Shannon Rowbury digs deep to get to Daegu

EUGENE, Oregon -- This has been quite a tumultuous year for Shannon Rowbury. Back-to-back injuries in the late fall and early winter derailed her training, and personal losses off the track took their toll emotionally. The adversity threatened to disrupt her season and left her questioning her life as an athlete.

But through it all Rowbury kept faith in her abilities and pieced together enough fitness to get to the start line in the 1500m here at the USA Outdoor Championships. That perseverance paid off when she dug deep in the final meters of the race to finish third in 4:06.20, just one-hundredth of a second ahead of Christin Wurth-Thomas for the final spot on the team headed to Daegu for the World Championships.

After the competition, we spoke to Rowbury in depth about her rocky road to the National team. Here is what she revealed:

Can you go into detail about your injuries and what kept you from training at full strength this offseason?

It started in the fall. In October I had an Achilles injury, kind of a fluke one that happened while I was doing strength training. I kept thinking it would go away and it took until January for that to start recovering. Right as I started to get back into training, my other leg started to bother me, maybe from compensation. It wasn't until April that I was able to start training and it wasn't until about a month ago that I could do drills and all of the stuff that really makes Coach Cook's program great. We want back and forth literally every day last week between doing the 5-K or the 1500m. I couldn't convince myself either way.

Finally, I was talking with Coach Cook and was like, ‘You know what? While the 5-K might be the better chance at making the U.S. team, I feel like I don't want to just make the U.S. team, go to Worlds and be happy with ninth or 10th.' Since I missed so much strength work, I feel like that's really hard to make up in a short period of time. In the 1500m I know I am one of the best in the world and I know I can get back to where I need to be. I'd rather risk not making the team, make the courageous choice to put myself against the best in the 1500m and if I make the team I know I will be in good shape and if I don't then I'm going to learn from this experience.

This has also been a difficult year for you off the track. Can you talk about the mental and emotional strain of some of the things you have endured?

This year has been like, ‘Can't I catch a break?' I had two injuries, lost my grandmother, lost a college teammate (Sally Meyerhoff). There were so many times where I was like, ‘What am I doing? Is this ever going to get better? Is this the right career path for me?' It was one of those things that makes you just question everything. Coming out of it I feel stronger and more confident in my decision. That being said, the last few days I've had more than a few conversations with lots of my mentors and people that I trust. They were so instrumental in getting me grounded, giving me confidence, helping me to remember all of the assets I know I have and how to use them. We talked about how in previous years I have been in the shape of my life but not there mentally and haven't performed to my best. If I could get the most out of myself today, even if it's only 95 percent of what I am capable of then that's good enough, and today it was.

When it came to gut-check time in the final meters of your race, what did you draw upon to get you across the line because having to fight for a spot on the team was unlike any experience you have had?

I was really fighting for a spot. All day yesterday and today I thought about how it could come down to the last 15 meters. I knew in the qualifying rounds that was still one of my weakest spots. I've come around in a lot of ways but I was still lacking that. As I was warming up, I was visualizing my grandma at the finish line waiting to give me a big hug. In that last 200 meters, I honestly kept thinking of Nonie. Up until the line and until they put up the results, I wasn't sure I made it but she definitely helped kind of push me.

What were the emotions and initial thoughts when they put up the places and you saw that you had finished third by one-hundredth of a second?

I didn't even see how close it was. I just saw my name in third and I was just ecstatic. I went into the race hoping that I could try and win it, but knew that today third was as good as first, especially for me and for my circumstances. I have another two months now. Considering I have won twice before and last year I was third, I was pretty disappointed with it. But this year, I got some more perspective and I'm really happy with where I'm at.

Going through this experience, what do you think it different about yourself and what do you think you have learned about yourself?

I think this injury has given me a lot of perspective on how good I was. My success came so quickly during my first year as a professional. I won the Olympic Trials, I ran four-flat, the next year I was third in the world. I worked really hard for it but I don't think I realized how hard it was to be at that point. Being injured and trying to run intervals as fast as I did before or training as hard as I did before I realized, ‘Damn! I was in really good shape.' I feel like mentally I didn't get as much out of myself as I was physically capable of. Today, I had that perspective and maturity and I know that I'm a gamer. I also know that I have an amazing support network that is there for me no matter what and will help carry me when I can't carry myself.

Do you think that having this brought to the fore will help you as you compete on the Worlds stage later this summer and find yourself in positions of difficulty?

I sort of recalled all that I have been through in the past and tried to use that to give me confidence to take that leap of faith in doing the 1500m over the 5-K, and refusing to be scared of potential failure. This is such a great experience for me to go through. I wish I didn't have to go through it but it's something that I'm not going to forget and it will give me that much more confidence the next time I reach a roadblock or am struggling. I'll know that if you keep the faith, sometimes you can do things you didn't believe you were capable of.