As the plane was taking off from San Francisco International Thursday afternoon, Ashlin, age 3, unfamiliar with air travel, turned to her mommy to ask her where they were going.
"Into the sky," said Julia Stamps-Mallon.
"Are we going to see God?"
"No, honey," Mallon said. "We're not going that high."
Ashlin shrugged. She adjusted. She has a lot of her mommy in her. For if there is one thing Mallon can teach her daughter, it's this: Life happens while you are making other plans. Ashlin honey, life is a series of adjustments. Look at the ones I've made.
Mommy is a marathoner. That's a good place to start. Mallon is in Houston today to compete in the USA Marathon Olympic Trials. To the people who knew her and clapped and cheered for her when Mallon was a national cross country phenom while at Santa Rosa High School, Mallon was going to be the next Mary Decker, America's next great middle distance runner. She held at one time or another eight state and four national titles.
Running in the Olympics? Mallon dreamt a lot about that, standing on the podium, accepting the gold medal.
"When you are running 15-20 miles a day," said Mallon, 33, "you think about a lot of things."
Stanford came a-courtin', offered her a scholarship, and she rewarded the school by being a six-time collegiate All-American. Injuries came as they often do with runners, stress fractures especially. Yet, it seemed her legendary obsession with competitive running would never wane. After all, as a high school freshman, Mallon once laid out a 200-meter course in the halls of Warrick Hospital while recovering from ruptured appendix surgery - and she walked the course clutching a pole that held the IV drip.
But by her senior year at Stanford, Mallon experienced what happens frequently to elite runners - burnout. She hadn't lost interest in running. It was always going to be a staple of her exercise diet. But sky diving, surfing, snow skiing and biking began to share time with running.
"I would often substitute a Santa Cruz surf trip," Mallon once said, "for my morning run."
Then The Accident happened. In March 2001, during finals week at Stanford, Mallon was working both ends of the candle when she passed out riding her skateboard. Her left leg was completely shattered. Two compound fractures and a spiral fracture had folded her leg like an accordion.
"So when can I start running again?" Mallon asked the doctor.
"You can never run again," came the reply.
"Obviously you don't know what you are talking about," she said.
Their goal was for Mallon to walk without a limp. Her goal was to run. Now she credits Stanford's medical care for surpassing its goals and achieving hers. She was in a cast for nine months. She was on crutches for nearly a year before she began rehabilitation. Four screws and 15 pins stabilized the leg. When she was finally able to run, Mallon found the interval speed work necessary to run middle distance placed too much stress on her leg.
So it was either a light jog for the rest of her life or, if she wanted to feed the competitive beast inside her, learn to run a marathon. It took 20 months for her to walk without limping.
Now it's 11 years later and Mallon is as amazed today as she was then that she can do what she can do.
"I'm still shocked," she said. "I don't feel a thing. The leg doesn't bother me at all. It really doesn't. I feel great."
The switch in distances was therapeutic and life changing in more ways than one. She had a chance to work in finance on Wall Street. Her Stanford degree was in sociology. Ah, what the heck, she said. Life is adventure. Julia Stamps went to New York, met Jon Mallon, fell in love, and now they have two daughters.
Today in Houston, Mallon will compete along with 225 women for the top three Olympic qualifying spots. Only in training seven weeks, and preoccupied with raising her young children, Mallon is realistic about the outcome.
"If I could run a 2:38 or 2:40," said Mallon, whose best marathon is a 2:44.14, "I would be one happy lady."
Even with those numbers, Mallon is still 5-7 minutes off the expected Olympic pace. No worries. As stated before, life is a journey and she sees the 2016 Games in Brazil, not the 2012 London Games, as the finish line.
"I have been running 90-100 miles a week for only the last seven weeks," said Mallon, about to run her 13th marathon. "You can't train for the Olympic marathon in that short of a time. You can't even do it for just six months. You have to prepare for years."
That's her goal. Houston is the baseline for her. Staying injury free, figuring how to balance the young mother-100 miles a week thing, Mallon knows her journey will be a demanding one. As if that's never happen before.
"You are a mother to two girls and also the mother to all the great female runners who followed you," I said, referring to Amber Trotter, Sara Bei, Jacque Taylor, Sarah Sumpter, Trina Cox, among others.
"Oh, now THAT makes me feel old," Mallon said.
As if THAT would stop her.
For more North Bay sports go to padecky.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Bob Padecky at 521-5223 or bob.padecky@pressdemocrat.com.
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