National Champions!

An Interview done by Jim Ferstle of Down the Backstretch: Downthebackstrech.blogspot.com

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012

Meghan Peyton Talks About 2012, the USATF XC Club Championships, and 2013

Photo by Gene Niemi

Team USA Minnesota's Meghan Peyton finished off 2012 with a bang.  She led the team to the USATF Club XC team Championship, earned a trip to Scotland, and took a step toward her first goal of 2013.

Down the Backstretch:Winning a National Championships is always nice.  Did you go into USATF Club Nationals confident, hopeful, with or without expectations in regards to the team championship? 

Meghan Peyton: We went into the Championships confident that we could win. We knew that there would be some other strong teams like the Boulder team, but thought that as long as we all had solid races that we could achieve our goal of winning the national title.  

DtB:  Once you got to Lexington and saw the mud, aside from thinking: “This is real cross country,” did the conditions change any of the plans, expectations going into the race?

MP: Personally, the mud didn't change any of my own expectations. The mud was a factor for every runner out there. It being a championship race, I knew that it would take a strong race to place in the top six(she finished fourth), which is what it took to qualify for the USA team going to Scotland.

DtB:  Seems like the team members had different approaches to the race: Jamie took off with the leaders, you and Ladia sort of worked together, McKenzie was trailing behind you two(could she see where you two were or was the course too hilly and twisty for her to see runners ahead of her), and Heather took a tumble.  When did Heather go down and did any of you see or know that Heather fell during the race?  Give us something of a summary of how things unfolded.

MP: The race got out fast, the first mile being the most flat section on the course -- we went through the mile at 5:11 pace. I felt that it was a good pace, putting me near the front but I still felt in control. For the next mile and a half it was just grinding away at the hills and mud. 

There was a little pack of us behind the lead pack pushing each other. We could see the leaders the entire time. At about 2.5 miles the pack started coming back to us, Jamie (Cheever) with them. I knew we would catch up. So on the last downhill before the long climb to the finish I pushed hard so that I would catch up with Jamie. I knew she needed some support because she was in no-woman's land, which is a hard place to be when you are hurting. 

As I caught her I cheered for her telling her "You can do it, come on Jamie". We all needed to finish strong, and I think it was pretty admirable how she had put it out there on the line and, even once her early fast pace caught up to her, Jamie still finished really strong. None of us knew that Heather had fallen until we had all crossed the finish line.  

DtB:  When did you know you won the team title?  Was there a big celebration or a more retrained one?

MP: When we all finished the race we didn't know if we had won or not for about half an hour or so. We knew that Boulder would be our biggest competition, and they had taken first and second place. We didn't know where their other runners had finished, but we did know that Heather had taken an unfortunate spill in the mud, but had the strength to get up and keep running for the team. 

So we waited anxiously for about 30 minutes until they finally posted the results. When the results went up, Lance Elliott (one of our team's board members who was traveling with us and also raced) came running back to our van with the results and said: "We Won!". We were all excited, but Heather was excited most of all...jumping up and down with relief.

DtB:  Are the three of you that qualified planning on taking the trip to Scotland in January?  Did Jamie or McKenzie get spots on the US team because others in front of them aren’t going?

MP: Yes, Ladia, Jon (Peterson, fifth in the men's race), and I are going to Scotland for sure. We think that Jamie(who was seventh) will also likely make the team based on other competitors who said that they will not go, and because she also did well at this year's USA Open Cross Country Championships which took place in February.

DtB:  You’ve had a busy life this Fall with school, helping out with the Augsburg team, and your own running.  How do you juggle all those “balls in the air?”

MP: Very carefully! I don't need any of them falling to the ground. I think the only reason that I am able to juggle all of them is because I have good support groups in each area of my life, and because I'm a planner. I always try and stay ahead of the curve. I did have to start using a paper planner again this year (which I have not done since I graduated college) because my life is going in a lot of different directions.  No day is the same as the day before. A busy life keeps things interesting. 

DtB:  Was 2012 a productive year?  Did you achieve any or all of the goals you set—if you set any—at the beginning of the year?

MP: 2012 for me was a learning year. Anyone who looks at my results from the past year could probably safely assume that I unfortunately didn't achieve the goals that I had set at the beginning of it. From 2008-2011 I had steadily improved -- moving from consistently placing in the teens in races and working my way up to finishing in the top seven at most National Championships.

As with most people in this sport, I had big aspirations for 2012. However, some inexperience with the marathon, and also finding out that I had low B12 and low Iron (both essential for energy production) put those goals out of reach this year. But, I haven't given up. I still have the same big goals -- I've just had to push them out a year or two. 

