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U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon: After Long Road Back, Deena Kastor Is Ready
By David Monti (c) 2012 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved.Used with permission.
HOUSTON (12-Jan) -- At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Deena Kastor of Mammoth Lakes, CA went to the starting line of the women's marathon full of hope. Her training had gone exceptionally well, and she felt that she had a chance to earn her second Olympic medal after winning the bronze in Athens four years earlier.
"I thought I was the healthiest and fittest I had ever been in my life," Deena Kastor told reporters here today in advance of Saturday's Olympic Trials Marathon. "Little did I know that a bone in my foot was so weak that it was on the verge of breaking. Talk about not having grip on reality at the time."
Before she even made it to the 5-kilometer mark, that bone shattered like "a "Popsicle stick breaking and feathering," Kastor said. She immediately sat down, unable to put any weight on the foot which quickly swelled grotesquely. That swelling, she said, actually helped set the bone and ultimately aided her healing process.
Deena Kastor would not race again until March 2009, and not at a high level until the following autumn where she finished a credible sixth at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2:28:50. She seemed to be on her way back.
But things did not improve for her the following season. In the spring of 2010, she finished a disappointing 18th at the Virgin London Marathon (2:36:20). After that race, she was determined to train even harder, but her career ended up going in a different direction.
"It was really important for me to first get healthy," Kastor explained. She continued: "Once I got my fitness back, I got pregnant."
Deena Kastor gave birth to daughter, Piper Bloom Kastor, last March, after a pregnancy during which she hardly ran. Getting back to serious training was a slow and humbling process, but under coach Terrence Mahon she began to gain fitness steadily. Read an USATF Update on her training from October 2011.
"It's been a strange and unconventional four years," she mused. "But, the Olympics are here again. I'm going to be fighting like mad on Saturday to make my fourth Olympic team so I can try to get on that podium again."
In a 10-kilometer race last June in New York to honor the late Grete Waitz--the nine-time ING New York City Marathon champion from Norway who died of cancer last year--Deena Kastor ran a middling 35:00 and finished 25th. She kn
ew then that she needed to build up slowly over the next six months in order to be ready for the Trials. Deena Kastor didn't run another race until September, then ran two half-marathons in October (Photo at left winning in San Jose, 1:12:23 and Los Angeles, 1:11:48) which demonstrated she was on track to run competitively here in Houston. Her husband, Andrew, wasn't surprised.
"I figured that if she had the desire to come back, it would be even greater than before," Andrew Kastor said in an interview. "Now, she's actually going after something. It's like the second half of her career, but she's really excited about the Trials Saturday."
Deena Kastor will race with a formidable field led by Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila, Kara Goucher, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and her training partners Amy Hastings and Jen Rhines. Those athletes spoke in interviews today of Deena Kastor--the USA marathon record-holder with a 2:19:36 personal best--reverentially.
"I have no idea what to expect from Deena," said Shalane Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist at 10,000m. Shalane placed second (2:28:40) in the 2010 ING New York City Marathon, her only 26.2 mile race to date. "She is what I call a gamer. She steps up to the plate when it really matters."
Fellow Mammoth Track Club member Amy Hastings agreed. "Everybody should always be worried about Deena," said Hastings, who finished second at the Honda LA Marathon last March in 2:27:03. "She's doing very well."
From the Houston Marathon Committee
January 12, 2012
Houston, TX
Deena Kastor spoke to news media about her recent training:
During what she called a “spectacular” 26-mile run in early December, the super competitive Deena returned, adrenaline surging and energy left over at the end.
“For so long this [post-childbirth] buildup was really calculated and slow because we didn’t have time for injuries or any setbacks with the Trials approaching so quickly, so we were very conservative,” she explained. “And just in the past couple of months I felt more flow in my running. It was just this nice flow in the faster paces, which I hadn’t felt in a very long time, even before my pregnancy. So I felt really good about how my body was responding to upping the ante in practices. I really felt my body evolve.”
“A few months ago I was really just hoping to be in the mix to make this team,” she said. “And as my training evolved and really launched these last couple of months, it gave me more confidence to be in the front of the pack. Instead of striving to make the U.S. Olympic team, I now feel very confident that I can make the team and am striving to win the race on Saturday."