In Olympia, Washington there is a saying lifted off the outside wall of an old beer factory, "It's in the water." If you're looking for answers to this years success of 5 Olympia marathoners, you might just hear that, "It's in the water." It's becoming a joke.

Karen Steen, Rich Brown, Linda Huyck, Phil Jasperson and Craig Dickson have something more in common than just the water in Olympia. They have all qualified for the United States Olympic Trails.

The marathon is a strange sport and it shows, Jasperson has run nine of them to get to the finish line in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Brown did this first time and he wasn't even signed up. "You can quit, start over, get the next person and be strong all before mile 12. With 26.2 miles you can experience so many things," Huyck said.

Basically, for success on race day you have to be on the money. To advance from the trials to the team you had better be ready to double down. On race day everyone will be racing there own way, and someone will be on for just that one day.

For the most part these five people are not your all-out Nike types, pumped full of "Gator Aid" intravenously. Three of them are teachers and one works in an electrical shop and one works in a shoe store. They are normal people, they are really fast normal people. Two of the runners have just started in the marathon. Brown has only finished one race and Huyck just ran her third. Steen, who is training for her seventh, has taken plenty of time off to have babies. "It's been marathon, baby, marathon, baby, pretty much," Steen said.

Jasperson, Steen and Huyck all qualified for the marathon trials last month in St. George Utah. Brown made it last December in Tucson and Dickson qualified last may at Pittsburgh. "It is rare to find a community of this size with this much success, " said Dickson who is also a two time national cross country champion.

They didn't just fall off a turnip truck

Some of the group is new to the marathon, but none are new to running. As with all people, these have a past. Huyck ,27, is an incredibly energetic person. She started running in the fourth grade as a way to connect with others at Mountain View Elementary in Lacey, Washington. This is the same school that Karen Steen had run through a few years earlier. Huyck ran cross-country and track through high school then stopped running.

Phil Jasperson, 32, started running his sophomore year of high school after finding out that he would not get much play time on the football field. After three days practice with the squad, Jasperson placed third in a junior varsity race. This was at Timberline High School and the team that Karen Steen had just left for Pacific Lutheran University. Linda Huyck would join the team a few years later.

By the end of that season Jasperson was the number one runner at Timberline. Before he left in 1985 he made a trip to the Washington State competition in track and cross-country. After one season of cross-country at the college level Jasperson left running for a couple of years.

Karen Steen, 35 , began running on the playground at Mountain View Elementary, the school where she now teaches. Steen said, "The boys were chasing the girls and I guess that I found out I was fast." She was right. By the time that Steen ran through Timberline high and graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 1986 she was the first woman in Washington State to run the 400 meter hurdles under 60 seconds, was all American and had been to Nationals 4 times.

Rich Brown, 27, took to running when he ran a one mile race for a physical fitness test at Tumwater Middle School , just outside of Olympia Washington.

In college, at Montana State, Brown competed in the 10,000 meter, placing fourth in the Big Conference. At the time, cross country remained his preferred route, the scenery is better. "It's hard to do a 10k and stay into it when your just running in circles," said brown.

There is one immigrant in the group and that is Craig Dickson, age 32, quite and soft spoken. He started running as a kid in Colorado. It was a mode of transportation for Dickson. "I always ran.. that's how I got around. I figured that I could stay longer at my friend's house if I ran home." In high school running became a sport that took Dickson to state level competition. At Adams State College, also in Colorado, Dickson became a national champion in cross-country.

Marathoning

Four runners made the switch to marathon running in Olympia and one, by fluke, in Tucson, Arizona. This gang has run 22 marathons collectively but for some this is a new game. Rich Brown and Craig Dickson have each run 2, Linda Huyck has run 3. Karen Steen and Phil Jasperson have run 6 and 9 marathons respectively and are the "veterans", of the group, at this distance.

In 1996 Huyck came to the local marathon scene on a whim. Some of her customers at the pub where she moonlights said she should run the Capitol City Half [marathon]. Huyck said "why not!" That race she beat a few "local athletes" and fell in love with the competition and the people of running again. The time for her first half-marathon, 131:15.

Last December, Rich Brown was living, teaching and running in Tucson. He had started running again after some time off due to a knee problem. By 1997 Brown said he was running some "pretty good times". That year he won the Seattle Half Marathon and ran a personal best in the Las Vegas Half, 1:03:51. Making the Olympic trials was not even in his mind. "Some friends were coming down to run the marathon and I thought it would be fun to pace them," Brown said. He knew that he could run a good pace for at least half the race. " I thought that I would drop out at 13 miles,". By the 13 mile mark Brown had left his friends back on the course somewhere. He felt good so he decided to go to the 15 mile mark. At 15 miles Brown set his sights on 17. Next came the 20 mile mark, "When you get to 20 you gotta go for it, there is only a 10k to go. " Like most people Brown hit the B standard qualifying for the trials a few miles at a time. When Mile 22 came scooting by, Brown was told that he was on pace to qualify. So in his first marathon Brown turned a 2:21.52, 8 seconds to spare, and he was on his way to Pittsburgh.

