Amy Begley - The Official Website

It is a great feeling to say that this Achilles rehab is ahead of schedule. However, I don’t have time for another injury between now and the Olympic trials, so I am being very conservative in my come back. The plan is to start racing in March. That gives me plenty of time to slowly get back my strength and speed.

I have booked my tickets to Houston to watch my friends compete in the Olympic Marathon Trials. It will be an amazing event for athletes and spectators. I can’t wait to feel the excitement! The marathon will kick off the Olympic year. Athletes get one shot to make the Olympic team, but some of the athletes that don’t make the marathon team will come back in June to try for the 10,000 meters.

My goal is to make my second Olympic team in the 10,000 this summer. I have spent the last seven weeks rehabbing from an Achilles surgery. I knew what to expect because I had the other Achilles done last year. This one was easier because the doctor only removed the sheath and left the Achilles alone.
People have asked what I have done for rehab and cross training. This is a run-down of some of my therapies.

Walked with crutches and a boot for 10 days. I literally sat on my lazy-boy with my foot elevated and let it heal. I used an ice pack under the back of my knee to ice the leg.
I started slowly biking at 8 days with the boot on.
At 12 days, I started doing a cold ice bucket with foot flexing.
I was out of the boot at 2 weeks.
After I was out of the boot, I started to slowly walk and progress the distance.
At 3 weeks, I started using the Alter-g at 70%. I started with a mile and heel raises after each run. I also started physical therapy.
I progressed my mileage and worked up to 90% on the alter-g.
At 6 weeks I did my first run outside. It felt great!
I am doing continued rehab with the cold bucket foot flexing, physical therapy, core, balance and proprioception work.
I am also keeping the scar cared for by using arnica gel and cocoa butter.
I will progress my mileage on the alter-g and outside. I will start workouts on the alter-g before I do workouts outside. This will be a slow progression to get healthy and stay healthy.

Along with the continued rehab for the Achilles I will also be making a change of scenery. We believe that the surface that I have been running on is part of the reason behind my 2 years of lower leg injuries. My main running surfaces in Portland are covered with thick bark chips. They become slippery in the winter. I have decided to move to Eugene in January to train on the trails there, which are made from a finer grade of material. I am going to consider it an extended training camp. I will stay there through the Olympic Trials. I look forward to joining the running community of Eugene and getting to know the other runners, including the OTC. I am also proud to be wearing the OTC uniform again!

There will always be ups and down in life and sport. My best year of running was 2009 with PRs in every event from the 800 to half marathon and a 6th place finish at worlds in the 10,000 meters. That year was one of the magical years you dream about. Every time I stepped on the track I felt strong, powerful, and confident. However, the fall of 2009 started the current two year struggle with injuries. In this journal, I am just outlining the series of events of the last two years. I hope it does not come across as a pity party, but as a way to shed the events and start anew. I am writing this while I take a forced rest of 5 days to recover from the recent Achilles surgery.

In the fall of 2009 I had a hip injury and a sore foot. The hip flexors were strained near the bone and required rest. Then I injured my Achilles from too much speed work in my spikes. I got through the 2010 Nationals and the PRE meet before I had surgery on the right Achilles in August of 2010. (I have a terrible memory but Andrew and I canceled our 10th anniversary trip for the surgery so that is a way I will always remember when it happened.) The Achilles took a long time to heal. I was not able to run for over 12 weeks. However, we came back too fast and I strained the soleus in my right calf in February of 2011. My heart and lungs were ready to go from cross training but the legs were not able to keep up. The calf strain was a pretty minor injury that was not going to take long to heal.

The trails here in Beaverton and Portland get soft and slippery in the winter. The trails were aggravating the calf strain and Achilles so I switched to running on more roads to give the lower legs more stability. However, that led to a stress reaction in the third metatarsal in the right foot. With that injury, I missed most of the 2011 spring. I was only able to run for 35 days outside before the 2011 USA Nationals. I ended up 6th place this year in the 10,000 meters at Nationals. Four years ago I would have been really happy with that place at nationals. However, coming from 6th at Worlds it was hard. But you have to start somewhere coming back from injury.

After Nationals this year, I was ready to put all my injuries behind me and have a great summer of training and racing. I thought I would finally get my European racing season and get to return to some of my favorite road races. But, yet again, the injury bug bit my lower legs. I ended up with my left Achilles bugging me. This Achilles was different than the one last year. This time I started each run pain free but within ten minutes I had a burning sensation across the Achilles. I wrote in my last blog about the therapies I tried to fix it. I had given the doctors and therapists a deadline of October 15th before we made a decision on surgery to fix it. I knew if I waited past October 15th, I wouldn’t have time to rehab and get in enough training to race this spring and get a qualifying time. I don’t want to go into the Olympic Trials without a time. I did that once and even though the result was amazing, I would rather have the qualifying time this year.

The Achilles has been getting worse, so Dr. Amol Saxena did the surgery on Monday, October 10th. I will do a lot better job rehabbing and coming back from this Achilles surgery. This surgery was also not as invasive as the first one. This was more of a clean-up of the sheath.

Along with the change in rehab for this Achilles surgery, I will also make a coaching change. Alberto and I decided to part ways this summer after the National meet. We both had different ideas on the reasons for the injuries and the rehab process. I truly appreciate all that Alberto did to help me with my career.

He has taught me so many things about myself, training and running. Before I joined Nike and was coached by Alberto, I thought I was training hard. He taught me how to work hard and what it took at this level of racing. He also taught me that running had to be my job. Naps and recovery had to be scheduled like meetings I could not miss. I had to take care of the body and get regular massage. It was also the first time I did not work part-time jobs. He was great at knowing my limits and helping me push them to the edge.

However, sometimes in life, what is good at one phase in your life is not the best option for the next. I will return to being coached by my husband, Andrew Begley. He coached me for 6 years before I joined Alberto and Nike. He will coach me through the Olympic Trials so that I don’t make too many changes at once. After, the Olympic trials we will reassess and decide where to take my career. I know that 2013 will be my last year on the track. The intensity of track work increases the risk of injury and I want to extend my career on the roads. I would like to get back to the roads and eventually move up the marathon if my low mileage and cross training plan with allow for a good marathon career.

Right now the focus is on healing the Achilles and I am on day 3 post surgery. The focus will be on getting healthy and balanced. The string of lower leg injuries made me get a head to toe analysis of my strengths and weaknesses. I am working on my imbalances and weaknesses to minimize my injuries when I return to running. That is my #1 goal right now. The next two goals are loving to run and running 31:40 to qualify for the trials. I believe that a happy runner is a healthy and fast runner.

Again, THANKS to Alberto and the Oregon Project Family for all the love and support over the last 4.5 years.

Yep, I am still dealing with my Achilles injury. There are so many ways to prevent injuries and treat injuries. The first way to deal with injuries is to not get injured. That is easier said than done with running. Runners are used to running through pain until it puts you on the sidelines.

Slowly add mileage and intensity of training
Stretch daily or foam roll
Ice when things are sore
Don’t wait too long to get things looked at
Don’t be afraid to take days off when the legs feel fried
Spring for a massage to aid in recovery

When you do encounter an injury find a great support system that you trust. The support system can include a massage therapist, physical therapist, orthopedic doctor, chiropractor, etc. If it is a serious injury don’t be afraid to get multiple opinions.

For this injury, I have seen a couple doctors and have had both an MRI and a diagnostic ultrasound. I also had a nerve test done to make sure it was not an entrapped nerve. I also tried the basic therapies for an Achilles injury.

Physical therapy program
Active Release Therapy
Rest, including total time off
Cross training with aqua jogging, elliptical and biking
Ultra sound, e-stim, and shockwave treatments
Cortisone shot
Heel lifts
Changing shoes and orthotics

Because we are entering the year of training for the Olympic Trials I need to make a decision on how to fix it. I want to be back to full training in December. If I need to do surgery, I will need to do it soon so I can have enough time to get back to running. I have a couple more weeks to see if the above treatments will work. Fingers crossed that my Achilles will heal naturally! However, I am only able to run 12 minutes before I have pain that causes me to stop and creates a squeaking in the Achilles.

I wish I was referring to building a running base, but I am talking about building my body’s strength and balance from the ground up. Due to the injuries over the last two years, I am taking advantage of this Achilles injury and rebuilding. I am strengthening all my weaknesses and imbalances from the ground (toes) up.

In the past, I have rushed injuries to get ready for a season or a race. Now I am going to do things right. I am going to focus on me and how I can be the strongest and healthiest. That means working with a physical therapist three times a week, getting massage a couple times a week and getting Active Release Therapy done each week. I do my PT exercises every day to work on my weaknesses.

I spent a couple weeks testing my Achilles each day with little improvement. I decided to take time off and leave the Achilles alone. It is taking patience to stay off my Achilles. I am going to give it another week on top of what I originally planned.

This decision was really nerve racking until I saw Jenny Simpson and Lauren Fleshman’s races and interviews from the World Championships. Jenny was injured last year and missed the track season. This year she is a World Champion gold medalist. This year Lauren was injured until April and is now hitting her stride with a 7th place in the 5k Worlds.

Their post race interviews spoke loud and clear to me. If you have hit a rough patch or a plateau in your training or racing, I would encourage you to watch their interviews. Jenny talks about focusing on herself and being in a positive environment. She also overcame a late season flu bug this year. She could of giving up on the season but she believed and never gave up.

Lauren was injured all year and only began training in April. In her interview, she talks about the decision her coach made to not RUSH back into shape for Nationals. He told her she would be running fast later in the year. They made a hard decision that worked out. Right now I am making a hard decision to slowly build my body back up before I even start running. I need a solid balanced body to get me through a healthy year of training. The first goal is to get healthy. Not making the World Champs Team this year was hard, however I have been inspired by watching Team USA compete.

In 2004, after repeated injuries, we tried something different. My body seemed to break down when I tried to run over 70 miles a week. I knew I couldn’t compete on the highest level without more mileage. How would I get in more mileage without the added pounding?

We decided to add cross training into the mix. The idea was to work the cardiovascular system without the extra pounding. That also meant that every mile I run had to be quality. The easy miles are added with cross training that includes stationary biking and aqua jogging. The elliptical trainer is not used much in my training. Those were the main cross training modalities that I used before joining the Oregon Project. Once I joined the Oregon Project, I also added the Alter-g treadmill and the Hydroworx treadmill. However, the main part of my cross training continues to be stationary biking and aqua jogging.

A lot of athletes don’t like to cross train because they like to see the number of miles they have run. Runners get caught up in the numbers game. I agree we need to put in the work to compete on the highest level but we also need to be healthy. Everyone seems to have a limit to the number of miles you can run and be healthy. I have found my current limit. I hope that I can eventually be able to run more miles per week.

I have come up with a system that helps me compare my workload to regular running. I want to make sure I am putting in the work needed to compete on the highest level. I call it “equivalent miles”. I run 50-70 miles a week. To get my mileage up to the level of other elite athletes, I use the formula of 10 minutes of biking equals a mile. It is the same for aqua jogging and the elliptical trainer, every 10 minutes on a modality equals a mile. For example:

50 miles of running + 120 minutes of aqua jogging (12 miles) + 400 minutes of biking (40 miles) = 102 miles for the week.

The aqua jogging is usually done after workouts or lifting to flush the legs. Aqua jogging needs to be done at a good tempo to be helpful. The biking is either used as an easy run or extra workout. You can do similar workouts on the bike as you would running, but just go for time and take less rest between the intervals.

Cross training does take more time than running and can be boring. However, if it can keep you healthy you will enjoy more running and racing in the long run. I have my bike in front of the TV. I either rent movies or watch shows that I have DVRed. In the pool, I usually have people that join me or I use a waterproof case for my iPod.

People ask me why I don’t cycle outside instead of using the stationary bike. I wish I was not so accident prone. I can’t take the risk of injury by biking outside either by a fall or getting hit by a car. If you are a confident cyclist then head out to the road and add it to your “mileage”. Once I started the cross training system my only injuries for 3 years were stupid accidents were I fell or tripped. The last year and a half of injuries were just from pushing the envelope and trying new training methods. Now I am starting over with my training and trying to get healthy and back to the level of racing I know I am capable of.

I hope this cross training idea will give you a way to add to your training and stay healthy both physically and mentally when playing the numbers game.

This has been an injury plagued year. However, I am hoping for a healthy second half of 2011. I just took a great two week vacation with Andrew to recharge my battery. I am going to start over with training and take it slow in returning to intense workouts and racing. I want to stay healthy this whole next year. To recharge, we went to Las Vegas and New Orleans.

The dry heat in Las Vegas was nice and not to uncomfortable to run. We have found 3 places to run in Vegas on soft surface, but you need a car to get there. The best grass area is the Desert Breeze Park that is almost a mile around soccer fields. The next park is the Clark County Wetlands. It has dirt paths and paved paths with areas to run on the side. The Wetlands are located at the end of East Tropicana Avenue. The third trail we run on is the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail at Lake Mead. It is a bit of a drive from Las Vegas but you get to see great views of Lake Mead. The trail goes through six tunnels and ends at the Hoover Dam. Trail runners will like Red Rock Canyon. It has a lot of trails but they are too rocky for me to risk an ankle sprain.

Las Vegas has quite a few gluten-free options. I am a foodie so I enjoy trying all the great restaurants on the strip and some off the strip. Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza has gluten-free pizza. On the strip, Outback, and PF Changs still have their GF menus. Most of the restaurants will try to help you out.

The second half of the vacation was spent in New Orleans. It was my first trip to Bourbon Street. The heat and humidity was a bit hard to handle. However, I enjoyed walking around the city to see the history. We did a carriage tour and learned a lot from a 5th Generation New Orleans resident. The history of the city is amazing. We walked around the city and took the street cars everywhere, including the zoo and Audubon Park. During the daily thunderstorms, we saw the aquarium, an IMAX about Katrina and the Bayou, and ate at fun restaurants. However, it was a struggle to find gluten-free food in New Orleans. A lot of things were fried or made with a roux (butter and flour to start a sauce). I was able to eat jambalaya, grilled oysters, and red beans and rice. Most of the time, I stuck to broiled or steamed seafood. I also enjoyed great gelato at La Divina Gelateria. It was a great way to cool down after walking around Jackson Square, the French Quarter and the great old city of New Orleans.

