From the runway to the waterfall

It is a shock to some people that I have moved from the long jump runway to the 800 meter waterfall start, but I think the 800 meters is where I am supposed to be.  This is my story.
It begins when I was in elementary school.  That is when I realized I was fast.  I loved running; I would race boys home from school and consistently win.  My dad ran track and always talked about the 400 meter dash and that was my motivation to pursue that event.

Spending the first two years of high school in England as a military child in a private American School, my training and competition was limited.  When I moved to Nebraska during the winter of 1990 when I was a sophomore in high school things changed.  I ran into a young talented ambitious coach at Bellevue West High School in Bellevue, Nebraska.  He saw talent in me in the 400m and started training me and toughening me up, he also coached me to a Junior Olympic record in the long jump that still stands.  Being a distance coach and former distance runner, he believed that everyone should run cross country.  I hated it but that summer my junior year of high school I was in great shape.  We had a limited team in high school so I ran the 100, 200, 400, 4x100, 4x400 and long jumped.  I was a rather pedestrian sprinter in the 100 and 200, although I did win the 200 in the state meet that year, my junior year (1992), with a time of 24.7.  I also won the state meet in the 400m and long jump (55.36, and 19' 2", respectively, the latter of which still stands as a state record). I found I was best in the 400 and the long jump, as my jumping ability was noticed both in the sand pit and the basketball court (where I once had 25 rebounds in a game). I would later set a vertical jump record at the University of Nebraska, with a jump of 29 inches. The summer before my junior year my coach had convinced me to run summer track with the local youth distance club he coached for, few people in the club ran under 800m.  This club went to the Junior Olympic meet and won the 4x800 several times in several divisions.  Part of being on the club would include anchoring the 4x800 relay.  We won the Junior Olympic meet that year (1992).  My senior year, 1993, my coach convinced me to run some 800s.  Not fun.  The fastest time I could run was 2:21; I did split a 2:17 on a relay and we were Junior Olympic 4x800m champs twice, but hated the 800m.

My senior year I sprained my ankle and did not compete in the state meet, missing an opportunity to repeat as 400, 200, and long jump state champion and better my marks. Being recruited by schools for the long jump and as a 4x400 relay leg ended my 800 running, which I was happy about.  At the University of Nebraska Lincoln I would be a jumper and a sprinter competing in the long and triple jump, 55, 200, 400, 4x400, and 4x100.
I would become a 10 time All American and the NCAA 1996 Long Jump Champion indoor and outdoor.

After college I represented the USA in the University World games in Helsinki, the second time I had represented the USA abroad (my first time was when I went to the Junior World Games).  I also ran in meets in Hungary, and other meets throughout Europe.  In 1999, I suffered my first big setback, a torn patellar tendon, which required surgery.  I had been living in France teaching English and training with a group and competing, so I had the surgery there. I spent time in Hungary teaching English and trying to come back after the surgery from 2001-2002.  I returned to the States and ultimately ended up at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.  I reinjured myself and never regained my old form. In September of 2004, I gave birth to my little girl. Suddenly, at age 28, I had a little girl, a job as a coach and a teacher, and a desire to run again.  I took her out in a jogging stroller.  I had no intention of doing track and field again.  I was a mom, a teacher, and a coach.  I ran recreationally but I hungered for competition.  My little one was two so I began to run 10 minutes a day 3 times a week.  Some days I would go 15 minutes a day.  I found a goal, a 5k for a local homeless shelter.  I set my goal for 25 minutes, I finished in 24.  It was fun; I upped my training and decided to do 5ks for charities.  I got my time down to 22 minutes and re-set my goal to win some races or finish in the top three.  I joined Team Nebraska Brooks in 2007 and ran 5k's.  Over time my 5k time dropped to a best of 20:59, my two mile dropped to 11:53, and I was running and winning some local races but I wasn’t traveling or making any teams for my club.  I ran a half marathon and was one of the first in the medical tent.  That was enough distance running for me.

