As Genevieve Gregson waited to fly out of Tokyo after her devastating encounter with a steeplechase water barrier, her right leg was encased in a moonboot, crutches propped her up and she had never felt more crushed.
At the weekend, on her first trip back to Japan since snapping an Achilles at the Olympics, she sat in her hotel room and had a deep think about her dogged journey back.
And after coming full circle, the beloved Aussie runner was beaming with pride.
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After all, the 33-year-old had just taken a crucial step in her shift from the track to the road, having raced her first half-marathon.
Gregson, who’s a strong chance of making her marathon debut on the Gold Coast on July 2, was one of three Aussies competing in Sunday’s Gifu half-marathon.
Izzi Batt-Doyle finished fifth in one hour, 10 minutes and 16 seconds, Rose Davies seventh in 1:10:53 and Gregson eighth in 1:11:57.
The Queenslander admits there’s a lot of work to be done as she chases marathon selection for the Paris Olympics.
But the reality is she’s already come an extraordinarily long way since crashing in a water pit in Tokyo, having fought back from her Achilles rupture and given birth to her first child.
“I was just sitting there in my chair, waiting to board and thinking, ‘Where now? This is so low, just the lowest I’ve felt’. I just didn’t see the steps forward,” Gregson told Wide World of Sports after the Gifu half-marathon.
“I knew what I probably had to do: surgery, then rehab, then we’ll focus on one thing after the next. I knew I wanted to start a family, so that was something that I was planning on doing in the near future.
“But still, when I really strip it back and I think back to sitting in that airport, it was the lowest I’ve been. I had had a few days for it to sink in. I think even when I ruptured it and I was still in the pits, it hadn’t sunk in yet. Even when I was still in the village and people were coming and giving me their condolences and saying, ‘I hope you’re OK’, I was still at the Olympics village and still comprehending it.
“By the time I’d gotten to the airport three nights later I was probably at my lowest point and thinking, ‘There is a good chance that’s the last race I ever do. I may start a family and never really look back at running ever again’.
“And so to now be sitting in my hotel room (in Japan) … I’ve run my first half-marathon but I’ve also put in months and months of so much great training, I’ve done a few track races that have shown so many positive signs … It’s just a really, really fulfilling feeling.”
Gregson and her husband, Olympic 1500-metre finalist Ryan Gregson, welcomed Archer into the world last June.
The three-time Olympian has since contested a mix of races ranging from 1500 metres to the half-marathon, on the track, on the road and in cross-country.
“I found it hard to get nervous, get that nervous energy going,” Gregson said as she reflected on the Gifu half-marathon.
“And the things that were playing on my mind were, ‘Have I fuelled enough? Will I struggle at the 15-kilometre mark? Should I take some gels? How much water should I have when I’m out there?'”
Gregson also noted the tedious mind battle she fought in the half-marathon — a challenge worlds apart from the pace and chaos of the 3000-metre steeplechase.
“I probably sit here and think what I’ve done is so much better than what it looks like on paper,” Gregson said.
“But I’m aware of what it’s taken to get here.
“And the fact I have my mum and my baby here with me is just so special.
“The first thing I said post-Olympics, when I ruptured my Achilles, was that I was going to sit down with my husband and make a plan, and I would come back and most likely be on the roads.
“And obviously I haven’t made it yet, but I’ve made some great steps towards running a good marathon.
“The last 20 months have been such a crazy experience. I wish I could write it all down, every memory of every step of the way. I’m really proud of myself.”
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