Adriana Nelson, née Pirtea (born January 31, 1980) is a

Romanian American Romanian Americans are Americans who have Romanian ancestry. According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 478,278 Americans indicated Romanian as their first or second ancestry, however other sources provide higher estimates, which are most ...

long-distance runner who competes in distances up to the marathon. She competed at the

2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 14th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships were held in Edmonton, Canada on 1 October 2005. The competition was replaced by the World Road Running Championships in 2006 and 2007, but revived as IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2008. ...

and

2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships The 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary on 8 October 2006, the women's race starting at 11:00 and the men's race at 13:00. This was the first time the title of World Road Running Champion had been competed for ...

for Romania, then at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships for the United States. At national level, she won six long-distance track titles at the Romanian Athletics Championships and was the 2013 winner at the USA Half Marathon Championships. In the marathon she was runner-up at the

2007 Chicago Marathon The 2007 Chicago Marathon was the 30th running of the annual marathon race in Chicago, United States and was held on October 7. The elite men's race was won by Kenya's Patrick Ivuti in a time of 2:11:11 hours and the women's race was won by Ethio ...

, pipped after celebrating too early.

Career

She made her marathon debut in the

held on October 7, 2007, with a second-place finish. She led by a few dozen meters in the final 300 meter stretch run down Columbus Drive on a day of record-setting temperatures, but she was caught just before the tape by the defending Chicago Marathon women's champion,

Berhane Adere Berhane Adere Debala ( Ge'ez: ብርሀኔ አደሬ born 21 July 1973 in Shewa) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in the 10,000 metres and the half marathon. She was world champion over 10,000 m in 2003 and world champ ...

. Pirtea had held a 30-second lead with 600 meters remaining but never looked back as Adere slipped down the right side of the final straightaway under the shield of male runners. Adere was so far to the right that as she crossed the finish line she did not take the tape which was being held at the left side of the finish line. The 2007 Chicago Marathon was the slowest women's Chicago finish since 1992 due to the heat. Pirtea had been a pacemaker at the January 28, 2007, running of the

Osaka Ladies Marathon The is an annual marathon road race for women over the classic distance of 42.195 kilometres which is held on the 4th or 5th Sunday of January in the city of Osaka, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Kansai T ...

, and an injury prevented her from making her marathon debut at the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

on April 22, 2007. She became the Romanian national champion in both the 5K (2006 & 2007) and 10K (2007). She graduated from the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

in 2005. Pirtea has run the

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

in 1:09:57 and placed 10th at the World Half Marathon Championships held on October 1, 2005, in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. This tenth-place finish contributed to the Romanian team gold medal at the World Half Marathon Championships in which 2004 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Women's Champion Constantina Tomescu-Diță placed first for the Romanians,

Mihaela Botezan Mihaela Maria Botezan (born 21 November 1976 in Ocna Mureş) is a Romanian long-distance runner who specializes mainly in the 10000 metres and the half marathon. She represented Romania at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2002 European Athletics Cham ...

placed 5th and

Nuța Olaru Nuța Olaru (born August 28, 1970 in Orodel, Orodel, Dolj) is a female long-distance runner originally from Romania, who became a naturalized United States citizen in November 2012. She specializes in the marathon race. She set her personal best ( ...

placed 8th. Pirtea had been the silver medalist in the 3,000-meter run at the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Championships. At the NCAA Championships, she had been the #2 seed, but was run down in the final lap by #4 seed Renee Metivier. Like the 2007 Chicago Marathon, the 2005 NCAA 3000 was run at a relatively slow pace. Pirtea had finished 16th in the event as a junior in 2004. On September 29, 2009, Adriana and her husband, Jeremy Nelson, finished second and first, respectively, in the 13.1 Mini-Marathon in

Calumet City, Illinois Calumet City ( ) is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 36,033 at the 2020 census, a decline of 2.7% from 37,042 in 2010. The ZIP code is 60409. Etymology The word ''Calumet'' is the Miꞌkmaq and French word for ...

, with times of 1:12.28 and 1:12.29. Adriana Pirtea won a Suzuki Splash car at the XIVth edition of the Romanian Lottery Cross. The competition took place in Bucharest on October 3, 2011. On June 22, 2013, Adriana Nelson won the USA Half Marathon Championships hosted by the

Grandma's Marathon Grandma's Marathon is an annual road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the city of Two Harbors on Scenic Route 61 and continues along Lake Superior into the city of Duluth. The ...

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

, in 1:11:19. She reverted her internationally eligibility back to her native Romania in 2020, have previously represented the United States at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.

Personal life

Adriana Nelson resides in Boulder, Colorado. She was married on November 1, 2008, to Jeremy Nelson.

Personal bests

* 5000 metres – 15:36.01 (2005) *

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

– 32:38.95 (2012) *

5K run The 5K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 5K road race, 5 km, or simply 5K, it is the shortest of the most common road running distances. It is usually distinguished from the 5000 me ...

– 16:21 (2010) *

10K run 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

– 33:21 (2007) * 15K run – 51:37 (2012) *

20K run The 20K run (20 kilometres, or approximately 12.4 miles) is a long distance foot race. It is a rarely held race that is not recognized as an Olympic event. The event held IAAF world championship status in 2006 only, when the existing IAAF World ...

– 1:09:06 (2012) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

– 1:09:59 (2005) * Marathon – 2:28:52 (2008)

International competitions

National titles

* Romanian Athletics Championships **5000 metres: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 **10,000 metres: 2007, 2008 * USA Half Marathon Championships: 2013

Marathons

* 2007 Osaka Women's Marathon: *

: 2nd (2:33:52) * 2008 London Marathon: 10th (2:28:52) * 2008 Chicago Marathon: 12th (2:35:39) * 2009 Chicago Marathon: 8th (2:34:07) * 2009 Rotterdam Marathon: 3rd (2:36:36) * 2010 Berlin Marathon: 6th (2:30:15) * 2011 Yokohama Women's Marathon: * 2011 Osaka Women's Marathon: 7th (2:32:44) * 2012 United States Olympic Trials: * 2012 Yokohama Women's Marathon: * 2013 New York City Marathon: 13th (2:35:05) * 2014 Frankfurt Marathon: 9th (2:33:54) *

2014 Boston Marathon The 2014 Boston Marathon took place in Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday, April 21 (Patriots' Day). It was the 118th edition of the mass-participation marathon. The race is organized by the Boston Athletic Association. On account of the 2013 ...

: 13th (2:31:15) *

2015 Boston Marathon The 2015 Boston Marathon was the 119th running of the Boston Athletic Association's mass-participation marathon. It took place on Monday, April 20 ( Patriots' Day in Massachusetts). The men's race was won by Lelisa Desisa from Ethiopia in a time ...

: 15th (2:38:47) * 2016 United States Olympic Trials: 12th (2:38:56)

Notes

References

*
marathoninfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Adriana 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Bucharest Romanian female long-distance runners Romanian female marathon runners American female long-distance runners American female marathon runners UTEP Miners women's track and field athletes 21st-century American women