PROVO -- Last summer Josh Rohatinsky was faced with a decision, not imposed by coaches or teammates, but quiet searching within himself to decide which path he would take. Frustrated by continual injury, Josh decided he had more to do.
"My junior year I got injured in March and that was a big blow," said Josh, who broke the 23 year-old BYU record in the 5,000 meters at the Mt. SAC relays. "That injury blew my outdoor season. I was very frustrated and I thought about quitting because of the setbacks. Last summer, I took a few days to really think about whether I should run or not. At that point, I decided that if I take care of my body and focus I would be able to accomplish more. So I set the goal to win the national championship in cross country and started to get ready for it. I had to take some time to make a plan and then go for it. After accomplishing that goal I believed in myself and set higher goals."
Josh has established himself as a premier runner at BYU, which hails multiple National Champions and Olympian distance runners. Josh didn't crush the 5,000-meter record set by two-time Olympian Ed Eyestone without some setbacks along the way.
In March of 2006 Josh suffered a fractured fibula stopping his outdoor season before it really got started. After coming back from that injury to win the Cross Country National Championships, Josh suffered another stress fracture on the opposite fibula halting his senior indoor season in 2007.
"There's a fine line between training enough to stay in optimal shape and over training," said Eyestone. "Josh is such a competitor that he trains really hard everyday."
Josh sat out most of the indoor season practices and competition, yet he wasn't idly waiting on the injury to heal. Josh was rigorously working on his own to get back into shape so he could compete again.
"Most of my cross training was on the underwater treadmill," said Josh. "I was on that twice a day. For me it's more mentally tough than physically. You think you are healthy and you want to get back out there and do workouts and get your miles up. Instead you have to ride a bike or get on the elliptical, and I did those but I found that the underwater treadmill is more like running and it got my heart rate up like running so I stuck with that."
Eyestone, who has made his impact on the track program as an athlete and coach, knows how difficult it is to come back from injury.
"When you get injured, training usually takes more time," said Eyestone. "Cross training takes more effort and dedication to get the same workout, and even then you lose a little. Injuries are really hard to come back from quickly."
Eyestone and Josh decided to have him run in the MWC Indoor Championships only a couple months after the incident.
"What led to the decision was I was healthy enough to run and not hurt myself. Not that I was in shape but that I would not hurt myself. And second, the team needed points. Usually indoor conference is really close, which this year we ended up winning by a lot. That never happens. We go into conference thinking it will be close, so we always pull guys in to score as many points as possible."
Eyestone had to pull from his best athletes to help the Cougars win. He counted on Josh's leadership and will to win.
"He's always been mentally strong," said Eyestone. "His injuries make him want to seize the day when he is healthy, which has helped him rewrite the record books."
The first records Josh set in 2007 were the MWC Indoor Championship record and the Albuquerque Convention Center Record in the 5,000 meters.
"It felt good," said Josh. "I had a couple of workouts, but I wasn't anywhere close to the mileage I wanted to be. So it felt good to pick it up that last mile and win, but it reminded me I had a long ways to go."
Josh continued to focus on getting back to the fitness level that won the National Championship. The next race Josh entered was in April at the Wildcat Outdoor Open. Though Josh is best at the longer distances, he showed his desire to win by setting another record. Josh set a Stewart Stadium Record in the 1500 meters and produced the second fastest time in the country. The next week he traveled to the nationally acclaimed Mt. SAC Relays. He would face over 30 professional athletes in his first 5000-meter race in three months.
"I wanted to run as even as possible," recalled Josh. "If I had gone 4:20 per mile that would put me at 13:30, which is what I wanted to do and what I thought I was capable of. I wanted to be careful not to start too quickly, but I ended up going out too fast anyway and ran a 4:15 mile. I still felt pretty good and I told myself to just hit even splits and I will have it. I felt good until I had 600 left, but at that point I had it in the bag. I think going out hard that first mile took it to me, but I was already far enough ahead in my splits that I was able to run a fast time."
Josh's time of 13:25.53 is not only the fastest time run by a Cougar ever, but it is also a Mountain West Conference Record, the second fastest time by a collegian in 2007 and would have ranked as the sixth fastest time run by an American in 2006. The caliber of athletes pushed Josh to run the best race of his career, but Josh is not satisfied.
"It makes you want to be better. I go out and win nationals in the fall, and then I compete in a race like this and run the best 5000 time of my life and take eighth. I think more than anything that race tells me I can do it. There were 30 or 35 professionals out there and I took eighth. That gives me confidence, but I also think next time what can I do to place sixth or fifth. It makes me hungry and I know that I can compete with guys like that. I also know I have something to work for in the future."
Eyestone, who is well acquainted with the next level of running, recognizes in Josh the heart and determination that is needed to compete on the international level.
"To become a world class athlete like Josh, you have to choose your parents well. But there are many people that have similar genetics but Josh has the work ethic to really take it to the next level. He's a good goal setter. His goals don't end with college. He is working to become a world-class marathoner and he will probably run professionally. He has great potential. I think he will run in the Olympics."
In order to overcome the problems he has had and perform to the level he has, Josh acknowledges the need to have goals that make him stretch.
"It's motivation. If you don't have a goal then you won't accomplish anything. If I didn't have a goal at the Mt. SAC race, I would have been in the middle of the race and thought, 'wow I'm going really fast, maybe I should slow down so I don't die.' Or after two miles I could tell myself said, 'I am in a good position and I can just relax this last mile.' If you have a goal, something you are putting out in front of yourself that is tough to get, you are constantly pushing yourself. Not only in the middle of the race but daily when you go out on runs doing speed work and other workouts. A goal continually pushes you, so you can't sit back and say, 'I have done enough,' because that's when you fail. Especially since I want to do a lot of competing professionally and in the Olympics after college. I need to continually have goals that I put way out in front of me because that's where I need to be. If I get halfway there and don't accomplish it then that's fine but I am going to keep pushing to get to the top. That's the only way to get to the top. If you never make a goal to get to the top you will never get there. You might never make it but you will do more than you would have if you never make the goal in the first place."
Words From Other Well Known Champions
"Champions arent made in the gyms," said Muhammad Ali, three-time heavy weight champion. "Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision."
"It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it."
-Vince Lombardi -
Quotes from other Champions
"Champions aren't made in the gyms," Said Muhammad Ali,
three-time heavy weight champion. "Champions are made
from something they have deep inside them - a desire,
a dream, a vision."
"It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer,
the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge
and does something about it."
-Vince Lombardi-