DtB:  What are the plans, goals of 2013?

MP: My goals for 2013 are to, first of all, continue to improve as an athlete and person. Secondly, I want to represent our country at the World Cross Country Championships, and also want to compete at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In the Fall I plan on competing in a marathon -- maybe one that is near and dear to us all--Twin Cities in Motion's Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  

This is where I am- This is where I'm meant to be: Keep it clean, people.

This is where I am- This is where I'm meant to be: Keep it clean, people.: Call me old school, but I think the beautiful and most exciting part of running is that it is an opportunity to see what the untainted human...

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This post is a follow up to my previous post. If you need another reason to actually sit down and take the time to find what truly makes you happy and define your true calling- watch this video. Yes, I know it is an hour and fifteen minutes long but you will not regret watching one minute of it. I challenge you to just watch the first five minutes, if you are not hooked within that span of time; feel free to turn it off. But if I was a betting woman, I would say you will watch it from start to finish. Enjoy!

Exploring Happiness

This fall I have begun my graduate studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, where I will apply myself to the earning of a Master of Arts in Leadership (MAL) degree. I recently had to write the following short essay and I thought I would share it with you all. I think each of us should take some time to explore what it is that makes us happy! 

Over the past week I have learned that happiness is very subjective. Throughout history many different philosophers, including Buddha, Confucius, and Abraham Maslow have written on the topic of happiness. Much research is still being conducted today and one of those theories being test by the U Penn Authentic Happiness Center (2012a) is how the three approaches to happiness: a pleasant life, an engaging life and a meaningful life, all work together in each of our lives. This essay will be an exploration of what role each of these three approaches to happiness plays in my own life.

A pleasant life is the enjoyment of the more superficial parts of our existence. According to the Approaches to Happiness Questionnaire this approach is of the least importance to me. However, it is still an essential part of my overall happiness. I know I would not be as happy in my life without the material things. For instance when Cole and I bought our first house, we were so excited and could not wait to share it with our family and friends. Up until this point we had lived in a 500 square foot apartment, and while we were perfectly content and happy there we were even more excited to have our own home. The first thing Cole did was walk around with a video camera in our new home and post the video to the web for our families to see. But this excitement was fleeting. Now that we have lived here for three years, while we still love our home and it makes us very content, we discuss at least once a week the features of our next home. We get overly excited about the possibilities that it may hold. I know this house will always hold a special place in our hearts, because it was the first, but there will always be the next thing to be excited about too.

The engaging life is by far the most important approach to happiness for me. On the Approaches to Happiness Questionnaire I scored in the 85^th percentile compared to others who had taken the survey. Life is made engaging by putting to use your signature strengths in your work, friendships, love and leisure. Through my involvement in Thomas Morgan’s class, Leading Authentically, I have discovered that my four dependable strengths are that I am disciplined, trustworthy, responsible and optimistic. I have crafted my life in such as way as to put these strengths to good use. In 2010 I gained my official title as a coach at Augsburg, but I had been coaching unofficially for years. I started my coaching experience with my mom. My mom is a supermom, always there for her family even if that meant neglecting her own health. So after 10 years of essentially not exercising at all, she hit an all time high with her weight and was visibly upset with herself about it. So I took my four strengths and extensive knowledge of running and got her to be active again. It was not easy, especially at first. At the time I was in college living 2,000 miles away from her home in Knoxville, Tennessee. So I could not be there every day to see if she got out the door for a run. We started small, alternating between mostly walking and a little running. However, I had to call her on the phone every day to make sure she did her run. Much of the time this phone call would end with a disappointing “no”. But I did not let these small failures curb my enthusiasm or hers. Two years after we started this quest together, she ran her first marathon, of which I ran 17 miles with her. Today, she now runs a few marathons a year and does the training on her own. She has completed six marathons to date with the goal of doing one in every state! It is accomplishments like this that give me everlasting joy and help make my life complete.

The meaningful life is the use of the same strengths that I mentioned above in service of something greater than myself. To me coaching is that something. I believe sports, especially running, are a vehicle to teach people about themselves and society. Sports help with both human and social development. They can contribute to social cohesion and tolerance, as well as be a conduit for physical and socio-economic development. Furthermore, sports – like music and art – are a universal language which can be used for social and economic change by bridging cultural gaps, helping to resolve conflicts and educating people in ways that nothing else can. I believe that by being a coach I can help guide people in a way to make a meaningful impact on their lives both physically and mentally which brings great meaning and fulfillment to my life.

