Who knew?
America's fastest female marathoner once hated running long distances. But one day three years ago, Deena Drossin Kastor had an urge to see the Pacific and set out on an 18-miler through the Santa Monica Mountains. Afterward, she told her coach, Joe Vigil, ``Someday I'd like to try the marathon.''
A month later, Vigil coaxed Kastor to train for the 26.2-mile race, a journey that Saturday will bring her to the starting line of the women's U.S. Olympic trials in St. Louis. The Mammoth Lakes runner has hopes of becoming the first American female to win an Olympic medal since Joan Benoit Samuelson's triumph in the debut women's marathon 20 years ago.
Since the Los Angeles Games, no U.S. woman has seriously contended in the race. But the 31-year-old Kastor and 12 other Americans already have surpassed the Olympic qualifying standard of 2 hours, 37 minutes, allowing the United States to send three runners to Athens this summer.
Magdalena Lewy Boulet of Oakland (2:31:38) and Kim Fitchen-Young of Palo Alto (2:38:05) are among the leading Bay Area runners entered in the trials.
Kastor's biggest challenge could come from former South African Olympian Colleen De Reuck, now of Boulder, Colo. But over 26-plus miles, anything can happen. It's something Paul Drossin never figured he would have to consider while watching his daughter grow from a top California high school runner into one of the country's best at the University of Arkansas.
``When she ran her first 5K, she said, `I'll never do that again,' '' Drossin recalled. ``Same thing with her first 10K. But she didn't say that after her first marathon.''
Stunning start
Five months after that long run to the Pacific, Kastor ran the New York City Marathon in the fastest debut for an American woman -- 2:26:58. The event came two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and Kastor was overwhelmed by the spirit of both fellow runners and of the spectators.
Marathoning, she decided, was for her.
Last year in London, Kastor broke Samuelson's 17-year-old U.S. record with a time of 2:21:16. Her feat was lost in the hoopla over Paula Radcliffe's world record of 2:15:25 in the same race.
But for Kastor, it completed a transformation. After graduating in 1996 from Arkansas, she moved to southern Colorado to train with Vigil, an exercise physiologist who coached some men in the mountain town of Alamosa.
Although she fared well in Fayetteville, Kastor left Arkansas disappointed and passionless about running. She failed to win an NCAA title after taking multiple state championships at Agoura Hills High in the Los Angeles area.
She gave herself four years to pursue running, and nothing but running, in Alamosa. Vigil preached patience, gradually building Kastor's endurance and confidence to the point that she would even consider a marathon. Saturday will be her fourth.
He also restored Kastor's love of the sport in Alamosa, where the running culture blossoms under the Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountains.
Kastor benefited from high-altitude training -- physiologists say athletes naturally improve aerobic performance by producing more oxygen-rich red blood cells from mountain workouts. Kastor qualified for the 2000 Sydney Games in the 10,000 and 5,000 meters but focused only on the longer race.
Kastor, who holds the U.S. record for the 10,000 (30:50:32), plans to run the track events at the U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento in July. But she won't enter the marathon and the 10,000 in Athens if she qualifies in both.
Kastor's personal life also blossomed in Colorado, where she met her husband, Andrew, a massage therapist who once ran for Adams State, a small college in Alamosa. When the couple decided to return to California after the Sydney Games, they picked another small mountain town -- Mammoth Lakes, at 7,800 feet.
Health issues
Two years ago, all the pieces of her life seemed to be falling into place. But as Kastor headed toward the Los Angeles airport to fly to a race in Belgium, her dermatologist called. A biopsy showed signs of skin cancer; she needed surgery.
``Can we schedule this after I return?'' she asked over the phone.
``You have to come in now,'' the physician told her.
Kastor grudgingly turned her car around. Her husband drove from Mammoth to meet her before the surgery. When Andrew arrived, the dermatologist looked at his forehead and said he needed a biopsy, too. Andrew also had skin cancer.
Kastor wasn't supposed to run for weeks. But three days after surgery, she raced in Europe with 20 stitches in her arm and shoulder. Since then, the blond runner sees a doctor every three months to ``get something cut out.''
Kastor's history of skin cancer places her at higher risk, and as a precaution she visits her physician every three months for examinations that often lead to biopsies.
The marathon has become such a single-minded pursuit that Kastor withdrew from the recent national cross-country championships in Indianapolis after inspecting the icy course. The six-time national champion didn't want to risk injury so close to the marathon trials.
Taking few chances, the Kastors plan to spend 10 days in May training on the Olympic course that begins in Marathon, Greece. Kastor wants to familiarize herself with every step of the historic journey that will follow the same path that originates in Greek legend. In 490 B.C., according to lore, the runner Phidippides covered 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce a victory over the Persians, then fell dead from exhaustion.
Kastor wants to update the myth by entering Athens' Panathinaiko Stadium victorious Aug. 22. Except for one minor detail.
``I just hope it doesn't end up the way Phidippides ended up his journey,'' she said. ``I hope we can make it look a little better than that.''