As a highschool senior and a musical theater fanatic in Amery, Wis., Alicia Monson hoped to affix her classmates of their manufacturing of “The Wizard of Oz” within the fall of 2015.
In truth, Monson might have had a number one function, mentioned Laura Badman, who was co-directing the present. Monson had a stunning singing voice.
“She was an alto,” Badman mentioned. “She was superb at harmonizing.”
The issue was that Monson knew she wanted to concentrate on her cross-country season. She was a high school prospect who had designs on a state title. Nonetheless, Badman might sense that Monson was torn — the lure of musical theater was sturdy — so Badman floated the potential of her taking over a barely much less demanding function. Monson jumped on the likelihood.
“She was a tree,” Badman mentioned.
Monson by no means wanted to be the star, mentioned Badman, who has since retired because the choir director at Amery Excessive College. Monson merely wished to be part of one thing that she loved, and he or she wished to do her job properly. In highschool, Badman mentioned, that meant that Monson was completely content material to affix rehearsals thrice per week in order that she might take the stage in a garland of leaves and yell at Dorothy for picking her apples.
In some methods, not a lot has modified. Monson, 25, has dedicated herself to one thing that she enjoys, whilst fame has discovered her. Badman was watching from residence in Amery on Saturday as Monson took the stage, finishing fifth within the ladies’s 10,000 meters on the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
“She’s simply wonderful,” Badman mentioned in a cellphone interview. “She’s by no means wished to overlook out on any alternatives that she may have the ability to profit from or be taught from.”
Monson, who will race in a preliminary warmth of the 5,000 on Wednesday, has already had a outstanding yr. She has damaged American information in three occasions, together with the 5,000 and the ten,000, and her efficiency on Saturday supplied redemption: She had wished to enhance on her 13th-place finish within the occasion finally yr’s world championships.
“I knew I used to be higher than that, and I wished to make myself proud,” she mentioned, including: “I don’t suppose I ever totally obtained over it. Each apply, I used to be like, I must get higher, I must put myself on the market.”
Monson was simply as decided as a highschool senior when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her proper knee taking part in basketball. She was again on the observe by the spring, profitable a state championship within the 3,200.
“I used to be by no means a phenom, however I simply stored at it,” she mentioned. “Monitor season was so enjoyable in highschool. You’d get out of sophistication and have the ability to spend time outdoors and simply hang around.”
At Wisconsin, Monson continued to cope with accidents. She recalled how she would decide up some momentum, then endure a setback that may drive her to restart the method. When wholesome, she revealed glimpses of her potential, profitable an N.C.A.A. indoor title within the ladies’s 5,000 in 2019.
Now, as knowledgeable with On Athletics Membership, Monson is coached by Dathan Ritzenhein, who understands the highs and lows of the career, together with the hazards of overtraining. Like Monson, Ritzenhein was supremely pushed throughout his personal profession, working with a sharp-edged willpower that landed him on three Olympic groups. However he additionally coped with accidents.
“If something, he doesn’t inform me to go tougher,” mentioned Monson, who lives and trains in Boulder, Colo. “He tells me to go simpler.”
That continues to be a piece in progress. Olli Hoare, an O.A.C. teammate who ran with Monson at Wisconsin, recalled durations final yr when Monson would normally grind via mile repeats about 15 seconds quicker than Ritzenhein had assigned her to run them.
“After which she’d be on the bottom, cooked,” Hoare mentioned. “She’s all the time doing 120 p.c of the whole lot, and that’s why she will push herself to factors that different individuals can’t.”
A part of the equation, Hoare mentioned, is that Monson is conscious about the hole that exists between herself and the runners on the very high of her discipline — runners like Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who received medals in three occasions on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who received the ten,000 on Saturday night time after Hassan tripped a couple of meters from the end line.
“She is aware of that what she has to do is push herself to the extremes,” Hoare mentioned of Monson.
Monson’s willingness to go to these darkish locations manifested itself on the U.S. Olympic trials in 2021. The ladies’s 10,000 was staged in molten situations, and Monson was amongst those that suffered probably the most.
She doesn’t keep in mind a lot in regards to the second half of the race, she mentioned, apart from being in “handbook mode” and stumbling with about 200 meters to go, which was when Karissa Schweizer handed her to maneuver into second place. Monson held on for the ultimate qualifying spot in third. She subsequently landed within the hospital with warmth stroke and hypothermia. Her teammates introduced her a chocolate milkshake.
“I simply really feel like I confirmed up that day and was like, ‘There isn’t a approach I’m not making the Olympic workforce,’” she mentioned. “I imply, it paid off. However I additionally needed to go to the hospital, so I’m hoping not to do this anymore.”
Considered one of Monson’s early challenges with O.A.C. was that she wound up coaching quite a bit on her personal, which was the worth she paid for being an cardio cyborg. As Ritzenhein put it, “You run out of individuals to run with.” However in more moderen months, Monson has had firm.
Hellen Obiri, a two-time world champion from Kenya, joined the workforce final yr as she transitioned from the observe to the marathon. And Josette Norris Andrews, a adorned middle-distance runner, signed with the workforce in January. For Monson, they current the very best of each worlds: She will do pace periods with Norris Andrews, whereas Obiri affords a blueprint for high-end endurance work. Monson recalled coaching with Obiri this spring as Obiri was getting ready for the Boston Marathon, which she received.
“I believe that gave me numerous confidence since she’s the very best who’s ever finished it,” Monson mentioned.
However as a lot Monson pushes herself — she sometimes runs 90 to 95 miles per week — she has realized from her errors. She is aware of that she can not function within the purple zone on daily basis.
“There’s no level in coaching too exhausting on a simple day,” Monson mentioned.
The lifetime of a distance runner may be an odd one. “You possibly can solely actually do passive issues in between runs,” Monson mentioned. So she prioritizes relaxation and — comparatively — sluggish runs. She reads, crochets and performs the piano. She walks her canine, Bert, which she considers “an excellent type of lively restoration.” She visits thrift outlets together with her boyfriend, Benjamin Eidenschink, an achieved runner who typically trains with O.A.C.
And there may be all the time the pull of residence. At any time when Monson visits family and friends in Amery, Badman mentioned, she likes to hyperlink up with the highschool cross-country workforce for a path run. For a gaggle of star-struck youngsters, her presence is surreal — the distance-running equal of LeBron James dropping by for lunchtime hoops.
However nothing has modified, not likely. Monson nonetheless needs to get pleasure from herself, even when she is jogging among the many timber as a substitute of taking part in one.
