Posted: May 5, 2006

Athletics: Legs Firmly Under Her, Runyan Continues Comeback

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

It's good to be on firm ground, or at least to feel that way.

That's where two-time U.S. Olympian Marla Runyan finds herself these days. After giving birth to daughter Anna Lee Lonergan last September 1, Runyan was overjoyed to be a mother, but struggled to get her running career back on track. Some previous difficulties she had with her hips had been aggravated by her pregnancy and delivery, and she litterally couldn't get her legs under her when she went running again ten days after giving birth.

"I think the comment I made to my husband (and coach Matt Longergan) is that my legs are not connected to my body," Runyan said today in a conference call with reporters "I knew I needed to stop."

It wasn't supposed to be that way. Runyan, 37, kept up a modified training regimen throughout her pregnancy which would allow her to gain back her form soon after having Anna.

"When I was pregnant with her I cross-trained almost every day," said Runyan. "Even the day I delivered I walked/jogged 5 miles on the treadmill."

But her hip alignment problem ended up contributing to a stress reaction in her lower right leg. Forced to wear a boot to help heal the injury, Runyan had to shut her training down completely last December.

"Christmastime came around and we just turned everything off," said Runyan who contemplated hanging up her spikes for good. "We have a lot of discussions about retirement, more so from me. I had the injury. I had Anna. I nad no sleep. I'm 37."

But her husband disagreed, and told his wife that it would just take time and to be patient. "On a day-to-day basis it was really difficult," said Longergan speaking later on his cell phone. "I knew how hard it was for her to try to stay positive and make it work. I had to do whatever I could to shine a positive light on it. As soon as I start becoming negative, everything would fall apart."

Runyan became more aggressive with her chriropractic treatments, and working methodically with Lonergan, who is also a massage therapist, began to slowly get stronger. Now it was she who was taking the baby steps.

"Ever since the middle of January everything was consistent," said Runyan. "I was running every other day. My training was coming along, finally."

Runyan's training reached the point two weeks ago where she was ready to compete in a race, albeit a low-key one. Running at the Oregon Invitational in Eugene where she lives, she ran a steady, mostly solo, effort over 10,000m, recording a personal best of 32:11.92. It was much more a workout than a race, a solid tempo run.

"I never went into any oxygen debt, any lactate," Runyan recalled. "I was just out there running 77-second laps." She then added: "I needed to run that race."

Longergan felt the satisfaction just as much as his wife. Reflecting back on the rainy Oregon winter when his sleep-deprived wife had to take her bus pass with her in case she couldn't complete the second part of her run he said, "It was just a matter of time. It was tough times, very tough times."

Runyan will run tomorrow night at the Oregon Twilight Meet in the 5000m, and hopes to run in the low 15-minute range. Renee Metivier will help pace her for the first four laps, but after that she'll probably be running on her own. She's gearing up for her first serious track race at the adidas Track Classic scheduled May 21 in Carson, Calif., where she'll run the 3000m. She'll then run a 5000m at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York City on June 3. That's the event where she would like to make an improvement over her 14:59.20 personal best.

"I ran my first 5000 six years ago," she said. "I've only improved in six years... eight seconds. And that to me doesn't make sense."

She's seen other athletes she competed against, like Britain's Jo Pavey, improve from 14:58.27 in 2000, to 14:40.71 in 2005. Perhaps, she reasoned, it's as much a mental barrier at this point as a physical one.

"I need to be thinking to myself that it's within my grasp."

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