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Flying Pigs, Unicorns, and Amy Hastings’ Chances in the 10k, by Jon Gugala, note by Larry Eder

Larry EderbyLarry Eder
August 3, 2012
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Jon Gugala sent this piece on Amy Hastings to us this morning session, which was wonderful! Amy Hastings, one of our faves, has a double secret, well kind of secret plan to do well in the 10,000 meters. We want Amy Hastings to do well. Well, read Jon’s story and you will get it! You just have to love the title! 


Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Hastings_AmyFV-OlyT12.jpg
Amy Hastings gutting out finish, 2012 Oly Trials, photo by PhotoRun.net

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Flying Pigs, Unicorns, and Amy Hastings in the 10K
by Jon Gugala
The 10,000-meters was never Plan A for Amy Hastings.
Hastings, who competes for the U.S. in the women’s 10,000m this evening, had her 
initial sights set on the U.S. marathon team at the Olympic team trials in January. 
And despite the fact that it was only her second time running the event, she was 
arguably the most gutty in the race, being the aggressor repeatedly in her attempt 
to dislodge any of the Big Three, which included eventual trials champ Shalane 
Flanagan, runner-up and former Arizona State teammate Desiree Davila, and 
America’s Marathon Mom Kara Goucher.
But Hastings couldn’t break any of them, and when Davila made her own push for the win, 
it was Hastings who found herself drifting off the back. She would finish fourth in 
2 hours, 27 minutes, 17 seconds, just 15 seconds off her debut best from 2011 and 
just over a minute off an Olympic spot.
So Hastings made lemonade, winning the trials 10,000m in an event so weak in depth 
that she pretty much just had to finish to make the team, being one of only three women 
with the Olympic “A” standard. (The other two U.S. representatives, Lisa Uhl and Janet 
Cherobon-Bawcom, did not finish in the top three at the trials, only advancing because 
of their standard. This does not bode well.) 
There’s no doubt that Hastings is in over her head in the event; she’s competing against 
the right and left fists of Vivian Cheruiyot and Tirunesh “The Baby-Faced Assassin” 
Dibaba. The former is last year’s world championships double gold-medalist in the 
5K/10K; the latter is the defending Olympic champ in both events. Both have 
PRs light years ahead of Hastings.
So what do you do in this situation? You put on your game face, maybe rattle your saber, 
contemplate the improbable, and get ready to hurt.
“The hardest thing in the 10k is it’s so easy to loose focus when things start to hurt,” 
Hastings says in an interview with FloTrack. “It’s just not losing focus and making 
sure every step is a good one.” 
That focus has been made easier, Hastings says, because of marathon training. The longer 
runs have required a longer focus, and now 6.2 miles seems tiny in comparison.
But the odds are long. What has to happen in the race would be for Dibaba to make an 
insane mid-race move–say a 2:08 800m around 6K. Cheruiyot would obviously cover, and 
she could probably hold on for second. But the rest of the field–which includes two 
more Kenyans and two more Ethiopians–would need to go with her, and they would need 
to be in over their respective heads. Hastings, meanwhile, would have to not go, 
instead running her own race and then look to scoop up the wreckage of the pack 
one by one on her way to the bronze.
And then the Van Halen brothers featuring David Lee Roth on lead vocals would 
perform the Ethiopian national anthem.
This strategy is not exactly guts, and anyway that’s not exactly Hastings’ 
strategy, from what she says: “This is the one to take a risk. When it comes 
down to it, this is the race where fourth place is the same as last place, 
so you might as well go for it.”
You can believe her if you will; Hastings has already told some whoppers to 
the assembled press, including this gem: “I’ve been waiting to feel the pain 
of this 10K for four years.” (In actuality, Hastings has probably been waiting 
to feel that pain since January 15, the day after her Olympic marathon 
aspirations officially died.) The marathon is without a doubt her future, 
but the 10,000m is her present, and if she does follow her predictions 
and does make a move with the leaders, hers will at least be a glorious 
death.
Is there a possibility? Hell, there’s always a possibility: “I know I’m the 
underdog right now in this race. I might not even be an underdog; I’ might just 
be counted out,” Hastings says. “But as long as I get there and give myself the 
best possible opportunity, crazier things have happened.
“I’m going to go for it and see what happens,” she says. 
“I think it will be good.”

Author

  • Larry Eder
    Larry Eder

    Larry Eder has had a 51-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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Larry Eder

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 51-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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