Craig Dickson did not have to come back to running... he has been at it all along, "it's part of my lifestyle," Dickson said. He was 2 seconds short for the 1988 Olympic Trials at 5,000 meters. Four years later Dickson missed again, this time by 10 seconds. By 1996 Dickson tried his hand at the marathon, I missed Qualifying by 42 seconds, Dickson said. These attempts were minus his cross-country resume, with two national titles to his credit, Dickson has been a very successful runner.

Four years after leaving college, Karen Steen was looking for some way to stay in shape. Training for the 400 hurdles did not make sense anymore to Steen because competition was unlikely for her. "It's hard to stay in shape sprinting," Steen said. Looking around she realized that road running would be a great way to stay ion shape, "Road races are everywhere." So first thing in 1991 Steen Joined the Capitol City Marathon training group.

In Olympia no one has to go for a run alone unless they choose to do so. All these runners are quick to give credit where it is due; their families, the group and their friends. the difference between those is often blurry.

The Running Group

No one could say how or when the running group started, but at the finish line in St. George Utah you could see the effects. Linda Huyck crossed the finish line 1 minute after her training partner Karen Steen, and 27 minutes after their training partner Phil Jasperson. In-between hugs and shouts all three realized what happened. Each of them knocked 5 minutes or more from their personal best, had a great race day and achieved a group goal, the Olympic Marathon Trials.

After his wife De De, Jasperson will give credit for this to the people he surrounds himself with, "The Brad Hoopers, the Craig Dicksons, the Miguels [Galeana] , even Linda and Karen will do workouts with me," Jasperson said.

When Craig Dickson came to Olympia five years ago from Denver and connected with the group it was easy, all he had to do was ask around. There is the "Saturday morning live." group. That group meets 52 weeks a year for some distance. "You can find people at any level, there is always someone who runs your pace," Steen said. If you miss Saturday you will find the group running intervals under the lights at North Thurston High on Tuesday nights. If that won't do then go run hills with them on Thursdays. "We've got everything. We work out together and nobody goes at it alone," Jasperson said.

There are people that will help figure out the best workout for a runner and Dickson says that there are at least three coaches among the crowd so there are plenty of people to ask questions of. "We have so many people here that are knowledgeable, intelligent about body mechanics and the physics of running," Huyck said.

On to the Trials

When it comes to the next race day for these five, goals will be slightly different than before. The women's Race is in February 2000 and the men's, May 7, 2000

Steen and Huyck are about 17 minutes behind the kind of times needed to place them in the front running and then send them to Sydney. The likely hood of dropping that much time by February is slim and they know it, it's a lot of time. Steen says her goal has been reached, she has made it to the trials. "Going to the race is icing on the cake," Steen said. "I want to go to South Carolina after training harder than ever before and have the best race ever." Steen is ranked 79 by time overall and says that she will break 2:45 and place in the top 30 runners. "That's my goal."

Huyck is counting on the competition in South Carolina to drop some time. She says that there is no fantasy about the race. "I want my PR, you do get better performance when you have better people around," Huyck said. Eight years from what could be her prime racing time Huyck did speak of the future. She is new to the sport. If all goes well, fast forward to 2004 and Huyck will be at the trials again, "and who knows next time," Huyck said.

For the men the trials are slightly different, all three feel that they should take the chance and go for it. Making the Olympic team could be a matter of a few minutes and having a great day could provide that.

Now that Dickson has the shot that he has been after for 12 years he says that he will lay it on the line, "I'm gonna train hard and be healthy," Dickson said. He is not going for a PR or any time for that matter, Dickson will be running for the front. "Place is more important and I'm gonna give it a shot." The top 3 will make the team.

Jasperson's hopes for the next race day are a bit more philosophical. "Making it to the trials was the goal. Now I've got my ticket to the dance, it's on the 7th of May. How well am I gonna dance though, that's the main thing." For the next six months Jasperson is "pregnant," no alcohol, the right diet and the proper amount of sleep. He is mulling over the idea of adding 10 or 15 miles to his weekly miles wondering if he can drop another eight minutes from his best. "If so I can potentially make the team," said Jasperson. He has dropped the time before.

Brown looks to the future. Like Huyck he is new to the distance and is years away from his prime, 30 to 35, but he says the top ten is not out of the question. If Brown pulls that off it will be done at his second marathon finish. "The race, at this point, is a learning experience. I'm going to see what I can do within the short amount of time I've been at this distance," Brown Said.

Brown intends to find out with total effort. He has taken a leave of absence from his teaching career, his entire life is dedicated to 7:55 a.m., May 7, 2000. When you get there like I did, you don't really understand what it takes to be on for just one day.

by Gregory Skinner

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Craig Dickson	Linda, Karen & Phil at the St. George Marathon	Phil Jasperson	Phil Jasperson
Linda Huyck & Karen Steen	Karen & Linda with South Sound Running owner Greg Klein	Greg Klein with Craig Dickson	Karen at the 1999 Capital City Marathon
Phil & Karen	Rich Brown	Rich Brown

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