I am now home with a fully recharged battery both mentally and physically. It is time to get back to training. I will take a slow approach to intense training. My goal is to road race this fall. It will be fun to go back to the roads for a little bit.

My next journal will be about how I incorporate cross training into my routine to stay healthy.

Four years ago, I would have been happy with 6th place. It would have been one of my highest place finishes at nationals. However, sixth place meant that I did not make the World team. I also ran a minute slower than I wanted. But to put the race in perspective, I had only been running for 35 days. I was coming off my third injury in a row.

Late last summer I had Achilles surgery. It took a lot longer to heal than expected. A month after I started training I pushed too hard and strained my calf. My heart and lungs were ready to go from all the cross training but my Achilles and calf were behind. The weakest link always gives first. After some down time and running on the Alter-g, I thought I was healthy and ready to start racing. I ran the Chicago Bank of America 8k Shamrock Shuffle in April. I felt an ache in my foot before the race. I assumed it was sore from getting into spikes the week before. However, the week after the race the pain pin pointed on my third metatarsal. I ended up with a stress reaction. All of these injuries were in my right lower leg. I had to take some time off and then start back on the Alter-g treadmill.

Thirty-five days before Nationals I started running outside again. We had to get a lot of training in before Nationals. I ran two 5,000 meter races in just under sixteen minutes. I knew that it was going to be close in getting ready for Nationals. I gave it what I had at Nationals. I was probably 70% fit but with the depth of US women’s distance runners you have to be 100% to race.

My foot is now sore again. The ache is back at night and just walking around. I probably re-injured the foot running 10,000 meters in spikes. I had planned on training and then running a late European track season. However, my foot is dictating a new plan. I have decided to take time to heal it. I am going to take time off and get 100% healthy. Fall road races will be on my race calendar once I am fully healthy. I have a year to turn things around and stay healthy for the 2012 Olympic Trials.

I am confident that I can return to the level of racing I enjoyed in 2009. I have a great support crew of family and friends that believe in me. Thanks to everyone for the support over the years.

I also want to thank my new sponsor, Generation UCAN for their pre and post-workout drinks. Check out the great products at generationucan.com, they have three flavors of pre-workout drinks and 2 flavors of recovery drinks. The drinks are best mixed with a blender bottle. Of course, my favorite is the chocolate flavor recovery drink.

I am also on twitter at @yoderbegley. I will be tweeting my recovery and come back.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! It is also 7 weeks till USATF Nationals start. I will race the 10k on June 23rd. This year will be a repeat of 2008 because I will need to place in the top 3 and run the time standard of 31:45 to make the World team. Since I have already done it once, I know what it will take. In 2008, I had no idea what to expect.

Once we get this close to one of the big races of the year, I start a countdown. Some people don’t like to know how many days until the big dance but it helps to keep me fully committed. It reminds me to make every day count toward my goal. Right now I am working harder than ever. My equivalent volume is the highest I have ever done. I am a low running mileage person but I make up for that with cross training. My equation is 10 minutes of cross training equals one mile. In the winter or rainy season I don’t mind being inside so much because I get to avoid the rain. However, we had our first 70 degree day yesterday and I really wanted to be out in the sun.

This past weekend, I went to Stanford and watched the Payton Jordan meet. I am not ready to race yet but things are slowly improving. It was my first time being at Stanford and not racing. It was a fun experience, but one I don’t want to repeat. The meet was moved to Sunday to coincide with the first day of the qualifying window for the London Olympic time standards. The men’s and women’s 10k had a lot of qualifiers. It is always a relief for the athlete’s to have that out of the way.

In case anyone wants to know the start of the track and field portion of the London Olympics starts August 3rd, 2012. We are 15 months away. It is just another count down for me, but this one I do in months right now.

I got a reminder email today saying that the Olympic Trials tickets will go on sale tomorrow, Friday May 6th. The Olympic Trials will be in Eugene again next year. It is amazing how far in advance everything has to be set for these events.
Even though I have a countdown going for the big races, I still try to be in the moment and make today count. What will you accomplish today?

April showers bring May flowers however we had enough rain in March that we don’t need any more. We had the rainiest March in history. Today we are 16 months from the 10,000 meters final in the London Olympics. It makes you think how close we are to the next big goal. I have a lot of smaller goals or stepping stones between now and then.

I will be racing the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8k on April 10th. It will be my outdoor opener. Then I will race at Stanford on May 1st in the 10,000 meters. It will be my first attempt at the A standard for both Worlds and the Olympics. The standard for the 10,000 meters is 31:45. I hope to hit it on my first try but since I am coming back from injury I am not going to rush anything. However, I don’t want to take it down to the wire like 2008! I don’t have any races planned yet after the May 1st race. We will plan the season depending on if I hit the standard.

I am very excited about racing the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8k. It is the world’s largest 8k with 40,000 participants. It is a premiere road race because of the flat fast course. I am hoping with the lack of hills my calf will do well and I will be able to really open up the pace if things feel good. The 8k will also give me a good idea about my fitness. I will have three weeks till the 10,000 meters after the Shamrock Shuffle. That gives me enough time to adjust things in the training or a kick in the pants to up my game.

Another reason I am excited to race in Chicago is because it is in the Midwest and three hours from my home town, Kendallville, IN. My family will be able to come to Chicago and visit with me for the weekend. It is always fun to see them. My parents have only missed a handful of races in my entire 23 year career! However, my brother and sister will get to come to this one as well.

Coming back from Achilles surgery and then a calf strain has taken longer than I expected. However, now I need to continue my rehab and be more proactive in preventative care. I need to continue to stretch, ice, get massage, chiropractic care, naps, cross training, running on soft surface, rehabbing the calf and using the Normatech on a regular basis. The little things keep you healthy. I just need to stay healthy to have consistent training and the times will come in the races.

Where has the last month gone? I did the 3k at UW on February 12th for my rust buster, however the following week I pushed too hard and strained my calf. I was not able to run the USATF Indoor Nationals in Albuquerque. I always like going to Albuquerque to run on the trails and eating the green chilies.

The calf is coming around and I hope to be back to working out and racing again soon. The key will be to take it slow with the calf and Achilles. The Achilles has not caught up to my cardiovascular fitness. My heart and lungs say go faster but the Achilles is the weakest link so I have to play to that for now. I will focus on the little things to stay healthy for the rest of the year.

Some of the little things I need to make sure I do include: 8 hours of sleep, 90 minute nap, stretching twice a day, taking my iron and calcium supplements, weekly massage, positive self talk, Pilates, core exercises, PT exercises and icing.

Alberto announced that we are now the Oregon Project. We will be racing in black uniforms with our new logo. The logo is a skull with wings on it. I will have to switch my race day nail polish from green to black. I will have to get creative with the black nails.

Every time I start to feel upset about my injuries I get reminded that they are not that important. This week I was told that a former college teammate made it through surgery and is now cancer free. The news of Sally Meyerhoff’s death was another example. She was a marathon Olympic trials qualifier and was killed while cycling yesterday. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends, and the running community. Then Mother Nature reminds us that disasters can happen. Let’s hope and pray for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

It has been 7 months since I have raced and it is 18 months till the next big goal and dream in London. It is time to do a rust buster. I will race the 3k at UW in Seattle this weekend. Flotrack is showing the meet live on flotrack.org. The meet starts at 2:15 PST. I run the 3k around 4:20 PST. It should be a great meet. I am both excited and nervous to get back on the track. I have to start back sometime. This meet will give us an idea where my fitness is. I will also race for the first time with compression socks. I have worn them all winter due to my Achilles and I don’t want to change anything now.

I have focused on the little things the last 3 weeks of training. This weekend I have to focus on the process of preparing to race. I am more focused on my preparation and staying positive throughout the race then the outcome. This is a stepping stone for the next two seasons. We will get to see where my starting point is.

The first week of 2011 has come and gone. Did you make New Year’s Resolutions? Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions? If not you can always set goals for yourself both long and short term goals. This year I just wanted to do better with the little things and maybe not be 15 minutes late to everything I do. I think I did a 50/50 job this week staying on task.

This was the first week since surgery in August that I felt like a runner again. I ran part of Kara’s long run this week and I did two workouts. For my workout this weekend, I joined Lauren Johnson and Bianca Martin in a tempo. Andrew is coaching both of them so we can sometimes make the workouts fit together. Bianca and I are both coming back from injury but Lauren is fit and ready for indoor. She can leave us in the dust but we will work on getting back in shape.

I love watching Lauren run fast. She has the natural raw speed that I wish I had. Lauren can run sub-60 in the 400 almost any day she wants. I have never broken 60 in the 400, but maybe that should be a goal for this year. Can a 33 year old run a PR in the 400 meters? We will find out this year! I will keep you posted on that one.

Alberto thinks I am 6 or 8 weeks away from racing. Mentally I am telling myself I will race in April just in case there are any setbacks. However, if the progression keeps up I should be able to race in March to get the rust out of the legs. This year I will need to run a fast 5,000 m and 10,000 m to qualify for both the USA National Championship and the IAAF World Championship. I will try to get both qualifiers so that I cover all my bases for the end of the season. If everyone stays healthy the 5k and 10k races at Nationals will be awesome events to watch and race in.

Hello 2011! I am so excited for this year because eleven is my lucky number. My birthday this year will be 1-11-11 and I will be 33. There are a lot of 11’s in that combination.

I finally felt back to normal today. I ran my first run with Kara since July. It was so nice to have a training partner again. We are both looking forward to a great come-back year in 2011. She will focus on the Boston Marathon and then track season. I am looking forward to the track season. I have not set any racing plans yet. I am going to let the Achilles heal on its on time. In my mind I am hoping to start racing in April. I would love to race earlier but I don’t want to risk anything for pushing for a timeline.

This year I am focused on the little things. If I can continue to do the little things to stay healthy then this will be a great year. Running is a great sport because the training builds on itself. If you can stay healthy and put in the work you will improve. I am hoping to put together 19 injury free months between now and 2012. That is the big long term goal.

I spent the last two weeks in Florida getting some warm sunshine. My Achilles really responded well to the warmer weather and I had a big breakthrough with my running pace. I was starting to feel like I was behind in training because I missed so much of 2010. However, one day last week when I was at the Disney Wide World of Sports Track, I talked to Brooks Johnson. He told me that elite track athletes typically can’t go 4 straight years training and racing at a high level. He said we need one of the years down during the quadrennium. I was thinking back over my career. For me 2006 and 2010 were both injury plagued years. That seems to match his theory. I feel really good about where I am at in the big picture for 2012. If I continue this cycle it will work out perfectly.

In life things happen for a reason that we don’t understand at the time. However, looking back now, maybe I needed this past year to be “easy” so that I have more fire and energy for training the next 19 months. Either way, I do feel ready to get back into training. Now the key will be to not jump too quickly into full healthy training. It will be a progression to get back into full training. Today’s run with Kara was a good start.

The fall has gone by so fast and winter has roared in wet and cold this year. As Thanksgiving approaches it is time to reflect on the year and what we are thankful for. I am thankful for a loving husband who is committed to my goals and dreams. I am thankful for family and friends, near or far. I am thankful for Nike and Alberto for starting the Oregon project and letting me run and compete as my full-time job. I am also thankful for the support system that keeps me healthy.
I am thankful for my health even though this year was a mixed bag for me. I ended up with three injuries and a couple health problems that made training difficult. My support team kept me healthy enough to win the 10,000 meters at Nationals and run sub-15 minutes in the 5k at the Pre Meet. I am still recovering from the Achilles surgery in August. The silver lining to the cold wet start of winter is that I am not running outside in it yet. I hope to feel the sting of the winter rain soon.

Andrew and I will have two full tables for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We will have friends and Andrew’s family over for dinner. My in-laws have moved to Oregon from Indiana. This will be the first year in a long time that we have had Thanksgiving with actual family. Andrew and I typically have Thanksgiving dinner with our “extended running family” or any misfit that did not go back home to be with their family. Growing up, my family made it a tradition to work at the church on Thanksgiving making and delivering meals to people. My mom worked most holidays as a hospice nurse so it made it easier on everyone to just volunteer our time at the church.

I sometimes miss being able to volunteer or help out with different organizations. Our training and travel schedule does not allow time for that, but I am keeping a list of things I will do after I retire from professional running. I want to be fully invested in my training so that when I do retire I won’t have any regrets. Plus, I have an amazing job that I really can’t complain about. Who else gets paid to run in circles and take naps!

Even though I have not run since August, I got a little pick me up from the December issue of Running Times. I was lucky enough to be put on the cover of the December Running Times magazine. They are out in book stores now or in some running specialty stores. There is also a great article about my career. There is an on-line article as well, http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=21058. The pictures were taken in the early spring. They are a great motivator to get back into shape once I can return to running. I hope you enjoy the magazine.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone gets to take some time to think about what they are thankful for this year or at least visit with family and friends.

The leaves on the trees are turning colors and fall has begun. The changing of seasons is so fitting for our group right now. We have had so many fun changes in Oregon. Dathan and Kalin Ritzenhein had Jude. Adam and Kara Goucher just had Colton. Galen and Keara got married. Alan Webb will get married in a few weeks. My only change is that my husband’s family moved across the country to Oregon. Everyone keeps asking me about our baby plans. I can honestly say that we are not thinking about that. Our future plans include three more years of racing on the track and then giving the marathon a try in either 2012 or 2013.

Currently, I am seven weeks post Achilles surgery and it is healing at its own pace. I thought I would be running by now but I am learning patience. However, the dogs are happy because they are getting two long walks a day around the park.

I have enjoyed my time off mainly because I have been down the injury road before and I have come back stronger each time. However, this is rivaling my longest time off from running. I know I have time to let this heal and Alberto told me not to worry about racing until indoor season. The best part of this “down time” is when I hit the four week mark; I couldn’t believe how energetic I felt. I was still doing 30 minutes or more per day of aerobic cross training but I wasn’t going hard. It seems like my body had fully recharged. That was a great feeling because I need my body to be ready for 110% the next two years.