The three approaches to happiness – a pleasant life, a engaging life and a meaningful life – work in unison to make my life happy. While some of these approaches are more important to me than others, without all three being in balance I do not think I would be as happy as I currently am. I feel very lucky to have found a passion that I believe in and the means with which I can share that passion with the world.

U Penn Authentic Happiness. (2012a, September 15). Approaches to happiness questionnaire. Retrieved from http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/results.aspx?id=266&it=0

National Running Day June 6th and Portland Track Festival

Calling all Portlanders and Tualatonians! (Those who live in or around the cities of Portland or Tualatin, Oregon)  Come on over to Lewis and Clark college on Friday the 9^th and Saturday the 10^th to cheer on some great athletes at the Portland Track Festival! Just to name a few of my favorite big names that will be there: Katie McGregor – multiple time National Champion and World Championships participant; and Carrie Tollefson – 2004 Olympian; and me of course!

 I will be running the 10,000m again on Friday night, June 9^th.  The third time this season is going to be the charm – the time of 32:45 is going down!  (Just to recap – the 10K in Boston went well; I ran 33:11 for second place)

I am particularly excited about this race because it will be a homecoming of sorts for me.  I went to high school at Tualatin High School, just 10 miles down the road from the Lewis and Clark College. I have spent many hours running in Tryon Creek State Park which is a great park to run in located right next to the school. I have many nostalgic memories of running with Brent “Mac” MacDermot and Taylor “White Bread” Hallvik , as well as my high school besties Lindsay Hallvik, Mallory Freed, Colleen Godfrey and Amanda Bateman Evans – just to name a few.  Mac and Taylor have already promised to come and cheer, if anyone else wants to join in it would be most appreciated!

When I hit the time of 32:45 (the trials “A” qualifying standard) it is going to be an extremely exciting moment. Not only will it be a confirmation of all the hard work that I have put in, but it will also qualify me for sure for the Olympic Team Trials in Eugene two weeks later – another place I have special memories associated with because I won 6 Oregon State High School Championships titles there. Not to mention all of the history associated with the many running greats who have called Eugene home. Needless to say June is shaping up to be a very exciting month.

ALSO - Don't forget that June 6th is National Running Day. Visit www.runningday.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/runningday. Join in on National Running Day as the country takes strides towards leading healthier, fitter lives. Taking part is easy. Just wear your running shoes, grab a friend and go! 

I RUN...because I can't imagine life without it! 

Tell me and the world why you run?!?

I hope to see you all there on the 9^th and down in Eugene for the trials.

Godspeed

~Meghan

"I get knocked down, but I get up again"

OK, decision made – this weekend May 19^th, I am going to be in Boston at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet, being held at UMass – Lowell,  to give the 10K another go. This time, instead of running  32:00 flat pace to start out, I am going to start a little more conservative and just aim right at the trials A standard,  32:45 pace with the goal of building on each mile.

But, the 10K this weekend will not be my first race this week!  On Thursday I am going to again compete in the annual TC 1mile/ USA 1 mile Road Championships. It is a race that is near and dear to my heart because it takes place right here in downtown Minneapolis.  Talk about “home field advantage”!

You will be able to watch the TC 1mile live on http://www.runnerspace.com/USA-1mile

Tune in on Thursday evening to see myself and two of my fellow Minneapolites , Heather Kampf and Elizabeth Yetzer, shine in front of our home crowd!

Until next week – living well, dreaming fast.

~Meghan~

The Road to Eugene

“California Love” – Ok, so that isn’t the song that I have been singing lately, but it is where I spent the last two weeks with teammates Jamie Cheever and Matt Llano. While we were not singing along to 2Pac, we did become obsessed with Los Angeles group Maroon 5 and their new song “Payphone”! This was only appropriate because Los Angeles is where our journey began.

We flew out on Wed. the 18^th from MSP to LAX to get ready to race at the MT. SAC Relays. The relays are extremely popular because the weather is always perfect and the best talent shows up there to compete. Of the 5 years that I have competed at Mt. SAC, only once has the meet been delayed due to water on the track - no, not because it was raining, but because a water main burst under the finish line! Otherwise, every year has been ideal. As the sun goes down over the San Gabriel Valley, the wind disappears, the temperature drops to a perfect 50-60 degrees, the crowds gather with their kettle corn and water bottles to watch – the raised arm of the starter, cuffed in orange, the report of the starter pistol – the races are under way.  

