USA Olympic Track & Field Trials Coverage: Hastings Realizes Olympic Dreams in Women’s Trials 10,000m

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 13:18.

By Mark Winitz - Amy Hastings (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) says that one of the best pieces of advice that Deena Kastor, her Mammoth Track Club teammate, has given her is to keep fighting; never give up. In running, just as in the rest of life, there are good miles and bad miles, good times and bad times. The good times are easy. Getting through the bad times is what makes the athlete.

Four years ago, following an All-American career at Arizona State, Hastings, 28, was on the verge of giving up the sport. Her running had no direction and her performances reflected that fact. And last January, after finishing a heartbreaking fourth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, missing the U.S. Olympic marathon team headed to London by one spot, she easily could have shelved her Olympic dreams. She didn’t.