So who is Sarah Sellers who place second at this year’s Boston Marathon?

Many of those who watched the Boston Marathon — even the ones who follow the sport of running — had the same question Monday: Who in the world is Sarah Sellers? Sellers crossed the finish line in second place at the prestigious 26.2-mile race, in rain-soaked conditions, as a virtual unknown. Few online road-race results existed for Sellers, and she was not listed among the elite field for Boston. In the wet and windy conditions, Sellers wore a nondescript outfit, with no visible sponsors, and crossed the finish line by simply clicking the timer on her watch. Her time of 2 hours 44 minutes 4 seconds put her second among the seven American women who placed in the top 10. Desiree Linden was the first American woman to win the race since 1985, a historic finish in a race full of surprises. But Sellers’s finish may have been the most improbable. “I mean, I still can’t believe I finished second,” Sellers, 26, said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “I’m going to wake up and this will be a dream.” Sellers never planned to podium at Boston. Not when she was a standout runner at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where she grew up. Not even when she qualified for Boston after winning the Huntsville Marathon last September in Utah in 2:44:27. She only signed up for Boston because her younger brother, 24-year-old Ryan Callister, was running it. (Ryan finished in 2:48:20.) Plus she’s also a nurse anesthetist who works full-time in Tucson. She doesn’t have an agent, or any sponsors, and has to fit in her workouts at either 4 a.m. before work or 7 p.m. after her 10-hour shifts at Banner Health Center.

posted Monday April 16th