I was also more optimistic once Alan Webb started racing again. He had almost the same surgery that I did. It is nice to have someone to turn to when you are not sure about how the Achilles should be feeling. As Alan said, I am now his biggest cheer leader because I want him to succeed so that I know I can do it too.

I have been doing physical therapy and working on getting healthy. It has reminded me of all the little things I need to do to stay healthy the next couple of years as I try to raise my level of racing. I am working with the same therapist, Shawn Dailey (L.O.F.I.T.T.) that helped me rehab from the plantar release surgery. He knows the level I want to get back to so he will push me to get there.

Next weekend I will be in Chicago working at Nike events for the marathon. I will update about what events I will be at in Chicago on Twitter and Facebook in case you want to stop by. Good luck to all the cross country racers this season. Good luck to the Chicago marathoners – just get to the line healthy. Also, good luck to those training for the New York Marathon. The OTC will be well represented with Dathan, Tim Nelson, Shalane, and Simon running. NYRR has also invited Matt, Lisa Koll, Chris, and Evan to watch the event. They will love it. The NYRR does a great job with any event they host.

This was a short season with a couple accomplishments. I won my 2nd USA 10,000 m title in Des Moines. I also broke 15 minutes in the 5,000 meters with a 14:56 at the PRE meet. However, I had to end my season before I was able to go to Europe. My Achilles had been nagging me since early June. We worked through it for Nationals and Pre. It won out and we cancelled the rest of my season and year. I decided to have surgery on it to speed the healing. It was a minor clean up of the sheath. I was due some time off so we used it for surgery.

I am now going to take some time getting back into shape while my Achilles heals. I plan to run indoor track this winter. I look forward to being healthy and working on my speed and racing instincts next year. The pups are looking forward to the day my Achilles is healed enough so I can walk them around the park. It is almost ready for that.

As much as I would have preferred to be in Europe racing, I did enjoy the Oregon summer. We have the best local foods from veggies, fruits, seafood, grass fed beef, eggs, and gluten-free products. This summer I have enjoyed real toast with Udi’s gluten-free bread. Yummy fresh Oregon berries with local cream cheese on Udi’s bread is a great snack.

I had already shopped for my European racing season so my cupboards are full of my travel staples: Justin’s Almond Butter packets, Udi’s bread, muffins and granola, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Generation UCAN (more chocolate recovery drinks than vanilla), Enviro Kids cereal bars and a new GF bar called Jungle Grub snack bars. I also pack GF oatmeal packets, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and Thai rice noodle packets to use with an electric hot pot. Those things can get me through most trips.

Since I am suppose to be taking it easy this week (my last week of time off), I am going to go make myself a smoothie and enjoy the 90 degree summer weather while it lasts.

Good luck to everyone starting their cross country seasons or marathon training. I will be at the Chicago marathon working for Nike. I won’t be running a marathon for a couple more years but I am excited to see the Chicago marathon this year. I will also be at the Midwest NXN meet in November in Terre Haute.

My season has begun with 2 races and one P.R. in the 5k. I raced May 1st at Stanford and ran a P.R. of 15:05 for 3rd place behind Shannon Rowbury and Shalane Flanagan. I did an interview after the Stanford race with Flotrack. I know I seemed upset about the race, but you really can’t be upset about a PR. I was just not happy with my kick. I need to be able to close faster than that. It is early and it will come. I can’t believe it has already been three weeks since my last race. I took one of those weeks easy after the 5k to visit my family in Indiana and meet my new niece. She is adorable.

Now I am back in Oregon training for the remainder of the track season. After spending the winter at an altitude training camp, I am looking forward to spending the summer in Oregon training with the team and Andrew. I got so excited to be here this summer that I planted a vegetable garden in the back yard. However, so far the weather has not been nice. It has been raining for a week and it hailed the last 2 days. My veggies are not happy. I am hoping for some gorgeous Oregon summer weather soon.

This weekend I will race the 1500 meters in Eugene. The Oregon Track Club is running men’s and women’s 1500 meter races during the Oregon High School State track meet. It will be a great opportunity to work on my speed and run in Oregon. I will update after the 1500 meters this weekend.
I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

This weekend, I had two events but unfortunately I could only attend one of them. This was my 2010 outdoor track season opener. It was also the RRCA awards program where I would be honored as the RRCA 2009 Female Road Runner of the year. I couldn’t attend the RRCA awards program because I needed to start my season and do a tune-up for the 5k next week at Stanford. I am really honored to be named the Road Runner of the Year. My running started on the roads with a 5 mile road race when I was 10 years old. I spent 6 years after college running on the roads. I love road races because you get to see the city and meet amazing people. It is the only sport where everyone lines up on the same starting line together.

Right now I am focused on my track career but I know I will end my running career on the roads where it all started. I want to thank the RRCA and selection committee for selecting me as the 2009 Road Runner of the Year. It was a great surprise and I appreciate the honor. I am sorry I was not able to attend the awards program.

I have not raced since October and that was a half marathon. It felt really strange to get into my uniform but it was exciting. My nails were painted green with white stars to match my OTC uniform. I am on the look-out for trees to put on my nails. I have been at an altitude training camp in Albuquerque since February with a few short trips home. I was excited and anxious to see the training paying off with a race.

The NYRR, New York Road Runners, put on the distance carnival on Friday. I raced in the women’s 3k. It is a race that is not run outdoors very often. My PR, 8:53.27, in the 3k is from indoor track last year. I was hoping for a sub 8:50. The race was set up with a rabbit to go 8:40s because a Japanese girl wanted to break her National record. However, after the rabbit left the track the paced slowed. I ended up taking the lead with 3 laps to go. I just missed my PR and ran 8:53.7. It was actually a cold and windy night. I think the wind followed us from Albuquerque. We have been dealing with the wind for weeks.

Even with the wind and the chill, the race was a great rust buster for me. It was also a great warm-up for next week. I will run the 5k at Stanford on May 1st. I am really hoping for a PR next week. My 5k PR is five years old from 2005 and it is 15:24. I have actually run faster in time trials in practice. I have not had a chance to run a good 5k in the last couple of years. This year I will get a chance to run a couple 5ks.

It was a quick trip to Berkeley but I enjoyed my short time there. I had never raced there before. It was a nice stadium and a great area. I did my morning run the next day around Cesar Chavez Park. It was a great morning with a view of San Francisco and the bay. It was also a fun trip because I had a friend come visit and watch me run. I love to travel around the US and race. I get to catch up with friends who have moved all over the US.

Albuquerque is still sunny and windy. I am enjoying my time here on the trails and working out on the UNM track. One of my girl friends is moving from Albuquerque this weekend and I will miss her. She has been a great source of girl time while I have been training here. There are still some other people I know in Albuquerque that I can hang out with, even though time is limited during training camp.

I always pack books and things to work on during training camp but I never end up having as much time as I thought I would. Everything here is based on what is best for my training for the season. The little things are so important to stay healthy when you are training at a high intensity level during training camp. The little things include stretching, lifting, napping, running, eating and sleeping right. Every year, I try to get a little better on the little things. Last year, I did a better job on napping. (I also quit biting my nails.)

This year, my goal is to do better with my eating. I would say I am a sugar addict. I have tried to cut back on my sugar in my diet. I have made little changes that have made a huge difference. I am choosing food items with lower sugar content. For example, I switched from flavored yogurts to fat free Greek yogurt with fresh fruit. I have been choosing cereals with less sugar as well. My little chocolate treats are 80% dark chocolate because it has less sugar. I have also changed my pre and post workout drinks to a less sugar option. I am now using Generation UCAN pomegranate blueberry before my workouts and the vanilla flavor after my workouts.

I thought the change would be hard but my energy levels are more stable and that has made it worth the effort. I still want the gluten-free brownies and chocolate ice cream but now I am going to take them in moderation. I have decided it is more important to fuel my body properly so that I can continue to improve. I only have a limited time to run at this level and then I have a lifetime to enjoy the sugary foods. It is all about taking care of the little things because the big part of my training, running, is already covered.

I am two weeks away from my first race of the season, the 3k at the Brutus Hamilton Invite at Cal Berkeley. Then I will run a 10k on May 1st. This training camp will set me up for a great start to this season.

We trained in Albuquerque for a month earlier this year. I went home for a week and now I am back for another 5 weeks of altitude training. I am at the end of the first week here and it has flown by. This time around the altitude did not affect me as much when I first arrived. However, the windy season is beginning here. As I am typing this the wind is starting up for the day. Four days ago we had wind gusts up to 51 mph. But we were rewarded 2 days later with the most amazing day with warmth, sun and clear blue skies. I ran in the evening and it was one of those days I felt like I could run forever. I headed up into the foothills and saw a pack of deer grazing along with hundreds of bunnies. I then headed back down and had the most amazing view of the sun setting. Then I headed south with the sun setting to the west and a full moon in the east, I couldn’t have been more at peace. It was a great ending to my day. I love running on the trails in Albuquerque with the view of the mountain and the city.

The workouts are continuing to improve and I am getting excited about the outdoor season. I will open the year with a 3k at the Brutus Hamilton Invite in Berkeley, CA. I will then run a 10k on May 1st. That might be one of the only 10ks run this year. This is a dead year in track and field. That means that we don’t have a World Championship meet or an Olympics. We will still have a USA Championships meet. This year the meet is in the Midwest. It will be at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa June 24-27. It will be fun to compete in the Midwest again.

I have a month of focused training ahead of me in Albuquerque. This will be a great jump start to the year.

The start of a new year and I am now 32. Andrew gave me Bobby Flay
cookbooks. I am going to try one of his recipes each week. Last week it was a grilled chicken with a spicy glaze. This week it was scallops with a pea and cilantro sauce.

Andrew also surprised me with a team dinner. It was a fun get together for the team to start the year. The Oregon Project has had a great start
to the year with Simon winning the Rock and Roll Half Marathon and Shalane winning the USATF Half Marathon in Houston. Now everyone will move into cross country or indoor season.

The Oregon Project is a great group of dedicated athletes. It is very inspiring to go to practice and see everyone working so hard. I have started this year with an injury but I hope to get back to full training soon. My team mates have kept me positive during my injury rehab. Even though I can’t join them in practice we lift together.

If you would like to meet the Oregon Project, there is a chance for you to do that. You can go to the Jenny Crain Make it Happen Benefit Page on Facebook. An auction for items donated by the running community are listed there. My parent’s and I have donated a trip for two to Beaverton to visit the Oregon Project. You can meet the runners, watch a workout, tour the Nike campus and shop at the employee store. The highest bidder will win that prize. There are also other great items to bid on like signed books, marathon entries, etc. All the money raised will help Jenny Crain continue with her therapy.

This is the start of my 4th year in Oregon. My fourth rainy Oregon winter, but the silver lining is that I have been injured and have been able to avoid the rain. Yet, that means I am on the stationary bike watching movies or things I have on the DVR. My favorite shows are Gray’s Anatomy, Biggest Loser, Desperate Housewives and the Food Network. Stationary biking is now a little harder because I have moved the bike into altitude. That means I get another hour at altitude.

Most athletes will tell you that being injured takes so much more time. The rehab exercises and cross training takes longer than just running. To make sure I keep up the volume of aerobic exercise, every 10 minutes on the bike equals one mile. Even when I am healthy, I add stationary biking to my weekly routine to continue to stay healthy. I wish I could bike outside and enjoy the Oregon scenery but I am too accident prone to risk injury. I will stick to walking my dogs outside.

If you want to keep up with Oregon Project Athletes there are many ways. Dathan tweets when he updates his blog on:

Chris Solinsky and Simon Bairu also tweet. I use twitter and facebook. Yet, when I am injured I tend to become a hermit until I am back running.

This is now the start of the third week in January. They say it takes 21 days or 3 weeks to form a new habit or break one. Have you continued to follow your New Year’s Resolutions? Last year I quit biting my nails. I am still trying to figure out which habit to break this year or what new good habit to form.

Here’s to the start of a new year. I wish everyone one a happy, healthy,
successful year in whatever you choose to do with your life. Just follow your heart and passion and you can’t go wrong.

December 6, 2009

Wow, the last 2 months have flown by! I really enjoyed my time off – maybe too much! I put on the usual weight during my time off but this time it is taking a little longer to take it off, and the Holidays don’t help.

This weekend I got to spend time with some of the best high school cross country runners in the country. It was NXN weekend in Portland. NXN brings together the best teams and individuals from around the country to compete in a national race.

We had great cross country weather. It was cold but no rain or snow. I was the
Midwest captain for the 2 girls and 2 boys’ teams plus individuals. I promised the Naperville Team a shout out at the closing ceremony but I did not have a microphone so here is the shout out to them! Naperville XC Team – voted best looking team on Dyestat this season.

I also got to hang out with some of my running friends that came in to work the meet as well. It is always fun catching up with the runners in a non-competitive way. We are friends off the track but on the track or cross country course it is all business. But we have a lot of respect for each other and how hard we work.

If you want to see what we did this weekend head to Runnerspace.com. Here is a link to a video the elite athletes did for the opening ceremony Nike Athletes Help at NXN Spoof (part 1, 2,and 3), :

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=17941

If you know me, then my part in the video will make a lot of sense. There are also other videos with interviews and videos of the high school race. Both the girls and guys races came down to a sprint finish. We had a great time getting to know the future of our sport.

This has also been a great month for the Oregon Project in the media. Solinsky and Tegenkamp are on the cover of the January Track and Field News Magazine. It has an article about our group. I am also in the December Runners World. Alberto just received the USATF Coach of the Year Award at the USATF Annual Conference.
Our group is really excited about the coming year.

We are using this “dead year” as a year to improve on areas in our form and speed. A dead year means that there is no Outdoor World Track Championship. However, there is a World Cross country Championship and an Indoor World Track Championship. I hope to be able to qualify for the Indoor World Track Championship. It will be in Qatar in March. The qualifier for that meet is the USATF Indoor National Championship in Albuquerque at the end of February. The 3k is the longest event, so I will be trying for that distance. I am excited to race in Albuquerque. I lived there for 2 years and enjoyed my time there.

