NYRR - When fast-women.com first featured Columbia University cross country runner Caroline Bierbaum in 2005, she had staged a comeback from a debilitating bout of anemia to place third in the 2004 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, thus earning the honor of the highest finish ever by a Columbia athlete at the time. Two years later, Bierbaum, 23, has established a balance between the rigors of a career in law with her love of running. She recently completed her first year of law school at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, and is completing a 10-week research assistantship this summer for a New York State Supreme Court judge. Despite a 9-5 work schedule, Bierbaum is training hard for her marathon debut in Chicago on October 7, where she hopes to qualify for the Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon next April in Boston. A regular at the start line of NYRR races, Bierbaum plans to compete in the upcoming NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE on Sunday, August 5. She’s viewing the race not just as preparation for Chicago, but also as a great opportunity for post-collegiate competition.

Photo courtesy NYRR