Begley running with inspiration

A mere six inches was the opening left by Amy Yoder Begley as she moved wide of a lapped runner during the 10,000m final at the USA Outdoor Championships in June. Those six inches, however, were all the space that Olympic bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan needed to surge into the lead.

For a moment, Begley resigned herself to another defeat, one to add to a lengthy list in her career.

But then something clicked.

Begley summoned, a determination, a self-assurance she had not exhibited in years prior. She responded to Flanagan's move with a resounding one of her own, and pulled away to a surprising victory.

"When Shalane passed on the inside, it surprised me," Begley said recently in an interview from her home in Portland, Ore. "For about 50 meters I just kind of let her go, then all of a sudden I was like, ‘No. I can find another gear and win this too.' When I got done it was really kind of a shock because I wasn't passed in the last 100 meters. It doesn't happen that often at this level, at least for me."

This season has been unlike any other in Begley's career.

Fueled by the disappointing end to her breakout 2008 campaign, Begley set out on a mission that was at-once a demonstration of ability and an exercise in self-discovery. In the process, she has become a more confident athlete and arguably the best distance runner in the country right now.

With four national championships, two on the track and two on the roads, already under her belt, Begley will look to cap her year in style when she leads the U.S. women's team at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham, England.

"This year has been amazing," Begley said. "Every time I've raced it's felt like Christmas. I've run a PR or run really well or have gotten a U.S. title. It's one of those things that you can never picture in your mind for sure. This year was definitely way better than I ever expected. And now I get to be on a second World Championships team."

Begley's valiant effort to make it to Beijing - she rallied to finish third in the 10,000m and run an A standard at the Olympic Trials - is a moment Begley will never forget. She has also held on to memories of her disappointing finish at the Games, but for less-than sentimental reasons.

"This year was really motivated by last year because in Beijing I was 26th and I was lapped twice," Begley said. "I just didn't compete there. This whole year was fueled by my really bad race in Beijing. Every time I stepped on the track I was out to prove myself, to prove that I was better than that."

That proving ground began modestly in Boston in February, when she won the 3000m at the USA Indoor Championships. It was at that moment, Begley realized that she had more speed than she ever gave herself credit for. In March, Begley won the USA 15K Road championship in Jacksonville, Florida, and discovered that she had pretty good endurance too.

The two victories began fostering confidence that spilled over during the outdoor track season. Her victory in Eugene, especially outkicking Flanagan the way she did, was proof positive that Begley was no flash in the pan and indeed had the physical and mental tools to compete with the world's best distance runners. She proved that again in Berlin in August, when she finished sixth in the 10,000m at the World Championships. 

But still, she was not satisfied. So while most runners began preparing for their much-anticipated autumn breaks, Begley continued training and competing. On Sept. 20, she picked up her fourth national title, winning the USA 5K Road championship in Providence, Rhode Island.

"Every time I've raced this year I focused on the process in getting there and tried to put myself in a position to win or finish in the top five, and it has worked out almost every time," Begley said. "I had a great race at Worlds. I was sixth but I wasn't exactly happy with it. I was happy with the outcome but not with how I raced. So I've kept going."

Begley's determination is quite reminiscent to that of Kara Goucher, her training partner the last several years. Flashback to April. When Goucher finished third at the Boston Marathon, she was so distraught and hell-bent on winning, that she considered running in the London Marathon just five days later.

The parallels between Begley and Goucher seem to be growing by the day.

As a collegiate runner for the University of Colorado, Goucher won NCAA titles in cross country, the indoor 3000m and the outdoor 5000m. Her early years as a professional were sabotaged by frequent injuries until she found rebirth training under coach Alberto Salazar.

Determined to prove that she could be one of the premier runners in the world, Goucher eventually won a bronze medal in the 10,000m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, 2008 a national championship in the 5000m, a trip to the Olympics, and a third-place finish in the New York City Marathon.

Begley was a 15-time NCAA All-American at Arkansas. After college, she upped her mileage to near 90 miles per week and was competing in 5K and 10K road races once or twice a month. After running in a half marathon in Naples, Florida in 2003, Begley wound up with two stress fractures.

Things got exponentially worse for Begley in 2006. One night before a race that June, she slipped and fell in a dark hotel bathroom in Nashville, Tenn., and badly injured her hip. Later that year, she was diagnosed with celiac disease, a severe allergy to gluten, which required an overhaul to her diet. In November, while jogging on a wooded trail in Atlanta, Begley broke an ankle. She quickly lost her shoe contract with adidas.

Begley then contacted Goucher, who had already begun training with Salazar, to inquire about making a move to Portland.

"Honestly, I pushed for her to come," Goucher, who ran against Begley at national-level meets in high school, told The Oregonian in June. "I said, ‘I can relate to this girl. She's the same age, she's been through what I've been through.'"

Begley eventually convinced Salazar and executives of Nike to give her a chance.

"My number one goal was to find a training partner for Kara," Salazar told The Oregonian. "I didn't know she'd get as good as she did."

Begley said a big reason she has gotten as good as she has is from chasing Goucher around the Nike campus in Beaverton during practice.

"I always wanted to stay as close to Kara as I could in workouts," Begley said. "Alberto would say ‘Don't let her get too far ahead,' or, ‘Chase her down.' Having Kara around and her giving me encouragement has really given me the confidence that I could be one of the top distance runners in the U.S. Prior to coming here, I don't think I really believed that."

Begley said that some of Goucher's competitive drive has rubbed off on her in practice.

"Kara is incredibly competitive and it really helps because for me I've always been able to have another level in races that I could never really get in training," Begley said. "Kara has definitely helped draw that out in practice. She's taught me how to be able to push harder in practice, which then made me a better racer. She definitely helped me find that last gear in practice."

Begley said that Salazar doesn't allow the two to actually race in practice, but they have come close, and she has used those instances as a measuring stick of her own progress.

"I think with Kara there may have been one or two times that I have been able to take her at the end of a workout , but probably only because she was doing 120 miles a week," Begley said. "I think having someone out there that you're constantly chasing has been amazing. Alberto is always saying that goal is how close are you going to stay with Kara? It's closing that gap with her in practice, on temp runs and in workouts. It's always been fun to have something out there to chase."

Begley said she had been considering running another half marathon but didn't firmly decide to run one until she saw how well she handled long workouts prior to Berlin.

"I think the biggest part of it was that I handled the workouts really well with Kara prior to Worlds," she said. "I was able to jump in and do the longer stuff so Alberto was confident that I could do a longer race. Otherwise, I would have done a shorter road race in the fall around the U.S. I eventually wanted to do a half. I thought I might do the U.S. half marathon in January but then I found out that I had qualified for the World half so I thought I might as well do it now."

Begley said she came out of a nine-mile tempo run - Goucher ran three miles of it with her - last week feeling very well, but acknowledged that tacking on four more miles will be daunting.

She also knows that she lacks experience at the distance relative to her competitors. She is hoping that her experience training with the likes of Goucher and Dathan Ritzenhein, who will run in the men's race in Birmingham, will make up for it.

"I guess just going into the race and not knowing how they're going to race it gives me some trepidation," Begley said. "Are they going to sit for a while in the race and then go, or are they going to take it from the gun? But I think the anxiety always is always in how they are going to race it. I'm going to try and put myself in the top five and just try to go with them. When a move is made, I'm going to go and then see how long I can hang on.

"I'm definitely going to be the one with the least experience in this race, that's for sure. But Alberto has been in a lot of great situations like that. Kara and Dathan have as well. They've all given me confidence in what I need to do. They keep telling me that I'm ready. That's the great thing about being in this group. I'm surrounded by people with a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience."