Colorado native Rebecca Schmitt didn’t move to the Albuquerque area 12 years ago with the intention of enhancing her running career. That’s just a bonus.But, really, that running career itself is a bonus — a love rediscovered.Schmitt, 33, qualified for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials with a time of 2 hours, 28 minutes, 39 seconds at the California International Marathon last Dec. 7 in Sacramento.

She was the sixth-place women’s finisher.The startlingly rapid improvement in her marathon times, from 2:59.02 in the 2024 Boston Marathon to 2:35.08 at the 2024 California International to 2:33.58 in the June 2025 Grandma’s Marathon (Duluth, Minnesota) to 2:28.39, well under the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:37, might seem less surprising in view of her running history.The talent was always there.As a high school senior in Loveland, Colorado, Schmitt won a Colorado state title in the 3200 meters on the track. The previous fall, she was the state cross-country runner-up. Those credentials earned her an athletic scholarship at Colorado State.“I discovered that running was something that I liked and am passionate about pretty early on in life,” Schmitt said in a recent phone interview.

“My parents were both runners, so that instilled the passion early on.”Yet, just one race into her college career, she dropped out.“I was just really struggling with leaving home for the first time,” she said. “I had struggled off and on my senior of high school with disordered eating, which is really common for a lot of runners, male and female. … I decided to take a hiatus on running and really focused on school.”Schmitt earned a Bachelor of Science degree from CSU and another from the University of New Mexico after moving to Albuquerque in 2014; she’d always had family here and always had love for the area.

She has a Master’s from UNM in chemical engineering as well.She’s worked at Sandia National Labs as an electronics engineer the past eight years.Running, meanwhile, over time had become less a passion than a pastime — a release. She entered a few fun runs; nothing serious.“I wasn’t training very hard,” she said, “and I wasn’t running very consistently.”Her impending 30th birthday, somehow, reignited that passion.“I had the realization (that) running was something that has always been a part of me,” she said. “… I still had some dreams in the back of my mind as far as running competitively is concerned.“And I had this realization that, ‘I’m turning 30.

If I don’t train for something now, I might never be able to do it. I might never be able to reach those goals.’”She ran the 2022 Duke City Half-Marathon in 1:38.00, good for fifth place among women. That, a few 10Ks and other half-marathons left her wanting more.After running at Boston in April 2024, she decided to increase her weekly mileage.“I was averaging about 40 miles a week and doing some cross training,” she said.

That’s not considered very high mileage for marathoning.“I thought, ‘OK, I can run a lot faster than I’m running right now. I can definitely cut more time off this thing if I really put in the effort.’”After increasing her weekly mileage to 70 miles, she saw the work pay off in Sacramento.Life, work and training, combined on a daily basis, create a delicate balancing act.Schmitt, her husband, Jason, and their “four wonderful dogs” live in Edgewood, but she does most of her training in Albuquerque.Living at 6,600 feet and training at 5,000 has its advantages, but sleeping in is not one of them.“Oftentimes it’s getting up at 4:45 a.m., driving into Albuquerque, doing a morning workout along the Bosque with a friend, driving into work,” she said.“You have to juggle races around work, and then, of course, I care a lot about my job.”Schmitt said her Flagstaff, Arizona-based coach, Lauren Hagans, a six-time All-American at Baylor and an accomplished runner at distances from 800 meters to the marathon, has helped her improve her times while maintaining that balance.Albuquerque and environs have played a vital role as well.Colorado’s Front Range, where Schmitt grew up, is famously runner-friendly.

But, she said, “I don’t think it compares to Albuquerque.”The 2028 U.S. women’s Olympic Trials are scheduled for that March. St. Louis and Phoenix have submitted bids to host the event.