Dream Is Back on Track for Reston's Running Prodigy

Unlike in the sprints, events in which the United States has long been dominant, U.S. runners have struggled for respectability in every distance from the 1,500 on up. The last American to win an Olympic medal in the 1,500 was Jim Ryun, who claimed the silver at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City. At the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Americans Meb Keflezighi and Deena Kastor nearly doubled the U.S. tally of Olympic medals in the distance events -- 1,500, 5,000, 10,000 and marathon-- since 1968 when each won a medal in the marathon. There had been only three others.

Webb was projected to be the antidote to the performance problem when he ran a 4:23 mile as a freshman at South Lakes in 1998. He took 17 seconds off of his time a year later and, during his senior year, clocked the record of 3:53.43. But Webb's astonishing progress stalled during his first year at the University of Michigan. After an injury-plagued season, he finished fourth in the 1,500 at the NCAA championships, and his best time was more than three seconds slower than he had run in high school. He left the school and turned pro, returning to Reston and rejoining his high school coach, Raczko.

The next summer proved even worse. Webb's best times dropped again. Demoralized and baffled, he didn't know what to do. So he worked harder. He concentrated on building strength by running longer distances and lifting weights. He wanted to ensure he could win both fast races and slower, more tactical affairs that required hard sprints at the finish.

A year later, he won the 1,500 at the 2004 Olympic trials. He set, finally, a host of personal bests.

"The last three years, I got back to where I was improving again," Webb said. "Right after high school, it was like, 'Whoa, I'm not getting any better.' "

Despite the turnaround in 2004, the Athens Games brought another round of disappointment. Webb did not get out of the first round, finishing ninth in his opening race after colliding with Bernard Lagat, a Kenyan-born star who has earned his U.S. citizenship and will compete in his first major championship as an American in Osaka, giving the United States not one, but two, medal hopes in the 1,500.

Lagat, once one of Webb's idols, has become one of his biggest rivals.

A year after the Olympic debacle, Webb found some redemption at the world championships in Helsinki -- but no medal. He advanced to the final, a major achievement, but finished ninth. Last year, Webb concentrated on longer distances. Despite a hamstring problem and iron-deficiency issues, his foray into distance running proved more successful than expected; he won an early-season 10,000 at the Stanford (Calif.) Cardinal Invitational in 27:34.72.

As a boy, Webb taped a poster of distance specialist Steve Prefontaine to his bedroom wall, but he knew his heart was in the mile. The four-minute barrier provided the boundaries, then a new starting point, for his dreams. He viewed the longer distances as something he could do later -- after he had knocked off his goals in his signature events.

Enter Osaka.

"To win a world championship, that's in my mind," Webb said. "That's probably a bigger goal [than running a personal best]: to be the best runner in the world. They kind of go together. I want to run fast and win medals."