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I think this article vindicates him of his performance at the trails, IMO.
A Chat With Adam Goucher
By Amby Burfoot
Photo of Adam Goucher (leading Matt Tegenkamp) by Victah Sailer
The line to reach Kara Goucher was long—very long—at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. She was signing autographs at a Nike tent in Eugene’s Festival08, positively beaming, and her brilliant personality and racing performances had drawn a long line of perhaps 100 track fans. They were waiting patiently. Small talk, photo taking, and autographing can make for a slow process.
Her husband Adam Goucher was also standing by patiently, chatting with a few friends, wearing dark glasses, and apparently unnoticed or unrecognized by the crowd. I asked him if he was willing to talk about his own Trials races. He didn’t jump at the opportunity. But after considering his options for a moment, he agreed.
In the next 15 minutes, Goucher, one of the country's most celebrated distance runners who had finished seventh in the previous night's 10,000 -meter final, answered all my questions without rancor or obvious emotion. He never cracked a smile, he never hesitated for more than a second. He answered fully and in detail, but I had the impression that this was a guy still trying to figure out exactly what had happened, and why, and how he felt about it all.
This must have been one wild roller coaster of a Trials for you.
Adam Goucher: This has been the most emotional 10 days of my life. It’s somewhat a repeat of the story of my career. It’s particularly tough when Kara has the best day of her life, and I have the worst. It’s tough to work through that dynamic. Not that I take anything from her, but my times count, too.
I’ve had a bad year the last year and a half. My dad died in March. Then I got the bad strain in my back. I basically couldn’t run for five weeks. I’ve only had about three and a half weeks of normal training. Despite it all, I truly believed I could make the team. I ran as hard as I could, but I should have raced with more conviction. In the 10K, I ran off the first group. Now I’m thinking I should have gone with them.
When they made the break, I thought, "That’s OK. I’m fine. I can wait until three to go." I was trying to close the gap the whole time. I was watching them. I was leading the second group for a while. But it didn’t happen. Now I can’t stop thinking, “I should have done this, I should have done that."
Did you have a race plan going in?
AG: Alberto (Salazar) told me he didn’t think I was ready for the race up front. He thought I should be patient. But you just have to be in it to win or make the team. If I had been in the top three when I hit the wall, then my ultimate competitor’s instinct would have kicked in, and I would have had a shot. But I couldn’t get it done from behind where I was. I should have gone with the group. I should have raced from the gut. If I had, it would have been tough, but that’s what the Olympic Trials are for. There’s nothing wrong with tough.
Do you think the two 5000s affected your 10,000?
AG: Even though I dropped out of the 5000 on Monday, it was a hard effort physically and mentally. It was like I ran the full distance. I was exhausted afterwards. It was the smart thing to do, but… It didn’t make any sense to run a 13:27 or something and not get the A time.
Looking back now, it might have been a better idea to focus entirely on the 10,000. I might have given up too much by running the 5K. I was tired and frustrated afterward. I should have put all my mental angst into the 10K.
Your 10,000 surprised a lot of people who were expecting you to drop out or finish way back.
AG: Now it simply doesn’t matter. All these people are coming up to me and saying, "That was amazing, what you did in the 10K." But what does it matter if you don’t finish in the top three? The bottom line is that I didn’t do what I needed to do. And that’s difficult to deal with. Now I've got to figure out what to do with the rest of my season.
You seem to be really hard on yourself. Is that how you’ve achieved so much in your career?
AG: It might be part of my downfall from time to time, but I’m not willing to settle. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to look on last night like it was some kind of success, no matter what people tell me and no matter who tries to make me feel better.
Were you upset by some of the controversy surrounding your appeal to be admitted into the 10,000?
AG: It didn’t help that there was all the crap about the appeals process, and it all seemed directed at me. I shouldn’t let that stuff bother me, but it’s hard to avoid it and not think about it. Plenty of other people got into the Trials on the appeals process, and no one was mentioning them, just me. The articles might have been saying, "We don’t blame Adam Goucher," but why are they even mentioning my name? That makes it personal.
I don’t know if you know it, but I wrote one of those stories. It was what everyone was talking about for a couple of days.
AG: My job as an athlete is to pursue all my opportunities to do well in the Trials. One of the ways you can get in is through the appeals process. I just followed the rules and filed a written appeal on my behalf. And Alberto wrote a letter on my behalf, and my surgeon did, and the USA team doctor from the Osaka World Championships team wrote one too. We all wrote letters. We followed the rules.
This has nothing to do with Nike or John Chaplin. I understand that people with faster times than me wanted to run too. But I’m not responsible for them. I just answer to myself. They either didn’t make appeals, or their appeals were turned down. I didn’t have anything to do with their appeals.
And the stuff about Nike as the evil empire is crazy. I don’t know any company that’s done more for track and field in this country than Nike. And the company has supported me through good times and bad. Nike kept me going four years ago when I was thinking it was maybe time to stop. I have many great friends and supporters at Nike.
