Chris Kimbrough, the 37-year-old mother of four from south Austin, won the Lincoln (Nebraska) Marathon on Sunday in 2:44:57. More importantly, Kimbrough’s time easily qualified her for the ’08 U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials which will be held April 20th in Boston the day before the 112th Boston Marathon on a separate course.

"I’m so excited to get the qualifying time for the Olympic Trials," Kimbrough said from Lincoln where she was joined by her husband and dozens of family members and friends from Nebraska where both her parents were raised. "Right now, I just can’t believe I actually made it."

Conditions were hardly optimal for marathoning in Lincoln which was battered by high winds and rain—a remnant of the line of violent storms that swept through the Midwest. "When I got up and saw the rain and the trees blowing, I was worried," said Kimbrough.

Her plan as formulated by her coaches—Carmen and Ricardo Troncoso—was to run 6:15 per mile pace. Kimbrough had only run one marathon, but that was in ’03 when she barely trained and still ran 3:16 in the AT&T Austin. The biggest concern was going out too fast in the early miles, but Kimbrough played it safe and went out cautiously at 6:20 pace with some of the men running the accompanying half-marathon.

She cruised through halfway perfectly on pace in 1:21:30. "At that point, I felt really good," said Kimbrough. "Then, at about 15 miles, I started running into the wind. It was really gusty and strong. At times, I felt like I was running into a wall."

Kimbrough found two guys to run with, but they quickly folded and she found herself all alone battling the wind for six miles. She passed through 20 miles in 2:07 and needed to run a 40-minute final 10-K to get the 2:47 qualifier.

"I was worrying," she said. "I knew I needed to pick it up, but the wind was so strong."

Fortunately, the course made a turn at 21 miles and Kimbrough got the benefit of a tailwind for the final five miles and she crossed the finish line with more than two minutes to spare. She was seventh overall.

"Other than the wind, I enjoyed it," said Kimbrough who had not raced since late January when she ran 1:15:38 at the 3M Half Marathon. "Carmen kept telling me ‘Trust your fitness and be confident.’ I tried remembering everything she had told me. She wrote me a very personal note that I must have read 10 times last night."

Kimbrough’s victory earned her $1000, a bouquet of roses and a Lincoln Marathon jacket.

Now with almost a full year to train for the ’08 Olympic Marathon Trials, Kimbrough can set her sights on getting faster and stronger. With improved fitness and an injury-free buildup, a sub-2:40 is well within her range.

With her 2:44:57, Kimbrough becomes the fifth Austinite to qualify for the ’08 Olympic Marathon Trials: Cassie Henkiel (who frequently trains with Kimbrough) qualified last summer at the Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota; Lori Stich Zimmerman (of Cedar Creek) qualified for her third Trials at the Boston Marathon three weeks ago; Ironman star Desiree Ficker got her qualifier at the AT&T Austin Marathon in February and Lance Parker got his qualifier last December at the California International Marathon in Sacramento.