Interview with Elva Dryer

By Cecil Harris

It’s surprising that Elva Dryer is not better known to running fans considering that this year she could become a three-time Olympian — in three different events. She represented Team USA in the 5000 meters at the 2000 Olympics, and finished 19th — and first among Americans — in the 10,000 meters in the 2004 Games in Athens. Now, her goal is to run the marathon in Beijing. To accomplish that, she’ll have to finish in the top three at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Women’s Marathon in Boston on April 20.

Dryer, 36, has been exceeding expectations since her days at Division II Western State College in Colorado, where she won seven NCAA titles, including four in the outdoor 3000 meters. Western State is also where the former Elva Martinez met her husband and coach, Russ Dryer, a former All-American in cross country. Nike recognized Elva Dryer’s considerable talent coming out of college and has represented her ever since.

The Olympic Trials will be the third marathon for the 5-foot-5, 110-pound Dryer. She ran a PR of 2:31:48 while placing 12th at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon in 2006, and at the ING New York City Marathon 2007 she finished first among U.S. women and sixth overall in 2:35:15. Last year, she also won the USA Half-Marathon title in 1:11:42.

Born in mile-high Durango, CO, Dryer has a down-to-earth quality that is endearing. She has already won four U.S. titles on the roads, but her career will reach new heights if she can post a top-three finish in Boston. Recently, she took time out from her training to chat from her home in Gunnison, CO.

New York Road Runners: How has your training and preparation been going?
Elva Dryer: I’m really happy about my preparation. The training has been going really well. Before my last marathon [the ING New York City Marathon 2007], I ran anywhere from 105 to 130 miles a week. My preparation has been a little different this time in that the highest has been 125. But I’m tapering off now as the Trials get closer, and this is probably my favorite part of the training [laughs]. I’ve been training at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico, since December. I’m just taking care of a few things [in Gunnison] before I head back to Albuquerque on Monday to complete my training before heading to Boston.

NYRR: You moved up to the marathon distance two years ago. Do you feel like a marathon veteran now?
ED: Well, it’s definitely of great value to me to have two marathons under my belt, and two different kinds of marathons. Chicago is definitely more of a course where you can just try to find out how fast you can run a marathon, while New York is more of a challenging course and more of a strategic race. I finished sixth in New York and ran a good race, kind of running all by myself for much of the race. I think the experience of completing two major marathons will prepare me well for the Trials.

NYRR: Somehow you have acquired a label as one of the best runners most people haven’t heard of. Do you think a successful showing at the Trials will change that perception?
ED: [Laughs] I’ve never really thought of myself like that. I feel like I’ve been competing well for quite a while and I’ve accomplished a lot of good things in the sport. I’ve competed in the Olympics twice. I may not be a household name or anything, but I definitely feel like I’m finding my stride in the marathon. It’s definitely a sport that I expect to get better in, and it’s the kind of event where you can improve your best time by minutes from one race to the next. I’m excited about that possibility.

NYRR: Whom do you see as the runner to beat at the Trials?
ED: I really don’t look at the race that way. There are going to be a lot of talented women there, so I’m not going to focus on beating one woman. Making the team is the most important. My goal is to finish first, second, or third, and to do that I’m going to have to bring my “A” game. There are a lot of women who are going to be determined to bring their “A” game, and I’ve got to be able to match that.

NYRR: Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor is the best known of all the competitors. Do you embrace the challenge of competing against her?
ED: Oh, yes. Deena is in a class by herself. For what she and Meb [Keflezighi] accomplished as Americans winning medals in the marathon in Athens, that’s great for Americans in our sport. She’s definitely someone that a lot of people in our sport admire. You just know that you have to bring your “A” game when you’re competing in a race with her. But again, I look at it sort of like the men’s [marathon] Trials because the runners who finish first, second, and third are the winners, not just the one who finishes first. Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell were winners at the men’s Trials just like Ryan Hall. All three of them are representing the U.S.A. at the Olympics and could win a medal.

NYRR: If you finish in the top three, you’ll achieve two rare distinctions: you’ll make your third Olympic team, and the U.S. Olympic team in three different events. Was that a goal you set for yourself early in your career?
ED: Actually, at the beginning, we saw it possibly coming together that way. It’s been sort of a natural progression for me. I ran the 50000 in Sydney and then moved up to the 10,000 in Athens, and now I’m competing in the marathon Trials. It’s exciting to have this opportunity because the Olympics is the biggest sports event in the world. It’s great to know that I’ve been there twice before, so no matter how exciting it is—and it’s definitely exciting—it’s not going to be so overwhelming. I don’t know if I really believed I could win a medal the first time. When I competed at Sydney, I knew there were so many other women there that had run faster. It would have surprised me if I had won a medal there. Each time around is different. You gain more confidence. You have a better idea of what to expect. I felt that way in Athens, and if I’m able to make the team this year, I’ll be even that much more prepared and ready for the competition.

NYRR: How old were you when you first began thinking about competing in the Olympics?
ED: Well, I would have to say it was when I was watching the 1992 Olympics on TV. The Barcelona Olympics. I was a college runner at the time, and that’s when I really began to see the Olympics as a possibility for me.