It is time to get back into serious training.

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October 11, 2009

IAAF World Half Marathon – Birmingham, England
11th Place 1:10:09 Team USA Women were 5th

My splits were:
1k - 2:54
1 mile – 4:45
2k – 5:59
2 mile – 10:00
5k – 15:57
10k – 32:39
15k – 49:26

So my 5ks were: 15:57, 16:42, 16:47, and 16:50. I guess I was consistent after that first one!

Well my season and year are over. It was not how I wanted it to end. But I guess it was technically a PR. (However, I really don’t count that first half marathon from 2003). My goal was sub 1:10 and placing 5th to 10th. I missed both of those goals.

This was really the first race all year that I missed all of my goals. I paid for the fast
first couple of miles with the last 4 miles.    The first mile and a half was a screaming downhill. The women took it out hard. When I hit the 2k in 6 minutes, my first thought was that I ran 6 minutes for my first 2k in Beijing and that did not go well and it was only a 10k. Not the best thoughts to have 2k into a half marathon. The last 2k was a climb to the finish that seemed to take a long time.

It was wet and windy. The course was hilly, with tight turns and slick pavement. It was a lot harder than I had first thought. The half marathon is also a lot harder than I thought! My 9 mile tempo was nothing compared to the full thing. I am a very low mileage runner. I might have to run more mileage, especially on the road, to get my body use to that kind of pounding. I will also have to get use to huge blisters on the bottom of my feet! Wow, it is nasty. My husband appreciated the text picture of my nasty foot.

Dathan ran a great race. He ran 1:00:00 for 3rd place! He got on the podium. Our men’s team was 4th. They were 8 seconds from 3rd. So close! Dathan ran an impressive race and was so tough at the end holding off the last minutes charges up the hill. He is amazing to watch race. His tenacity will inspire me to be a tougher racer next year. I am lucky to have teammates like Dathan and Kara who are tough as nails and so competitive. They have helped to raise American distance running to a new level. They have shown us that we can compete with anyone.

Now I am on a two week break. I will start tomorrow with enjoying my time down. I will take in a bit of Birmingham and the surrounding area before I head home. Birmingham is a nice city. It will also be the location for the USA Training Camp prior to London 2012. I hope to be back here for that. A few facts about Birmingham:

•        Has more miles of canals than Venice
•        Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution
•        JRR Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings novels here
•        Cadbury is here!

After the race, some of us went to Cadbury World to see the Cadbury factory, where the world famous Cadbury Dairy Milk is made. I never knew how long the process was to make chocolate. There is picking the pods, cutting them in half, scooping out the beans, drying, , roasting, steaming, shelling, pressing (to get cocoa butter), crushing, rolling, adding cocoa butter, milk and sugar, tempering, etc.

We asked why we only get the Cadbury eggs at Easter. They said they can’t make enough to keep up with demand if they offered them year round. Wow!

My parents came to the race. We are staying an extra day to tour Birmingham. We will try to see Shakespeare’s birth place in Stratford Upon Avon and then Warwick Castle. But it all depends on trains, etc. I am tempted to take the train to London, since I have never been there. However, I will save that trip and share it with Andrew.

Thanks for sharing this journey, season and year with me. It has been a great one! I will keep you updated during my break between now and the end of the year. I won’t race until indoor season. I will probably do a lot of indoor meets in Seattle. I will then head to Albuquerque to Indoor Nationals at the end of February. If all goes well I could take my first trip to Qatar in March for Indoor Worlds. That would be an interesting area to go to. I will continue to work my speed next year. I really had my eyes opened in track when the winners of the 10k closed the last 3k in 8:40s. I need to be able to do that if I want to compete with the best. Next year will be about closing that gap. I feel I got half way there this year.

Enjoy the fall weather, with the leaves changing and the crisp air.

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Friday, October 9th, 2009

I am two days away from my last race of the year. This year has been amazing. I could never have imagined a year like this. I have run PRs in everything from the 800 to the 15k. (I technically did not run a PR in the 5k in a race but I did run one in practice, in a tempo run, before USA Nationals.) I won 4 US titles: 3k indoors, 5k roads, 10k outdoors, and 15k roads. Now I am on my second World team this year. I am sure after this race I will think back over this year and let it all soak in.

For now, I need to be focused on this race. Last week, I ran a 9 mile tempo run around the Nike campus. It was a great workout that gave me confidence for this race. It was not an American Record effort like Dathan ran in his tempo but it was good. I had watched Dathan run that tempo run. It was really great to see that kind of focus and determination. It also got me fired up for my tempo run. I am so lucky to be part of a group that has talented, passionate, and competitive people. I am constantly learning from my teammates and coach.

Here is a link to an interview I did with Universal Sports.

http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?
SPID=13055&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=204809116

Joe Battaglia did a great job writing this article. It might be one of my favorite articles prior to a race.

The race will be streamed live on UniversalSports.com. The women’s race starts at 9 AM in Birmingham,
England on Sunday, October 11th. That is 4 AM Eastern and 1 AM Pacific time. If you want to watch the race,
you can either get up early on Sunday or stay up late on Saturday night, your choice!

Here is another interview that I did prior to this race as well:

http://roadsmillslaps.com/RML/Amy_Yoder_Begley.html

That is all for now. I will follow up after the race with more details about this trip and how the race played out.

Good bye for now from Birmingham, England

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September 20th, 2009

Back to the roads! Providence, Rhode Island – CVS 5k, USATF 5k Road Championships

1st Place – 15:27

What a beautiful day in Providence for a 5k. I have not raced since the World Track Championships. I took a couple weeks easy after the World Championships and then started back training. This was a nice event to get back to racing. It is also a little speed work and tune up for my next big race in three weeks. I was selected for the World Half Marathon Team that will compete in Birmingham, England on October 11th. This 5k was a nice break in the long workouts I have been doing for the half marathon.

The CVS 5k has a downhill start and an uphill finish. We went out in 4:51 for the first mile and under 10 minutes at 2 miles. I was supposed to sit and wait till 800 meters to go in the race before I started my kick. Jen Rhines made it a fast race. Rebecca Donaghue had a great race and came on really strong in the last half of the race. I
felt good but I am a little tired from the longer training I have been doing. That is ok because I want to run well and represent the USA with pride at the World Half Marathon Championships. For the CVS 5k on the men’s side, Matt
Tegenkamp won to make it an OTC (Oregon Track Club) sweep! Watch for Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky in the 5th Avenue Mile next weekend in New York.

Providence is a great city to visit and race. Last night they had a show on the canal called Fire Water. They light fires on the water and have boats and music. It is a fun atmosphere. They also have a handful of gluten-free restaurants. I ate at Joe’s American Bar & Grill for dinner and they had gluten-free pasta. For lunch, after the race, I ate at Kabob and Curry. They have a very allergy friendly menu with gluten, dairy and nut-free items marked on the menu. I might try another gluten-free restaurant tonight before I head back to Portland tomorrow.

I have 3 weeks till the half marathon. After, the half marathon I will take a little break and then start the year over again. With 2010 being a “dead year”, no outdoor World Championships, it is a good year to try new things like higher mileage, different drills, more speed workouts, etc. I will talk with Alberto later in the year to decide on whether to do cross country, indoor track or both. I have not done cross country in a few years. Cross Country nationals are in Spokane, Washington and XC Worlds are in Poland. Indoor Nationals are in Albuquerque and Indoor Worlds are in Qatar.

I am excited for this fall because I get to attend the Nike NXN series. I will be at the Pre-Nationals next weekend at Portland Meadows. I will then go to the Terra Haute, IN NXN XC regional on November 14. It will be fun to watch the Midwest kids compete.

Back to Half Marathon Training!

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August 25th, 2009

6th in the 10k at the World Championships in 31:13

It has been 10 days since I ran the 10k at the World Championships in Berlin. It was an amazing experience and 100% better than last year. This year I was prepared both mentally and physically for the race. We had the honor of running with a JO stamp on our uniform that paid tribute to Jessie Owens, who won 4 Gold Medals at the 1936 Olympics to defy Hitler’s ideas.

The race started out at a moderate pace (15:45 for the first 5k) with the field bunched up. Since the field was bunched up it became a very physical race. There was a lot of pushing and spiking going on. Alberto told me to get in lane one on the rail and stay there. My goal was to stay within striking distance of the leaders so that I could
go with them when they made a move. I had wanted to run under 31 minutes, when we came through the 5k at 15:45 I did not think that I would be able to do that or even PR.

I knew the leaders would make a move and I was waiting for it. With 8 laps to go (2 miles), they made a move and I hesitated. Only five women went with the pace change and I was left leading the chase group. When I got around to Alberto on the back stretch he was telling me to go with the leaders. I tried to make a small move but it did not work because I was scared of going after the leaders and dying in the last couple laps. I felt confident that I could hold 6th and not get beat by anyone in the 2nd group. However, I was not confident enough to go with the leaders. I wish I would have tried to see what I could have done, they did break 31 minutes. The next time I am in that situation I won’t hesitate. I need to push the limits and see what I can do.

I held 6th place for the last 2 miles and ran the 2nd 5k in 15: 28. I was happy with my performance and glad that I represented the USA better than I did last year. After, the race I learned that I am ranked 4th on the US all-time 10k list (Shalane, Deena, Kara, myself). That is a great list of women to be a part of. My time is also the fastest time run by an American at the World Championship in the 10k. Shalane obviously has the fastest American time at the Olympics.

I learned so much from this experience that will make my future races even better. I learned to stay calm for a big meet. I learned how to deal with my gluten-free on a European trip. I am happy to report that this time they did a better job with gluten-free food at the athlete hotel. They even had gluten-free sandwiches. However, they put them near the door and athletes were grabbing them as they left to nibble on. I don’t think the athletes even knew they were gluten-free because the sign was really small. The sandwiches went really fast and most days there weren’t any left.

I was able to take a little time off after my race and enjoy some of the sites of Berlin and other cities. Now I am back home and preparing for a few road races. This year has been an incredible experience. I have accomplished a lot of my goals but I still have more I want to do. This year has been like Christmas for me. Everything I have ever wanted or wished for has come true. You don’t get many years or experiences like this. I feel so lucky and blessed.

I will write more about my trip in later journals. Thanks for the support!

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Monday August, 10th, 2009

5 days till Worlds in Berlin

This is my last day in St. Moritz and it has been a great altitude training camp. This has been my favorite place to train. Even though the 4 lane track could get busy, everyone was aware of each other’s workouts. A track club used the track every morning and I was very impressed with how the young kids were aware of the track and stayed out of the way.

I only have one more little workout left before the race. I did a 5k time trial yesterday and it went really well. It would have been a PR at sea level with the altitude conversion. It was suppose to rain yesterday but I got really lucky. During the time trial it was perfect weather with no wind. My last three 5k time trials have been PRs. Maybe next year I will run a real one in a track meet.

They kept calling for rain but since yesterday was so beautiful we decided to go up the mountain on the cog railway. We went up to Piz Nair, the highest mountain peak by cog railway. It took two cogs and one aerial tram to get to the top. It was 3,057 meters high, which is just over 10,000 feet. We had beautiful views of St. Moritz, the
track, and the lakes surrounding the area. There were also cows roaming the mountain side. They all had bells on their necks. The bells actually had a soothing sound. I was expecting louder bangs not a soothing ring. St. Moritz loves bells. It seems that all the churches and towers have bells that ring all the time or at random times.

On our way down from Piz Nair, we stopped at the first cog rail way stop, Chantarella, and walked down the mountain to town. We walked the Heidis Blumenweg (Heidi Bloom trail). It is where they filmed the movie Heidi.
It was a beautiful walk and not too hard because it was mostly downhill and gave us great views of the city and track.

St. Moritz also reminds Andrew and me of our childhood. All the stores close Monday through Friday at 6:30 pm. They close at 5 pm on Saturday and they are closed on Sunday. However, there are restaurants that are opened later during the week and are opened on Sunday. Some of the stores are even closed for lunch during the week.

It is definitely a different culture of work. People have to plan and not rely on a store being open all night. There are no fast food restaurants here. They have some delis and bakeries that you could grab some bread, cheese and small sandwiches. However, the sandwiches are smothered with butter and cheese.

It is a very relaxing place to train. People wonder what our days are like at training camp. This is a typical day at training camp:

Breakfast

AM Run, stretch, core work or a track workout

Walk to store and pick up some lunch

Nap

PM Run, stretch, ice in lake

Dinner

Relax, read, and play on internet

Bedtime

We really don’t do anything more than that. Sometimes on an easy day we will walk around town a little more. The cog railway trip was the only tourist thing I did this whole time I have been here. We are here to train and get ready for worlds. I have already read three books and I am on my fourth. Andrew gave me a Kindle as a
congratulations present from US Nationals. That was a baggage space saver! I usually pack paperback books to read and leave on trips but now I can just take my Kindle with lots of books downloaded.

Tomorrow I head to Berlin to check into the athlete hotel and get credentialed. It will be fun to get there and see how things work at a World Championship. I will keep you updated on my journey.

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August 4, 2009

11 days till Worlds in Berlin

I have been in St. Moritz for 9 days and I am feeling good. I am adjusted to the time and getting use to the altitude and the cooler temperatures. Andrew has arrived, so I have my training partner back. He also arrived in time to celebrate our 9th Anniversary tomorrow!

I am nearing the end of this training phase. My long runs are shorter and I have a few key workouts left before the big show. All the work will pay off soon. I am excited to see what I can do at Worlds.

This is my favorite training camp ever. The location, weather, and food are amazing. The hotel has been great with modifying my food to be gluten-free. They even have gluten-free bread.   I did mail food to both St. Moritz and Berlin. I mostly sent my cereal, almond butter, rice noodle meals, rice and can chicken and salmon. They will be used for pre-workout and race meals. I also use them for lunches. I did find a natural food store in town that had gluten-free food. I will wait till after worlds to try those goodies. Most of them are things I don’t need prior to Worlds. For example, a chocolate filled croissant, cookies, and other snacks were available. Yum!

