Muna Lee: It’s ‘Hello, Beijing’ after ‘Goodbye, L.A.’
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EUGENE, Ore. -- Track athletes frequently change coaches, usually because their careers are stagnating, so they hope a change in scenery will provide a boost.
Muna Lee, the surprise winner of Saturday’s 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials here, made her most recent change because she felt working in Los Angeles with Bob Kersee, one of the sport’s highest-profile coaches, was cramping her style.
Figuratively and literally.
The Kansas City native simply didn’t love L.A. during the two years she spent there after leaving Louisiana State University.
‘It’s really expensive,’ Lee said, noting she was paying $1,300 a month in rent for a 500-square-foot apartment. That is big money for an athlete whose past achievements, affected by recurrent injuries, had not been enough to earn a lucrative shoe contract.
‘And I was just too far away from home,’’ she said. ‘I wasn’t happy.’’
She also didn’t feel Kersee’s training was right for her.
‘I learned a lot,’’ she said. ‘I never used to think I could run over 250 [meters]. He would have us run 600s, and I actually did good the last year I was there but I was like, ‘I’m a sprinter. I like to sprint.’ ‘ The financial pressures, added to lack of improvement (her 100 personal best did not drop from 2003 through 2007, nor did her 200 PB from 2004 through 2007), led her to leave Los Angeles before this season.
‘I needed to run fast now,’’ she said.
She moved to College Station, Texas, to work with Vince Anderson, an assistant to Pat Henry at Texas A&M. Henry had coached Lee at LSU before moving to A&M in 2005.
‘The main thing he [Anderson] works on with me is the mental side of it, because I worry a lot,’’ she said. ‘I always have something on my mind. The main thing he tells me is don’t worry about things I can’t control.’’
The results have been immediate.
Lee, 26, lowered her PB in the 100 from 11.04 to 10.97 at the end of May, then ran 10.85 in the Olympic trials final, where she came from behind to beat favored Torri Edwards.
‘When I looked up and saw they were in front of me, it was kind of like, ‘I’m a chaser,’ ‘ Lee said. ‘At LSU, that’s all we do was chase people on relays. That’s when that gear kicked in. It’s what I know how to do, come from behind.’’
Lee also plans to run the 200 later in the week. Then she will begin planning for Beijing.
‘The first thing I’m thinking about is going home and finding me some snacks and stuff. The food -- I’m gonna prepare for that first.’’
-- Philip Hersh
