RUNNING Runyan focused on Olympic return



She has many accomplishments despite being legally blind.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Dreams about running in the Athens Olympics will have to wait for now. The first step, after all, is making the team.
So Marla Runyan is focusing on the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif.
"You can do so many things in your career. I love my running career," she said. "I would never trade the New York City Marathon, fourth place; Boston Marathon, fifth place; the national championships -- all these accomplishments.
"But for some reason, the only thing that people remember is 'Did you make the Olympic team?' I'm like, but I did all this other stuff, too! But people really value that."
Will double up
Runyan said recently she'd double up at the trials, taking a shot at both the 5,000 meters and the 1,500 meters.
Runyan, who is legally blind, recently placed fourth in the 1,500 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, her hometown. It was the first time she competed at that distance in four years.
She ran the Prefontaine race in 4 minutes, 6.37 seconds.
"I'm really, really strong right now," Runyan said. "I don't have a whole lot of 400-meter or 600-meter sprint speed yet, I have more strength than anything. So, I think as the season progresses and I do more training I'll be fine. I have run 4:02, and I'd like to get back down there again."
But she's not sure if she would run both races in Athens. The upcoming trials, she said, were a test.
"I have like four days rest after the 5,000, so I think that will be a deciding factor. Obviously I have to get the Olympic standard in the 1,500, and I have to finish in the top three. So that could make the decision for me," she said.
Runyan was diagnosed at age 9 with Stargardt's disease, a degenerative eye disorder. Once a soccer enthusiast, Runyan has said she turned to the track when she could no longer see the ball.
She is a three-time national champion in the outdoor 5,000 meters. With a guide on a bicycle, she finished fifth in the Boston Marathon last year. The year before, she finished fourth in the New York City Marathon. Her 2:27.10 was the second-fastest time for an American woman in that race.
In Sydney four years ago, Runyan placed eighth in the 1,500.
Faces strong field
Runyan faces a strong field in her best event, the 5,000, including Shane Culpepper, Amy Rudolph Shalane Flannagan and Carrie Tollefson, who have all run the distance faster that the Olympic "A" standard of 15:28.
Runyan has run the fastest 5,000 of the pack, 14:59.20.
"I'd say nothing's for sure," she said "I've still got to run hard."
Earlier this year, Runyan won her third straight title in Freihofer's Run for Women, the road-racing national championship in Albany, N.Y. Runyan joined Lynn Jennings as the only women to win the Freihofer's at least three consecutive times. Jennings won four straight from 1993-96.

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