Like Mother, Like Daughter
Abigail and Shoemaker at the 2025 Mastercard New York Mini 10K.
This article was written by Heather Mayer Irvine, a journalist, avid runner, and RRCA-certified running coach. She's the former food and nutrition editor for Runner's World, and the author of the Runner's World Vegetarian Cookbook.
The (big) apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Just ask mother-daughter duo Perry and Abigail Shoemaker.
Mom, Perry, qualified for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials when she was 48 years old. Her eldest daughter, New Yorker and Dashing Whippets runner Abigail, 26, qualified for the 2028 Trials earlier this year.
They’re in a rare situation in which both truly know what it’s like to train and compete at the upper echelon of distance running.
Mother Qualifies for the Trials
Although Perry, now 55, was always an athlete, she didn’t come to competitive running until later in her life, after having her three daughters.
“I raced four races before I turned 40,” Perry says. “When I did my first race at 40 I did well so I kept at it.”
By doing well, Perry means she was winning local races and, on a whim, ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2012. Her husband, John, who served in the Navy and is now a commercial pilot, coached Perry to a 2:52:25.
“I did well,” Perry says, not even mentioning her time. “One of the women after the race asked me if I’d ever thought about trying for the Trials.”
It had never occurred to her, but her race times continued to improve, so she finally asked John if she should try to do it.
Abigail, just a teenager at the time, remembers watching her mom pour everything into that training block. Perry would run on the treadmill before waking her girls up. She’d get back on while they got ready for school. And then she’d send them off and head outside for more miles.
Perry chokes up, reflecting.
“They saw how much work I put into that, which was really nice,” Perry says. “My husband coached me. The girls were all part of that whole training process and watching me. The girls got to see it.”
Abigail and her sisters were on their own running journeys; when Perry ran a 2:43:33 at the 2019 Eugene Marathon, dipping just under the requisite 2:45 to qualify, Abigail was at her college conference meet.
“I remember pulling aside my coach who’s coaching a hundred athletes, saying, you have to see this. My mom just qualified for the Trials,” Abigail says, noting that people would come up to her at various points asking if Perry Shoemaker was her mom. “That was very inspirational to watch. It was so heartwarming.”
Daughter Qualifies for the Trials
Qualifying for the Trials gives Abigail clarity about what her mom did while working and raising three daughters. “I have a sense of accomplishment for myself and for what my mom has done. It gives me a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation.”
Abigail grew up with the sport, completing the Girls on the Run program and its 5K when she was in third grade.
When Perry and Abigail talk, they focus on the other’s running accomplishments. Mom is proud of daughter and daughter is proud of mom. But they don’t usually run together, each honoring their own paces, training programs, and race goals.
Abigail started running more competitively through middle and high school, and then chose a Division III program at the University of Chicago where she studied mathematics. It was important for her to be well-rounded, and when she graduated early during the COVID-19 pandemic, she moved to New York City for work as a quantitative trader. Running outside was one of the safest activities in 2021, and Abigail joined her former team captain on runs with the Dashing Whippets.
The running team not only became her training group but her closest friends.
Abigail chipped away at her finishing times, scoring team points at New York Road Runners club races. At the Boston Marathon in 2025 she had a breakthrough race, finishing in 2:44, and then just missed the Trials qualifying time (now 2:37) by less than a minute at the TCS New York City Marathon.
“I surprised myself,” Abigail says.
So, in March of this year, she headed to the Napa Valley Marathon, with measured confidence. She went with friends and had a glass of champagne to remind herself to relax. Abigail’s parents were in the middle of a move so they would refresh the race tracker to keep tabs on their daughter.
Abigail came in at 2:35:50, roughly the same amount of time under the qualifying time as her mom did seven years prior.
“My family wasn’t together so I had to call my parents who were driving in separate cars [and] both of my sisters…Each was a 30-minute call and it was wonderful,” Abigail says.
Future Goals
Perry and John live in New Hampshire now, just over the state line from Massachusetts. Having battled injuries since her own Trials qualifier, Perry has started training with Whirlaway Racing. A 50-54 age-group record holder in the 10-mile, 12K, and 20K, Perry is now in a new age division. Her current records are in jeopardy, she suspects, with elite runners Roberta Groner and Dot McMahan about to enter the division.
This summer, Perry will run some Masters races in the New England circuit, while Abigail will relish in her qualifying achievement.
She says it feels disconnected to have qualified so early in the window because so many teammates and friends are still training to run their own qualifiers.
Because training for the 2028 Trials race won’t start for more than a year, Abigail is looking forward to fun-focused races, including New York Road Runners events, and overnight relay events.
Perry chimes in, suggesting they run the Houston Half Marathon together, again. Well, “together.” In 2024, Perry beat her daughter, setting the 20K age group record. But this year, Abigail “blew me away,” Perry says.
“I gave [my mom] a kiss at the start line,” Abigail says. “Not many people can say they can do that.”