High Country Running: Thank you for sharing your journey – Arizona Daily Sun

That sense of eager anticipation has returned in the past few months leading up to the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team Trials. I took my daughter to meet Steph Bruce, Aliphine Tuliamuk and Kellyn Taylor at a November event hosted by Women’s Running magazine, and I tried to explain who these Flagstaff women were and that they might be on the Olympic team.

I pointed out Jim Walmsley when I recognized his signature stride as we drove by and showed her pictures when Nick Hilton from Run Flagstaff won the Walt Disney Marathon. She’s old enough to be impressed by the idea of a professional runner, but young enough to believe that everyone is good at everything; to her, any of the Flagstaff runners who went to the Trials had an equal shot of making the team.

Why do I feel so connected to these amazing runners? Is it the access I have through social media and podcasts that makes them seem much more familiar than Mary Lou? I feel I am on a first-name basis with all of them, even if they don’t know me. I see what they eat for breakfast, read recaps of their Lake Mary Road workouts and hear them describe their preferred methods of recovery. I get to take selfies with them at community events and wish them well in coffee shops. They truly are our Flagstaff celebrities.

Maybe I’m just a fan?

Or do I feel a deeper connection because when Steph passes me on an urban trail, I see her as a mom just like me, trying to get her miles in before school pickup? Or when I grab a post-workout breakfast burrito and think to myself, “Well, if it’s good enough for Faubs?” Is it because I get to run where they run and think maybe, some of that greatness will rub off? Or knowing a particular run might hurt, but that’s true even for the professionals?

Whatever this is, it goes beyond the appreciation of great athleticism. The Trials contained all that I love about the Olympics, but this time I knew the players.

It multiplied the anticipation, joy and heartbreak. I cried when I learned Aliphine won, and cried some more when I knew Steph Bruce didn’t. The Northern Arizona Elite huddle in the American flag, Aliphine’s million-watt smile… so much raw, genuine emotion it would be impossible not to feel it, and even more so because they’ve let us get to know them as people.

To all who let us share in your Olympic quest, not just for a couple of hours in Atlanta, but all along the long journey from Flagstaff, thank you. Flagstaff is so very proud of you.