Cortland Standard .net

By ALAN BUTLER
Sports Editor
An injury is never a good thing, but certainly Heather Wilson has tried to make the best of the situation.
So now the redheaded record-setting former Homer Central middle distance runner, who went on to become a Big East Conference champion at the University of Connecticut, will get to measure just how much progress she has made over the past year.
Last summer, a plantar fasciitis injury kept her from competing at nationals. Wilson has recovered from that setback and will be running the women’s 1,500-meter prelims at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships early Friday evening at legendary Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.
“I ended up getting an PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) injection in my foot, taking some time off from running and doing a lot of injury rehab,” said the 25-year-old Wilson after arriving to Eugene, Oregon, for the prestigious meet. “It was a huge bummer not to be able to run, but I’m so glad I took time off to let it fully heal. Now I am healthy and even stronger than before.”
Wilson posted a 4:09.57 qualifying time this past May in an elite 1,500-meter race at South Carolina’s Furman University, where some top runners who train there put together the event for the purpose of achieving national qualifying times.
“Since that race I have put in some solid training and feel like I am fit and ready to run faster,” says Wilson.
Now a member of the New Jersey/New York Track Club, Wilson’s goal at nationals is to battle through the preliminary round and then make her mark in the finals.
“The first focus is to race smartly in the prelim and advance to the final,” she says, Wilson to be in the last of three 10-runner heats being held at 5:55 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday. “Once that box is checked off, which is not an easy task due to the incredible depth of the 1,500 this year, I just want to put myself in the mix in the final.”
Two women have qualified with sub-four minute times, but both Jennifer Simpson (3:59.31) and Shannon Roxbury (3:59.49) are in the other heats.
This is Wilson’s second trip to Hayward Field, having run there at the USATF Junior Championships at 800-meters back in 2009. The track and field Mecca has twice hosted the Olympic Trials and can take on some 10,500 spectators, and hosted the NCAA Division I Championships earlier this month.
“I just remember being so impressed by the incredible track and field fan base at Hayward, and certainly of running in Eugene. It is definitely deemed Track Town USA for a reason, “ Wilson said. “I am excited to be back in Eugene for this year’s USA’s. There is nothing quite like the roar of the crowd on that last turn to lift you down the famed Hayward homestretch.”
Though she competes during the indoor session, summer is the special time that Wilson has been preparing for since recovering from her injury.
“The preparation really begins in the fall, when I build a strong base by putting in high mileage and longer workouts,” she said. “In the winter, I start up the intensity of workouts and begin to get back to racing on the track. The past few months, workouts have become even more intense with a greater focus on speed work and more workouts at or faster than race pace.
“While I always try to focus on nutrition and sleep, there is an extra emphasis the past couple of weeks of really taking care off all the little things,” she adds. “Making sure I am coming into this meet fully recovered and feeling ready and excited to race has been the greatest focus of this past week.”
Now Wilson hopes all that work pays off while keeping some speedy and impressive company that makes up this field of 1,500-meter runners.
“Workouts have been going really well, so I know if I just compete hard and race intelligently I have a good chance of finishing well in the finals,” says Wilson. “With spots for the Worlds, Pan Am’s and NACAC up for grabs, fighting for every place will be essential.”