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After Finishing Fourth in London, One Marathoner's Shot at Redemption

Her heart pounds heavy in her chest.  She wills herself to get past this mile, the one that makes her question if she will even finish the 26.2 miles. She knows there’s another good mile ahead, knows the lethargy is only temporary. Soon, her energy will surge through think veins and she will coast to the finish.

 

Amy Hastings Cragg, one of the most successful athletes in ASU cross-country history, knows this feeling well. But, what Cragg knows better, is running far beyond the finish line. It’s the 27th mile. The mile no one sees. The mile that is triggered by disappointment. A feeling Cragg felt in 2012, after she came in fourth place in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, her dream event.

 

Of course, the U.S. team only takes the top three.

 

“At the time, it was just completely devastating because I had put all my eggs in one basket and was just planning on making the marathon team,” Cragg said.

 

"I remember at the time thinking, 'Well whenever she gets beat she always comes back more determined. And that's what she did," Cragg's father Scott Hastings said. 

 

Cragg dreamed of competing in an event where she believed she had a chance to medal. During the Trials, she and three other runners broke out in front early, but Cragg said she was the weakest link that day. She misread one of her fellow runners, thinking the runner was hurting, and made a couple of moves too early, one her competitor overcame with a faster pace.

 

For Olympic-hopefuls, the belief that they will make the team can’t waver.

 

 

Photos provided by Amy Cragg's Facebook page

“You need to be 100% confident and believe completely,” Cragg said. “So it makes it a lot harder when it doesn't work out. You have to do damage control because you didn’t even give yourself that Plan B.”

 

"I can remmeber that race for the Marathon Trials in Houston four years ago and I can still remember the look on her face when she came in fourth. Because fourth is the worst possible place to come in an Olympic Trial since they only take the top three," Hastings said. 

 

Cragg cried every day for a month following the 2012 Marathon Trials, but she never stopped running. She trained every day and came back a stronger athlete, one who stayed focused enough five months later to qualify for the London Olympics in the 10,000-meter, with a first place finish.

 

“I just regrouped and kept training hard every day,” Cragg said.  “In hindsight, I'm really glad I went through that because it made me a much stronger and smarter athlete, made me more focused and more driven and honestly now when things don't go right I can handle it a lot better and sometimes that happens during the race. And I'm able to figure out a way to get through it and make the best of a lot of situations because of it. “

 

While Cragg wasn’t going to London in her dream event, she still graced the international stage with her speed. Cragg finished 11th in the 10,000-meter and set a personal best in London after shaving seven seconds off her time, (31.17 to 31.10), something extremely hard under the immense amount of pressure and the watchful eyes of billions around the world.

 

“It was just a pretty incredible feeling,” Cragg said. “It's definitely the largest crowd I’ve ever run in front of and coming around and seeing that torch every single lap didn't let you give up at any point or give in at all.”

 

The energy. That’s what kept Cragg going the 27th mile, the one after a crushing defeat only to feel the tangible Olympic energy that pushed her to run her fasted time in the 10,000-meter.

 

“The energy, it just explodes,” Cragg said.

 

But, Cragg wasn’t satisfied. She went back to Portland, Oregon, following the Olympics to train at the Bowerman Track Club for the 2016 Rio Olympics. There, she racked up the miles on her sneakers and sucked in the cool, damp air on her three runs per day.

 

From 6:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Cragg’s day consists of three meals, three runs, one workout session, one core and weightlifting session and one therapy or chiropractic session. Every day, she said the goal is to get at least two hours of the day off her feet, an essential piece of such an intensive training schedule. With no days off, that means Cragg is working her body 154 hours a week.

 

“It’s a lot of wear and tear,” Cragg said. “Your body adapts to the mileage, but when you change pace and strain is when it gets tough.  But I actually think I'm more durable now than when I was younger just because I know my body so much better and I know when something's even a tiny bit off and I can immediately correct it.”

 

When Cragg isn’t listening to her body, she’s in her own mind, visualizing the run up to three months before a big race. However, once the race creeps within two weeks, Cragg blocks it out.

 

“I'm a pretty big micromanager beforehand,” Cragg said. “Like three months out I think of the details very early on so that two weeks out you don’t have to worry about anything and you just let whatever comes come. I'm a little bit of a control freak but it's good because once I'm there not much surprises me. “

 

Cragg remains focused and unsurprised, knowing her window of opportunity is ever-so-slightly sliding closed.

 

“Every single race and every day training, I’m giving 100 percent and am just completely focused because I know I have a limited time and I just want to make the most it.” Cragg said. 

 

With full, unrelenting effort, Cragg pushed forward, all the way to January when her second chance rolled around. The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

 

This time, not only did she place, but she won, qualifying for her dream event on her dream stage, one she makes smaller through realistic goals.

 

“If I can race smart and just put everything out there then I think whatever happens I'll be really happy with it. “ Cragg said.

 

“I think this is a really big step, it’s like a start for me. You can go a long time when you're a distance runner. You can go until your pretty old, however once you get into your 30s you don't know how long you have. And it’s a weird race too, where you just have to kind of put your head down and fight through the bad miles because the good ones could be just around the bend.”

 

Just like the 27th mile, hiding in the shadows, masked by disappointment but leading to a horizon peppered with second chances. 

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