FLESHMAN CAPS COMEBACK WITH SECOND NATIONAL 5000M TITLE
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
*LRC Friday Recap
*LRC Friday Photos
*Full Results
*USATF Junior Meet Friday Recap
DES MOINES, IOWA (25-Jun) -- A year and a day ago in Eugene, Ore.,Lauren Fleshman failed to show up on the starting line of the 5000m at
the USA Outdoor Championships. Plagued by a series of mechanical
problems stemming from a broken navicular bone in her foot that spawned
other injuries, the 2006 USA 5000m champion scratched from the race,
unable to compete. She seriously considered retiring at 27.
"If you'd have talked to me 12 months ago I was ready to, I don't know,
open up a shoe store or something else," Fleshman said after winning
her second national 5000m title here tonight. "Move to another state.
I was very frustrated."
But under the patient coaching of Marc Rowland at the Nike Oregon Track
Club in Eugene, the former NCAA champion at for Stanford University had
been slowly working her way back to the form which put her on two
national 5000m teams for the IAAF World Championships, and allowed her
to run a personal best of 14:58.48 in 2008.
"If I didn't have coach Rowland and the Oregon Track Club, I don't know
if I would have made it back," Fleshman explained, her wavy light brown
hair pulled back into a ponytail. "I definitely wouldn't have been
national champion this quickly. So, I'm full of gratitude for my
situation in Oregon. I can't say it enough."
In tonight's race, Fleshman ran most of the way in the pack and did not
respond immediately to a big surge by three-time Olympian Jen Rhines
who threw in a 69.7-second lap with 5 laps to go. Rhines managed to
build an eight-second lead with four laps to go, and it appeared that
her aggressive strategy might work.
"My thinking was to go with five or six laps to go, but I got antsy,"
said Rhines. "I was just trying to get out of the habit of just
running for second or third."
With two laps to go, Rhines's lead was down to five seconds. Fleshman
was working with Molly Huddle to catch the 2002 USA 10,000m champion,
and with 600 meters left in the race decided to go for the win.
"It was just knowing that I had enough left to put on a good kick,"
said Fleshman. "I didn't know if it would be enough to win, but I just
got this smirk where I knew I had something left."
Running 66.9 seconds for the final lap, Fleshman was too far in front
for the chasing Huddle to catch her, stopping the clock at 15:28.70.
Huddle came next in 15:30.89, and steeplechaser Jenny Barringer third
15:33.33. Rhines was fourth.
Fleshman's return to the top was painstaking. She said that she had to
totally reinvent herself by changing her form, strengthening weak
muscles, but most of all taking things one step at a time. She said
that she couldn't put together four weeks of training without getting
reinjured.
"I had to first take it day by day, never think more than one day at a
time, never get frustrated, try not to think about how good I had
been," she said. "It's really all about learning to live in the
moment, which is hard to do." She added: "I just reinvented myself
from the ground up with help."
That help came from a chiropractor named Dr. Ted Forcum and a physical
therapist named Robyn Pester, Fleshman said. "'I need to start over
and I need you two guys to help me,'" Fleshman recalled telling them.
"And they did. They were the first two to jump on board helping me."
Fleshman won a trail run last September in Bend, Ore., then a road 5-K
last October. She didn't step on the track again until last April when
she won the low-key Oregon Relays 5000m in 15:42.46, giving her a
qualifying mark for tonight's meet. She also ran a special 1500m race
for elite athletes held at the Oregon State high school championships,
clocking 4:12.30. Arriving at Drake Stadium this afternoon, she wasn't
completely sure she was ready to mix it up with the other contenders.
"There was a big part of me which wasn't sure, but there was this
little part of me which felt that I might be able to win it," she said.
"And that scared the crap out of me."
While her victory in 2006 was satisfying, Fleshman said it had far less meaning than tonight's.
"This one is so sweet," she said, her eyes growing misty. "I mean, I don't know how else to put it."
