There was a time, not so long ago, when most people thought she was crazy.
Lauren Kleppin was 23, had just graduated from Western State Colorado University and was, quite simply, lost. Back then, thoughts of a professional shoe contract, of being one of the leading Americans in the There was a time, not so long ago, when most people thought she was crazy, or of training daily with one of the world’s best marathoners seemed like nothing more than the distant pipe dream of an athlete cursed by delusion.
Kleppin was caught in the athletic limbo that sends many a promising career down the gutter. She was good, but not great, and fell one agonizing place short of making the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 10,000 meters, a crushing blow at a time when her future running career was hanging on the precipice.
One thought reverberated in her mind: “What do I do now?” She was nowhere near fast enough to turn running into a profession but she was talented, ambitious, and just crazy enough to believe that someday, somehow, she could.
Kleppin graduated with a degree in art that didn’t offer much more security than distance running when it came to putting food on the table. “I was pretty confused,” she says. “I had all my belongings in a storage unit and had no idea where to go.”
She escaped to Alaska to think things through, spending many evenings shooting the breeze with a close friend who was training for the biathlon and her friend’s mother, an Olympic gold medalist in shooting. “Being around them really put it in my head that I only had one opportunity to chase my dreams,” she says.
Kleppin also thought back to the time in college when she came to another fork in the road, when she had to choose between a running career drifting into mediocrity and the fun-loving lifestyle that led to that drift.
Back then, she somehow found guidance amidst tragedy. In October 2009, Lisa Thomas, a teammate of Kleppin’s at Western State, was killed in a car accident. Then, just a month later, a high school friend of Kleppin’s, Andrew Marrari, also died. Their passing rocked Kleppin to the core, but also changed her outlook.
“A lot of things were put into perspective,” she says. “It made me realize that you have to take advantage of the life you are given. I put my head down, and from there I took [running] seriously.”
Three years later, in Alaska, Kleppin again decided she owed it to herself to make the most of her talent.
“I had no money in the bank, but I packed up my Subaru and moved to California,” she says. “Everyone was like, ‘What are you doing?’ but you have to remember you only have one life, one opportunity. Deep down I thought I had the talent.”
Kleppin got a job at a bar in Big Bear Lake, working long hours to make ends meet, but early in 2013 she found her progress stagnating. On a whim, she entered her first marathon in Carlsbad. “I remember at the starting line thinking, ‘What am I doing?’” she says. “I had no clue. I didn’t even know if I had to warm up.” She won in 2:42:17.
Kleppin knew, though, that to achieve what she truly desired, she needed to train with the best, and so late last year she moved north to join the Mammoth Track Club, whose star athlete, Deena Kastor, holds the American record in the marathon. Kastor’s husband, Andrew, is head coach, and Kleppin immediately found the group a perfect fit.
“They take professionalism to a whole new level,” she says. “With rest, nutrition, everything. It was a huge step from what I was doing: working ’til 3 a.m. at the bar, living off popcorn and free PowerBars. Deena is very gracious, humble and so welcoming, and the same for the rest of the group. It was an easy transition.”
In March of this year, the seeds of Kleppin’s talent finally came to fruition. She smashed her personal best at the LA Marathon, running considerably faster than she or her coach thought possible when finishing third in 2:28:48. “I knew I had done something pretty special,” she says.
Later that month, the 25-year-old represented the United States for the first time at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, finishing 14th. By the time the summer rolled around, only one race was on her mind. “I’ve been thinking and dreaming about New York for a while,” she says. “The course is hilly. It’s a cross country-style marathon, and I think it’ll play to my strengths.”
In preparation, Kleppin logged around 120 miles a week with pleasing consistency in the summer, though progress stalled last month due to a nagging injury that limited her to cross training for a number of weeks.
“I’m really excited about the volume I’ve put in,” she says. “Training has been unconventional in the pool and on the bike recently, but I’m an unconventional runner so I think it’s going to work out. I feel fit. I’m confident. I think I’ll get nervous beforehand because it is such a huge stage, but it’ll be more excitement about what’s going to happen.”
And what will happen? Kleppin doesn’t want to guess, but one thing is for sure: it will hurt. Kleppin has developed a mental strategy to cope with the pain during those final miles. “I call it my arsenal of memories,” she says. “I find, somewhere in my head, times where I’ve experienced a lot of pain. They will come up and help me push through.”
Soon after she finishes on Sunday, Kleppin will reward herself with the other great passion in her life, beer. It’s been an interest of hers for a number of years now, and when her running days are over, she dreams of opening her own brewery.
“Being a Wisconsin girl, it’s in my blood,” she says. “I drink beer regularly, but I do a good job of balancing. I treat myself at night or after a hard run. I know it’s not the most healthy habit, but that’s my vice.”
Before that Sunday-night treat, though, comes the Sunday-morning suffering. Sometimes, Kleppin does wonder just why she does this.
“In a lot of ways, people think I’m kind of crazy,” she says. “There’s a little bit of crazy in us all, though. If you’re going to line up for a marathon and call that your sport, you’re definitely a little messed up, but I get a weird satisfaction out of it.”
Indeed, if all goes to plan on Sunday, Kleppin will be reminded once again why the satisfaction of a job well done justifies all that toil. Her journey to New York has not been a smooth one, but that should make the destination all the sweeter.
“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion so far,” she says. “I’m just going to ride it all the way.”
Cathal Dennehy is a freelance writer based in Dublin, Ireland, who covers the sport for multiple outlets from Irish newspapers to international track websites. As an athlete, he was Irish junior cross-country champion and twice raced the European Cross Country, but since injury forced his retirement his best athletic feat has been the Irish beer mile record. He’s happiest when he’s running or writing stories about world-class athletes.