NYRR: You were an NCAA champion at a Division II school, so you didn’t get as much publicity for your successes as your Division I counterparts. Do you think that’s why you have acquired this reputation for being underrated?
ED: Yeah, maybe that’s where it comes from. A Division II school like Western State is definitely in the shadow of a [Division I] school like Colorado or Colorado State. But I don’t have any regrets about where I come from. I’d say that coming from a Division II school gave me the opportunity to develop as a runner at my own pace. And it gave me a chance to develop my own personality in an environment where I really felt comfortable.

NYRR: Western State is also where you met your husband.
ED: That’s right [laughs]. You could definitely say it was a great experience for me.

NYRR: There have been other examples of a successful woman in track and field being coached by her husband. Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Bob Kersee come to mind, when she was winning her Olympic medals. What has the experience been like for you?
ED: I think the successes that I’ve had in the sport speak to how successful it has been for us. I like that he can be brutally honest with me about something related to my performance or my training, and I can take that criticism from him better than I could from anyone else. I know he’s got my best interests in mind, and I know he really cares about seeing me succeed, so he’s not going to say something critical unless he really feels strongly about it. At the same time, I’ve had to fire him a few times before hiring him back [laughs]. There have definitely been times when I’ve had to compromise on some things, and he’s had to compromise on some things, but the relationship—as athlete and coach and as a married couple—has worked very well.

NYRR: I realize that your focus is on the marathon Trials. But have you given consideration to competing in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials if you don’t make the marathon team?
ED: Obviously, everything I’m doing now is in preparation for the marathon Trials. My goal is to make the Olympic team in the marathon. But if it became necessary to try to make the Olympic team in a different event, I would compete in the track and field Trials, in the 10,000. But I wouldn’t try to make the team in the 10,000 if I’ve already made it in the marathon.

NYRR: Haile Gebrselassie has gone on record as saying that he won’t compete in the marathon in Beijing because he’s concerned about the air quality being unsafe for runners. Have you allowed yourself to think about that potential problem?
ED: Well, I really think that USA Track & Field and the IOC [International Olympic Committee] are going to make sure that the races are run in the best possible conditions that can be controlled. As an athlete, that’s how you have to think about it when you’re working toward achieving your goal. You want to put everything you have into making the Olympic team and then trust that the people running the Olympics and the people in charge of the U.S. team are going to have the athletes’ best interests in mind and they’re not going to put the athletes in a situation that puts our health at risk. I also think that because it’s the Olympics and it’s the biggest event in the world, the Chinese Olympic officials know that the whole world is going to be looking at these Games, and they’re going to make sure that they’re not putting the athletes at risk. I have to think that they’re doing things now—the USATF, the IOC and the Chinese officials—to make sure that the air quality is not going to be a problem at the Olympics. I know people are talking about it now, but when I was preparing to go to Athens four years ago, everybody was talking about security: Would the athletes be safe in Athens? What if there’s some kind of terrorist attack during the Games in Athens? Well, I was in Athens, and the athletes were as safe as we could possibly be.

NYRR: Do you like the way our Olympic team is chosen, in a Trials format as opposed to, say, having a committee choose the three marathon team members, or having a series of races with the team members determined by who finishes in the top three in points?
ED: I like the system the way it is right now. It’s a fair system. You show up at the Trials the same day as everyone else who has met the time standard, and the three fastest runners that day make the team. It’s cut-and-dried. I know people have said, “Well, what if a top runner is sick that day, or just has a bad day and runs a bad race?” But the way it is now, everybody has the same chance to prepare for that one race and bring her “A” game to the race that day. It’s up to you to perform at your best that day. I think if you tried to choose the team some other way, then that could bring politics into it, or favoritism, and that wouldn’t be the fairest way to do it.

NYRR: I’m sure you’ll have many people rooting for you at the Trials because you not only have competed successfully on the track and the road for many years but you have also done it the right way, as a clean athlete. I’m sure that’s important to you at a time when it seems like the most publicized athletes are the ones who get caught cheating.
ED: That’s very important to me. It’s very important to recognize all the athletes who are working so hard and competing so well and they’re not using anything illegal to try to get an edge. When I hang them up, whenever that is, I want everybody to know that I did my best and everything I accomplished in the sport was done through my hard work and my athletic ability. I can take pride in everything I do because I know I’ve worked hard for it.

NYRR: Who are the people that inspire you?
ED: I am inspired by many friends, family, fellow runners, and other people I don’t even know who are taking on life’s many challenges. But one special person that I have drawn great inspiration from in the last year is my friend and fellow runner Jenny Crain. She was qualified and preparing to run the Olympic Trials when she was hit by a car [in Milwaukee on August 21, 2007] while out on a run and seriously injured. Her road to recovery is a long one, but her work ethic, positive attitude, and spirit remain the same. She remains in intensive therapy working on regaining some of the many things that we take for granted. Not only will I be running for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, but I will also be running for Jenny. As a tribute to Jenny, I have pledged to donate a portion of any prize money I may earn as a result of my finish to The Jenny Crain Make It Happen Fund, a fund established by Jenny’s family to go towards her medical expenses [www.jennycrain.net].

Interview conducted April 5, 2008, and posted April 14, 2008.