An email came to all club members to volunteer for a road race mile put on by the club, all the marathon and 10k girls were not interested, I was the first to volunteer.  II ran 5:09.
In the fall of 2008 I decided to do 2 indoor races for fun so I travelled to Lincoln, Nebraska and Vermillion, South Dakota.  I ran a 5:25 mile in Lincoln and a 5:30 mile followed by a 2:25 800m in South Dakota.  Needless to say I stuck to road races that year until club nationals.  Another email was sent out that summer about running in Kansas City at the USATF Club National Meet, I wanted to be an A athlete so I thought this would be my chance.  I knew I wasn’t a miler so I thought I would double the 400 and 800m, the times the year before did not seem that fast.  I needed to qualify, I hadn’t run since the indoor meets in Vermillion and Lincoln, and before that I hadn’t run the 800 since high school.  I ran a 2:11 at a meet held by the club, an hour later I ran a 56 second 400 meters.  I took 2nd in both. I was finally an A athlete. 

I still was not interested in pursuing a return to the track at the elite level. I finished the summer road racing.  That fall things changed.  I again signed up for the mile our club put on.  They brought in a couple good college girls, some runners from Iowa, and Allison Schmidt, an Olympian.  At 800 I looked at the time clock sitting on the pace truck in front of us, it read 2:08.  After the first 800 I fell way off the pace; I finished in about 5:40.  After that run I was very happy, I had run a 2:08 800.  I went home and found some workouts and plotted an indoor season for 2009. I had only run the 800m indoor twice before I started off at Iowa State in December, but I ended that indoor season with a 2:06.02 at the USATF Indoor National meet placing 5th.  I trained myself using 400m dash workouts.  I ran a 2:09 that January and felt stagnant.  I was frustrated and questioned myself.  I vented to a college roommate and ex-Nebraska middle distance runner, Sara Domeier.  She had been coaching in High School and agreed to help.  When she signed on we dropped from 2:10 to 2:07 to qualify for the indoor meet.  I had no plans for the outdoor season; I had just planned for the indoor.  I had met my goal.  Sara convinced me to go on. I got burned out and wasn’t able to travel much because of my duties as a mom, teacher, and coach. I also was mentoring a teenage girl who ultimately moved in with me. I competed in 4 meets in the 2009 outdoor season and 2 road races.  One of the road races when the USATF mile road race championship, I was destroyed by Shannon Rowbury and everyone else in that race.  In the back of my mind I still thought I could run a mile under 5 minutes.  In the 800, I ran 2:07, 2:08 and 2:07 and then finally qualified for the USATF National Meet in Oregon with a 2:04.79.  I made it to the semifinals and ended my first season as a high level 800m runner. I ended my season with double gold medals from the Club National Championship meet in the 400m and 800m (2:07 and 53.30). I was hungry for 2010.

After 6 weeks off, with lofty goals and the sage wisdom and support of my 5 year-old daughter, I went after it.  Sara revised our plan from the year before.  I got more support from my club, the community, and Brooks.  We started the year at Iowa State again, but I didn’t want to run the 800 because I thought it would be slow.  I entered the 400m not having touched blocks since the summer of 2009 at the Club championship.  I knew it would be a fast race there was a Jamaican athlete entered who had run 52.  She took me around in 53.57 on a 300m track; it was the middle of December.  Sara and I were excited, I landed on the IAAF World list, a dream I had.  Running the 400 brought back good feelings, but we were training to run the 800m.  I ran my first 800 in January 15th (2:09) then run another 400m the next day (53.76 on a 200m track).  I missed out on my next two meets because of a calf injury.  I ran my next meet February 6th, 800m in 2:07.  I was qualified but not happy with my run. After a pep talk from my 5 year old about running to win, I ran 2:05.00 and landed on the IAAF World list for the 800m.  I got the flu and had to cancel my next couple meets.  Nationals were coming up and I was sick.  My first workout back was the 19th of February.     I finished 5th for the second year in a row, with a PR of 2:04.62.  I feel I can keep shaving time off of that mark and I look forward to doing it in the Outdoor season.  I enjoy lining up with girls 10 years younger than me and competing.  I enjoy the bell lap, the fight to the finish, and even the pain afterwards.  I enjoy winning, but as I have matured, I process things a little differently now and appreciate the battles both won and lost, the lessons learned when things don't go my way, the wisdom learned from hardship, and the rush and thrill of competing at the highest level once again. 

I have enjoyed my journey from the runway t the waterfall.