How was your training going leading up to the race?

Training’s been great – I’ve been going to the track two days a week pretty regularly since January, although the workouts have just started to become more steeplechase-specific recently. I think it’s that consistency as much as anything that’s helped my fitness and confidence. I did go to Asia for a work trip at the beginning of this month, but fortunately it didn’t end up being too much of a disruption.

Do you find it difficult to travel and race, or is it something that gets you more excited to race?

Well, actually I hate flying to races. You end up with these long, boring days in hotels waiting around with nothing to do – it makes me nervous. I’d much rather wake up in my own bed and just have a completely normal day up until an hour before my event.

What was your race strategy before the gun went off?

I wanted to run under 10 minutes and get the A standard, so I planned to run an even pace of 80 seconds per lap. I wasn’t sure if I could do that, but it sounded like a logical strategy. Some people don’t like to lead a race, but I’m not as comfortable when someone else controls the pace, so I figured I would just run to the front.

Were there any points during the race where you were uncertain that you could hit the Olympic Trials qualifier time?

My pace wasn’t perfectly even during the race, so I sortof lost track of how close I was to the qualifying time. It wasn’t until 100m to go, when I could see the clock at the finish line, that I realized (with a little surprise) that I was actually going to run under 10 minutes. When I finished and the announcer called out my official time, my first thought was, I can’t believe that just happened.

So you obviously PR”ed, how much of an improvement was that for you?

My best time in college was 10:37.44 (I just looked it up). I broke my foot two years in a row so I actually didn’t end up running too many steeplechases in college. Needless to say I returned to the event with caution!

Who is your awesome Coach? Can you beat your coach in an all-out 200 meter dash?

I am coached by the very knowledgeable and very patient John Dimoff. He could likely beat me in a race at any distance, but I think the tides would turn if he let me add hurdles.

What’s next on the horizon for you?

Another steeplechase at Stanford University in a few weeks; the Nike Mile in late May; Olympic Trials in June; Wedding in July; return to normal life in August.

Anything else?

Yes – I owe a lot of my success to the great training partners I have here on campus. It’s been amazing to have people actually, willingly, join in on some of the track workouts I’d otherwise have to run all alone.