Hoping for better days ahead, Browne looks to one from the past

(NOTE: This is the first in a series of stories about the Papa John's 10 Miler/USA Men's 10 Mile Championship, which will be run in Louisville on Saturday.)

Dan Browne experienced the best of times and the worst of times in the last two years.

Since his nationally celebrated triumph in the USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship (and his privately memorable first taste of a Mint Julep) in Louisville on April 10, 2004:

He ran for Team USA in the Olympic Games for the first time.

He lost his record 10-mile championship time to a snafu.

He won the USA Men’s Half Marathon Championship.

He underwent surgery on his left knee.

He underwent an emergency appendectomy more than 2,000 miles from home.

He underwent surgery on his right knee.

He got married.

He was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame.

And, all in all, he could not race for 14 months.

“There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows,” he said during an interview with Beyond the Derby’s Nathan Chambers.

Now, as he resumes one of the most successful distance running careers of his generation, it’s fitting that Browne will revisit the Derby City for the 2006 USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship on Saturday. One of eight races in the USA Track and Field road series known as the USA Running Circuit, the championship will be part of the Papa John’s 10 Miler for the fourth year in a row.

“Any race right now would be great,” he said. “This one is more special.”

It would seem so. Browne, who lives in Portland, Ore., won the 3,000 meters at a University of Oregon track meet on March 18 in his first race since the half-marathon championship back on Jan. 16, 2005. He decided to run in Louisville next, and it’s his intent that the 10-miler will be his only road race until September as he returns to the track for the summer.

“When I won (the 10-mile championship in Louisville) before, I really enjoyed the experience,” said Browne, who already had friends in the city. “I like the area, and the people are friendly. I came away from it with a lot of good memories.”

He doesn’t even seem to care that his time of 46:32, which initially was considered a race record, was invalidated when the course was re-measured four months later and found to be too short.

“I think I ran fast there, even though they called it a short course,” Browne said.

Running fast is his focus for the coming months as he tries to regain the form he lost to injuries in 2005.

Browne already was feeling discomfort in his knees during the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where he placed 12th in the 10,000 meters but a disappointing 65th in the marathon as he struggled to finish the race in the stifling heat.

Within a week of winning the half-marathon title the following January, he suddenly couldn’t run. He eventually was diagnosed with iliotibial band syndrome in both knees and went under the knife in March and May.

Between those surgeries, he needed an emergency appendectomy late one April night while he was visiting his then-girlfriend, Cristan, in her hometown of Dallas.

He was targeting a marathon in the fall, but his legs still weren’t ready - much to his frustration.

“It was one of those years,” said Browne, who also turned 30 in 2005. “Psychologically, I took a beating.”

Of course, he did have his moments last year. He married Cristan in July, and the former Quartermaster Corps lieutenant was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame in November in honor of his record-setting collegiate running career at the U.S. Military Academy in the mid-1990s.

But all of that is behind him now.

“I had to ride the roller coaster out until I got to the end,” he said, crediting his coach, Nike Oregon Project founder Alberto Salazar, for encouraging him to do just that.

As Browne begins a new ascent from the bottom, he seems to have relatively modest expectations for his first significant race in 15 months. He will be running against Olympic teammate Abdi Abdirahman, who won the race in record time (47:27) last year, and several rising distance stars.

“I just want to have a positive experience,” he said. “Even if I don’t win, if I run a mentally strong race, I’ll be happy.”

Just a few moments later, however, Browne sounded a little more confident.

“I know come race day that I’ll give my best no matter what,” he said. “As long as my body is holding up, I can take stock in knowing that my mind will push it. And my body is starting to agree with what my mind wants it to do.”

And make no mistake. His mind wants his body to be the best again.