The Grand Entrance

New York City’s American Museum of Natural History is as good a place as any to take a trip down memory lane, or so I thought while purchasing tickets in the museum’s Grand Entrance alongside World Championships silver medalist in the heptathlon, Brianne Theisen-Eaton. It was a rainy October day, so the line was especially long and full of tourists who, like Brianne, were staring wide-eyed at the massive barosaurus skeleton at the room’s center.

“I’ve always thought that dinosaurs are pretty cool,” said Brianne, who is also a 2012 Olympian and World Indoor Championships silver medalist. “I’ve been to a ton of museums, but this is the first one that I’ve been to in New York City.”

After purchasing tickets, most people head straight to the Hall of African Mammals, which pulls tourists in with its intriguing display of African elephants, but we decided to beat the crowd and take a right for the Earth and Space exhibit.

Earth and Space Exhibit

As we walked along the room’s cosmic pathway, situated underneath enormous scale replicas of our solar system’s planets, Brianne couldn't help but pull out her phone and snap a photo for her husband.

“Ashton would think this is so cool. He loves all of this outer space stuff,” said Brianne while texting him the photo.

It was clear that Ashton, the decathlon world record holder and 2012 Olympic Champion, was on her mind.

She went on to explain how even though they were wed in July of 2013, they weren’t able to find time for their honeymoon in Dubai and Seychelles until October of 2014. Since they’ve made a living out of traveling the world together, competing on the international track and field circuit, the trip wasn’t high on their priority list. Still, they enjoyed their dune-buggying, Mediterranean ocean swimming vacation and the momentary break from their full-time lives as track and field athletes.

Hall of Mammals

I asked Brianne to discuss her introduction to running as we exited the Earth and Space exhibit for the Hall of Mammals. While stopping to check out a display of lions, she began her story by sharing how she grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada and how her first race was as an eye opening experience.

“At my elementary school you couldn't compete in track and field until the seventh grade, but you could run cross country in sixth,” recalled Brianne while moving on to look at a display of gazelles. “So when I started sixth grade, the cross country coach asked if I would run because there weren’t enough people on the team.

She went on to explain how she had excelled in gym class and thought that would be preparation enough for her first 3k race.

“As soon as the gun sounded I just took off running as fast as I could go, but about a minute into the race I started to slow down and stopped to rest,” explained Brianne while shaking her head with a smile. “I was breathing really hard with my hands on my knees and when I saw the other kids catching up, I just took off again. I kept doing that throughout the entire race.”

Though Brianne’s first experience as a runner was laughable, it didn’t deter her. She continued to run cross country throughout sixth grade, but looked forward to the following year, when she was finally able to join the school’s track and field team.

After stopping to take a photo by a monkey exhibit, Brianne went on to explain how she started her track and field career as a 100m and 200m runner and believed she had found her calling as a sprinter.

Unlike distance running, sprinting came naturally to her, and from the start she won pretty much every race that she entered. During eighth grade she looked for a greater challenge in the hurdles, and by ninth, Brianne was fully dedicated to track and field, commuting 16 hours each week to train with the Saskatoon Track Club. That club would be the one to introduce Brianne to the heptathlon.

“The older I got, the more attracted to track I became. During my last few years of high school, I started to become friends with more athletes within the sport and realized they had a lot in common with me.”

Hall of South American Peoples

By mid-day we had found our way to the Hall of South American Peoples, which features tools, clothing, and artwork from pre-Columbian cultures. While passing by a display of Amazonian feather work, I asked Brianne how her college selection process went.

She explained how her father, Cal Theisen, tackled the brunt of the college search, incessantly researching and contacting NCAA colleges on her behalf.

“It got to the point where coaches from schools that I didn't even know existed were calling me, but in the end I narrowed it down to Syracuse and Oregon.”

She would choose Oregon, but confessed that she didn’t know much about the history of the school, who have been perennial track and field powerhouses with iconic athletes like Steve Prefontaine and Otis Davis, but felt right in the city of Eugene.