St. Moritz is an amazing place to train. The trails are miles of smooth crushed gravel in the woods. Most of the trails are hilly but there is one fairly flat trail that leads to two other lakes on the west side of the city. Every trail leads to amazing views. The four lane track can be crowded in the morning but everyone is very aware and
considerate of workouts taking place. The athletes training on the track are from all over the world.

Now for some history of Switzerland, Swiss National Day, August 1st is to the Swiss what July 4th is to Americans. The day was chosen because August 1st, 1291 was the day when three cantons swore an oath of brotherhood and confederation that later became known as the foundation of Switzerland. August 1st is typically a
day of bonfires, fireworks, barbeques and brunch on the farm. In 1891, the Government declared August 1st Switzerland’s National Day. However, long before that bonfires had more significance in Switzerland. The Swiss built bonfires, as beacons on mountain tops, which were lit when danger approached.

However, it was not until 1993 that the Swiss decided that they could take the day off to celebrate the holiday. The holiday is usually celebrated with a feast of barbequed sausages. Yet, an alternative feast is gaining ground in Switzerland. In 1993 the Swiss Farmers’ Association launched the brunch on the farm idea. Farmers host a brunch on their land to showcase the local produce and to show off the farm lifestyle. In 2005 almost 430 farmers participated serving brunch to 200,000 people.

The meal I had on August 1st in the hotel had many local ingredients. It was an eight course Gala Dinner that was so delicious. After dinner, we joined people by the lake to enjoy the bonfire and fireworks. It was a fun night.

The countdown continues to Berlin!

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July 31st, 2009 Friday

St. Moritz, Switzerland – Training Camp Prior to Worlds

Happy Birthday Marcia! My sister’s birthday is today. This is my 5th day here and I am slowly adjusting to the time change and altitude. It is 9 hours ahead of Oregon. We are roughly at 6,000 ft. The 3rd day was the hardest for me. However, I am feeling better today. The first 4 days were beautiful and sunny. Now we have rain and much cooler temperatures. The change in temperature comes at a bad time for them. It is a holiday weekend. August 1st is Switzerland’s Independence Day. They will have fireworks and bonfires around the lake tomorrow. The bonfires look like teepees of wood tied together.

St. Moritz (pronounced San Moritz) is in the Engadin Valley and was settled in 1856. It is a very posh ski town. We are surrounded by mountains and therefore have hundreds of miles of wooded, hilly trails to run on. My legs were sore the first couple of days running on the hilly trails but they are better now.

I can only say that this place is heavenly. Everything here is perfect, well except that Andrew is not here yet, but he will be soon enough. We are next to a lake that is 3 miles around with one side paved and the other side with gravel. The lake is also a good ice bath. There is a four lane track that is on the other side of the lake. It takes me nine minutes to run to the track.

I ventured to the store today and felt very much like the stupid American tourist. In order to use a cart you need to put a two franc coin in the cart. You get it back in the end but not after I looked like an idiot trying to figure out how to use the cart. I then learned at the cash register that you are supposed to weigh and tag your produce in the produce section before you go to check-out. However, on the bright side they had some of my favorite Thai meals in the store. I picked up my favorite sweet Thai chili sauce, which I use to flavor rice. The funniest part of the trip was the fact that they had Weight Watchers products for everything. So I guess people can stay on the program all over the world.

The hotel is really nice and the food is so good! They even had gluten-free bread and pasta for me. There is also a bakery in town that has gluten-free bread. I will have to get some soon. With a room reservation, you get a breakfast buffet and dinner included. The dinner in the hotel is amazing. I am a big fan of the Food Network and I typically watch the Food Network while I am biking on the stationary bike.   This hotel is serving all the fancy food on the shows that I have only seen and never tried. Every day I get to try something new. I have had beef tartar, rabbit, duck, sweetbreads (cow pancreas!), different soups, cheeses, and tonka bean ice parfait. I had to Google that one to figure out what it was. It is a bean that can be used like vanilla but has a more earthy tone and is used in some tobacco products for flavor and smell.

I have taken pictures of St Moritz and posted them on my facebook page. If you don’t have facebook you can still see them via this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=292305&id=555800600&l=c317280487

Runner’s World On-line has posted my music playlist and a short interview. You can view that here:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-466--13257-0,00.html

That is all for now from Switzerland. I have 15 days to go!

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July 25, 2009, Saturday

3 weeks till Worlds in Berlin

I am getting really excited to take off for Europe. I have just finished the hardest two weeks of training in my life. I have done longer and faster workouts than I have ever done before. Prior to Nationals we did a lot of speed work.

Since Nationals we have focused on strength with a little bit of speed mixed in. I have been able to join Kara on a lot of her marathon training workouts. That has been a lot of fun. Those types of workouts are mentally tough and physically painful the next day. I am happy to say that I survived and I know the taper phase is around the corner.

I am ready to see what I can do at Worlds. I am going into this race, exactly like I have all the other races this year, with no set limits. I want to see what I can do. I also want to redeem myself from last year. I am better prepared physically and mentally for this race.

On Monday, July 27th, Runner’s World On-line will have my play list posted. Runner’s World does a Music List Monday. They pick different athletes and have us give our playlists for motivation or pre-race. They also post a Q & A about the music. Here is the link to the site:

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/special/0,7889,s6-240-466-0-0,00.html

It will probably take you to Runner’s World on-line music site and then you can click to find me from that page. I hope you enjoy my list. I have a little bit of everything: country, girl bands, Christian rock, etc.

I will keep updating my journal from Europe. Stay tuned for more updates from Europe!

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July 18th, 2009

Four weeks till Worlds in Berlin. The time is flying by really fast, except sometimes after a good 2 hour nap it feels like it is another day. I am back to longer workouts more specific to 10k training. I am also lucky enough to join Kara for an occasional long run. However, I don’t have to run as far as she does.

We will head out for a little altitude training camp before we head to Berlin. We will be in Switzerland. I am very excited to get to Europe. Packing for seven weeks will be interesting. I am also going to pack and mail gluten-free food to training camp and Berlin.

I will pack my staples: almond butter, corn tortillas, gluten-free cereal, rice cakes, can chicken, can salmon, rice bowls, Thai and Indian microwave meals, gluten-free bars, and Gatorade. I am also packing my favorite sauce, 505 green chili, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They make little 2 ounce packages for travel, camping, etc. Yum! They help spice up anything. If you are gluten-free you know that sometimes we are served really bland meals. I even use it as salad dressing. I love spicy food.

Speaking of gluten-free, Chex has brought out many varieties of cereal. I have tried Rice Chex, Strawberry Chex and Cinnamon Chex. I am so excited that a main stream cereal has gone gluten-free. I love those flavors. It really satisfies the sweet tooth. I wake up excited to eat the cinnamon Chex right now. I am waiting for the
Chocolate Chex to be available in my area.

I am continuing to train hard and getting in all the little things that keep me healthy. I have also not bitten my nails since March! I can’t believe I got through a US track season with long nails. During the season, I painted them green to match my OTC uniform. I now have two different shades of blue to match my USA uniform. I will see which one I like better.

I will be without Andrew for a week because he is headed to Indiana for the Yoder Begley Cross Country Camp at Manchester University in North Manchester, IN. This is our 10th year. I was at the first 8 years of camp. Last year I missed it due to the Olympics. This year I will miss it due to training for Worlds. This coming week is one of my last hard high mileage weeks. Plus, we leave in about a week for Europe. However, I will do a live streaming video to the campers. They will be able to ask me questions. Andrew will be there to give them all the information they would get from me. They will also get to see my Beijing slide show and some of my Olympic gear.

Thanks for the support and remember to set goals. It helps to keep you motivated!

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July 8th, 2009

38 days till the Women’s 10k at Worlds!

It is also my parent’s anniversary. They have been a great inspiration and help to me. I would not be where I am without them. Thanks Mom and Dad! Enjoy your special day.

This week we are back to full training. I took a week of really easy running to get some down time before we head into this next training block. I am back to the longer 10k training with a little speed work still thrown in.

I am really excited to see what I can do at Worlds. I am going into Worlds without setting limits. I want to see what I can do when I go to the well. I have not gone to the well yet this year in a race. I believe that you have 3 to 4 races a year that you can go to the well and have an amazing race or break through. I hope to have one of those at Worlds and then another one later in Europe in a 5k. I want a new PR in the 5k to get a full house of PRs for the year.

I know I have said that I have not been to Europe. Someone pointed out that I raced in Glasgow in January. That is true, but it was an indoor meet and I was in and out in a few days. I also had an allergic reaction to the mold in the building and had my first 2 migraines that landed me in the ER when I returned. I am blocking that trip out of
my memory!

So this will be my first real trip to Europe and my first European racing season. We will be training in Oregon for a couple more weeks before we head out. The OTC (Oregon Track Club) will be well represented this year at Worlds.

Thanks for the support! Set Goals and don’t be afraid to Dream Big!

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June 26, 2009

USATF National 10,000 meter Champ

Wow! I woke up at 4:30 AM and could not go back to sleep. I realized this year and last night were not a dream. I won! This has been the year I have always dreamed of. I am healthy and having fun running PR’s and testing my limits. Andrew warmed-up with me as usual to give me my pre-race pep talk. He told me to “Just do it and don’t think”. That became my mantra for the race. My goal was to go into the race and not put limits on myself. I wanted to get through the race without hesitating and just racing.

This was the most fun I have had running a 10k. Shalane and I agreed to take turns leading every 800 meters for a 15:45 5k and then see what happens. We wanted to put on a good show for the Hayward crowd and run a good time. The laps went by so fast we would forget who was supposed to be leading. We traded laps longer than 5k because we had a good time going and it was really windy on the back stretch. The more we could help each other the better.

I finished with a 67 last lap to win. I ran 31:22.69 that is a 21 second PR. All the speed work has really paid off! As an added bonus I also ran the Hayward Field record, which means I have run the fastest 10k ever run on that track. That was a really great honor. Plus to do it in the OTC jersey was even better.

After my race, I got to watch Galan finish his collegiate career in his Oregon jersey. What a night for our group and Alberto. It has been an amazing year and the summer has just begun. Now I get to represent the USA in the World Champs in Berlin. My race is August 15th. This will be my first trip to Europe. I can’t wait to experience the track meets over there!

I am looking forward to redeeming myself on the world level and really competing.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement!

Dream big and SET GOALS!

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June 19th, 2009

One week till Nationals

June has been a fun month so far. I raced in my first Prefontaine Classic meet in the 2,000 meters. It is a rarely run distance. I came through the mile in a PR of around 4:30 and went another lap to finish 6th in 5:38. It was a great experience.

Then the next weekend, I paced my teammate, Ari, in her first 10k at the Portland Track Festival at Lewis and Clark. It was the first time I had gone that many laps this year. Yesterday, I did a 5k time trial at practice and went 15:23. That is an unofficial PR in the 5k for me. However, that 5k PR is 4 years old and needs to go. I have run PRs in the 800, 1500, mile, 2k, and 3k this year. Now I just need to run a PR in the 5k and 10k this summer to have a full house of PR’s!

It is 6 days until Nationals in Eugene. June has gone really fast. I am looking forward to racing the 10k at Hayward again. I love the feel of the track and the energy of the crowd. I will now be in an OTC (Oregon Track Club) jersey. It is green with trees on the side. I also paint my finger nails green to match. That is another PR for
me, not biting my nails for over 3 months!

I will be racing the 10k on Thursday, June 25th. They are not broadcasting the meet that night on TV. The goal is to be in the top 3 to make the World Team that will compete in Berlin, Germany August 15th to 23rd. My goal is to be competitive this year at Worlds. I want to do better than my 26th place in Beijing at the Olympics.

Thanks for all the support!

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June 3rd, 2009

Nike Mile and 800

On May 28th we had the Nike Mile. It is a mile race that is held on the Nike Campus on the Michael Johnson Track on the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton. This year they had an elite 800 and mile race. Alberto wanted it to be a good workout for us, so they adjusted the schedule so that the 800 and the mile were 10 minutes a part. I ran the 800 in 2:11 and then the mile in 4:37. It was an 0.06 second PR. Then we had a workout after that. I am still learning how to warm-up for the shorter races. I don’t think I was warmed up enough for the 800. But I felt ready for the mile. From here the races and workouts get longer to get ready for Nationals.

We have almost 3 weeks till Nationals. This spring has gone really well. We have worked on my speed all season but now it is time for the meat and potatoes of the training and sharpening. My next race will be the 2,000 meters at the Pre Meet in Eugene on Sunday, June 7th. It will be live on NBC from 11 AM to 1 PM Pacific Time. I race at 12:38 PM. The 2,000 meters is an odd distance that is rarely run. The world record is 5:25, which is 65 seconds per lap. Someone wants the world record in the event so we will run it and give her a shot to break it. This is my first time running in the Prefontaine Meet.

From there I will race the 10,000 at Lewis and Clark, June 12th as a tempo style workout to get ready for a longer race at Nationals. Then it is just time to do the final prep work for Nationals. I can’t believe how fast this season has gone. I am really excited about where I am at with training. I hope to continue to add to my PR’s this season.

Thanks for all the support!

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May 10th, 2009

15k to 800 meter races!

Happy Mother’s Day! I know I would not be where I am without my mom. She has been at almost all of my races. She took me all over the United States to race from the time I was 12. She also lugged a waffle iron to races to make me waffles the mornings of my races (before I was diagnosed with Celiac). She would also stand in line for me at the port -a-potty before a race so that I could continue to warm-up.   She was the best team mom in high school and college. She made sure we all had what we needed and decorated our hotel room doors. Now she gets to travel the United States and the world to watch me race. This time around she helps me find gluten-free restaurants and foods to eat while I travel.

THANKS MOM FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE AND CONTINUE TO DO FOR ME AND MY CAREER. I CAN NEVER
REPAY YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO HELP ME GET WHERE I AM AND FOR HELPING ME ACHIEVE MY
G0AL OF MAKING THE OLYMPIC TEAM. WHAT A JOURNEY IT HAS BEEN AND I AM GRATEFUL TO HAVE
SHARED IT WITH YOU. BUT IT IS NOT OVER YET!

