Linda Keller sprinting toward the finish at the 2012 NCAA DII Central Region Meet at St. Olaf. Photo by Jim Ferstle |
Linda Keller sort of disappeared from the running scene at the end of the 2012 cross country season. Until the NCAA DII Championships that year the Minnesota Morris senior had been undefeated and was hoping to improve on her best finish at the championships in 2011(seventh), possibly even contend for the title. Instead she finished an exhausted 18th and began to search for answers why. Below she talks about what she found out and why she's back for the track season this Winter and Spring.
Down the
Backstretch: The last time we talked you were thinking about whether of
not to try to get to Nationals in indoor track, but all that sort of went out
the window in December of 2012. What happened and how did you deal with
it?
Linda Keller: After the National meet,
I was feeling super exhausted and I assumed it was from stress and being
fatigued from racing. A few days later, I was feeling ill and still
exhausted. It wasn't until early December, the week before my finals,
that I was having some discomfort in my abdomen that I decided to go to the
hospital.
That was when I was informed that I had mono and had it for
quite a bit. After informing my family and Coach Jeremy (Karger Gatsow) about it, Coach
and I talked about my options for the Spring and the following year. We
decided that I should take the spring off to rest and get fully healthy and the
following year compete since I was going to be around regardless to finish up
my degree. So far, it's been proving to be a good decision.
DtB: You still had
academic work on your elementary education degree, but no eligibility left on
cross country. When did you get back to running? Did you miss
it?
LK: I was starting some
light running around January(21013) and the goal was to slowly work into
mileage. It was hard to be motivated to run again after adjusting to a
month of rest. That was a big challenge for me because I'm use to running
with teammates and talking with them on easy runs as well as having a running
routine.
In the fall, I started running with the team again when my
schedule allowed me to. By December, I was able to show up to practice
with the team. After running by myself so much, it was nice being with
the team again.
DtB: You seem to be
starting off running shorter distances is that to ease you back into
competition or are you going to become a sprinter now?
LK: I don't think I'm quite
capable to be a sprinter. The shorter distances are helping me
build up my speed again since it's been awhile since I raced.
DtB: How long did
you have to take off for the mono? Has it had any lingering effects or do
you feel “normal” again?
LK: I took about a month off
from mono. There was no specific amount of time I had to take off.
Coach had me monitor my heart rate to make sure it was "normal"
before I started training again since it was high even though I would be
sitting down. I don't think it's had any lingering effects on me. I
feel like me again, just a bit out of shape.
DtB: Has the
experience taught you anything new or is it just one of those hurdles in life
you have to jump?
I think this was a hurdle I had to jump
over. Before I knew I had mono, I felt awful about how the
Cross Country season ended. I wanted to a lot better at Nationals, place
and time wise, than the previous year but that didn't happen. Now knowing
that I had mono during that time, I feel impressed with how I did considering.
DtB: What are the
goals for the indoor and outdoor season?
LK: My
goal is to try to be as fast and healthy as I was at Griak two years ago, but
that means I need to really work. The goal is to try to go to Nationals
in the indoor 3K and in the outdoor 5K. At this point, we're seeing what
I am capable of doing and trying to build from there.
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