” she recalls.
“How you cannot take advantage of those times? That year was pretty bad. So I went, and qualified for the next year, so I was there again! And this is Chicago, so being here doing the race for the second time again in Chicago and also for the Age Group World Championship – there’s no way to so no to that. It’s pretty special.”
Edna runs with the same smile and energy as she displays when talking about what the marathon means to her.
What started as a life goal to accomplish to mark her 40th year has now become a way of life.
She began running to shed some weight after giving birth to her twin daughters while living in Belgium.
Once back on home soil, she entered a local marathon in 2016 to try and hit a qualifying time for the famous Two Oceans ultra-race in South Africa. She inadvertently qualified for the Boston Marathon with that performance.
“I didn’t even know what Boston was, so when I came back, my friends told me I had BQ’d. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea where I was going with this.”’
At the end of that year, she travelled with friends to Berlin where she claimed her first AbbottWMM star. “I wanted to break 3:30, and I did, which qualified me for Tokyo. My running is not amazing but it’s not bad for my age group.”
Boston followed in April 2017, but injury took her out of Chicago at the 14km mark that same year; a heart-wrenching moment in what she describes as her home from home town, a place where she still has a house. The city is where she was awarded her US citizenship and where her passport was issued. She is Chicago’s adopted daughter.
“I wanted to shine there of all places,”’ she says. “I got injured one week before the race with a fractured toe. The doctor said I couldn’t run.
“I had to try, so I came but couldn’t finish. Of all the places, this was not what I pictured, but my target was Tokyo the next year, so I had this fight in my head. In the end, I accepted that it was easier to come back to Chicago than to qualify again for Tokyo. I knew I had to stop.”
It meant 2018 would be epic. Tokyo was completed before a return to Boston and then on to right the wrongs of Chicago, leaving London and New York City in 2019 to complete her first Six Star Journey.
Having done London, New York and Boston again, she is well on her way to Six Star medal No. 2, with Chicago’s Age Group bonanza taking her another step closer.
Her third championship appearance will be a special day in a place she loves on October 8, and one she knows she will enjoy every moment of.
“’Three times in a row is pretty special,” she says. “You never know when you might get injured or when your family will need you.
“One of twins always asks: ‘why are you giving me speeches and comparing life with a marathon?’ It’s because it is.
“We have to plan, we have to be consistent. We all get tired, but we have a goal and then the day comes. You have to do speed, endurance, add those layers. The day of the race is not certain, but you have to feel you have done the work. You can’t control the weather or whether you don’t feel good that day, but you can control what you do before the race.
“You have to keep looking for it until you get what you need. You can’t give up just because it doesn’t look promising. It doesn’t make you a better runner if you feel bad one day. You have to show up no matter what, and it translates to everything in life and gives me perspective.
“Everything comes together, then there’s the medal for everything you have done before that day.”
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