Mandi Zemba's Journal

March 4, 2008 Entry (Posted March 5, 2008)

February was a busy month for me, which is good considering they tell me this has been one of the worst Minnesota winters in a long time. I spent some time in Austin, Texas, to train; went to San Diego for the USA Cross Country Championships; and then headed off to Japan after that. It was nice to break up the winter a bit, but I did miss my boys (husband and son) and am happy to be back on schedule at home.

My teammate Michelle and I decided to head to Austin to get some warm sun and good footing for a couple of weeks in February since the month of January brought treadmill running or heading out in the zero (and sometimes below zero) degree weather to battle the snow covered roads and paths. I guess we arrived during a few days of a “cold spell” in Austin of 50 degree weather, but it felt like a heat wave to us.

Unfortunately, Michelle ended up hurting her foot again right before we got there so I did my runs on my own. But I enjoyed the good weather and footing, and being able to get on the outdoor track again definitely got me excited for the upcoming season. As for Michelle, she tried to make the best out of it by getting in the sun as much as possible. I found Austin to be a great place to train with good trails, nice people, and most important the headquarters of the Whole Foods Market (which turned out to be our favorite place to go). It is huge with everything you could imagine as well as great samples which we definitely took advantage of.

Training had been going well in Austin and I was ready to avenge my poor performance in my first race of the year (an indoor 3K at the University of Minnesota) at the U.S. Cross Champs in San Diego. I was happy the race was in a place with a warm climate and was excited to get back on a cross country course again. I ended up placing 19th and was not happy with my performance. I faded pretty hard the second half of the race and thought I should have been higher up.

I had been looking forward to this race for a long time so it was a tough one to take, but as my teammate Carrie reminded me, I just have to keep truckin’ and put in the work and things will come around. I was happy my parents came to the race with my son Zac because it is a lot harder to deal with a bad race when you feel all alone and are far away from home. Also, seeing my son lets me put things into perspective and know that God put me on this earth to be more than just a runner.

A few days after U.S. Cross, I was lucky enough to head off to Japan to be on the Yokohama Ekiden team. My teammates Katie and Carrie were on the team last year and said they had a great time so I was excited to go. The experience definitely didn’t disappoint. I had a great time and met seven new friends. The Japanese take the Ekidens very seriously and it was great to be part of one. They do a great job of running the event and treat us all like high-class athletes.

Seeing a new country and culture was a lot of fun and an experience I will always remember. When we got there, the weather was ideal - 50s and sunny - but the forecast for race day was colder and very windy. This had us scavenging for arm warmers the night before and finally settling for makeshift ones that we made from long black socks that our leader LeeAnn kindly gave us.

Race day was colder and windy (they gave us big, long, puffy jackets to warm up in), but I was lucky enough to be first and on a fast leg. I really didn’t know what to expect pace wise so I just wanted to get out there to compete and have fun. I feel like I did that and ran a 15:40, which is only two seconds off my PR (on the track) so I was happy. Most important, it gave me more confidence for the upcoming outdoor season since I was starting to doubt my speed from the results of my previous two races.

Up next for me is the 15K Championships in Jacksonville. It is a longer race than I am used to, but I am looking forward to getting in an over distance race and the warm weather makes it more appealing. Also, I am looking forward to seeing my alma mater, Grand Valley State, compete in the Division II Indoor Nationals in a couple of weeks which is in Minnesota this year. Go Lakers!

Introductory Entry (Posted January 8, 2008)

Not too many people know that there is an Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but I grew up in a nice town – Menominee, Michigan – in the U.P. which is right on the border of Wisconsin. As a kid, I played just about every sport I could, and put a lot of focus into competitive swimming for 11 years, which helped me figure out I had some endurance. I remember I had dreams of being the first woman in the NBA so I guess a professional distance runner is not too far off.

I had success in high school track and really started to enjoy running but still had no idea what real training was. I was one of the best runners in the U.P., but my times still weren’t spectacular, so not too many schools offered me a scholarship. The coach at Grand Valley State University, Jerry Baltes, loves to get hidden talent from the U.P. and I was one of them.

As a freshman at Grand Valley, I went from being at the back of the pack at cross country camp to a national champion (Division 2) in the 1500 by the outdoor season. After achieving a national championship so fast, there was a small thought of trying to take my running career further and focusing more on my training, but multiple injuries and life got in the way.

The next year wasn’t so great for me and injuries were piling up. The start of my third year, my husband and I got some shocking news with the pregnancy of our son, Zac. I’d be lying to say I was happy with the news at the time, but it has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. By the grace of God, I returned to competition five months after giving birth and I have been improving ever since.

My last season of eligibility, I was able to run PRs of 15:38 [in the 5K] and 9:09 [in the 3K]. My coach Jerry would tell me the fast times he thought I could run and I thought he was nuts. I never imagined they would come true so fast and I would be in the position of being a professional runner. I am so happy I get to live the dream of getting paid to run, but I am definitely not satisfied and know I have a lot of work to do to reach my full potential.

That brings us to where I am now. I just graduated from Grand Valley this past April, signed with New Balance in June, went to Brazil for the Pan Am Games in July, bought a house in August, and then moved to Minneapolis in December. My husband, Brian and my son Zac (who is now 3 and 1/2), were kind enough to make the crazy decision with me to move here to let me train with Team USA Minnesota.

The day after we arrived in Minneapolis, I was getting ready for a run and Pat (our director) informed me that it was 5 degrees with a wind chill of negative 12. When I left Grand Rapids, it was still warm enough to be raining so it was quite a shock. There were times during that run when I was wondering why we didn’t keep rolling the UHaul further west to some warmer weather, but I now look forward to waking up in the cold air. It is a lot easier to train in the brutal conditions when you get to do it with awesome teammates who make the time go by fast and the run enjoyable.

I have only been here a month, but I am already seeing how training with Team USA Minnesota will help me achieve my goals as a runner. I am very excited to be working with our coach Dennis to become one of the best distance runners in the nation. I have already consistently increased my mileage significantly (which is not hard to do considering our runs are usually 1-2 miles longer than what we set out to do), and am feeling stronger every day. I have enjoyed the time I have had the past month to just train and look forward to another month of training to help me get ready for my next race at the USA Cross Country Championships and then onto the huge outdoor track season.

I am also grateful to have the opportunity to be working with our sponsors Life Time Fitness, Twin Cities Marathon, and the New York Road Runners as well as our great medical support staff of chiropractors, doctors and physical therapists. Pat Goodwin, along with all the support crew, have made sure I was welcomed to Minnesota and created a great environment to succeed.