Bronze Medal for Goucher!

Duluth native Kara Goucher earned a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships today. She clocked a season-best 32:02.05 for the 3rd place finish behind Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba's winning 31:55.41 and runner-up Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey's 31:59.40.

"I've never been in a race so rough," Goucher told USATF media staffers. "I was running in lane 2, but I said that I don't want to fall, so I hung out there."

"We've been training so hard in the heat," the University of Colorado graduate said. "With the pace so slow, I was thinking to myself that this is good for me.With two laps to go, I was thinking that fifth or sixth would be good, but then I thought about running in the sauna suit, and the 90-mile weeks, and the aqua jogging, and I said to myself, 'sprint.'"

Team USA Minnesota's Katie McGregor was 13th in 32:44.76.

"It was really hard t get comfortable," she admitted, "and I probably should have been more aggressive. I just think I didn't put myself in a position to compete. I got spiked, and I think I started thinking about other things besides racing. I was in the back in the beginning, but when it was time to move up, I just didn't play it right."

Full results are HERE.

There's a fantastic photo of an elated Goucher in the IAAF photo gallery HERE.

Photo by Sean Hartnett.