2004 FOOT LOCKER CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Post-race interview with Katelyn Kaltenbach

by Alison Wade

Katelyn Kaltenbach, a senior at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado, finished 15th at the 2004 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships in 18:28. She qualified for nationals by finishing fifth at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional after missing much of the season due to a stress fracture. Kaltenbach is the 2003 Foot Locker Cross Country Champion.

Katelyn Kaltenbach (Photo: Alison Wade/NYRR)

Fast-Women.com: How did the race go today? I see that you're limping.
Katelyn Kaltenbach: I just went out conservatively because of my injury, and I just tried to move up a little during the race. Going up the hill for the first time, my calf got really tight. I just tried to work that and get through the race without re-injuring it and stuff.

FW: Do you think you did that?
KK: No, it's just really sore and tight because of the mud last weekend [at Nike Team Nationals], it's been really sore since then.

FW: You've had some really hard races in the past few weeks.
KK: I think it was really hard — just because I'm coming back and haven't raced all season — to race three races hard right away. But it was fun, I'm glad I made it coming off of not that much training.

FW: You were still All-American.
KK: Yeah, so it's not the worst thing.

FW: Can you tell us more about the injury?
KK: I had a stress fracture and I didn't know, so I was running on it. When I raced on it, I had a stress reaction, so I tore tendons, or did something to the tendons. The bone is completely healed, but the tendons still flare up a little.

FW: Where is the injury?
KK: It's along my foot and then [further up, on the ankle].

FW: Oh wow, is that area bruised?
KK: Probably. It's kind of all messed up (laughs), but it's getting better. I'm just going to take time off so it can completely heal.

FW: How much time did you take off during the season?
KK: Seven weeks.

FW: Were you doing anything during that time?
KK: I was in the pool, and biking. But I didn't do any running, I was in a boot. When I got the boot off, I just started running like 10 minutes a day, because they didn't want me coming back too fast. Two weeks ago, I started doing workouts and building back up.

FW: Did you work really hard and were you really determined when you were in the pool?
KK: Yeah. I crosstrained really hard, just because I really wanted to make Foot Locker my senior year and everything. I worked really hard and my parents, doctor, and coach all really helped a lot by being really positive. It was good.

FW: What kind of workouts did you do in the pool?
KK: I would run in the deep end with a [floatation device] and we would try to make it as much like running as possible. I would do 2 x 10 minutes really hard, with a 15-minute warm-up and a 15-minute cooldown. So for 10 minutes, I'd be going really hard. I would also swim laps, just to get my heart rate up. I'd kick one lap, swim really hard one lap — 10 sets of those, or something like that.

FW: Aislinn Ryan just said that in winning Great American, she got a better sense of the pressure that people like you face all the time. Do you think it's been a little bit easier, coming in here with the expectations not being so high?
KK: I think, because of the injury, I didn't have that much pressure coming in. I don't really mind pressure, I don't think of it as pressure. I'm like, 'Oh cool, people think I can win!' I just kind of forget about that when I step on the line, and I just run as hard as I can. I don't really ever think about that kind of stuff. I think that this year, if I hadn't been injured, there would have been a lot more pressure, though.

FW: What did you think of last weekend's Nike Team Nationals?
KK: It was a great event. They put together such an awesome event. It was really fun, my team got second, so that was cool. I had a strong race, I got fourth, so it was good.

FW: Can you tell us about your college decision [the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]? Was that a hard decision to make, or was it pretty easy?
KK: It was kind of hard. I liked all the other schools I visited a lot. It seemed like every visit I went on, I was like, 'I really like it!' So finally I just sat down and made a list. Chapel Hill just felt like the right place for me. They're also getting Laura [Cummings] and Brie [Felnagle], so we'll have a good incoming class, and I loved Coach [Michael Whittlesey], and I loved everything about it.

FW: What will it be like, reuniting with your sister [Megan Kaltenbach]?
KK: It's going to be awesome. We're really close, we talk like every day. I'm really excited to be on a team with her again.

FW: How is her running going?
KK: It's good. She's just training for track now. She redshirted cross.

FW: Was she injured?
KK: She had that stress fracture, and coming back she was kind of getting banged up, so they didn't want to rush anything.

FW: So you two are sort of in the same boat right now.
KK: Yeah, so now I'll have three years with her, which is cool.

FW: Do you have any specific goals for track right now?
KK: I haven't really thought of track yet. I just want to get all the way healthy, so it doesn't bother me anymore. Then, hopefully, run some fast times!

(Interview conducted on December 11, 2004, and posted on December 18, 2004.)