I didn’t even know about all the appeals talk until Pete Julian told me he was putting out a fire for me. I said, "A fire over me? What’s that about?" He said that someone was threatening a lawsuit. I said, "What the heck are you talking about?" It was another distraction I had to deal with, as much as I should have pushed it aside.
Kara and I don't follow all the chat boards on various internet sites. She might go to EliteRunning.com because she likes the links there. But I'm oblivious to all the internet stuff.
The only reason I didn't hit the standards was the injuries I had. It's not like I wasn't capable of running those times when I was healthy.
What was your injury last year in Japan, and what happened this spring?
AG: Three or four days before my prelim in Osaka, I was doing an easy jog when I hit raised brick in the sidewalk and turned my ankle. I went to the hospital and got it x-rayed. There was a micro fracture in the foot, and they wanted me to go on crutches. But it was too late to get anyone else to Osaka to run for me, so I said, I can get through this. I iced it nonstop, and wrapped it, and took anti inflammatories. I did everything I could to get ready for the prelims. And I ran them and qualified for the final, where I was eleventh. That wasn’t what I wanted. But it was all I could do given the circumstances.
When I got home, I got the feet looked at more closely, and it turned out I had a bone spur in one foot, and stress fractures in both feet. I had surgery at the beginning of November. After that I got back into training, and was having a good spring until I hurt my back doing a long run on the Leif Erickson trail in Portland. I got some treatment, but when we went to Park City, I did a six-mile tempo run, and I couldn’t even walk after.
If you had seen me in the weeks after that…Peter Julian told me recently that I looked so bad he thought it was just wrong that I even kept trying. I said, "Really, I looked that bad?"
I kept trying to get help with the back, and finally Ed Ryan and another guy in Colorado Springs were able to help me. After two days of work with them, I was able to run about 95 percent. That was a little less than a month ago. Since then I've been training fine, with double workouts and really hard ones every other day. I did some great workouts.
Do you sometimes feel that you’re almost constantly fighting one injury or another?
AG: Sometimes I feel cursed but I don’t like to go there. Setbacks are a normal part of athletics. It does seem that I’ve had more than my share.
But mainly I feel so blessed that in the hardest times, as hard as last night was, I’m married to the most amazing person in the world. And I have so many other supporters to help me get through anything, people like Alberto and Nike. I also feel lucky and happy to be able to do what I do as a professional runner.
A Chat With Adam Goucher
By Amby Burfoot
Photo of Adam Goucher (leading Matt Tegenkamp) by Victah Sailer
The line to reach Kara Goucher was long—very long—at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning. She was signing autographs at a Nike tent in Eugene’s Festival08, positively beaming, and her brilliant personality and racing performances had drawn a long line of perhaps 100 track fans. They were waiting patiently. Small talk, photo taking, and autographing can make for a slow process.
Her husband Adam Goucher was also standing by patiently, chatting with a few friends, wearing dark glasses, and apparently unnoticed or unrecognized by the crowd. I asked him if he was willing to talk about his own Trials races. He didn’t jump at the opportunity. But after considering his options for a moment, he agreed.
In the next 15 minutes, Goucher, one of the country's most celebrated distance runners who had finished seventh in the previous night's 10,000 -meter final, answered all my questions without rancor or obvious emotion. He never cracked a smile, he never hesitated for more than a second. He answered fully and in detail, but I had the impression that this was a guy still trying to figure out exactly what had happened, and why, and how he felt about it all.
This must have been one wild roller coaster of a Trials for you.
Adam Goucher: This has been the most emotional 10 days of my life. It’s somewhat a repeat of the story of my career. It’s particularly tough when Kara has the best day of her life, and I have the worst. It’s tough to work through that dynamic. Not that I take anything from her, but my times count, too.
I’ve had a bad year the last year and a half. My dad died in March. Then I got the bad strain in my back. I basically couldn’t run for five weeks. I’ve only had about three and a half weeks of normal training. Despite it all, I truly believed I could make the team. I ran as hard as I could, but I should have raced with more conviction. In the 10K, I ran off the first group. Now I’m thinking I should have gone with them.
When they made the break, I thought, "That’s OK. I’m fine. I can wait until three to go." I was trying to close the gap the whole time. I was watching them. I was leading the second group for a while. But it didn’t happen. Now I can’t stop thinking, “I should have done this, I should have done that."
Did you have a race plan going in?
AG: Alberto (Salazar) told me he didn’t think I was ready for the race up front. He thought I should be patient. But you just have to be in it to win or make the team. If I had been in the top three when I hit the wall, then my ultimate competitor’s instinct would have kicked in, and I would have had a shot. But I couldn’t get it done from behind where I was. I should have gone with the group. I should have raced from the gut. If I had, it would have been tough, but that’s what the Olympic Trials are for. There’s nothing wrong with tough.
