Clare Eichner Taylor is finding her way back into running after a six-year hiatus.
She'll turn 40 later this year and would eventually like to run a marathon, but that was not her primary motivation for hitting the pavement again.
No, the Wauwatosa East five-time state track and cross country champion and seven-time collegiate Division I All-American simply wanted to look like an athlete when she was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday.
"That was very important," she said with a laugh the day before the induction ceremony in Madison. "You know what it's like for most runners like myself. It's all or nothing. We just can't go out for a jog anymore."
That's because Eichner Taylor was good right from the start at Tosa, dominating area cross country early and eventually becoming a two-time state CC champ and three-time state track titlist in the late 1980s.
"I just said to myself, 'What is she doing in this league?' " retired East cross country coach Randy Jacobsen said of her extraordinary talent.
Eichner Taylor said her success was always a joint effort with Jacobsen.
"I was fortunate that Mr. J. was always working in my best interests," she said. "He kept me healthy."
College successes
A huge success in Wisconsin, Eichner Taylor gained some perspective and motivation from an elite running camp right out of high school.
"Ten of the top runners in the country were there, and she was at the bottom of that list," Jacobsen said. "But those kids had all been running hard since seventh grade. None of them achieved what Clare did in college. She kept to her goals. She kept her head on straight."
Eichner Taylor struggled at first with the heavier training workload in college. Four stress fracture injuries followed, costing her one collegiate track season.
But then came the glorious spring of 1993 when her legs felt good, her abilities were at a peak and she dominated NCAA Division I distance running. She won the mile and the 3,000-meters in the NCAA indoor nationals and the 1,500 and 3,000 in the outdoor.
She would be named Wisconsin's female athlete of the year and also win the 3,000 in the World University Games.
"You could say I closed things out with a bang," she said.
Entering the pros
Her fire fueled by her late success, she moved to Oregon in 1994 to try her hand at professional running.
Again, the transition wasn't easy.
An injury kept Eichner Taylor out of the 1996 Olympic Trials, and just months before the 2000 trials, her father passed away.
Still, she made the finals of the 5,000 meters and finished fifth, just two spots out of an automatic berth into the Olympics.
"I felt good knowing I did all I could do," she said.
And her career would have one more high note. Eichner Taylor made the American team for the World Cross Country Championships in Belgium in 2001, finishing as the third American across the line.
Already married to Brad Taylor, a civil and environmental engineer for the city of Eugene, Ore., Eichner Taylor called it a day as far as competitive running was concerned at that point, still amazed at how far the sport had carried her.
"There was never a day where I didn't love it," she said.
-Steven L. Tietz
Running into Fame
Wauwatosa East's Clare Eichner Taylor was inducted into the UW Athletic Hall.
Others in the Class of 2009: Ron Dayne (football), Joe Panos (football), Robin Threatt (basketball), Thornton Kipper (baseball), Bill Reddan (soccer) and Wayne Esser (meritorious service)
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