Deena Kastor won’t get her six-star World Major medal in Berlin after all

American marathon record-holder Deena Kastor was excited to be training for her six-star Abbott World Major Marathons medal at the BMW Berlin Marathon on September 29, but it’s not to be. Almost two weeks ago, Kastor says in an Instagram post, she tripped over a dog while running, and hurt her ankle. She went to physiotherapy and tried to continue her training, but continuing pain drove her get an X-ray, which revealed a fracture.

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Kastor has raced the other five Abbott World Majors, which include the Boston, London, Tokyo, Chicago and New York marathons. Those who finish all six receive the special six-star medal in addition to the individual finishers medals from each race.

Kastor is a longtime proponent of positive psychology, which she became interested in while training with her coach, the legendary Joe Vigil, in Alamosa, California after her very successful college career. She describes her gradual awakening to the power of positive thinking in her book Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way To Victory, published last year.

She refers to her positive mindset in her post about having broken her ankle mere days before her target race: “Sometimes you get so close to your goal you can taste it, and yet in this moment there is not a cell of self-pity. As I’ve practiced positivity over the years it seems readily available when I need it most. My silver lining through all of this is, ‘I guess I have something to chase in 2020!'”

Kastor set the American record of 2:19:36 13 years ago at the 2006 London Marathon. Among her many other accomplishments, she also won the bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens.

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