to be a series of events and I couldn't manage to string to- gether a long enough stretch of good training to get to the point where I needed to be. "You need probably a good
year and one-half of solid train- ing without any interruptions to get back to that (Olympic) level and it just didn't seem to hap- pen, unfortunately.
"But I can't really complain;
Butler won five NCAA championships and was a 17-time Big Ten champion for the Badgers.
"It's still going to be exciting,'' she said, "even if I'm not going to be there.''
Two years ago, Butler gave birth to a baby daughter, Libby, which put a temporary crimp in her training plans. Her frame of mind was "the whole point of having a baby is to enjoy the baby.'' Libby was six weeks old when Butler resumed running. It was another six months before she got back to hard training, and she was just rounding into "decent shape'' when fate intervened. "Last summer, I tripped and broke my big toe and that took me out of training for awhile,'' she lamented. "I was planning on doing a fall mara- thon to try and qualify (in that event). "But that didn't happen. There just seemed
36 » VARSITY JULY 26, 2012
I've been to two Olympics and I have fond memories from both. In Atlanta, I did a lot more stuff; the opening and closing cer- emonies. In Athens, I concen- trated on my race. ''Both were very rewarding and memorable experiences.'' Athens topped Atlanta in that she was ranked 28th in the 10K and finished 12th — an achieve- ment that she ranked near the top of her highlight list along with winning an NCAA cross country title. What will be her mindset for viewing the 2012 Games? "It will be hard watching the races but I can handle that be-
cause you watch races all the time,'' said Bulter, whose dual citizenship has allowed her to repre- sent two countries in the Olympics. "But when you think about the whole Olympic experience that's probably the harder part. We watch a lot of British news and when you see the athletes arriving and getting their accreditation …'' She paused and admitted that it will be that "side of things'' — the camaraderie of teammates and things that only a former Olympian can re- late to — that she will miss experiencing for a third time.
Nonetheless, she knows that the competition will energize her. "Just by seeing the excitement,''
