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Tollefson, 31, made it to the 2004 Games in the 1500m when she won a four-way sprint at the USA Olympic Trials over Jen Toomey, Amy Rudolph and Jenelle Deatherage. Just 39/100ths of a second separated the top four women in a race Tollefson was essentially forced to run after finishing only sixth in the 5000m final, her primary event.
But things got even weirder after that. Not a single finisher in that 1500m final had achieved the Olympic Games "A" standard of 4:05.80. Suzy Favor Hamilton had the time and ran in the prelims, but a hamstring injury forced her to scratch from the final. That meant that Tollefson had to achieve at least the "B" standard of 4:08.20 to get herself on the team, and if she achieved the "A" standard she would bring Favor Hamilton along with her (for two or more athletes to compete in an Olympic Games discipline both must have the "A" standard; only one can compete with the "B" standard).
Tollefson flew to Europe and ran 4:13.67 in Birmingham, 4:10.45 in London, 4:06.30 in Heusden (a personal best) and 4:06.13 in Zürich (another personal best). With the "B" standard in hand, she made it to Athens where she advanced into the semi-finals before being eliminated.
Fast forward to April, 2007. Tollefson's training wasn't going well. She's was suffering from several related problems in her abdominal area, including a very painful condition called osteitis pubis, which the website emedicine.com describes as "a noninfectious inflammation of the pubis symphysis causing varying degrees of lower abdominal and pelvic pain." Translation: she was hurting and surgery was the only answer.
"April 11 I had my big surgery," Tollefson recalled in a telephone interview last Thursday. "They did an adductor release. They cut the muscle sheaths. They reattached my abs to the bone."
The surgery only took about 45 minutes, Tollefson said, but it was a serious matter. "Reattaching your muscles to the bone is pretty intense," she said. "It's taken me a long time to feel my strength in my quads."
Tollefson's core region was extremely weak after the surgery and her recovery was slow. "I'm kind of a crazy girl," she said. "I like to laugh. I was having a hard time even sneezing."
But Tollefson's pretty smile masks hides an inner toughness few athletes possess. With constant encouragement from her coach, Dennis Barker, and her Team USA Minnesota teammates, Tollefson made rehabilitation her job. Barker's role was particularly important, especially in keeping her spirits up.
"He knew this has been tough," Tollefson said. "It's hard to deal with athletes at our level when you want to be so good but you can't get your body to work with you. I couldn't do everything. I would get really tired or sore."
But Barker stuck with Tollefson; his encouragement was unflagging. "He calls and says, 'Hey champ.' When your coach knows you're a champion it really means a lot. Just those little things. He's that kind of guy. He loves us more as people than athletes."
By last fall, Tollefson's training was beginning to come around. During the cold Minnesota winters, when all of her quality work is done indoors, she began to feel she could do her old workouts. "I ran 58 for a quarter in practice," she said "I got pretty excited, but it kind of came crashing down."
While last year's health problems were behind her, new ones were emerging. Her blood iron was very low; she had a car accident; then she got a bad case of bronchitis which had spread to several of her teammates. Her case developed into pneumonia.
"I had seven days of no running in there," she said. "People wondered why I ran 4:19 at adidas (adidas Track Classic on May 18). I'm not making any excuxses. I don't like to be a Debbie Downer."
Today, at Ichan Stadmium in New York City, Tollefson will be looking for a different kind of qualifier. She needs an Olympic Trials qualifying time of 15:28.00 or better to assure her spot on the Trials Starting line in June in Eugene, Ore. She feels good enough to run that time, giving herself a "six or a seven" out of ten for fitness. She's trying to be realistic.
"I'm confident in the training that I'm doing," she said. "I've run 15:04 before." She added: "For me right now the thing is getting to the Trials."
At the Trials she'll face still competition in the 5000m, including USA record holder Shalane Flanagan and her former Villanova teammate, Jen Rhines, ninth in last year's world championships. Tollefson may also compete in the 1500m there; she hasn't decided yet. She plans several 1500m races between today's meet and the Trials. She needs Olympic Games "A" qualifying times in both disciplines (4:07.00 and 15:09.00).
Tollefson doesn't relish her role as a comeback kid. A little smooth sailing would be appreciated. "I don't want people to think of Carrie Tollefson as the injured kid who keeps on trying," she said. "That's the hand I've been dealt. I don't think it's time to hang it up. I know we have to share this stuff because it's important for people to know you can get through this stuff."
Photo of Carrie Tollefson competing in the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in 2006: RunnersWorld.com
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