We rounded past a set of textile art from the ancient Andeans when I asked Brianne if she had grown up with Olympic aspirations. To my surprise she responded, “I never thought about becoming an Olympic athlete until I got to Oregon. Once I got into the environment there, I started to think, Ok I really like this and I want to go to the Olympics.”

Hall of North American Forests

We got back to the topic of Brianne and Ashton’s relationship while checking out the museum’s Giant Sequoia — the base of a tree that once stood at 300 feet tall and is listed as over 1,400 years old.

Their relationship is a unique one: two high profile athletes who are married and compete in the same track and field event.

It officially started in 2007, during the beginning of Brianne’s freshman year at Oregon. Ashton was a sophomore at the time, and over the fall semester, the two developed an unspoken chemistry that lasted until February, when Ashton finally made a move and asked Brianne out.

“Our first date was on Valentine’s Day and he took me out to Olive Garden,” recalled Brianne while laughing. “We were hanging out with the same group of friends and there was clearly an interest there, so after it was all said and done I asked him what took you so long?”

Through the majority of their time at Oregon, Brianne and Ashton shared a coach in Harry Marra, who also coached Team USA’s national decathlon squad from 1990-2000.

Over their college years, Brianne captured seven NCAA Championship titles, broke the NCAA record in the pentathlon, and broke five school records, while Ashton was a five-time NCAA Champion, broke the NCAA record in the decathlon, and smashed the world record in the pentathlon.

As we left the Giant Sequoia, Brianne described how their coach guided them with an “80 percent in shape, 100 percent healthy” approach.

“I like it, but it’s really hard to get used to because we’re doing most of the workouts with the feeling that we can do one or two more. That can get kind of scary when you know your competitors are laid out on the ground every day. But each year I get a little more confident in the approach because I’m improving.”

Hall of Dinosaurs

The Hall of Dinosaurs, arguably the coolest section of the museum, is where we began to discuss her progression as a professional athlete. After spending a few minutes viewing the room’s velociraptor and allosaurus, which were assembled from bones dating over 107-million-years, we stopped and rested our legs. We sat under the winding skeleton of an apatosaurus and began to go over 2012, which was her fifth and final year as an NCAA athlete.

She decided to stay in Eugene to train with her coach and Ashton after graduating. Her focus was on the London Olympic games, and though she entered the games with a ton of confidence, she left with a head full of doubts.

“At the Olympics I performed like crap. I remember sitting in the call room and thinking what is the point of being here if I’m ranked 10th and have no chance of getting a medal? I wasn't a threat and I hated that feeling.”

That first major international competition was also her first ever crushing defeat, finishing 11th with 6383 points, 100 points less than she had scored earlier that year at NCAA Championships.   

Upon returning to Eugene, her coach would console and help her grow from her humbling Olympic debut. Together they reshaped Brianne’s mindset and mapped out a gameplan for the ensuing 2013 season.

“I just wanted that feeling of having the pressure to win. The pressure is something that I like. Without it I don’t think I could keep competing in track and field. Sometimes it is nerve wracking, but it helps me.”

We left the apatosaurus to chat about how she turned things around during her 2013 season. While passing under a pterodactyl skeleton, Brianne described how through a new, determined mindset, she was able to go on to win a silver medal during the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Russia and achieve the same result at the 2014 Indoor World Championships in Sopot, Poland.

She talked about how her past three years as a professional athlete have helped her gain a new perspective on life, athletics and relationships.

“Now I keep track and field in perspective. It doesn't define my whole life. If I have a bad meet or if I don't win a medal after a World Championships it’s not the end of the world. Just having the opportunity to win a medal is fun to me. I think of it now as more of a competitive, fun game.”

As we exited the museum I asked Brianne to describe her goals for the upcoming 2015 season.

She responded by saying, “I want to be the best, and I will be thoroughly disappointed if I don’t win gold at this year’s World Championships, but more than winning gold, I want to do everything possible in each day too, so I can look back and say  that I did everything that I needed to do.”

Brianne and Ashton will spend their first date's anniversary at The Armory, competing at the 108th NYRR Millrose Games on Saturday, February 14th. More information on the competiton and television scehudle will be relased in the coming weeks.    

By Justin Gaymon // Track Photos by Victah Sailer: http://photorun.net