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Michelle Rohl
MICHELLE: My dad got tired of us walking on his split rail fence so he built us a balance beam.
KR Mini-Interview
 Michelle writes: I think I'm in 6th grade in this picture. My mom just bought me new running clothes to wear for our 1 1/2 mile run in gym class.KR: Which sports did you play at the age of ten? MICHELLE: I didn't play any organized sports at age 10. I loved to play hide and go seek, tag, spud, kickball, and basketball with my friends in the neighborhood. Also, my dad got tired of us walking on his split rail fence so he built us a balance beam. We spent many hours playing on this, though we never took any formal gymnastics training. KR: Did you participate in any training for running? MICHELLE: We had to run the 600 for gym class, which I always did well, but never really did any training in preparation for. We had a district elementary track meet where I ran the 800M. I think I finished in third place. Also, I usually had to run to school (carrying my cornet) because I was always late! KR: Did you run often during your playtime? MICHELLE: Sometimes we would organize races around the block with the neighborhood kids. Usually, though,the running I did was incorporated into the games we played (hide and go seek, spud*, kickball, etc.) KR: How many hours did you spend running? MICHELLE: I would guess it was 1/2 to 2 hours a day.  FACTSBIRTHDAY: November 12, 1965 PLACE OF BIRTH: Madison, Wisconsin FACT MICHELLE: I homeschool my 4 children. GREATEST ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENTS: Michelle is a 3-time Olympian (1992, 1996, 2000), a 5-time USA Indoor 3000W Champion (1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001), the 3-Time US outdoor 20k champion (1999-2001)and the 1995 Pan American Games silver medalist. HOW TO RACE WALK Unlike running, race walking as a competitive sport has many specific rules regarding form. Here are a couple excerpts from Race Walking, page 19 of USATF's Track in a Cooler Program (Source: USA Track & Field Coaching Manual) Please visit their page for more on the race walking technique, including diagrams. Race walking is a "progression by steps so taken that unbroken contact with the ground is maintained". Knees- "The knee must be straight from the moment of heel contact until the support leg is in the vertical position." SOMETHING MICHELLE WILL NEVER FORGET I almost drowned in my 2nd cross-country race my freshman year of high school. I was all of about 68 lbs. at the time. My uniform shorts draped down past my knees, and my shirt about did too. We had to jump over a small ditch half way through the race, but because it was raining heavily, and several races went before mine, the ditch turned into a wide, muddy, slippery river. I tried to jump it, but landed in the middle of it. I was swept downstream a little way, but climbed out and finished my race. I even got a PR, and made varsity that day! My coach was a little worried when I disappeared under the water, but was pleased to see that I didn't let it slow me down much. *MICHELLE: HOW TO PLAY SPUD As I recall, each person playing has a number. One person throws the ball up in the air and everyone runs. While the ball is in the air the person who threw it calls out someone's number. That person runs back and grabs the ball and yells "spud" everyone else then has to stop running. The person with the ball gets 3 or 5 (I think) giant steps toward the closest person to them and then throws the ball. If they hit that person then that person is it. Otherwise the person who threw the ball is it. LINKS USATF BIO | Dream Big Role Model: CUTOUT KIDS | Back to LOOK and SEE How they RAN Index Please email goodrow@infi.net with comments on this column. 
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