Chasing Olympic Dreams

From today's NY Daily News, in full; an article on a local New Yorker written by Mitch Abramson.

There was a time, not long ago, when Kerri Gallagher’s life was all mapped out like the turns on a track. Gallagher — a former runner at Bishop Kearney — had the job she wanted and a boss she liked. 

Hired as a financial planner at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Manhattan last April, Gallagher appeared to be sprinting toward a life of success in the corporate world. 

“She was a bright girl, a fast learner,” her supervisor there, Dino Kallenekos, said. “She had a lot of potential.” 

But something happened to Gallagher on her way to a normal life. She grew restless. She missed running. 

So after a meeting with her former track coach at Bishop Kearney, John Lovett, over a burger and fries last June, she decided to plot a new, less predictable course. 

In late July, Gallagher stunned her boss and parents by quitting her job to devote her time to trying to make the U.S. Olympic team for the 1,500-meter event this summer in London. 

What made her decision all the more jarring was that her track career at Fordham University did not suggest that she would someday have such grand ambitions. Gallagher was a star middle distance runner for the Rams, setting several school and Atlantic 10 conference records, but success on the national level always eluded her. 

“She had goals in college,” said Tom Dewey, her track and field coach at Fordham, “but (the Olympics) never entered her thought process.” 

Gallagher, 22, is pragmatic about her chances. If she can qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, set for late June in Eugene, Ore., she will consider her decision a success. She moved down to Washington, D.C., in late August to start training with noted track coach Matt Centrowitz. She has just over a month to achieve the times needed to qualify for the team trials. 

“Realistically, I’m not in a place where I think I can make the Olympic team,” Gallagher said after an early-morning run on Friday. “But if I can get to trials and be competitive there, it will have made all of this completely worth it.” 

Others — specifically Lovett and Centrowitz — believe she has the talent and the willpower to make a run at the Olympics. They point to her rapid development since she relocated to train with Centrowitz and the New Balance Pacers Track Club. 

“She wasn’t a national class (runner) in college,” said Centrowitz, a former two-time Olympic distance runner out of Power Memorial Academy in Manhattan. “So we’re trying to go beyond that right now. It’s a big leap and I just think that certain people mature differently — mentally and physically. I just think she’s a little bit of a late bloomer. I think there’s a lot more she can do.” 

Gallagher’s progression from high school runner to Olympic hopeful wasn’t exactly fast out of the gate. She didn’t start running at Bishop Kearney until the end of her sophomore year, and she never won a city championship with the Tigers, finishing as high as second in the 1,000-meter run. 

She finally broke out as a senior at Fordham, setting the school record for the 800 meters in the indoor season, clocking in at 2:07.61 and reaching the NCAA East Regional Championships last May. 

Then, she all but stopped running after taking the job at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. But Lovett sensed she wasn’t finished. 

Over comfort food at a restaurant in her hometown of Belle Harbor, Lovett asked Gallagher if she wanted to “go to an elite level of running where she can make the Olympics.” 

She said yes before he could even finish his sentence. After talking with her father, John, who reminded her how difficult it is to find a good job in this economy, the decision was final. 

“No regrets,” Gallagher said. “There are times when you wonder if you’ve made the right decision. But I realized I love what I’m doing. There are days when I’m on the track and I just feel this is where I need to be.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/kerri-gallagher-runner-bishop-kearney-fordham-university-quits-job-pursue-dream-running-olympics-article-1.1073160#ixzz1uFJne2vR

All the best wishes in the world to our own Kerri Gallagher!