1 | Lauren Fleshman | Oregon TC-Nike | 15:28.70 | 1(1) | |||||||
2 | Molly Huddle | Saucony | 15:30.89 | 1(2) | |||||||
3 | Jenny Barringer | New Balance | 15:33.33 | 1(3) | |||||||
4 | Jen Rhines | adidas | 15:35.71 | 1(4) | |||||||
5 | Angela Bizzarri | Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | 15:39.81 | 1(5) | |||||||
6 | Liz Maloy | NYAC | 15:40.22 | 1(6) | |||||||
7 | Rebecca Donaghue | New Balance | 15:46.66 | 1(7) | |||||||
8 | Renee Metivier Baillie | Nike | 16:03.22 | 1(8) | |||||||
9 | Delilah DiCrescenzo | Puma | 16:06.98 | 1(9) | |||||||
10 | Karen Dimoff | Bowerman AC | 16:08.51 | 1(10) | |||||||
11 | Frances Koons | New Balance | 16:22.53 | 1(11) | |||||||
12 | Lauren Weaver | Asics Aggie RC | 16:48.15 | 1(12) | |||||||
13 | Alisha Williams | Boulder Running Co | 17:27.50 | 1(13) | |||||||
DNF | Toni Salucci | Adidas Raleigh TC | 1 | ||||||||
DNF | Nicole Blood | Oregon | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Racheal Marchand | unattached | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Bridget Franek | Penn State | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Shalane Flanagan | Oregon TC-Nike | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Shannon Rowbury | Nike | 1 |
* * * * * *
The men's 5000m final was far more predictable. Off of a slow pace,
Bernard Lagat overwhelmed the field with his final 100-meter sprint to
win easily in 13:54.08, collecting his third USA 5000m title. Tim
Nelson, an aspiring marathoner, finished second (13:54.80) and
Georgetown star Andrew Bumbalough ran his final race as a Hoya,
finishing third in 13:55.16.
When asked if it was an easy victory, Lagat smiled, paused and said, "No. It was a great race."
Lagat said that he was thankful for the slow pace because he was
feeling some fatigue from his recent 5000m American record in Oslo on
June 4 (12:54.12) and his 1500m race in New York on June 12 (3:34.36).
He compared tonight's effort with a tempo run.
"I didn't come here to run a fast time," said the reigning world 3000m
indoor champion. "I promised people here that when I came for the
Drake Relays that I'm coming back in June. I'm glad I did."
1 | Bernard Lagat | Nike | 13:54.08 | 1(1) | |||||||
2 | Tim Nelson | Oregon TC-Nike | 13:54.80 | 1(2) | |||||||
3 | Andrew Bumbalough | Georgetown | 13:55.16 | 1(3) | |||||||
4 | Aaron Braun | unattached | 13:57.82 | 1(4) | |||||||
5 | Brent Vaughn | Nike | 14:00.01 | 1(5) | |||||||
6 | Sean Quigley | Puma | 14:01.42 | 1(6) | |||||||
7 | Brandon Bethke | Arizona State | 14:02.08 | 1(7) | |||||||
8 | Ian Dobson | Oregon TC-Nike | 14:03.53 | 1(8) | |||||||
9 | Stephen Furst | Adidas Raleigh TC | 14:07.40 | 1(9) | |||||||
10 | Bobby Mack | Athlete's Foot | 14:08.74 | 1(10) | |||||||
11 | Kyle King | unattached | 14:17.20 | 1(11) | |||||||
12 | Jeremy Johnson | Brooks | 14:21.14 | 1(12) | |||||||
13 | Benjamin True | Oregon TC-Nike | 14:21.20 | 1(13) | |||||||
DNF | Bolota Asmerom | Saucony | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Elliot Heath | Stanford | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Andrew Acosta | Oregon | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Anthony Famiglietti | Saucony | 1 | ||||||||
DNS | Robert Cheseret | unattached | 1 |
More: *LRC Friday Recap Prelims of the men's steeple and men's 1500 are recapped, plus men's and women's 5k.
*LRC Friday Photos
*Full Results
*USATF Junior Meet Friday Recap
|
|
|