Coons’ distance events take her a long way from home

Running

Dana Coons enjoys traveling nearly as much as she enjoys running.

Lately, the 26-year-old from Vienna has been enjoying both. Reached at her current home in Minneapolis, Coons still was shaking off the jet lag from competing for the U.S. team in the Ekiden Relay in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday.

“They were all really nice,” Coons said of the hosts. “It was a neat trip.”

Coons, a 2001 University of Virginia graduate, is a rising star in distance running who was chosen to participate with five other women in the popular relay event. Coons was the team anchor, after legs of 10K, 5K, 10K, 5K and 4.767K.

She had to run 7.248 kilometers, which was the first, and perhaps only, time she will ever run that odd distance.

“When I finished the race, I thought I did all right,” she said. “Then I found out I was 13th out of 15. I was disappointed. But [my time] was about what the American gals have done in the past. I’m not in the best shape of my life.”

That’s because Coons has been struggling to regain her form after a rough 2003, when a knee injury forced her to the sideline for five months. She said the injury coincided with her transfer from Charlottesville to join the Team USA Minnesota training center in September 2003.

“I probably just went too hard,” she said, of ramping up her distance and intensity with top-notched training partners.

With a modest monthly stipend, free medical support and free use of a gym, six women and five men comprise Team USA Minnesota. Coons said she just needs to work part time at a local running store to cover living expenses while she trains. Prize money also helps pay the bills.

Coons is trying to advance her running career after modest success at James Madison High School and as a walk-on in college. Since graduating from Virginia, she has qualified twice to run the 10,000 meters at the USATF outdoor championships (2002, 2003).

In 2002, she won the 10,000 meters at the Penn Relays and was selected to represent the United States at the Seoul Ekiden International Road Relay. Her 2002 races put her on the “Track & Field News” top 10 U.S. list for the year in the 10K.

The Seoul trip whet Coons’ appetite for overseas travel, especially when somebody else was paying for it.

“I like world teams and travel in foreign lands,” she said.

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