Track season has really begun. I have run a 1500 and an 800 meter race so far. I ran huge PRs in each race. At the Payton Jordan meet I ran 4:10 in the 1500. That was a 6 second PR. At first I was so excited about my time, and then I was disappointed that I did not break 4:10. Distance runners! We are never satisfied. :-)

I was really happy with that race. I have usually been scared of the shorter races because they feel so foreign to me. However, that 1500 meter race was awesome. I felt comfortable, confident and in control. It was the most fun I have ever had racing a 1500.

Alberto decided that I should continue to work on my speed this spring. So yesterday at the Oregon Twilight meet I ran the 800. Who knew at 31 I could continue to get faster! I ran a 2:08.8 in the race. That is a 4 second PR. But
I have also not run one in 10 years! It has been really fun working my speed this spring. Next week I am going to Carson to run the adidas meet. I will run the 1500 again. The race will be live on ESPN2. The race is from 5 to 7 PM Pacific Time. I am hoping to go under 4:10 for another PR.

Just because I am racing shorter races does not mean I have given up my bread and butter of the 10k. I don’t need a time this year for Nationals or the world team. So we are racing shorter races so that I can learn to kick with the best. We are still doing workouts for the 5k and 10k. I will race the 10k at Nationals for a spot on the
world team that will compete in Berlin mid-August.

So far I have run PRs in the 800, 1500, 3000, and 15k. I just have to run PRs in the 5k and 10k to get a full set of new PRs for 2009. How fun! I will also race the 2000 meters at the Pre meet in June. That will give me another PR because I have never run a 2k before.

We have 6 and half weeks till Nationals. The goal is to stay healthy and continue to work on my speed and strength. I feel very lucky and blessed to be where I am right now.   That reminds me, when you watch the adidas meet on Saturday on ESPN2 from 5 to 7 PM Pacific time look for me to be wearing GREEN. We have now
become the Oregon Track Club or the OTC. I will be wearing a green top and black bottom. I have also stopped biting my nails and those are painted green as well in honor of us becoming the OTC.

I will try to continue to update my journal as the track season continues!

Good luck with your training this spring.

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March 18, 2009

Well I ended up not taking those two days off after Indoor Nationals. Alberto decided I could go back to my roots and run a road race, the Gate River Run 15k in Jacksonville, Florida two week after Indoor Nationals. However, before I could confirm I was going to race, I had to test my endurance. We had been focusing on my speed and tapering for Indoor Nationals. I did a 7 mile tempo run the week before the race. That tempo run showed I was ready to race the 15k. It also howed me where I was mentally and physically for the 10k this spring. In the tempo run, I came through the 10k only 10 seconds slower than I ran in Beijing for the Olympics. That just shows how much being mentally prepared and focused can affect a race.

Due to the tempo run going so well, I got to end my short “indoor” racing season with the 15k road race. I ran the Gate River Run this weekend, which was the USA 15k Road Championship. I thought this was my first 15k but my dad told me that I have run two 15ks. The first one, when I was about 12 years old, was the Blueberry Stomp in Indiana. Yes, they actually dump a truck load of blueberries on the road before the race that we “stomp” at the start of the race. The second one was in 2003 at the Gasparilla 15k in Tampa. I ran 52:21 in that one.

This 15k was a little faster. I ran 49:53 and won. The Gate River Run is a really fun race. There were 20,000 people in all the events (5k, 15k, Jr. Race and diaper dash). This was the 32nd year of the race. I love the fact that some of the biggest and best road races in the USA are about my age. This race has great volunteers and
directors. The elite athletes were spoiled and had a great time. We were also lucky with the weather. It was cool and overcast with a thick layer of sea fog. The race runs over a small blue bridge and then through some great neighborhoods. It ends going over the Hart Bridge with a huge climb but a fast downhill to the finish at the Jaguar’s Stadium.

Since we were working on my kick during indoor season we decided to keep that up. Alberto said if I could learn to kick after 9 miles that would set me up well for this spring. I was supposed to kick the last 400 meters with all I had. At the nine mile mark, Katie McGregor, Emily Brown and I were together. I kicked the last 400 meters and won the race. Flotrack was there covering the race. You can go to Flotrack.org to see the highlights of the race and interviews. They have condensed the race into nineteen minutes going back and forth between the men’s and women’s race. The men’s race had a great finish by Fam and Tim Nelson. Tim snuck up on Fam with less than 100 meters to go in the race.

It has been a great two weeks winning both the 3k indoors and 15k on the roads. I am excited about where my speed and endurance are at this time of the year. I have never been in this type of shape before. The best part is that we have not started the hard part of our training yet. I have not gotten to my max mileage either. Things are
coming together for me. I think there are several reasons for that.

The first is that I have been in Alberto’s program for a little over two years. I am now use to the training program and consistent with training. Alberto and I have developed a trusting relationship that works really well.   Having faith and confidence in your coach and program is really important. You cannot have any doubts in your training or it will carry over into your races. The second is the fact that I am at the age when people think women peak, 30 to 32. However, I would say that my legs are only 25 due to the fact I have been injured so much and have always been a low mileage runner. The third is probably due to the fact that I have been wheat and gluten-free for three years. My body has shown that it is continuing to heal after my Celiac diagnosis. I have been able to keep my ferritin (iron) levels up and I am no longer amenorrehic. That is a huge sign my body is healing from the ten years of misdiagnosed pain and issues.

I am going into a long training block to get ready for track. I won’t race till May. Thankfully, I don’t need a 10k time this year so I am free to continue to work on my speed with shorter races till Nationals. Nationals will be in Eugene at the end of June. It will be fun to run at home again.

Time to get back to full training!

Amy's Home

March 1, 2009

USATF Indoor Nationals – 3k Champion 8:53

My first indoor season since college went really well, considering it has been 9 years since I have run indoor track. I only ran 4 races but I had 2 PRs. I ran one in the mile with a time of 4:37 and one in the 3k with a time of 8:53. I got to end this short season in Boston at the USATF Indoor Championships.

I went into this race knowing I had to have a long grinding kick to be able to beat some of the milers that were in the race. I followed my coach’s race plan perfectly and ended up with a win and a PR. This is my first National Track Title. I did get my first National Road Race Title in the US 10k in Boston at Tufts 10k for Women. Boston has been good to me!

I celebrated the evening with a seafood dinner at Legal Seafood with my parents and husband. (He felt a little better and took a red-eye flight last night to get here in time to watch me race.) Legal Seafood has a gluten-free menu. I love to go to places with a gluten-free menu. It takes the worry out of ordering and you get great food! We then had great chocolate desserts at Finale. It is a really yummy dessert restaurant. I think I will fall into a chocolate coma tonight!

I had a great trip to Boston. For once, traveling was easy. We stayed in a hotel that was adjacent to two malls with gluten-free restaurants in each. Plus there was a 24 hour grocery store across the street. It made it so easy for me to get the foods I needed without the hassle of going all over town to find them. It saves so much time when things line up like that.

Now I get two days off then back to training. I will increase my mileage both with running and cross training. I will take a couple months to put in some good hard training before I start racing the outdoor season. My goals are set on the 10k this spring. Making the world team in the 10k and going to Berlin to race with the best is the top goal. Running PR’s in the 5k and 10k are next on the list. Maybe this will be the year of PRs!

Good Luck to everyone in pursuing your goals this year.

Amy's Home

February 24, 2009

SHORT INDOOR SEASON

This was a really short season.   I have not run indoor track since college. This season, I have run 2 mile races in Seattle and a 3k in Glasgow, Scotland. I was really excited about the Scotland race but I ended up sick after the race due to some allergic reaction. I was sick for a week and missed cross country nationals.

This is the last week of my indoor season. I am running the 3k at Indoor Nationals this weekend in Boston.   This week I am tapering and getting ready. Part of that includes staying away from my husband who has come down with a nasty cold. Poor guy, he has been banished to the guest bedroom so that he does not contaminate the
bedroom that is sealed for altitude.

I have really enjoyed working on my speed this winter. We have been lucky in Oregon this winter. It has been cold but not really wet until this week. The rain has come back. I will update you on my results from Indoor Nationals next week.

Happy Training!

Amy's Home

December 1st, 2008

Happy Holidays! What a great fall it has been. I took an extra long time off after the Olympics. I had a sore shin that would not get better. Plus, I just needed a mental holiday and down time after Beijing. It was a great experience but I needed some time to process the experience. (In the January/February issue of Running Times
there is an article about how I dealt with my disappointing race in Beijing.) I must say I had a great break and enjoyed myself way too much. I became addicted to milkshakes from Burgerville! But I was well behaved this Thanksgiving with a homemade gluten-free dinner with Andrew. During my break, I decided to go back to Indiana to visit my family and the community that helped shape my dreams. I spent some time in Indiana giving speeches to schools, Celiac Support Groups and being honored by my hometown, Kendallville, and high school, East Noble. I also spent time volunteering with my husband’s cross country team.

Now it is time to get back to training. I am finally up to 100% of my training. I am preparing for an indoor track season. That will be fun because I have not run indoor track since 2000 in college. I am really looking forward to running some new PRs in the New Year. My goals for the New Year include running PR’s in all the distances from 1500 to 10k. I am not going to run a marathon for awhile. Due to being injury prone, Alberto and I decided I won’t do a marathon until I am done with track in my career. I also want to qualify for Worlds in the 10k. This year I accomplished a goal by making the Olympic Team. I proved I could run on this level but now I want to compete on this level. Next year will be all about competing and taking my training and racing to a new level.

I hope everyone sets new goals for the New Year. I wish you a happy holiday season filled with family, fun and love.

Amy's Home

September 14th

I meant to get my photos on the website this weekend but we still have some boxes to unpack from our move. Andrew is back teaching and coaching, even on a torn meniscus.

I did manage to put my photos on Facebook. I hope you enjoy them! Even if you don’t have a Facebook account you can view them through these links:

Opening Ceremony

Pandas!

Olympic Village

Olympic Village Part 2

Olympics

Olympics Part 2

Olympics Part 3

Olympic Race

Olympic Race Part 2

Olympic Track & Race

Great Wall

China

Dalian, China – Track & Field Team’s Olympic Training Camp

I just gave me first school presentation to Merlo Station in Beaverton. Andrew is the Life Science teacher/department. My slide show presentation is entitled, “Olympic Experience, 20 years in the Making”.

It ended up being 60 minutes long with 3 short breaks to let students ask questions. I showed them my USA gear, credential, etc. They were a great group and so respectful. I wore one of my USA track suits. I need to get my Opening Ceremony suit cleaned so I can wear it to the next presentation. At the conclusion of my “Olympic Experience” Presentation, I talk about dreams and goal setting.

I am a big believer that everyone has a gift and it is your job in life to find that gift and use it. I was giving a gift to run. Everyone has their own special gift. It can be sports, music, art, chemistry, teaching, or being an amazing mom/dad that raises kids to be the next great generation that fixes the problems in the USA/World.

Once you have found your gift you need to set goals. I use the stair step goal setting approach. You can’t get from the bottom of the staircase to the top, without taking some steps. (Unless, it is a really short staircase; in that situation, you need to set some loftier goals!)

Visualize that you are at the bottom of the staircase. Your goal is at the top. What things do you need to do in order to achieve that goal? What steps do you need to take to get there? Are there skills you need to learn? Classes to take? Training?

Now draw a simple staircase and at the bottom write today’s date. At the top of the staircase, write down the ultimate goal. On the stairs in between, write the steps or intermediate goals you need to achieve to reach the top stair or ultimate goal.

Remember you need to have some short term goals as well. You need to have some success along the way or you will get frustrated. My goal took 20 years to realize, but I did have successes along the way to keep me motivated. I went through each step, some more painful or longer than others. But in the end, I am an Olympian
and I would not change this journey.

Good Luck in your journey!

Amy's Home

August 28, 2008

HOME

I flew home August 19th. I came home early with the intent to get some training done before I headed off to Europe for some fast 1500 and 5k races. However, when you don’t run fast they don’t let you into European races. The day I left Beijing, I was told I would not be let into the European races.

At first, I was really disappointed because a goal of mine is to run in Europe. In life, we like to make plans but God always has his plan for us. I am always amazed how things end up working out.   At the time you don’t understand why it happened but eventually it makes sense. The day after we arrived home Andrew hurt his knee
at practice. He had an MRI and we will get the results back tomorrow. He will probably need surgery because he can’t bend it or bear weight on his leg. Now, I am thankful I am not leaving the country to race. I would not want to leave him alone with a hurt leg.

After my race, I took 3 days off and started back running when I returned home to Portland. My calf and Achilles has been sore since the training camp in Houston. I could not get my calf to loosen up the last couple of weeks.   All the running on cement in Houston and Beijing did not help. My shin started hurting when I returned home and after my long run the pain increased. It feels a lot like my previous stress fractures. Alberto decided that now would be a good time to take a break. Mentally and physically it is a good time to take a break.

So now I have to cancel all the road races that I had just signed up for. But again, it is probably for the best because we are in the process of moving into a new apartment. (Thank goodness Andrew is a high school coach.) I bought lunch for the kids in exchange for having them help me move since Andrew can’t move things.

Coming home from the Olympics is a different experience. I spent 20 years trying to accomplish this goal. Now what?   I think it will take some time to really process the experience. It went by so fast while I was there. It is for the best that I am going to take a break. I think it would have been hard to move, take care of Andrew, and try to start training and racing at a high level right away after the Olympics.

Mentally and physically I am tired. A break does sound good! I am going to take 2 weeks completely off. Then I will start back with a couple easy weeks of mileage (with the hope that my shin is healed). During that time I am going to do slide show presentations at the schools about my experience at the Olympics. I will also head back to Kendallville, IN for some hometown visits during Apple Festival and Home Coming at my High School. It should be fun.

