USA Distance Project
Athlete Journals

June 25, 2008 Update: Today we posted an entry from Ian Dobson-- a very humorous entry about the BMX scene at the Olympic Training Center and their influence on his expectations for the Trials in Eugene. Earlier this week, we received an entry from Kristen Nicolini Lehmkuhle--a heartfelt expression of her inability to get the 10,000 meters Olympic Trials qualifier due to an injury. Last week, Sara Slattery and Sara Hall submitted eloquent entries. Click on their names at the right to read these great entries. Please don't forget to drop us a line and let us know what you think of these entries. Your feedback means a lot to the runners and us!

What will it take to turn distance running into a major American sport? The short answer: A group of top-level young athletes with the star power to give the sport more mass appeal.

That’s the idea behind the USA Distance Project, a newly launched initiative of USA Track & Field to increase the ranks of competitive long distance runners with a network of camps to provide nurturing training environments. The object: to produce more world-class marathoners and distance stars.

There are three such camps: one in California, one in Minnesota, and one in North Carolina. Each has selected teams of post-collegiate athletes, based on their past accomplishments and their future potential. The oldest of the camps, established in 2000 in Mammoth Lakes, California, has already produced two Olympic medallists, Meb Keflezighi, the men’s silver medalist in the 2004 Olympics and Deena Kastor, who won the women’s Olympic marathon bronze medal that year. Deena has also won the London and Chicago Marathons.

The other camps are Team USA Minnesota, based in the Twin Cities, and the ZAP Fitness Center, based in the mountains of North Carolina. New York Road Runners is the presenting sponsor of the USA Distance Project.

You can follow the progress of the USA Distance Project’s stars and stars-to-be by reading journals kept by the athletes and carried exclusively on New York Road Runners’ websites: nyrr.org, fast-women.com, and mensracing.com. These entries offer insights into the personalities, passions, and day-to-day experiences of USA Distance Project athletes—our current and future stars. Team Running USA has submitted their introductory entries, which you will find on the left. Let us know what you think. Your feedback will encourage the runners to continue to share their lives.