Parker Valby will be the first to say: She still has a lot to learn about international racing.
In the women’s 10,000 meters, she was surprised by the constant pace changes and how a large group of 12 women stayed together for the first 23 of 25 laps. And she got her first nail wounds on her legs. In the NCAA, she was usually so dominant that no one could get close enough to touch her.
Valby and her U.S. teammates Weini Kelati and Karissa Schweizer tried to stay further back in the pack. However, towards the end of the race, with about four laps to go, Valby moved forward to gain some distance. She stayed behind the leader for about 40 seconds before the pack caught up with her.
When the sprint began in the final lap, the Americans didn’t have much left. Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won her second gold medal of the Olympics. She ran 30:43.25 and finished the final lap with a time of 57.4 seconds.
Kelati was the best American with 30:49.48 and took eighth place. Schweizer was ninth with 30:51.99. And Valby took eleventh place with 30:59.28.
“I thought the race was going to be tough,” Kelati said. “It wasn’t what I expected, but this type of racing really gets to me. I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I need to stay patient and really focus so I can really tackle the last few laps. I know it’s going to be tough.’ And that’s what I did. I really tried my best, but that’s all I can do.”
Schweizer agreed with Kelati, calling it “a brutal game out there.” She, too, had hoped for a faster pace to avoid a collision. “You try to stay really calm the whole time and just get ready to go,” she said.
For Valby, everything was new. She had never been to the Stade de France, the Olympic Stadium, before. The crowd was the loudest and largest she had ever seen. And she was not in the best shape before the race, worrying to her coaches Will and Samantha Palmer from the University of Florida that she would be lapped twice.
She should have had more confidence. Valby didn’t even come close to lapping. She ran a negative split time (15:50 for the first 5 km, 15:09 for the second). And she was only 9 seconds off her personal best.
Now she knows what she needs to work on: getting stronger. Running more kilometers. Improving her mental strength.
And she booked a nail care appointment at the nail salon in the Olympic Village in good time so that she would have fresh nails on race day. Today she was out of luck, all the appointments were booked.
Valby and Samantha Palmer visited two different nail salons in Paris. The first one painted Valby’s nails red, white and blue, but she thought they could be confused with the French colors, so the second salon added a second coat of stars, stripes and Olympic rings.
However, all the post-race analysis can wait. At the moment, the athlete, who has been racing hard for almost 11 months, has something else on her mind: vacation. Valby said: “I’m ready for a big break.”
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor based in Eugene, Oregon. Her stories about sports, its trends and fascinating personalities have appeared in Runners world since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run as fast as you can! And Walk until your butt stands on end!