Do you think the two 5000s affected your 10,000?
AG: Even though I dropped out of the 5000 on Monday, it was a hard effort physically and mentally. It was like I ran the full distance. I was exhausted afterwards. It was the smart thing to do, but… It didn’t make any sense to run a 13:27 or something and not get the A time.
Looking back now, it might have been a better idea to focus entirely on the 10,000. I might have given up too much by running the 5K. I was tired and frustrated afterward. I should have put all my mental angst into the 10K.
Your 10,000 surprised a lot of people who were expecting you to drop out or finish way back.
AG: Now it simply doesn’t matter. All these people are coming up to me and saying, "That was amazing, what you did in the 10K." But what does it matter if you don’t finish in the top three? The bottom line is that I didn’t do what I needed to do. And that’s difficult to deal with. Now I've got to figure out what to do with the rest of my season.
You seem to be really hard on yourself. Is that how you’ve achieved so much in your career?
AG: It might be part of my downfall from time to time, but I’m not willing to settle. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to look on last night like it was some kind of success, no matter what people tell me and no matter who tries to make me feel better.
Were you upset by some of the controversy surrounding your appeal to be admitted into the 10,000?
AG: It didn’t help that there was all the crap about the appeals process, and it all seemed directed at me. I shouldn’t let that stuff bother me, but it’s hard to avoid it and not think about it. Plenty of other people got into the Trials on the appeals process, and no one was mentioning them, just me. The articles might have been saying, "We don’t blame Adam Goucher," but why are they even mentioning my name? That makes it personal.
I don’t know if you know it, but I wrote one of those stories. It was what everyone was talking about for a couple of days.
AG: My job as an athlete is to pursue all my opportunities to do well in the Trials. One of the ways you can get in is through the appeals process. I just followed the rules and filed a written appeal on my behalf. And Alberto wrote a letter on my behalf, and my surgeon did, and the USA team doctor from the Osaka World Championships team wrote one too. We all wrote letters. We followed the rules.
This has nothing to do with Nike or John Chaplin. I understand that people with faster times than me wanted to run too. But I’m not responsible for them. I just answer to myself. They either didn’t make appeals, or their appeals were turned down. I didn’t have anything to do with their appeals.
And the stuff about Nike as the evil empire is crazy. I don’t know any company that’s done more for track and field in this country than Nike. And the company has supported me through good times and bad. Nike kept me going four years ago when I was thinking it was maybe time to stop. I have many great friends and supporters at Nike.
I didn’t even know about all the appeals talk until Pete Julian told me he was putting out a fire for me. I said, "A fire over me? What’s that about?" He said that someone was threatening a lawsuit. I said, "What the heck are you talking about?" It was another distraction I had to deal with, as much as I should have pushed it aside.
Kara and I don't follow all the chat boards on various internet sites. She might go to EliteRunning.com because she likes the links there. But I'm oblivious to all the internet stuff.
The only reason I didn't hit the standards was the injuries I had. It's not like I wasn't capable of running those times when I was healthy.
What was your injury last year in Japan, and what happened this spring?
AG: Three or four days before my prelim in Osaka, I was doing an easy jog when I hit raised brick in the sidewalk and turned my ankle. I went to the hospital and got it x-rayed. There was a micro fracture in the foot, and they wanted me to go on crutches. But it was too late to get anyone else to Osaka to run for me, so I said, I can get through this. I iced it nonstop, and wrapped it, and took anti inflammatories. I did everything I could to get ready for the prelims. And I ran them and qualified for the final, where I was eleventh. That wasn’t what I wanted. But it was all I could do given the circumstances.
When I got home, I got the feet looked at more closely, and it turned out I had a bone spur in one foot, and stress fractures in both feet. I had surgery at the beginning of November. After that I got back into training, and was having a good spring until I hurt my back doing a long run on the Leif Erickson trail in Portland. I got some treatment, but when we went to Park City, I did a six-mile tempo run, and I couldn’t even walk after.
If you had seen me in the weeks after that…Peter Julian told me recently that I looked so bad he thought it was just wrong that I even kept trying. I said, "Really, I looked that bad?"
I kept trying to get help with the back, and finally Ed Ryan and another guy in Colorado Springs were able to help me. After two days of work with them, I was able to run about 95 percent. That was a little less than a month ago. Since then I've been training fine, with double workouts and really hard ones every other day. I did some great workouts.
Do you sometimes feel that you’re almost constantly fighting one injury or another?
AG: Sometimes I feel cursed but I don’t like to go there. Setbacks are a normal part of athletics. It does seem that I’ve had more than my share.
But mainly I feel so blessed that in the hardest times, as hard as last night was, I’m married to the most amazing person in the world. And I have so many other supporters to help me get through anything, people like Alberto and Nike. I also feel lucky and happy to be able to do what I do as a professional runner.
