U.S. distance runners finally re-emerge

At the start of this decade, the phrase "U.S. distance running" was a sporting oxymoron on a par with "Brazilian ice hockey" or "Belgian surfing."

No more.

From the low point of the 2000 Olympics -- when the lone U.S. entrants were 19th in the women's marathon and 69th in the men's event -- Americans have rebounded to the point where "it's clearly legitimate of us to go into Beijing expecting medals this time," says New York Road Runners president and CEO Mary Wittenberg. "That's a monumental shift from where we were eight years ago and even four years ago."

The shift began in 2004, when Deena Kastor took bronze in the women's marathon -- the first U.S. medalist in the event, male or female, in 20 years. Meb Keflezighi followed days later with a silver, the first medal for a U.S. man in the marathon since 1976, and proclaimed to reporters, "USA running is back. Any questions?"

Those medals, though, were considered a surprise. This time, Kastor is a medal favorite, Shalane Flanagan has the year's best mark in the women's 10,000, and Ryan Hall (men's marathon) and Shannon Rowbury (women's 1,500) are high on the top-marks lists for their respective events.

The change reflects a greater effort to develop and support distance runners, primarily through a number of training groups that have appeared in recent years.

Such groups "gave a structured training environment for great athletes coming out of college, to have somewhere to go, somewhere to be guided and definitely make it an easier transition on the professional level," says Terrence Mahon, coach of four Beijing-bound runners (Kastor, Hall, and 5,000 entrants Ian Dobson and Jen Rhines) with the Running USA team based in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

"I think we were kind of missing that in the '90s. And it was just not easy for athletes who were moving to the marathon or moving to the 10K (10,000 kilometers) and trying to figure out how you compete with these other people who are some of the best in the world."

Wittenberg notes other significant training groups -- for example, the Nike Oregon Project, coached by Alberto Salazar and the home of 2008 Olympians Amy Begley, Kara Goucher and Galen Rupp -- and agrees, "If there's one single most significant factor, it's the group training, and a lot of support that's gone into that from different groups."

That includes the group headed by Wittenberg. The New York Road Runners may be best known as organizers of the annual ING New York Marathon, but the group promotes distance running on a wide range of fronts. Wittenberg estimates it has provided about $600,000 in support for various training groups in recent years.

Nike and other shoe companies have also provided financial support, which has been of major significance in providing highly technical and scientific support to maximize the benefits of training. When Mahon talks of the training process, he speaks of training zones, lactate thresholds and heart-rate analysis -- not information you can glean from the pages of "Running for Dummies."

Kastor, a three-time Olympian, believes the resurgence among elite runners reflects a general renewed interest in distance running.

"Before, there was kind of a lull," she says. "Now that it's more in the public eye ... I think it's becoming more of a celebrated sport." She thinks recent innovations like the World Marathon Majors, a series linking the New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Berlin marathons, have contributed by generating more public attention.

Wittenberg notes her organization -- which hosts five to seven professional events per year -- and others, like the Oregon Track Club, which brought the recent Olympic Trials to Eugene, have worked to increase the profile of running events over the last decade.

"Eight years ago, things were kind of dead," she says. "So the kids didn't have as much incentive to stay in the game, not only for the glory, but they're now better compensated as a result of having more significant events to compete in."

For the runners, there's also the incentive of silencing the critics.

"I think we all just got tired of hearing the U.S. distance runners stink," says marathoner Blake Russell. "So everybody's trying to prove them wrong, and in my mind, I know that we can do it."

Kastor puts it another way.

"When the expectations are low," she says, "it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. People just go and they're happy to be part of the Olympic moment."

This time around, it won't be that way.

"It's great that expectations are high," she says. "That's when athletes usually rise to the occasion and perform well."

(Contact David Lassen of the Ventura County Star in California at XX(at)xxx.com.)