There are several races before my own, so when I arrive at the track an hour and a half before my race, the meet is in full swing. I sit in a grassy area at the back of the stadium, sipping on my water and waiting for the appointed hour to arrive when I will start my warm-up. I’m running the 5K on this night, trying to get a new PR, 15:35 would be awesome! Once my warm-up is all done I head over to the “hipping tent” (where you get your hip numbers for the race) and put on my Mizuno Osaka spikes. Ready to go!

First mile: 5:04 – great 15:42 pace, just right at my PR. I know I need to work on the next two miles.

Mile 2: I still feel good and still clicking off the splits I want for the first half of this mile. But, at about half way the wheels start to become a little unglued.

Mile 3: I maintain my position in the race, but I’m not going to hit the time I want. Final time: 16:14

Bummmmmmer. Workouts have been going really well, so I am surprised to not have the leg speed that I wanted.  In years past I would have been devastated, but I am trying a new approach. I just tell myself “Shake it off, it’s just one race. Next time will be better. It is still only April and all the important races are still to come.”

Mt. SAC concluded, we moved on. We flew from LAX to SFO the next day, where we would spend the next week. We have plans while we are in the Bay Area to stay with a relative of a friend and his roommates (did you catch that? Yes, that means we are staying with someone none of us knew). So we have an address and a phone number – let the adventure begin.

So once we arrive at SFO and get our rental car squared away, Matt call the people we will be staying with – all who are fantastic athletes that competed for Stanford (Elliot Heath, JT Sullivan, Brendan Gregg, Whitney Liehr, and Jake Riley) - but no one answers. We decide to drive to the address we have, since it is an hour drive, and hope that by the time we get there we will get in touch with one of them.

We reach the house an hour later, and I think Jamie and Matt are excited to get out of the car, because the last 15min of the drive were EXTREMLY curvy. The house sits almost at the top of a mountain, and the road to get to it is very scenic, but you have to drive slowly and avoid all of the bikers that are challenging themselves to get up the 4 mile climb. When we get to the house, we still have not heard from its occupants, so after a few minutes of looking around on the front porch I decide to try the door knob….lo and behold it’s open! Sweet.

 We let ourselves in, and are immediately aware that indeed it is the right house by the number of running shoes that greet us at the door and the NCAA trophies that stand proudly on a shelf. Whew, we sigh with relief. At least we know we are in the right place. So we settle our bags in and head out the door for our long run. Hopefully our roommates will be back when we are finished with our long run.

Out the door the three of us go to find the awesome running trails that we were told about. Find them we did, and they were awesome, but they were also super hilly; a fact that was only exacerbated by the fact that we had all raced the day before. I was tired. We made it back to the house an hour and forty minutes later, and still no one is home or has answered the text message that we sent. So we shower up and I call my brother-in-law Kyle to meet up for dinner. Pizza at Patxi’s is just what the doctor ordered after a very long day of travelling and running.

After dinner we make our way back up to the house, and are greeted by a driveway full of cars. At last! Once we are inside and make everyone’s introduction, we find out that the group had been at the beach all day, because it was one of the first beautiful days to be had in the Bay, and there was no cell reception. It really ended up not being an issue at all that we didn’t get to talk to them before we got to the house, it really just made for an adventurous day!

The rest of the week went by smoothly. We made some great new friends, got to explore San Fran for a bit – including going to Alcatraz, and rest up for our next races at the Payton Jordan Invitational.

The next Sunday, race day finally arrived. And we all tried to relax and get ready for the evening when we would race. Jamie was scheduled to run the steeple at 6:40pm, myself the 10K at 9:07pm and Matt also the 10K at 10:20pm. The evening started off well with Jamie matching her PR in the Steeple with a 10:02, though she was slightly disappointed because she wanted to run the Olympic Trials ‘A’ standard of 9:55, but it was her first competitive steeple of the year and I have no doubt that she will get the time she wants in her next attempt.

I was up next – I started off at a brisk pace, because I wanted to hit a huge PR, 5:10 at the mile, 10:20 at two miles….final time 33:26. Again, my legs didn’t have the juice that they needed to finish at my desired pace and to make matters even a little more disagreeable, I missed the Trials A standard of 32:45. So the question now is, will my previous time of 32:59 make it into the race? That is what I currently analyzing… trying to figure out what my next move should be. Run another 10K? Switch gears to another race? Not one ounce of me doesn’t want to be in Eugene this June, so I am going to have to think long and hard about what I am going to do next.

Stay tuned for more on what my strategy will be...