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Another shot Teachers hope for better finish at 2000 marathon trials
Posted: Thursday February 24, 2000 09:58 AM
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Gwyn Coogan and Kristy Johnston are still running together. This time, they hope their luck is better than it was four years ago. In 1996, the two just missed making the U.S. Olympic women's marathon team, placing fourth and fifth in the trials. Only the top three finishers qualified. At that time, Coogan and Johnston both lived in Boulder, Colo., and trained with each other. Now, Coogan lives in Frederick, Md., and Johnston in Shepherdstown, W.Va., close enough that they still meet for runs. The similarities don't end there. Both are teachers, Coogan at Hood Teaching College in Frederick, Johnston at a middle school in Shepherdstown. Both are married to runners, Coogan to Mark Coogan, a marathoner on the 1996 Olympic team, Johnston to Chris Fox, a distance specialist who also is her coach and manager. Both have won the Houston Marathon, Coogan in 1998, Johnston in 1993. And both are 34. "I'm a teacher, wife, mother [of a 6-year-old and a 1-year-old, both girls] and runner," said Coogan, who has been teaching mathematics since the fall in the small, private liberal arts school, but took off several weeks around Christmas to prepare for Saturday's Olympic trials. "It's a strain to fit everything in, but it's worked so far. The first year often is very tough on teachers." Johnston, a language arts teacher, took an unpaid leave of absence starting at Thanksgiving to concentrate on the big race. "The school board has been very supportive," she said. "This is my second year teaching. "This is the first time I've worked full-time. Teaching is so difficult, especially when I have to be a mean old wench, because that's not me. Running is easy in comparison." Unlike Coogan, Johnston has no children, giving her more free time to focus on running. "Gwyn needs a lot of things going on," Johnston said. Johnston and Coogan have another thing in common: Both had foot stress fractures before the '96 trials, but say they are healthy now. Johnston proved her fitness by finishing 10th at the Chicago Marathon in October in 2 hours, 32 minutes, 34 seconds, making her a qualifier for the Olympics by 26 seconds. That was her last race, "because in the winter it's hard to find a race," she said. "I don't like to race in the cold." Finishing fifth at the '96 trials was "hugely disappointing, very frustrating," Johnston said. "I knew when the race was done, I would try again." Johnston's career best is 2:29:05 at Houston seven years ago, and some people think she'll never run as fast again. "People have written me off for dead a few times," she said, "but I keep coming back. I still feel that I'm a 2:26 marathoner who just hasn't done it yet. "Before Chicago, I was running only 55 to 65 miles a week because I was teaching. I just wanted the Olympic qualifier. Now I've been running between 85 and just over 100 miles, and I feel much stronger." Coogan's last race on the roads also was in October, an 8-kilometer run in Massachusetts. "I did terrible," she said. "I overtrained." Her last good marathon -- "not counting childbirth or finishing my dissertation" -- was at Houston two years ago when she won at 2:33:37 even after falling at the third mile. Her career best is 2:32:58 in Minnesota in 1995. For Saturday's race, Coogan said she has "done enough mileage, but I haven't added it up." Asked to describe the top contenders for Saturday's race, she said confidently, "Gwyn Coogan, Gwyn Coogan and Gwyn Coogan." She desperately wants to make the team, and not be on the outside again.
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