Wilmington’s Anne Marie Pierce hasn’t had an easy ascent to the top of her running game, but things are starting to pay off.
Pierce, who qualified for the 2024 U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in last year’s Wilmington Marathon, is gearing up for the most significant run of her life this Saturday in Orlando, Florida.
But even as she gets the chance to compete with the nation’s best athletes, it’s the simple elements of the sport that mean the most.
“Running is an outlet, it’s just a part of me,” Pierce said. “You can run a 10k, a 50-mile race, all these different events, and you’re going to learn something about yourself every time.”
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Pierce was born in Michigan and moved to Wilmington in 2016. She started running in fifth grade and never looked back, but it wasn’t until she moved to North Carolina that she began seriously training for the marathon.