University of Toledo's Ari Fisher is
riding a killer upswing in her progression as a runner. After being
three places off of All-American status in cross country last year
and at The Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, where she won her
5,000-meter heat in a big personal-best time of 16 minutes, 24.27
seconds, she suffered a stress fracture injury the next day on her
easy run. Not willing to settle for losing that momentum, Fisher
immediately hit the bike and the pool and cross-trained her tail off.
After this past weekend, where she took third overall in the Gold Race
at Roy Griak Invitational, Fisher is ready to roll all the way to
nationals where she hopes to garner top-20 honors.
You're on the bus right now, back
from Minnesota. How long have you been on there?
It's a good
12-hour drive. Next week we have Missouri, and we're going to fly
there, which should be good. We're pretty used to these long bus
rides. We watch a lot of movies and TV shows—like Entourage.
Can you talk about your opener and
what it was like to kick off your season?
It's amazing, I've
been waiting all summer to race. It's great to finally get out there
and race. I finally got to prove my training and everything.
Is third place what you saw yourself
capable of?
Yeah, I did. I
thought I would be a contender for like top 10. I really knew I was
going to show something that my training reflected. I did expect
something like that this season.
You battled with Betsy Saina, of
Iowa State, who took second in the NCAA 10,000 this past outdoor
season. Does that get you really excited for how this season could
play out?
Yeah, definitely.
I'm super-excited because I was so close to All American last year
and it just left me hungry. I want to prove myself. I know I'm All
American and I want to prove it. It's really cool to get out there
and start so well.
Is simply being an All American the
goal or do you have bigger goals than that this year?
All American is
the goal, but honestly, I just want to run as fast as I know I'm
capable of. If that makes me All American, or if that makes me top
20, so be it.
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