Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Four years ago, Kara Goucher's running career had become a disaster. She and her husband, Adam, also a professional distance runner, had battled hard luck and injuries, but this topped everything: At the 2004 Olympic trials, Kara Goucher finished dead last in the 5,000 meters. In the first heat.

At the 2000 Olympic trials, she had finished eighth overall as a junior at the University of Colorado. Now this? She stumbled out of that July feeling miserable. Adam, who had competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, also failed to make the '04 team.

That "was probably ground zero for me," Goucher, 30, said after earning a place on this year's Olympic team in the 5,000 and 10,000. "I ate a lot, gained a lot of weight. It was a low time, but obviously something was still there. There were times when I asked myself, 'Am I crazy?' It never totally went away. I kept trying and kept coming back."

Eager to climb out of their joint rut, the Gouchers moved from their training home in Boulder, Colo., to Portland, Ore., where they joined Alberto Salazar and Nike's "Oregon Project." They immediately liked the changes: the camaraderie of the group, and the drop from high altitude to near sea level. Kara Goucher finished second in the 5,000 at the 2006 U.S. outdoor championships and then, at the urging of Salazar, moved up to the 10K.

She finished second at the U.S. championships in that distance the next year, assuring herself she was on the right track.

Then she got absolute confirmation.

At the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan, Goucher was a stunning third in the event. Her bronze medal was the first earned at that distance by an American woman in world championship history.

At the recent Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore., Goucher won the 5,000 and finished second to Shalane Flanagan in the 10,000. Adam, who continues to try to come back from injuries, withdrew from the 5,000 and finished seventh in the 10,000, failing to make the team. Goucher acknowledged some preoccupation with the fate of the "love of her life" during the trials, but she also reveled in her own turnaround.

"Since 2004, there was always a little hope in me," she said after the 10,000. "I knew there was that fast girl in there somewhere. That's what kept me going."

-- Amy Shipley