By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Desiree Linden called it a "far-fetched, crazy dream." That didn't stop Linden and Amy Cragg from visualizing the day when they would walk through the opening ceremonies at the Olympic Games together.
The Sun Devil track and cross country alumnae got that chance in 2012 when Linden qualified in the marathon and Cragg qualified in the 10,000 meters, but the duo took it one step further at the Olympic Marathon trials in Los Angeles in February.
Cragg (previously Amy Hastings) and Linden (previously Desiree Davila) finished first and second to become the first two Americans from the same alma mater to qualify for the Olympic Marathon in the same year. Not only will they walk together at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in August; they will also run together.
"Getting to walk into the Opening Ceremony with Amy in 2012 was probably the highlight of the Games for me," said Linden, who hosted Cragg on her recruiting trip to ASU. "I think we can both appreciate and respect the work and time we've put in to make the dream a reality. To qualify in the same race on the same day this time around definitely trumps 2012 and I can't wait to line up with Amy and share the roads in Rio."
Both women feel they have something to prove after experiencing disappointment in London in 2012. In the 10,000 meters, Hastings stayed with the lead group until the 18-minute mark before falling back to finish 11th in 31:10, about 50 seconds behind two-time gold medalist Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia. Hastings had already experienced the earlier disappointment of finishing fourth at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials before the London Games -- one spot off the team.
"My actual Olympic experience was still a great one," Cragg said. "It's just that getting there was a little different than I was hoping for. Coming in fourth was obviously difficult. I cried about it a lot but getting a second chance is exciting."
Linden called her Olympic experience bittersweet.
"During my preparation I had sharp pain in my hip that was diagnosed as tendonitis," said Linden, who believed she could work through the ailment until it was later determined to be a femoral stress fracture. "Frustration levels were high; one because I knew the injury was hindering my ability to compete well and two because of the misdiagnosis at the time.
"It was great to be there and take part in the Olympics but going in uncertain about my health and my ability to compete was difficult," added Linden, who did not finish the race. "I felt it was important to go and have the experience and learn from it mainly so I could motivate myself to get back to that stage and have a better experience."
Marathon runners regularly shrug off pain and injuries that might sideline other athletes. That point was underscored at the Olympic Trials this year when Cragg's longtime training partner, Shalane Flanagan, began to labor around the 23-mile mark on a hot day in L.A.
"Between 12 and 18 miles I had a rough patch of my own and she could see I was struggling so she said 'I'll be right here with you,'" Cragg said. "I started feeling better with a lap to go, around mile 20, but then I think the heat really started to affect her. Every time I looked over she grew a deeper shade of red."
Cragg was reluctant to pull away. She gave Flanagan water bottles and told her to dump them over he heard, and she kept encouraging her friend before finishing the race. Flanagan gutted it out and came in third to qualify for her third Olympics (she won the qualifier in 2012 and placed 10th in London).
"When she crossed the finish it took her a long time to get back to normal," Cragg said. "Even the next morning, she was able to move around but she stayed in her room in the dark. There was no point where she didn't think she could do this. We had come so far and it was getting bad really fast, but she's such a tough competitor."
Both Cragg and Linden took recent vacations before resuming their pre-Olympic training over the next five months; Linden with Hansons-Brooks Distance Project in Rochester Hills, Michigan and Cragg in Portland, Oregon, Flagstaff and Park City, Utah.
Linden went to Bali for her two-week break; Cragg went to the Pacific Northwest. Both have returned with renewed focus. Aside from the motivation both feel in their second Olympic go-round, they both believe the experience of competing in a prior Olympic event will benefit them in Brazil.
"The Games are unlike any other competition; they truly are an event and an experience," Linden said. "Having gone through the process before and knowing what to expect makes it easier to prepare for all the external factors that can come into play while preparing for the main event."
"A big part of the Olympics that is hard to prepare for is the buildup going into it," Cragg added. "The best way to describe is that you'll hear after the Olympics that a lot of athletes get depressed because all of the sudden it's done. All of the focus and time and energy you've spent every day for four years; all of the sudden it's over.
"So imagine this incredible wave of emotion going in and how that might affect you. Knowing that’s going to happen and knowing how to control those emotions so they're not going to be quite as crazy, that’s where the advantage is."