I will return to full training in October. My goals for next year have not been defined yet. But they will probably include making the World Team in the 10k and running my first marathon. Worlds for Track and Field will be in Berlin, Germany next summer. (Yes, we do compete every year and have a World Championship. We don’t wait 4 years to compete against the best. The Olympics are a special event though.)

For now I am finishing up the packing of the little things, helping Andrew get around, and enjoying my break! I will write more updates that include some details about the Olympics. PLUS I will start posting my pictures of the Olympics. We had to wait 3-4 days post before we could post them. I can’t wait to share them with you!

Amy's Home

August 17th   POST RACE

The time has flown by since my race. I have not had time to get to a computer since the race. I am sorry it took so long to post this. The day after the race I went to the Great Wall and toured Beijing. Today I went to Chengdu, China. I toured the Panda Breeding Research Center and held a 1 year old baby Panda (a 60 pound bundle of
fur!) That was my present to myself for making the team. It was an amazing xperience. Now about the race.....

The race did not go well. When we got up that morning and felt how much cooler it was plus the lack of humidity, we knew it would be fast. I just told myself to put my nose in it as long as possible and see what happens. Alberto told me to go out in the middle of the pack. My ultimate goal was top 10. I was position 3 on the starting
line. I knew I would get knocked back. By 300 meters I was in the back but I surged and got to the middle of the pack by the time the first lap was done. It felt fast but I went with it. At 1k we were 3 minutes. I thought we would slow down. But at 2k we were 6 minutes. I panicked at that point. We were running 30 minute pace and I knew I could not do that. I slowed down to a more reasonable pace for me. I was in a small group of runners. However, once I slowed down I could not pick it back up. I was stuck in that rut and it just got worse. My breathing was fine
but my legs would not go. I just did not get in a groove. My right side kept getting tighter, my arm and my leg and glutes. With 2k (5 laps) to go my goal was just to finish and not drop out. I got lapped by the leaders. I cheered Shalane and Kara on as they passed me. I then got passed by the winners in the the straight away.

Getting lapped twice by the leaders was not my proudest racing moment. But at that point it was about finishing my Olympic race.   I was so proud of Shalane for getting third. She is so tough! That was a great race for her and the USA! Kara ran a PR and was 10th. They had a good showing in the first night of the Athletics (track). Kara and Shalane will return to the track on the 19th for the 5k prelims.

(As I write this I am getting the results from today, Team USA had a rough day on the road and track. Sometimes you just have a bad day/race. Today showed it can happen to anyone. Galen just finished his 10k as I am writing this. He did great and there are only better things to come for him.)

I am looking forward to racing a few more times this summer in Europe then back to the roads for some fall racing around the US. I have not set my schedule yet for the summer or fall.

Thanks for all the support. It has been amazing reading your emails. It really helped!
I will post more updates about my travels in China. I will also write about our Pre-race time-line with the call rooms, etc. It is interesting how things are done at International races and big meets.

Amy's Home

August 14, 2008

One day to go! I am starting to feel better and more situated here. My last feel good workout was yesterday. I did 300's. They went better than expected. I ended up running them faster than I was suppose to but that is ok. I think at this point faster is better than slower for my mental prep!

Village life is interesting and fun. It is like college all over again but this time there are 10,000 people and most of them don't speak English. Actually most of them can speak some English. They love to talk to us and get better. They have laundry service here. We separate our whites and colors into 2 mesh bags. You can't fill them all the way up because the clothes get washed and dried in the mesh bags. But at least they get dried. The other options is washing your clothes in the sink but things don't dry very well here. If you hang something to dry it takes 3 days.

The cafeteria is a fun place to meet people. I only go in there for bananas, yogurt, and drinks. Bananas are a hot item. They go fast and they only have them out for breakfast. We also have a mini plastic coke bottle key chain that we can swipe at any coke machine in the village to get free drinks. They have coke, coke zero, water, sprite, green tea, orange juice and this yummy orange drink.   I drink it for breakfast. It is probably not the best choice because it is probably loaded with sugar.

Taking a taxi is an experience. I spent almost 3 hours in a taxi yesterday. I had to take a taxi to the Nike Hospitality Center to see my chiropractor. It took me awhile to find a taxi that would take me there. Nike gave us taxi cards but most of the drivers looked at my card and told me no. I found one that spoke a little English. He told me that the card is not very specific. He wrote out better directions for me so that I can show the next driver his directions. He also told me that there is a percentage of Chinese over the age of 30 that can't read. That would explain why
some of them look at the card and say no.

From there I had to take another taxi to the center where the US has its camp.   That is also the location where I get all my meals. We have a track, full medical, weight room, and ice baths. I had a taxi card but it just says the name of the University. They dropped me off on the wrong side of the University. The University is gated and at every gate they said no and kept pointing down the street. Finally, I found a guard that put me in a taxi and told him where to take me. That was a 2 hour adventure for sure! Finally I was at the track and got to do my workout, over 2
hours after I was suppose to be there. I am just rolling with this journey and whatever comes my way. I am off to catch the bus to get lunch. They are very strict here about schedules. The bus pulls out on time not a minute late. I usually end up running to get there! Thanks for all the support.

Amy's Home

August 12th, 2008

I am back in the Olympic Village. I have 3 days till the race. What a beautiful day here. We have sun and blue skies!   Alberto said that Friday is suppose to be one of the hottest days here. Kara and I think that will be great for us. Heat is an equalizer.

I am feeling better after my last workout. I took yesterday really easy. We will hit the track again tomorrow for some 300's to get our legs turned over.

At training camp, I took yesterday afternoon easy. I went for a long walk along the beach. I came upon a temple like structure with a big bell. It was on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful. It made me remember why I
run. I use to run for 4 reasons, now I have 3.

1. To see how good I can be. (My goal is to improve every year.)
2. To travel and see new places (experience other cultures)
3. To meet new people

My 4th one use to be: eat new and exciting foods in different places. I use to be an adventurous eater. However, with Celiac that is not possible. Now I carry my own bars and my translation cards that explain what I can eat. The cards also tell about Celiac.

The walk reminded me to slow down and enjoy the experience. Start trading pins to meet other athletes and just be in the moment. I still need to focus and prepare for the race but not forget the journey and the experience here.

Thanks for all the emails and support. Please know that I am reading them but I just can't respond. I am sharing computers with the rest of the US athletes. I enjoy hearing from other Celiacs, as well.

I will try to do daily updates. I will post pictures when I am allowed (3 days after the Games end).

3 days to go!

Amy's Home

8/11/08

TRAINING CAMP

I only came to camp for a few days (today is the last day) but the break was worth it. We are in a great hotel on the beach. We have clear skies and great acommodations. The food here is amazing - Thanks to Chef Adam Sacks! The food is so good we are all over eating.

Because we are away from the Olympic Village they are taking a lot of precautions with security. We have police escorts every where we go. They shut down the roads when we travel to the track and back. No one is allowed to be on the roads when we are on them. They also shut down all the traffic to and from the airport when we arrive and leave.   We are getting the presidential treatment here.

We are on a golf course and a beach, but we can't touch the water. The water is full of jellyfish! I have never seen so many. Plus there is a fish farm here and they don't know how we would react to what ever they put in the water. We can look but don't touch.

I had my last long workout yesterday. I will admit it did not go well. We have 300's on Wednesday and I am hoping to feel better when I do those.

I appreciate all the emails and well wishes. It is great to hear from people from my past. The Kendallville News Sun has a video interview with my parents and other people from my hometown. It was so great to see everyone. Julie Manger was correct. I did see her running at Bixler lake when I was 8 years old. I wanted to run because it looked fun. My parents let me run the Mother's Day 5 mile race in Kendallville when I was 10. That is where I met Julie and other road racers like Al Huth and Joan Gary. They took my family under their wings and taught us about
running shoes and road races. At the time Nike did not make kid running shoes yet. I had to wait a few years till I grew into running shoes. Julie and company started me off with road racing, my first love. I plan to get back to my roots and road race this fall after my track season is over.

The Kendallville News Sun also published the picture of the women's track team with the President. I am the one on the right of the picture. Here is the link to the video and picture with the President:

Click here to see it.

Thanks again for all the support!

Amy's Home

August 9th, 2008

Hello from Beijing!

I arrived on the 7th and attended the Opening Ceremony on the 8th. Today we transferred to the USATF Training Camp away from Beijing. Due to travel, meetings and the Opening Ceremony I have only been getting about 5 hours of sleep the last few nights. Even though we spend a lot of time waiting in lines and on buses it has been an amazing experience so far.

The village is nice but big.   The main street is a mile long. I have not figured it out yet! The cafeteria seats 5,000. I can't eat there due to my wheat and gluten allergy (Celiac Disease). The village did get a lot of complaints about not having wheat and gluten free foods so they just added some yesterday. However, they do not prep it gluten free, so I still can't eat it. I have to eat at the USOC camp they have set up for us 20 minutes from the Village. I am not complaining though, I prefer safe food over convenience!

It is extremely hot and humid in Beijing. The air is so thick. You sweat through your clothes in minutes and stay wet all day. The air looks bad but it does not hurt to breath. I raced here in 2002 and it burned my lungs to breath at that race. But the air does not burn your lungs here.

We did the Opening Ceremony last night. What an amazing experience. Before the ceremony we got to meet the President and Mrs. Bush and Former President Bush. We were held in gymnastic stadium till we were ready to walk. We did not get to see anything that happened before we walked so it will be nice to watch the taped
coverage when I get back. The lighting of the torch was amazing. To watch the guy run around the top of the stadium was the highlight of the night. We were all soaked in our suits. Even at midnight it was still so hot. The buses back to the Village were smelly! Meeting other athletes from other sports from both the US and around the
world was so much fun.

The IOC has set rules about blogging and journals during the games. They are monitoring our websites. If we break any of the rules we can be banned from competing. I am not allowed to post pictures of the games until 3 days after the games end. I am also never allowed to post pictures of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. I also can't post pictures of sporting events or other athletes. I also can't conduct interviews of other athletes.

After the games end I will post pictures of my experience at the Olympics.

I am now at training camp. I look forward to three days of getting back into a routine. We have one more workout before the 10k. We will do that tomorrow night.

We were informed about the stabbing of the in-laws of the Men's Volleyball Coach. It was a very sad event in Beijing today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. The USOC has taken precaution and investigated. They do not feel that it was an attack on the US and have informed us that we are safe.

Even before that event, security has been tight at the training camp. We have police escorts and the roads are closed. Our every move is monitored here because we are away from the village.

Time for bed! So long for now. If you have any questions about the experience or the village send me an email and I will try to put the answer in the next journal entry.

6 days to go!
Amy

Amy's Home

July 29th, 2008

Hello from Houston. I am doing some heat and humidity training prior to going to Beijing. I am slowly adjusting to the conditions.

We have been receiving daily updates about Beijing and our travels. It will be a long process to get there. They are trying to make it as easy as possible. The governments have set up special lines to get us through customs faster. United Airlines is letting athletes take three bags free of charge. However, I won’t take three because I don’t want to haul that many around. I will take a lot of books to keep me busy on the plane and in the lines that we will have to wait through. We will first go through processing in the US before we head to China.

I am going to walk in the Opening Ceremony. I am really excited about that. They are going to tailor our outfits that we will wear. We were told that the Opening Ceremony will take 6 to 7 hours on our feet but it is a week before my race so I will be fine.

I am still training hard. The race is 17 days away! The time is flying by, except when I am running in the heat!

Amy's Home

July 18, 2008    4 Weeks to go!

This will be my Road to Beijing Journal. I have not done a very good job in keeping up with my journal this year. It has been and up and down year. When I get injured I tend to go into hermit mode.

However, things seem to be on the up and up for me right now. I can’t believe it has been 3 weeks since the Olympic Trials 10k. The time has gone really quickly. I took two weeks really easy and then jumped right back into workouts. We are back to training hard.

My typical training schedule is:

7 AM Up and eat breakfast. Walk dog, check email and relax before practice
9 AM Arrive at Nike to begin AM session
This can include an easy run or workout, lifting, plyos, drills, stretching, hurdle drills, and icing.
12 – 1 PM Finish session, head home and eat lunch
1 – 3 PM nap
3 – 6 PM session
This can include an easy run, aqua jogging, biking, swimming, core or abdominal work, massage, chiropractor,
stretching, icing or other appointments.
6 – 7 PM head home
7 – 8 PM eat dinner
8- 11 PM Relax, check email, watch TV, walk dog and go to bed

This is a full day of training and taking care of the little things. I truly believe that most of my improvement is because of the little things and the support I get from Alberto and Nike. I have access to the Alter-G treadmill, under-water treadmill, massage therapists, and ART (active release therapy). They all play a huge role in my training. I also get to train with one of the best distance runners, Kara Goucher. Training with a bronze medalist gives me a big boost of confidence.

I also have a great support system with my husband, parents, and the Beaverton community (especially the Westview Cross Country Parents). I could not have made the Olympic team with out my support team!

We have received so much information about our trip. This is going to be an amazing experience. I have set my goals high. I am excited to be on the Olympic Team but that is not the end of the road for me. I am not going to settle for just being excited about making the team. I am going to go to Beijing to represent my country and
compete. I plan on racing with the best in the world to see where I stack up. I am going to stick my nose in the race and see how far I can go. I have my sight set on the top 10.

I am set to leave Portland on August 2nd. We will do final processing in San Francisco and then depart for Beijing on August 3rd. We will report to training camp in Dalian, China on August 5th. I will have 10 days to acclimatize to the heat and humidity of China. That is the perfect amount of time to adapt.

That is all for now!

Amy's Home

DECEMBER 10, 2007 - Holiday Season and a WIN!

Thanksgiving was great this year. I ran the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, Connecticut. What a great city and race. I stayed with a wonderful host family - Bill and Carol O'Neil. They were so nice. I enjoyed spending the holiday with them and their family. They even had gluten-free food in the Thanksgiving meal that I could eat. Bill drove the course with me twice before the race.

My parents also drove 12 hours to watch me run the race! They are really dedicated. Manchester had a great pasta dinner the night before the race but I could not eat it due to my wheat/gluten allergy (Celiac Disease). My parents and I went to Outback after the pasta dinner. Outback has a Gluten Free menu. My pre-race meal was salad, steak and sweet potato. Yum!

