Katie Watson Isn’t Finished On The Track
The 33-year-old Austin resident and therapist just qualified for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. This weekend, she was back on the track and racing at The Texas Relays
AUSTIN, Texas–Thursday night at Mike Myers Stadium, Katie Watson was ready to step back into the pain cave. “My coach likes to say, ‘I’m getting back into where the fire hose is rushing at my face,’” the 33-year-old Austin resident said.
She buckled up for a women’s 5,000-meter race at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays against a slew of collegians, including University of Texas’ Sophie Atkinson, who started lapping the back-packers late in the race en route to her winning-time of 16:14.96.
Watson started out hot, covering the first 1,500 meters in a little over five minutes before settling in and finishing in 17:19.42. Perhaps more impressive, though, was the fact that she ran 4:31.84 over 1,500 meters the week before during another collegiate meet at Texas State.
Or that just about two months prior in January, she qualified for her second U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials after clocking a 2 hour, 36 minutes and 44 second effort at the Houston Marathon. Watson made the cut by 16 seconds – the 2028 qualifying time for U.S. women is 2:37 – and joined a list of other Austin notables achieving similar milestones like Will Nation, Mitch Ammons, Michael Morris.
You would think a marathoner – a trauma-informed therapist by day – wouldn’t journey back to the track after such an epic breakthrough. Doesn’t running long distances kill your fast-twitch fibers? Wouldn’t you be more prone to injury?
Then again, don’t believe what you read on the internet (from fitness influencers). For Watson, the track presented a rather compelling re-wiring of her mentality. After all, she’s a former middle-distance athlete for Texas A&M who once focused primarily on the 800 and 1,500. The marathon wasn’t an occupation she envisioned. “I have worked so hard to get this far,” she said. “I’m going to get tearful just thinking about it, but I have been working at this through every injury you can name.
“To be dragged into the marathon event that I thought I’d never get into, I wasn’t expecting that,” she continued. “But to reach a goal I had been trying for many years, it meant so much for me.”
Katie Watson’s History In the Marathon
By 2018, after finishing her collegiate eligibility with the Aggies, Watson entered into the marathon for the first time, clocking a 2:48 at the California International Marathon. The next year, she qualified for the U.S. Trials in Atlanta, hitting a 2:44 in the lead-up. But that race was plagued by heat, wind, elevation and a number of wild conditions. Watson ended up with a gut-punch – she was a DNF. A total of 43 women did not finish on the day.
Some wouldn’t have given the marathon another glance. Thanks, that was fun, let’s move on. But Watson saw opportunity. She went 2:41 in 2022, then 2:43 in 2023. By 2026, feeling healthy and full of spunk, she ran 2:36 in January in Houston. It was a career best, and a major milestone.
“My mantra really has been, keep showing up,” she said. “No matter what it is, no matter how down I am, no matter how angry I am … you just keep showing up and do what you can every day.”
Figuring Out What’s Next For Katie Watson
A couple months after that success, Watson did what she always did after a marathon: She tried to plan what was next. Some would have carved out another marathon block, maybe a fall race. But with the 2028 marathon trials long away, Watson isn’t so focused on that yet. She says she’s going to focus on some shorter goals before the longer one approaches.
In fact, there’s been a lingering dream of hers since she was a kid. “When I was young and maybe more capable of doing a 1,500, that was a dream,” Watson said of qualifying for the U.S. Track and Field Trials. “I still love the track. I am learning to love the marathon. But I’m still just trying to get faster at this point and I’m going to see where it takes me.”
Can Watson add a third trials qualifier to her resume?
She says she’s setting that aspiration for 2032 when she would be 39. The grand plan is to see how fast she can get in the 5,000 meters or 10,000 meters. “I want to show these youngsters you can still do it when you get old like me.”
Top Austin-Area High School Performers From The Texas Relays:
Colby Huntress, Austin Anderson: The future Longhorn closed hard to earn a runner-up finish in the boys’ 1,600-meter race in 4:10.69.
Chayse Madison-Haire, St. Dominic Savio: Will Madison-Haire be the team’s next superstar? She won the Division I 100-meter final in 11.91 seconds. She ran 11.52 in the prelims.
Cooper Ford, Austin Bowie: The high schooler earned a new Texas Relays record with a time of 6:01.74 in the 2,000-meter steeplechase.
Morgan Nelsen, Pflugerville Hendrickson: The high school senior produced an impressive outing in the girls’ 3,200-meter final with a third-place finish in 10:34.04.
Tibbie Mustacchia, Austin Vandegrift: Racing like a veteran, Mustacchia managed well over the second half of the girls’ 2,000-meter steeplechase and was rewarded with a third-place effort in 6:52.48.
Boys 4×800, Round Rock: A crew led by Leo Brasil, Andrew Esparza, Landon Fluckiger and Zeke Guerra finished third in 7:59.98.
