Two-Time Olympian Matt Tegenkamp Has Gone All-In on Road Racing

Published by The Oregonian on April 9, 2014

Matt Tegenkamp is thinking about the big picture as he recovers from a calf problem he had late in the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run on Sunday in Washington D.C.

"It seized up on me," Tegenkamp said. "I hope it's not serious."

The two-time Olympian finished the race in 15th place in 47 minutes, 57 seconds.

The race also counted as the USA 10 Mile Championships. Tegenkamp placed sixth against U.S. competition.

He had made a nice recovery from a poor start, and was challenging Girma Mecheso for second place among U.S. runners when he felt the jolt in his left calf.

Tegenkamp said it didn't feel like a cramp. He went into protection mode to avoid serious injury and faded.

"I didn't want to have a tear or a strain or anything like that," Tegenkamp said. "I went from starting off the day feel pretty crappy about my performance, to feeling like I was going to pull out a pretty solid performance, to not being happy."