Uceny’s injuries came at the end of a bittersweet outdoor season, which featured both career highs and lows for the 23-year-old runner. After earning a lane at the Olympic time trials at the USA Track and Field Championships the previous summer, Uceny fell short of her long-standing Olympic dreams in Eugene, Ore., falling two places short of an Olympic berth in sixth place in the 800-meter run and just one place shy in the 1,500 run, less than two seconds behind Nike’s Christin Wurth at 4:10.85.
Uceny bounced back stronger than ever following her time trial disappointments, earning personal bests in both her events in a two-week European tour, shaving her 800-meter time down by more than three seconds and recording a 2008 Olympic A-standard qualifying time at 4:06.93 in the 1,500 meter run in Switzerland. Although the 2009 A-standard times haven’t been established yet, the performance will likely qualify her for the World Games in Berlin this summer.
Because of her recent injuries, Uceny will probably have to forego the 2009 indoor track and field season, but she’s maintaining a light workout schedule in her home town of Ann Arbor, Mich. and hopes to be healthy again in time for the outdoor season in May.
“It honestly just depends on my knee,” she said. “We have an anti-gravity treadmill at Ann Arbor so you can run without your full weight on your knee... It’s taken a long time so I don’t expect it to be any time soon. Even when I start running it will just be mileage, it won’t be working out.
“The main part of the outdoor season will be in June with the US Outdoor Championships, which is how you qualify for the World Games. So as long as I’m ready for that, it’ll be OK. As far as other meets, it’ll just be meets to get me ready for the US Championship.”
In the meantime, Uceny is taking a much-deserved break from running. She’s spending the holidays with friends and family in Plymouth before heading back to Michigan, and she stopped off Saturday at her old stomping grounds at Plymouth High School where she was honored for her many running achievements prior to PHS’ boys basketball conference-opening game against NorthWood.
“It’s just really amazing, she said. “I’m always amazed by the amount of people that come up to me and congratulate me on my accomplishments throughout my career. Some people I know, some people I don’t know. It’s always great having that support from the community.”