Julia Lucas wrote an article about losing out in the 2012 Olympic Trials 5000

Yeow.

Because Conley beat her wrote:

Peoiple Can wrote:

You know, people can go back into their own blogs and make corrections. She's a smart woman and attentive to detail. I don't get how she spells Conley's name wrong.

Still painful to watch.

newname wrote:

https://www.google.com/search?q=2012+olympic+trials+5k+women%27s&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

All I can say is that Lucas went for it in the 2012 trials and I respect that.

Maybe in 20-20 hindsight it wasn't the optimal race strategy, but if she had contributed to a slow pace, tried to outkick the 6 other women with the A standard and come up short, that would have been even worse. I hope she has the consolation of knowing that she showed guts and made it a great race.

She had a better career than 99% of the competitive runners out there and has nothing to be ashamed of.

newname wrote:

https://www.google.com/search?q=2012+olympic+trials+5k+women%27s&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Not a video.

LetRuns posted links to this excellent read a couple years back. Its centered around Ian Dobson's trials bid but he writes also about Lucas too.

Written by Michael Heald in advance of his release of short essays "Goodbye to the Nervous Apprehension" Anybody read the other essays?

http://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald1Summer12.html

http://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald2Summer12.html

http://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald3Summer12.html

Would anyone who hadn't seen the race really get what it was like to watch it (or live it) from this article? I think not. Maybe that wasn't the point, but I feel I could only follow it because I saw it happen.

Compared to other professional athletes, she's Proust.

Compared to professional writers, her prose could use some work. I found many of the descriptions overwrought. I completely sympathize because when I tried to write about the 4x800 5 years ago, I used a lot of metaphors and symbolic language, and when reading it later, found that it had much less impact than I might have hoped. I think Julia will find the same thing as time passes. The few people who are like Faulker should write like him and the rest of us should write like Hemmingway: clear and to the point.

Her story is interesting enough that she could be another Cheryl Strayed. I hope she gets there, it would do wonders for the sport.

Respect wrote:

All I can say is that Lucas went for it in the 2012 trials and I respect that.

Maybe in 20-20 hindsight it wasn't the optimal race strategy, but if she had contributed to a slow pace, tried to outkick the 6 other women with the A standard and come up short, that would have been even worse. I hope she has the consolation of knowing that she showed guts and made it a great race.

She had a better career than 99% of the competitive runners out there and has nothing to be ashamed of.

Julie didn't really go for it the entire race. If you look at the splits it's clear Conley was the one of the top 5 who did a lot of the leading while Julie sat back for most of the race.

Lucas only "went for it" the last 3 laps and with hindsight went way to early. But Let's not sell Conley short. She did A LOT of the work to get that A standard and earned her spot.

the splits -

" I, my fallible and doubting self, take leave of this body and send it out with the unreasonable instruction of doing well-trained, super-human things. And, in its dumbness, it succeeds."

Pretty awesome read.

Wareagles wrote:

Simple: she went out too hard

Exactly. End of story. I did feel bad for her. But I didn't like the way some (many) people seem to somehow blame Conley for beating her. And they acted like Conley robbed Julia of her rightful spot. So not true.

Conley raced like the true champ that she is. She made her own good fortune. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat was never more clear than in this race and result.

Sadly, few of us get to end our careers, athletic or otherwise, on our own terms. In time, she should become thankful for her gifts of a wonderful athletic career and achieving things most of us can only dream of, as well as her health and beauty. So no bitterness or self pity please.

The cool thing about both Conley and Lucas is that neither of them came from top D1 running programs.

cat-scratch fever wrote:

Yeow.

Because Conley beat her wrote:

Now corrected. :-)

Wow. What great writer. That is also a very depressing article. My heart goes out to her, but I still feel like she's short changing herself short by not giving it another go. But what do I know.

Ah Ha wrote:

Wareagles wrote:

Simple: she went out too hard

Exactly. End of story. I did feel bad for her. But I didn't like the way some (many) people seem to somehow blame Conley for beating her. And they acted like Conley robbed Julia of her rightful spot. So not true.

Conley raced like the true champ that she is. She made her own good fortune. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat was never more clear than in this race and result.

+1

Based on that article, Julia has a long way to go as a writer. As mentioned above, it reads like an over-metaphored, like-they-taught-in-HS-English piece. Anyone could write a my-thoughts piece like that about any race they ever ran.

That said, it's a pity she did not pick up the pieces and tear up the roads or something.

also worth a read wrote:

LetRuns posted links to this excellent read a couple years back. Its centered around Ian Dobson's trials bid but he writes also about Lucas too.

Written by Michael Heald in advance of his release of short essays "Goodbye to the Nervous Apprehension" Anybody read the other essays?

http://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald1Summer12.htmlhttp://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald2Summer12.htmlhttp://www.propellermag.com/Summer2012/Heald3Summer12.html

Yes. I've read them all. Excellent writing, and not just about running.

The collection of essays is available from Perfect Day Publishing. Find it on the Internet.

She is now coaching free sessions for anyone along side Nike im new York. It's part of Nike + nyc and Nike run club. for more information go on Nike.com/nyc there you will find a series of events, some of which she coaches

If Julia didn't push the pace from so far out Conley would not have gotten the A standard and Julia would have made the team.