After dinner I talked to Alberto. He told me to stay with the leaders till a mile to go then take the lead and go for the win. I had done an 8k time trial a week before the race in 25:57. We knew I was ready to run fast. Because Manchester is 4.748 miles there is not a mile to go marker. Before I headed back to my host family for the night
my parents drove the course backwards so that I knew where a mile to go was located.   My parents also staked out their cheering locations. They both got to 2 places on the course.

The weather on race day was awesome. It was 60 and sunny, perfect race conditions. The course looks intimidating. Mile 2 is up hill and mile 3 is down hill. We went out in 4:55. Mile 2 was in 6 minutes up the hill and mile 3 was 5 minutes. I hit 4 miles in 21 minutes. I ran 24:39. I was so excited! It felt awesome and I was in
control the whole time. All the cross training and hard work has paid off.   Finally a race I would not call a death march. The win and how the race felt makes me very excited about this next year.

I loved the race and the town. The community really gets involved. The entire race course was lined with spectators. This was the 71st Manchester Road Race and they know how to put on a race and get everyone involved. To get that many people to compete or watch the race on a holiday is a great accomplishment. There were over 10,000 people running and walking. I loved the event and hope to come back. I would love for my husband and parents to come back with me next year.

Links to Race Results and Interviews:

http://manchesterroadrace.com/Race-Results/default.asp

http://manchesterroadrace.com/Race-Results/Top10Women.asp

http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/11/letherby-begley-win-71st-manchester-road-race/

Runners World On-line Brief Chat:
http://dailynews.runnersworld.com/2007/11/a-brief-chat-11.html

Now it is time for some training. I will do a full indoor track season and cross country nationals in San Diego in February. I am dealing with a little plantar problem but so far I am able to train through it and treat it aggressively.

The holiday and rainy season is the hardest time of year for me. My body wants to eat and hibernate but I need to work hard. Should be fun!

I have been sleeping in an altitude tent or cube since 2000. But now I have my bedroom at altitude. I like not being shut up in a tent at night. I am sleeping any where between 12,000 and 14,000 feet depending on the machines and how many times I open the door. The house is filled with noises from the machines but we are
use to it by now. My Jack Russell, Sadie, is adjusting to the altitude but my Yorkie, Sara, is not doing so well. She has to sleep in the bathroom to get a break from it.

A very tentative race schedule for this winter is:

January 19th          Seattle          Mile/3k
January 26th          Boston          Reebok   3k
February 1st          Seattle or Millrose
February 8th           New Balance      Mile
February 16th          San Diego     Cross Country Nationals    8k

Again it is very tentative.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and can enjoy their time with family, friends and loved ones.

PS - Did you see that Eugene was granted US Track National for 2009 and 2011. PLUS they will host the Olympic Trials again in 2012. We are very excited about that.

Amy's Home

November 9th, 2007 - Ups and Downs

I raced the Mike Hodges Invite October 13th, 2007 at Clackamas Community Colleges. It was a gorgeous Oregon day. I was supposed to run it as a tempo run. However, the weather was awesome and I felt great. I went out and came through the mile in 5:02. I just kept pushing and ended up running 15:49.2. I was so excited. This was faster than I ran on the track in the spring. (Here is a link to the website Runnerspace.com and my interview after the race.)

This gave me confidence that the cross training during my rehab for the Achilles injury paid off. However, this race also started plantar fasciitis in my other foot. So I have been dealing with that. One more bump in the road.

I have always slept in night boots but now I have added other rehab tools to help fight it. I always wear shoes. I have cut a hole in the heel of my insole to relieve pressure. I roll my foot in the morning with both a tennis ball and golf ball. I do towel scrunches and move marbles with my toes. I am seeing a lot of Doctors to get treatment and therapy. We will exhaust all means of therapy before we go in and remove a bone spur that seems to be the main source of my pain. I do not want to do that because it will mean 6 weeks of no running again.

I have about 38 weeks left till the trials.

Speaking of the Trials, I am sure you have heard about Ryan Shay's death at the Men's Marathon Trials. It was a sad reminder how short life is. It reminds you that injuries and set backs are just small things in life. The important things in life are not really things. They are family, friends, and the experiences along the way. I am blessed to be able to share this journey with my husband, Andrew, and my family and friends. I am blessed that given up on me through each of these trials this year. Enjoy the journey!

Amy's Home

September 24, 2007    Wait, Weight, Patience and Perspective

It has been way too long since I last wrote. Every time I wanted to write I just did not know where to begin. January to May was a waiting game.   I just wanted Andrew to move out here so we could be a team again. I started back running and my first 5k was decent considering it was after a broken ankle. However, little injuries and set backs came up.

I decided not to run US Nationals in Indy because things were just not going well for me. I was there and watched Kara make her first track team.   All three of my team mates made the team and it was awesome. We had our 8th and final Yoder Begley XC Camp.   Rick Hammer will continue it without us at Manchester College.

After US Nationals things started to turn around with my running. I had 2 great weeks of training and was about to start road racing. However, I injured my Achilles and have been out ever since. Now three months later I did my first workout back. It felt great to be back outside running hard.

Usually with an injury that keeps me from running for almost 3 months I would of gone crazy but so many things have happened during that time that I felt blessed with my life. Alberto's heart attack was just the beginning of things. Jenny Crain's accident was hard to believe. She is such an amazing person. Every day in the pool or on the bike when I get tired of being inside cross training, I just think about her and her fight to recover. I also have a cousin in a coma and others struggling with things in life much greater than an injured Achilles. I gained a new perspective with things. I did not get angry about my injury. I just worked that much harder and longer.

I spent my time in the pool and on the bike. I started swimming again too. At first 5 minutes was hard but now I can swim for an hour. I get asked if I am a tri-athlete. I just say I am a wanna-be.   I also spent a lot of time on the Alter-G Treadmill.

I also re-evaluated my nutrition. I was diagnosed with a wheat and gluten allergy almost 2 years ago. (More on that another day.) Usually my diet is full of fruits, veggies, rice, potatoes and gluten free substitutes.   But sometimes I binge on things because I feel deprived of muffins, cake, etc. I knew I was addicted to sugar when I
went through 3 party bags of M&M's in a week. I have been told that I work against myself when I eat that junk in excess. I decided that I am working way too hard with cross training to blow all my hard work on eating junk. So I swapped out my processed sugar treats for fruit and veggies. I am keeping the farmers markets in business!

Instead of reaching for M&M's at night I eat watermelon or any of the other varieties of fruit I have on the counter. It has paid off and I am finally at a weight I am happy with.

I have 9 months to continue to improve and stay healthy. Alberto and I hope this was the last little bump in the road for a long time. I am going to devote myself to running and see where it takes me. Kara told me on the run today that anything is possible.

Amy's Home

April 14, 2007

You will have to excuse me for not writing since Stanford. Andrew had spring break and I wanted to spend time with him.

The race was better than I had expected. I had so much anxiety built up about racing again. The race went really smooth and I was pleased to go under 16 minutes. The spikes felt good too! There was a rabbit and I was instructed not to go out with them. I hung back and ended up in the lead of the second pack. That seems to be a
place I usually end up! We were still fast. I went through the 400 in 72 and the 800 in 2:28.   Right after the 800 meter split I heard, “Amy Yoder Begley you get to the back of the pack.” So I finally figured out where Alberto was and recognized his voice. I dropped back and got to enjoy the race by hanging on. I really never looked at the lap counter; I just focused on the girls and went with the race. With 1300 meters to go he told me to start racing. I remember seeing the clock with 400 to go and it said 13:45, I remember thinking that I have to run 75 seconds to
break 16 minutes. I closed in 69 but still got out kicked. I was happy with 15:54.

Now that I have the first one out of the way, I am looking forward to the rest of the season. I am trying to have a long term approach to my training. So many times we make goals and long term plans but we get stuck on the day to day. We don't see all the good things we have done in a week, we only see the slow repeat that day or a
pound gained. We lose sight of the long term goal that we are building toward. I want to break 15 minutes in the 5k. It will be a long road to get there from here but that is the long term goal that I hope to accomplish in the next 16 months.

The best part about Stanford was Flocast being there to film the races. They were at Mt. SAC this weekend too. I stayed up to watch the 5k once they posted it. That was a great 5k by Shalane. She has really upped the bar for everyone. Great job Shalane!   Thanks Flocast for being at the races and doing a great job! Flocast enables parents, family and friends to see the races without the expense of flying there. I love that. If you have not been to the website here is the address:

http://www.flocasts.com/flotrack/stanford2007.php

I am looking forward to seeing how everyone does at Boston. It should be an interesting race with the cold weather added in. Have a great weekend! - Amy

Amy's Home

March 28, 2007

I woke up yesterday and put the Today Show on as background noise as I got ready for practice. I rarely have the TV, so it was really a random moment when the first commercial was about the Beijing Olympic coverage. It said 500 days till the start of the Beijing Olympics. Talk about motivation to get out the door on a rainy gloomy day!

The little things….

I am always telling people to take care of the little things: sleeping, eating, stretching, drills, lifting, icing, etc. The things that seem easy to include in the day but at the end of the day you skipped them for convenience. Today I was thinking about other little things that can distract you or that you focus on. For example I am crazy about my
feet. Andrew always says it takes me a long time to get my shoes on because things have to be just right. He also comments that I wear the lightest racing shoes but the heaviest socks. So today I finally broke out of my shell and wore “no show” socks. Seems like a totally insignificant little thing but I just have never wore lighter socks. Some people race without socks but I can only go one step at a time!

Another little thing, spikes. I have been doing strides and a few repeats in them this week. I have not been in spikes since last June. The first day felt like I was running on stilts. Today I felt a lot better with them on. By Saturday I hope to be comfortable in them for at least 12.5 laps at Stanford. I am excited and nervous to begin the track season. When I get nervous about racing I start cooking and baking new recipes to keep me occupied. Yesterday it was lentil pilaf and gluten-free pancakes.

It is always interesting to find out what little things other people focus on. Some people have to wear the same pair of socks, or underwear. Some people have a lucky charm or specific pre-race meal. I have had a lot of different things over the years but right now I don't really have anything like that. Everything here is so new that I feel like I have started over with a blank page. We will see what habits I develop or little things that I find that I “need”.

There are so many other little things in the day that we fuss about and focus on but at the end of the day it all comes down to getting the job done and giving 100%. The more days I go to sleep knowing I did everything right and gave 100% the closer I be to accomplishing my goals.

Amy's Home

March 21, 2007

I thought if I am headed east to race I might as well go early and visit Andrew in Atlanta. What a visit that turned out to be! I left Oregon when everyone here was sick with colds and pneumonia to go to Atlanta where everyone had the flu. Andrew came down with the flu within the first 24 hours of me being there. I avoided all
sickness that week but ended up with food poisoning! Great immune system, bad luck. Our week to visit just turned into a week to sleep and recover. We headed to Arkansas not knowing what to expect from our bodies.

8 Months….That is how long it has been since my last race. I know I have been running and racing since I was 10 years old but there is a lot of rust to shake off. My first race back was the Run for Their Lives 5k in Little Rock, Arkansas. (http://www.theirlives.com/) The race has been held in May but this year they moved it to March. They have asked me come for the last couple of years. The first year they asked me to come and try to break the Arkansas State 5k record for road races. I ran 16:02 that year and accomplished the goal. However, I have just gotten slower since then. They understood that I had only been running for 11 weeks this
year and were just as gracious as ever. The race keeps setting records for ttendance and money raised for the Children's Charities. They do a great job with the race and this year they added a hot breakfast after the race along with all the other great post race snacks. (I can't eat half the post race foods due to my Celiac Disease (wheat/gluten allergy) but I will journal about that another day.)

It was great starting my year back in Arkansas. I even got to race an old teammate, Christin Wurth-Thomas. She came down to try and get the record this year but ended up running 16:11. She had me gapped a half mile into the race. The first 800 felt like it was the fastest sprint of my life. When I saw 5:09 for the mile split I could not believe it. It felt so much faster! The 10:30 for the 2 mile split was not much better, and then you go up a little hill. By the time the hill hit I just wanted to keep my legs moving. My brain and legs were still trying to figure out what I was doing. But in the end it was a start and you have to start some where, it might as well be back in my home away from home - Arkansas. "Wooo, Pig, Sooie"

Amy's Home

January 19th, 2007

2007 is a new year with many new beginnings for me. I am starting this year with a new home, new coach, new training partners....and I hope it will all lead to new P.R.'s! I fell in a bathroom in June 2006. I developed a hamstring strain and ischial bursitis from running through it. I did not workout from July to November. I was
released to start working out on a Friday. That same Friday in November I was running in the woods at the Chattahoochee River Trails in Atlanta and fell and broke my ankle. Andrew and I decided that something had to change if I was going to continue to pursue my dreams and goals.

I am very grateful to Alberto Salazar and John Capriotti at Nike who had faith in me. They let me join the Nike Oregon Project with injuries. THANK YOU!

Now, 2 months after my ankle fracture, I have started to run again. The ankle is healing really well thanks to Dr. Julien in Atlanta who saw me that next day, bright and early on a Saturday, to confirm the break and put me in a cast.

Here in Oregon I am running on the Alter-G treadmill at Nike. It has been a great rehab tool for me. I am able to run with less weight and get back into shape much faster. I don't feel like a bag of potatoes when I run.

I spend my days cross training, lifting and running on the treadmill. I really don't mind being inside on the treadmill. I have been in Oregon for 17 days; we have had 2 days of snow (4 inches) and 10 days of rain. I enjoy staying dry and warm listening to my ipod shuffle!

I do look forward to joining Kara outside for a run, or plyos or even a workout. It will take a while for me to regain my fitness.

Andrew and I look forward to a new phase in our relationship now that he is not my coach. He likes having someone else tell me what to do for a change.

I wish all of you the best in 2007. I took a big leap towards my goals in moving to Oregon this year. I hope that all of you set goals and really go after them this year.

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