The United States Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field on Friday hosted a media teleconference with 2008 U.S. Olympic Team hopeful Deena Kastor (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) to preview the upcoming 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Marathon in Boston, Mass., April 20.

Kastor has had a storied career as an American distance runner. In 2006, she became the first American woman to run under two hours and 20 minutes which won her the Flora London Marathon. Her time of 2:19:36 smashed her own American Record of 2:21:16, which she set in London in 2003. Kastor's time made her the fourth fastest woman ever in the marathon. A year earlier, she barely missed her own American record in the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:21:25. With the win, she became the first American to win a major marathon since Kristy Johnson 1994. In the 2004 Athens Olympic Games Kastor earned a bronze medal in the women's marathon, a feat accomplished with temperatures in the mid-80s and 50% humidity. Kastor's bronze medal was the first U.S. medal in the Olympic Marathon since Joan Benoit's 1984 gold medal victory at the inaugural women's Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles and the first Olympic distance medal for the U.S. since Lynn Jennings' 1992 bronze medal in the 10,000 meters in Barcelona. 2003 became Kastor's breakout year when she set the American record with a time of 2:21:16 at the Flora London Marathon, bettering the 2:21:21 set by Benoit-Samuelson in winning the 1985 Chicago Marathon. For her accomplishments, Kastor was awarded the 2003 Jesse Owens Award as USA Track & Field's most outstanding women. Kastor also holds several records at the half-marathon, eight km, 12 km, 20 km and 10 mile distances.