I grew up in the small village of New Richmond, OH, just east of Cincinnati. Graduating from high school with PRs of 4:15 (1600) and 9:15 (3200), I showed some promise, but by no means was a Footlocker finalist. I was never quite able to snag that DII state title either, as I had to play bridesmaid my senior year in the 3200.
Fast forward to college: the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of the great (and wise) Bill Schnier. In his own words, I had "the worst freshman year of anyone he had ever had." While I was thrilled to join Cincinnati, in my own ambition to "move up to the big leagues" of a DI college program, I ramped up my summer training too quickly and soon set myself back with a tibial stress fracture.
To add insult to injury, as I was cross training on a road bike back in New Richmond two weeks before school started, I got into an accident. So now when I smile, if you look closely, it's a bit crooked and I usually have a bit of coffee residue hanging out on my fake teeth. Don't stare! Luck was simply not on my side in 2007.
I spent that first year of college rehabbing from both the stress fracture and the bike injury. Then things really turned on as I found my collegiate groove over the next three years and often found myself at the front end of races. It was an exciting time and I couldn't have been happier than to wear that Cincinnati Bearcats singlet on my chest and be the first to break the tape.
After my most successful year in 2011, where I placed 10th in the NCAA Championships in the 5000m (13:44), won the Big East Championships in XC that fall, and then went on to place (a somewhat disappointing) 25th at NCAA Nationals in Terre Haute, I was primed and ready for what I thought would be a spectacular 2012 and the icing on the cake to my collegiate career.
Only luck again was not on my side, and as my college teammates liked to say, EFD (Eric Finan Disease) struck again. I was sidelined in December with inflammation in the first MTP joint in the big toe of the left foot. All of that is just a big fancy way of saying "turf toe". While I did my best that winter to stay motivated and believe that it would work itself out so that I could still compete in the 2012 Olympic Trials, the inflammation never quite went away. While I did compete in the Big East Championships that year, it was after very little running (mostly aqua jogging in the pool) and I had a poor showing when the wheels fell off the wagon after two miles.
Defeated, I questioned whether I would ever run competitively again.
Following graduation, I began running again in October pain-free for the first time in 10 months. I slowly built up and under the guidance of a new post-collegiate coach, Randy Cox, I competed in the 2013 US Half Marathon Championships on June 22nd. While I finished a respectable 32nd in 64:42 in my debut HM, I was hungry for more and know I have more in the tank.
I then joined Team USA Minnesota and spent a couple of years there, notching a few seconds from my PRs, including breaking the four minute mile barrier to become the 421st American to do so (full list here).
Dissatisfied that I spent more time sidelined with injury instead of toeing the line, I moved on from Minnesota in the fall of 2015 to join Team Run Eugene in Oregon. I did everything in my control to compete in the 2016 Olympic Trials on the track, but unfortunately fell 7 places and 7 seconds short of qualifying for the race.
This caused me to reconsider my pursuit solely as a professional runner and I now work full time as an engineer developing flow cytometers for a biotech company, which is quite fulfilling in its own right, and run/race as I feel the desire to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment