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Runyan will try to qualify for Olympics in 1,500 and 5,000

Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. — Dreams about Athens will have to wait for now. Oregon runner Marla Runyan is focusing on the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento, Calif.

The first step, after all, is making the team.

“You can do so many things in your career. I love my running career: I would never trade the New York City Marathon, fourth place; Boston Marathon, fifth place; the national championships. All these accomplishments,” she said. “But for some reason, the only thing that people remember is ‘Did you make the Olympic team?’ I’m like, but I did all this other stuff, too! But people really value that.”

Runyan said recently she’d double-up at the trials, taking a shot at both the 5,000 meters and the 1,500 meters.

Runyan, who is legally blind, recently placed fourth in the 1,500 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, her hometown. It was the first time she had competed at that distance in four years.

She ran the Pre in 4:06.37.

“I’m really, really strong right now,” Runyan said. “I don’t have a whole lot of 400-meter or 600-meter sprint speed yet, I have more strength than anything. So, I think as the season progresses and I do more training I’ll be fine. I have run 4:02, and I’d like to get back down there again.”

But she’s not sure if she would run both races in Athens. The upcoming trials, she said, were a test.

“I have like four days rest after the 5,000, so I think that will be a deciding factor. Obviously I have to get the Olympic standard in the 1,500, and I have to finish in the top three. So that could make the decision for me,” she said.

Runyan was diagnosed at age 9 with Stargardt’s disease, a degenerative eye disorder.

She is a three-time national champion in the outdoor 5,000 meters.

With a guide on a bicycle, she finished fifth in the Boston Marathon last year. The year before, she finished fourth in the New York City Marathon. Her 2:27.10 was the second-fastest time for an American woman in that race. In Sydney four years ago, Runyan placed eighth in the 1,500 meters.