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Blake Russell The Elites<br />
A Diamond in the Rough<br />
by Kevin Gray<br />
As is the case with many diamonds in the rough, Blake<br />
Russell just kind of fell into running after showing potential<br />
in the mile during P.E. class in high school. While attending<br />
a small private school in her hometown of Winston<br />
Salem, North Carolina, she was encouraged to join the<br />
team by a friend because they had trouble filling out a<br />
complete squad. Russell hasn’t stopped running since that<br />
first high school practice, and in high school she went on to<br />
win 11 out of 12 state titles. She didn’t stop there as she<br />
had a successful career at perennial powerhouse UNC and<br />
eventually became a United States Olympian in the marathon.<br />
Although talented, success did not<br />
come to Russell overnight. She was<br />
a low-mileage high school runner<br />
and the step up to a big time program<br />
at UNC proved challenging.<br />
As a freshman walk-on, the upgrade<br />
in collegiate competition was<br />
an eye opening experience. “I was<br />
definitely over my head at first, and<br />
the first day of practice, I ran further<br />
than I did my previous four<br />
years of high school. I think I was<br />
such a low mileage high school athlete,<br />
so I had lots of room for improvement,<br />
but that also meant I<br />
was really working hard just to<br />
keep up,” says Russell. Narrowly<br />
missing qualifying for the NCAA’s<br />
in her junior year provided extra<br />
incentive to up the training the<br />
summer before her senior season:<br />
“I really had a great streak going<br />
where I consistently improved my<br />
times with each race throughout<br />
Photo by Scott Mason<br />
college.” Blake’s tenacity paid off,<br />
as she would go on to be the ACC<br />
champ in both the 1500 and 5000 meters. After graduating,<br />
Blake hoped to continue with her streak of improvements<br />
and was not ready to give up competitive running. She received<br />
a lot of encouragement and direction from her then<br />
coach Joan Nesbit Mae, improving to top three finishes at<br />
the US 8K and 5K Road Championships. The year 2000<br />
seemed when everything came together for Blake, posting<br />
a 32:17 10K solo performance at Mt Sac and a 15:21 5K two<br />
weeks later at the prestigious Penn Relays. “I guess this<br />
was my breakout year,” said Russell.<br />
Blake and her husband John Russell (also a talented runner)<br />
soon found themselves relocated to Medford, MA,<br />
which was beneficial because it now put them close to two<br />
things: John’s parents and Bob Sevene. Blake says, “I had<br />
been coaching myself the year before the 2000 trials, and<br />
we later bought a house in Acton, MA, which was dictated<br />
by the areas that we ran the most in Lincoln and the Walden<br />
Pond area.” After living and training for a few years in<br />
Massachusetts, enduring the tough winters, Blake had the<br />
opportunity to relocate to Monterey, California as part of<br />
Team USA Monterey Bay, an elite post collegiate training<br />
group that would be coached by Sev. Of her preparation<br />
leading up to the 2004 trails, Blake recalls, "I took a five<br />
week leave of absence from work before the 2004 <strong>Mar</strong>athon<br />
trials to get out of the cold weather and rented an<br />
apartment in Monterey. Sev actually insisted on paying for<br />
it, and I fell in love with the area. There are 40 miles of dirt<br />
running trails right out the door from my apartment, and<br />
the weather is around 55-65 degrees year round, so it’s<br />
really hard to complain.”<br />
After finishing agonizingly close<br />
(4th) to making the Olympic <strong>Mar</strong>athon<br />
team while training in California,<br />
Blake and John decided to<br />
make Monterey their new home<br />
with Blake continuing to be<br />
coached by Bob Sevene. “Sev and I<br />
have been working together since<br />
2000 and have become very close,”<br />
Russell said, “ We meet for<br />
workouts twice a week, and I will<br />
often drive to his house to run near<br />
the trailheads.” While prepping for<br />
the 2008 trials, Blake would run between<br />
90-110 miles a week, mostly<br />
in singles, with one or two doubles<br />
a week, a track workout, and a marathon<br />
pace workout on the roads. A<br />
standard long run would be between<br />
18-22 miles to end her training<br />
week.<br />
The 2008 Olympic <strong>Mar</strong>athon trials<br />
proved to be a homecoming of sorts<br />
for Blake, racing along the familiar<br />
confines of the Charles River. “ The<br />
trials were a tough race for me. I<br />
knew I needed a solid race, but I was having some injury<br />
issues and was very worried. The course itself definitely<br />
did not run as fast as everyone thought it would, but luckily<br />
I was mentally prepared for the wind having run along the<br />
river so many times while living there,” she continues,<br />
“My plan was to be top three, and not to try risking not<br />
making the team again, and thankfully it worked out. I<br />
knew that with about three miles to go, no one was charging,<br />
and I was feeling strong enough to hold my current<br />
pace. A lot of people were nervous, including myself, going<br />
into that fourth loop with Davila looking good in fourth<br />
place.”<br />
With her third place finish at the trials, Blake qualified for<br />
the Olympic Team that would compete later that summer<br />
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