Track & Field's Man of the Year

NCAA Division I 2007 East Regional Gainesville, FL – 5/25/2007 to 5/26/2007

Women Long Jump Finals

RANK ATHLETE SCHOOL

2 Brenda Faluade Miami

5 Amy Seward Miami

6 Deandra Doyley Miami

Women Triple Jump Finals

RANK ATHLETE SCHOOL

1 Brenda Faluade Miami

Turena Johnson Lane was a five-time NCAA champion at Luther College. As a pro she has won a U.S. 20K title (2004) and ran her marathon PR at the 2005 IAAF World Championships. She recently ran 2:44:23 in the 2007 Boston Marathon.

B.A.A.: Who has been your biggest influence in running?

T.J.L.:I feel incredibly blessed to have been surrounded by people who support and encourage my in my running. It is often seems like a pretty selfish existence and I know that I couldn’t have accomplished all that I have without the support from others. I would have to say that my two biggest influences have been the two favorite men in my life: my dad and my husband. My dad, who has since passed away, was very supportive of my running and his most important advice was to keep running as long as I was enjoying it. He said that if there was a point where I wasn’t enjoying it, no matter how successful I became, then it was time to stop. After all this time, I still really am enjoying the process. My husband, Todd, who also serves as my coach, really is the one who deserves all the credit. He has always been one to look at the long term picture and never sacrifice the long term plan for any short term gain. I trust him with my training and he makes it surprisingly easy to have a husband as your coach.

B.A.A.: You and your husband have apparently named your two dogs Tanui and Tulu, after Moses Tanui and Derartu Tulu. If you had a third dog, what would be the next name?

T.J.L.: Well, actually, my husband had wanted to name each of our dogs Asskicker, but thankfully, we compromised on a runner name. So if we had a third dog you can take a guess at the name he would want.

B.A.A.: What is something interesting that the running community may not know about you?

T.J.L.:That when my husband is out of town for work I like to spend Friday afternoons at my local Barnes & Noble with my Venti nonfat extra hot chai tea latte reading all the latest celebrity gossip magazines. Silly, really. On the flip side, I also am the home improvement person in our house. We’ve lived in three different homes and I’ve re-done the floors in each one. I’ve pulled up carpet, laid hardwood floors, or re-sanded existing hardwood floors. I’ve also repainted the entire interior of these houses and taken down obscene amounts of wallpaper. I just had a deck built on our little patio and kick myself for not doing it myself. Of course, all this happens when my husband is out of town so it’s always a surprise when he gets home!

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