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Kara Goucher's litany of frustration reads like the table of contents from a sports injury textbook.
Since her NCAA cross country championship in 2000, Goucher's running has been hobbled by patellar tendonitis, severe enough to require surgery; a stress fracture in her right femur; compartment syndrome. And with her husband, Adam, struggling athletically as well, there was depression and bitterness.
Goucher would have loved to have been first to the line in the women's 5,000m final at the 2006 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships; would've loved to have held off Lauren Fleshman and won a national title in front of the huge Friday-evening crowd. But second, after five-plus years of frustration, was not to be complained about."I planned to come and compete, and be competitive," she told reporters after the race. "With a kilometer to go, I told myself, this is it, this is what I've been waiting for. I can believe in what I'm capable of, and feel ready to do it.""A race like this lets me know that I'm not crazy - that this really is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm very excited about this summer, now."
Goucher's return was apparent in the spring, when she took an alternate's spot on the World Cross Country team (vacated, in an odd twist, by Fleshman) and ran one of the team's best performances in the short course race. "Everything's a step," she said, recalling her race at the adidas Track Classic in California, then the four-second 1,500m PR at the Pre Classic. "I could never thank [Coach] Alberto [Salazar] enough," Goucher went on. "He changed the way we look at everything. We were very bitter and frustrated. Now we're living life for the right reasons." Salazar has Goucher looking ahead to greater improvement this summer; like many of the women she raced in the 5,000m championship, she's eyeing a sub-15:00 clocking just as her husband aspires to go under 13:00. "We're breaking through."
Posted by Parker Morse at 12:26 p.m. | Tags: Athlete Features, 2006 USA Outdoor T&F Champs