Mieke Pullen  Mieke Pullen née "Hombergen" (14 July 1957 – 28 January 2003) was a Dutch long-distance runner who competed mainly in marathon races. She ran thirty races over the distance in her career, winning races in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Enschede and Singapore. She was a four-time Dutch champion over the distance. She was killed in a traffic accident while training in Haaren, aged 45. Pullen started her running career relatively late in life, beginning to take athletics seriously at the age of thirty. In spite of this, she had become a top level runner by 1988, when she came third in the Zevenheuvelenloop race and made her marathon debut over at the Eindhoven Marathon, coming fifth. She was runner-up at the 1989 Westland Marathon and the year after she won her first Dutch national title at the Westland race. She had her first victory over the marathon distance in Eindhoven in 1990. She established herself as one of her country's best runners in the event in 1991 when retained her title in Eindhoven and also won at the Amsterdam Marathon. In 1992 she ran under two hours and forty minutes for the first time, taking fourth place and a second Dutch title at the Rotterdam Marathon in a time of 2:38:06 hours. She improved her best further at the Carpi Marathon, setting a time of 2:37:15 hours in another fourth-place finish. She also managed third at the Frankfurt Marathon that year. Pullen did not compete in any marathons in 1993, but won two the following year in Singapore and Zwolle. She reached the podium at the Enschede Marathon, coming third, but did not reach the top ten at the Rotterdam Marathon. Pullen did not break 2:40:00 at either the Rotterdam or Berlin Marathon races in 1995, but got her first win over the half marathon distance at the Dutch Monster Half Marathon race. Pullen also won the 15K VTM Telecomloop race in 1995. She made her American debut at the Boston Marathon in 1996, but her time of 2:41:55 hours left her out of the leading pack. She was that year's winner in Enschede, running a season's best of 2:41:13, and was the runner-up at the Eindhoven and Singapore races. The 1997 season, at the age of 40, was one of her best: she won the Westland and Eindhoven marathons, taking a Dutch title with a lifetime best run of 2:36.51 hours at the latter race.