Track and field: Now healthy, OTC Elite’s Lauren Fleshman again a contender at USA meet

Published: Midnight, June 16

Last year, Lauren Fleshman won the 5,000 in the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, her second national title. She’d battled back from a foot injury that required surgery in the fall of 2008, costing her the 2009 season. As she wrote on her blog, she’d risen “from doo doo to podium.”

Then, around Christmas, there was another pain in her left foot, this time a stress reaction in her fourth metatarsal. It was the fourth time in her career that she’d had a bone injury in her left foot — the only injuries she’s had — and it sidelined her from January through March.

Now, the Oregon Track Club Elite athlete goes into the 5,000 meters in the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships next week after just two races this season — a road race in Bend, and a 1,500 last weekend in Portland.