Brown: "To be honest, I didn't think I was good enough to train with Team USA Minnesota ..."

In the first of a series of interviews with the newest additions to Team USA Minnesota, DtB talked with former Golden Gopher star Emily Brown (pictured) about the next chapter in her stellar running career.

DtB: After finishing up at the U, was Team USA Minnesota the obvious place for you to begin your professional career or did you look into a lot of other training centers and post-collegiate clubs?

Brown: To be honest, I didn't think I was good enough to train with Team USA Minnesota because I knew the quality athletes they had on the team and I always watched them in amazement when they would train at our track!

Earlier this spring one of my old friends and Team USA MN runner put me in touch with Dennis and I began to see that it was a possibility. I wasn't even aware that other training centers existed and I feel very lucky to kind of be in the right place for such a great opportunity.

Coming to Minnesota is the best decision I've made thus far in my life and I am very happy to be able to stay here and train. I will still get to see all of my old teammates and follow their success while still beginning my own professional career. I can't imagine a better scenario.

DtB: What do you think Team USA Minnesota will offer that will help you take the next step as a runner?

Brown: It is always tough as an athlete to leave a coach you have been training with for 5 years and all of the sudden start with a new one. I have a lot of faith in Dennis and his training philosophy and I can already see it paying off down the road.

I think the best thing the team has to offer is the training partners. The team is what I love most about the sport and I was sad to leave my old team behind. However, from the day it was announced that I was going to be training with Team USA MN all of the other athletes have been very supportive and encouraging and I can tell that they are going to be great friends and training partners.

To me it seems logical that if you want to be among the best in the nation, you should train with some of the best in the nation and that is what we have here.

DtB: Are you targeting the steeplechase as your primary event?

Brown: I was lucky to find early success with the steeplechase and my success in that event is probably the only reason I even considered post-collegiate running. It is exciting and encouraging to see how far women have come in the event in the past 5 years and I think that if I am able to focus on it 100% I can be right there with them.

The first big goal is to qualify for the trials. Since I had kind of a bad year in the steeple this past spring I wasn't able to quite get the time. Hopefully with some hurdling work and a little less racing than I have done in the past I will be able to drop a lot of time and really begin to excel in it.

Photo by Gene Niemi -- Brown running the Run for Oromia 5K.