Kara Goucher is one of the most decorated distance runners in American history. Kara won a bronze medal in Osaka in 2007 to become the first American female to medal in 15 years. Her 2007 was filled with PRs in the 1500m, 3k, 2-mile, 5k and 10k. She also ran the fastest marathon time ever by a U.S. female runner in her first half marathon and is currently readying for a stellar 2008 campaign! If you have a question you want to ask, email us at askkara@nike.com, and we’ll pick a handful of questions for her to answer each week!

Hey Kara,
First of all congratulations on a great 2007 season. We were all on our feet cheering you on in Osaka. That was an amazing performance. Also congratulations on your half marathon and setting the American record on your first half marathon and on beating Paula (Radcliffe). I’m a marathon runner myself and doing 100+ miles a week (peaking at 132 a week) and just enjoying every moment of it. My coach and I are doing all that we can to make sure that I can make the 2012 Marathon Trials and to be a contender.My question to you is now that you have done a half marathon, are you thinking about doing a marathon and are you going to do the Marathon Trials in Boston? If you are, you for sure have a great coach who knows the marathon and what it takes to get it done.Take care and we are all cheering for you to make the team for Beijing.

John M.

John,
First off, Congratulations on running marathons yourself! That is quite an accomplishment! And you must be pretty good if you are aiming to make the 2012 Marathon Trials. That is awesome. I love it when people make goals that are years away and make the commitment it takes to achieve them. It inspires me.

As for your question, am I going to run the marathon? You would NOT believe how much I get asked this. I’m glad that you asked because I think there are a lot of people who are wondering this!After I ran the half marathon my curiosity in the marathon was slightly peaked. But I have to admit, that half marathon was hard! I felt great for about 10 miles and then I slowly started to fall apart. After the race I wondered how fast I could have run had I trained properly, how much time I could have made up in those last few miles. I wanted to do another half, but the full marathon was just a thought in the back of my mind. It wasn’t until a month later, when I had the privilege of riding the lead press truck at the marathon in New York, that I truly became enthusiastic about the idea of me going the distance. Watching Paula push herself for 26.2 miles, the physical exertion that it took, it simply motivated and inspired me in a way I had never felt before. After that, it was official - I want to run the marathon.

Now, choosing the right time and the right marathon is no easy decision. Alberto and I toyed with the idea of running my first marathon at the trials in Boston. But in the end, we felt it was too big of a risk. We feel that my best chance for a medal in 2008 will come in the 10,000 meters, an event I have grown to love. So I will not be running the marathon trials in Boston. As for when that first marathon will be, I am still undecided. I would love to run one this year. My dream year would be to make it to Beijing, have the race of my life there, and come back and start marathon training, and without too much pressure, try one this year. But that would require things to go pretty much perfectly, and in this sport that’s rare! As you know, you are up at 100+ miles per week, and I would have to be able to come back from Beijing and start hitting that sort of mileage right away.

The truth is that I’m going to have to just sort of wait and see. I am excited about running the marathon. It is calling my name. It is in the cards in the next couple of years. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.

Good luck to you and your marathon training! And who knows, maybe we’ll both be running through the streets in London in 2012 representing the US!

Keep you dreams alive, Kara.

Hi Kara –
WAY TO GO with your 2007 achievements! I know you’re looking forward to 2008 and we’re looking forward to watching you run. I saw a t-shirt one time that said, “I run, therefore I hurt.” Since you’re a pro at dealing with injuries, I’m wondering how you deal with the nagging aches and pains that come with running. Specifically, how do you know the difference between an ache that you can just run through versus an ache that you should ease up for?I have a burning sensation in my Achilles and wonder if I should back off totally with my marathon training, or maybe just hold off with track and hill workouts for a couple of weeks. I really don’t want to back off of anything. Thanks a bunch and may you keep injury free.

Scott - Auburn, AL

Scott,
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am hoping to make 2008 the best running year of my life. We’ll see!

Knowing the difference between an injury you can train through versus one that you need to back off for is a very tough skill to learn! I am certainly no expert at this. Over the years I have foolishly trained through stress fractures, patella tendentious, and severe Achilles tendonitis. I have learned the hard way how to determine, for my body, what is worth running on and what isn’t.

I need to point out that I am NOT a doctor, so that should always be your first reference for how severe your injury is. But I will tell you my own personal rule of thumb. When I moved to Oregon I was introduced to the word “Niggle.” My friend Mike Donnelly, who ran at Providence and then in the Nike Oregon Project, used this word so much that it became a part of my vocabulary. A niggle is a little injury. You can feel it, but it tends to warm up when you are running. It seems to get slightly better day by day and there is usually a stretch or some other technique, such as icing, that helps it. Here is the big key - a niggle would never cause you to change your form while you are running. It might bother you a bit, but it would never hurt you so bad that you start to favor other parts of your body or actually change your gait. A niggle is an injury that you can train through.

Now, if your injury causes so much discomfort that you are thinking about it throughout your run, you are actually changing your form to compensate for it, it is not making any progress day by day, and it bothers you even when you are not running - that is an injury that requires some rest. That is an actual injury.

The Achilles is a tricky spot. If it is burning every time you run, is getting swollen, maybe even crunchy, and isn’t getting better, I would have to say it’s time to rest it. I would go to the doctor and get a professional opinion, but the Achilles can be a difficult injury to train through. It’s probably not a niggle.

Learning the difference between a niggle and an injury is tough! But I think that you know in your heart if it hurts more than it should. My rule of thumb really is that if it affects the way you run, it probably needs a rest. Being brave enough to take a few days off of your training can save you weeks in the long run.

I hope this helps a little bit. I’m not a medical professional, but I have been here before. I hope that your Achilles heals up fast and you can get back out running pain free!

- Kara