Kim Robinson

Kim Robinson

By Randy Mayes

Born in the small town of Adena, Ohio, Kim Robinson’s (formerly Markland) school was too small to have a track or cross country team, but she ran to stay in shape for basketball. She also ran at Ohio University just to keep off the fifteen pounds that she gained her first quarter. Then, as she became heavily involved in ROTC, the running fitness test became a challenge and inspired a goal to improve. She won the fitness award at her ROTC Field Training Encampment. When she went on active duty with the Air Force, her boss was preparing for the Marine Corps Marathon and invited her to run with the lunchtime group. She recalls nearly collapsing after just three miles at their pace.

Having a competitive spirit, she decided to train seriously, hoping someday to run a marathon. After graduating with a degree in Medical Technology, a internship at Andrews AFB, a fellowship at Walter Reed where she obtained her Masters degree, she became a clinical lab officer specializing in blood banks with the Air Force.

Robinson moved to California for an assignment and started running in local 5K and 10K races, and unexpectedly started winning. So, she then began marathon training. Her first was the 1992 Marine Corps Marathon where she ran 3:28 and qualified for Boston. Euphoria set in, because going into the marathon she set realistic goals and surpassed them. She says, “I was a winner if I could just finish, but that was only third place, second place was if I finished in under four hours, and first was if I qualified for Boston.” So, she kept training and improving, and in 1994 she decided to attempt to qualify for the Olympic Trials. She knew that she had to do something different. That is when she selected her first coach, Bob Schul, the only American to ever win the Gold in the 5000m. She ran a 2:53 in the Marine Corps Marathon that fall, but was disappointed at being so close to the 2:50 qualifying time for the Olympic Trials.

Her next assignment took her to England, where she competed for a local running club, gained a few ‘pub pounds,’ and lost her runner's physique. She was picked to go to the inaugural Military Olympics in Rome in 1995. Then she ran on the Air Force team in Europe and got to travel to Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, and Germany to compete.

Robinson recalls competing in the European Military Cross-Country Championships in Denmark. “I was neck and neck the entire race with this German woman. As we rounded the end, I out kicked her in a very exciting finish with everyone screaming and yelling. She came up to me and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek and told me how great I did. We got to be such good friends for the rest of my time in Europe. She came to visit me in Texas for six weeks and ran in the 1998 Marine Corps Marathon the year I won. She finished fifteenth in 3:08 in her first marathon. I’d like to say it was that great training partner she had! She will forever be a life long friend.”

When Robinson returned to the states in 1997 after the British assignment, she decided it was time to take this running thing seriously. The Houston Marathon was the first opportunity for women to qualify for the Olympic Trials, so she made that her goal. She ran 2:49:47, qualifying for the Olympic Trials and the best deal in the Air Force--the World Class Athlete Program. They gave her two years to train full time for the Trials, paid her way to many great events, and even honored her as Air Force Female Athlete of the Year this past January.

Last summer, Robinson was honored to once again be part of the USA team at the military Olympics, this time in Zagreb, Croatia. She ran her best time of 2:46:31, and won a bronze medal, the first for the US team. In 1999, she also ran 35:47 at the Sallie Mae 10K and 29:04 at the 8K National Championships.

After hearing great things about Coach Gagliano, she met him last summer and was ecstatic that he was willing to coach her. He gave her the opportunity to run with the Reebok Enclave group. She did two track workouts a week with the women's group and then long runs on the weekends with the Washington Running Club. She went into the Olympic Trials seeded 85th and finished 42nd on a grueling hot day and a killer hilly course with a time of 2:49:25.

She will compete in the Marine Corps Marathon this fall as part of the Air Force team. After that, Robinson will take a break and start a family with husband Neil. Then, while she ponders the next Olympic Trials, her plans are to stay in shape, coach marathoners, and work with the FitCamp, Inc. giving seminars and working out with them a couple of times a week. She serves on the Surgeon General's staff at Bolling AFB.

Leaving the World Class Athlete Program after the trials and now adjusting to full-time work and preparing for a family, running is still part of Robinson's life but kept in perspective. “The funny thing about this whole running bit I’ve been doing is that it was just an impulse to try to qualify for the Trials. That day changed my entire life. I’m on a completely different life path than I would have been otherwise. I saw that other people were getting enjoyment out of my success. While I’m having the time of my life, it’s not about me anymore; it’s about sharing the dream life I’ve lived with other people and encouraging them to take chances, even if it sounds like a pipe dream. I look at the people who made the Olympic team and I am so happy for them. But I couldn’t be happier for me for the experience I’ve had to represent the Air Force and the US Military all over the world.”

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