EUGENE, Ore. (21-Jun) -- Julia Lucas only lives about a mile from historic Hayward Field, site of the USA Olympic Trials which open here on Friday. But, her journey to the starting line started thousands of miles away in North Carolina last September when the battered and then dejected athlete tried to reconnect to what she truly loved about running.

"I said after U.S. Nationals last year that this is the last year I've got to make it work," the 28 year-old athlete told Race Results Weekly in an interview here today.

Lucas had finished ninth in the second heat of the 1500m, and would not run another track race for the rest of the summer. Her body, plagued over a 15-year running career with seven different stress fractures to her feet and legs, wasn't cooperating, and her spirits were low. She needed to reconnect with the roots of her success: her time competing at North Carolina State University, where she won the Atlantic Coast Conference 5000m title in 2005 and 2006, and finished fourth in the NCAA 5000m in 2007. She contacted her old coaches, Rollie Geiger and Laurie Henes, and asked if she could essentially rejoin her old team.

"I felt like it could work," Lucas remembered. She continued: "Also, just being around my college teammates that are truly supportive. I went back to North Carolina, and left beating my chest in warrior mode. It was an emotional rebirth."

Staying in Henes's attic, she worked out with the N.C. State team for six weeks last fall, living apart from her husband, Olympian Ian Dobson, for the longest period of their marriage. She loved the feeling of being surrounded by a team of young women.

"The team environment to me is extremely important," Lucas said. "When I left the team in college and went out to be a professional runner, that was impossible. I'm still not making any money. I've got to do it for some other reason. If I don't have that reason, it's impossible. Having teammates, it's not that they are my reason but they remind me of my reasons that I do this."

Feeling the healthiest she had in years, Lucas did two races last fall --a road mile in England and the USA 10-K Road Running Championships in Boston-- and put up satisfying results. She finished fourth in the 10-K, getting a road personal best of 33:39.

Returning here to Eugene to train with the Oregon Track Club Elite, a Nike-sponsored track and field team here, Lucas said she finally had learned to train in a way which would keep her from breaking down. Working with her coach Mark Rowland, she said she got the support she needed from him and the group, but was able to train in her own style. She said she was prone to injuries because of her running style.

"You've seen the way I run," Lucas said, looking embarrassed. "I'm just goofy. I'm just not the physical specimen, I'm not a thoroughbred."

Describing her running style as "gawky," Lucas said that grinding hard until it hurt was a recipe for disaster for her, and only led to the boom and bust cycles of getting fit only to get hurt again.

Original post:
(RRW) Athletics: Reborn Lucas Poised for Trials Success