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When Deena Kastor's running took an unanticipated downturn last summer, she and her support crew checked the usual suspects.
Anemia? Elevated white-cell count? Tests were negative.
There was a lot of physical therapy and massage for hip/back alignment problems, cumulative wear and tear from a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic marathon, a win in the 2005 Chicago Marathon and the first U.S. sub-2-hour, 20-minute time for 26.2 miles with a win in April's London Marathon.
Training was a chore.
Kastor canceled her European track season and worried she might have to do the same for Sunday's New York City Marathon.
"I just could not pull anything together there for a couple of months," she says.
Now she thinks she knows an additional culprit: "My husband, coach and training partners think it was kitchen-remodeling stress."
Just about the time that Kastor's kitchen at her mountain home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., was completed, she again started feeling like the No.1-ranked female marathoner in the world.
"It seemed like everything started clearing up as soon as the last tool left the house," she says. "We're back in the kitchen. I'm entertaining again and feeling good. We learned a lesson that we will never remodel anything again."
Kastor, 33, will try to construct a victory in a race last won by a U.S. woman in 1977, when Miki Gorman repeated her title.
To win a third consecutive marathon major, Kastor has to beat a deep field that includes defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia plus Kenyans Catherine Ndereba, a four-time Boston and two-time Chicago champion, and Rita Jeptoo, the 2006 Boston winner.
Unlike in Chicago and London -- fast, flat courses -- Kastor won't be consumed with breaking 2:20. "It's by no means a time trial," she says. "I'm strictly out there to compete against this incredible field that's been put together and triumph."
Before London, Kastor broke her own U.S. record in the half-marathon. There wasn't time for a pre-New York race to gauge fitness, but Kastor has her own indicators, including some 130-mile weeks.
"My training is right where I want it to be, indicated through the times I'm running and the mileage," she says. "I'm confident and happy. Two months ago, I wouldn't have said that."
Back in her kitchen again after a six-month disruption that was supposed to last two months, the woman who aspires to open a cafe when she re-tires from competitive running feels complete.
"She loves to cook and entertain, socialize with friends," says her coach, Terrence Mahon. "When she wasn't able to do that, it took the fun out of getting up. For her, it was like being injured."
In New York, Kastor might indulge her cooking desire by whipping up a dish with celebrity chef Bobby Flay, who's also planning to run Sunday.
"I can't wait to get to his place for a prerace meal," Kastor says. "I hope his training is going well."
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