SE: Galvan Leaning on K-State Running Experience in Hunt for Olympics
Oct 01, 2019 | Track & Field, Cross Country, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Laura Galvan has her eyes set on Tokyo, Japan, home of the 2020 Olympics. A year ago, the former K-State standout distance runner was putting in casual miles in her free time.
She definitely was not training for anything like this.
How Galvan, who competed for K-State cross country/track and field from 2011-15, went from a retired competitive runner working in the food science industry to an Olympic hopeful started with a feeling she got when she visited her family in Mexico.
"Just seeing my family again, I was, like, 'OK, I probably should just go back and (compete),'" she said. "I kept running, and I would do 10 miles, 15 miles, and I just felt really, really good."
After graduating with a food science degree from K-State, Galvan spent one more year in Manhattan at a restaurant in K-State's Union, before finding a job in her field in Chicago, Illinois. After a year there, she moved to Seattle to live with her sister and work as a quality specialist.
Galvan still continued running and feeling good about her pace. In December, her longing to compete again increased on a trip home. So, she said she eventually thought: Why not try one last time?
"This just takes lots of discipline and so many things…you have to be 110 percent all the time, resting, taking care of your body," she said. "It's just so demanding that I thought was ready to do it again, just like I did when I was at Kansas State, and enjoy it one more time."
Galvan's enjoyed it more than she ever imagined.
Since she moved back to Mexico and started training in January, she's picked up three gold medals this season in the 5,000-meter run, highlighted by a win at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in August. Her time of 15:35.47 was about 25 seconds off the Olympic standard.
"Finally, I see this process and results showing up, and that's really exciting because, as an athlete after all these years, you want to see that. It's hard when you don't see that after so many years of doing it, and now it's finally happening," she said. "I think it's because everything has lined up now. It's really exciting because all of it was worth it. It is a feeling of satisfaction. I've been working for this for so many years. I'm so excited and thrilled to see what the next season is going to be about.
"The Olympics is what every athlete dreams of."
To be honest, however, Galvan said she never had this in mind when she started training again. At least, not this early. Her win in Peru, which followed first-place runs at the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas in March and the Mexican Championships in June, moved up her timetable of goals.
"I was very surprised," she said of this year's performances. "I thought I was not going to achieve at this level until like a year from now. I was really surprised by how it's went. This season has literally been like a line, just going up and going up. Every race has been better and better. It's really crazy. It's almost too perfect to be true."
Except, it is true. When pushed for a reason for her success, Galvan did not hesitate to point the source.
"A huge, huge thing that happened that's impacted me now, I think, is the time I spent at Kansas State, training with the team and training at the Division I level, the best that there is over there," she said. "The training, the coaches, everything, I think it changed my mind from running at a juvenile level and it transformed me all those years to train like an elite runner."
Galvan's career at K-State was decorated, to say the least.
She made the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2012 and 2014, one of seven Wildcat women ever to qualify multiple times. She also picked up three top-15 finishes at the Big 12 Cross Country Championship, a feat only K-State Athletics Hall of Fame member Amy Mortimer has matched.
K-State, Galvan said, is more than a place she learned to train at a high level, too.
"Kansas State is family to me. I'll always be grateful for everything. It was just like a family. The word itself explains so many people who were so helpful. My best friends forever I made there. The teachers who always were really nice and helpful to us when we were competing," she said. "So many things stand out. It is such a feeling that I get when I hear Kansas State. I still follow their pages on Instagram and I'm constantly looking at (their) news. When I saw they put purple on the track, I was, like, 'How pretty!' Purple was actually my favorite color. I'm just really happy I got to be there at Kansas State. It's just been the best experience that I've ever had.
"Kansas State is the place. I think if I wouldn't have had that experience, I don't know if this would be possible."
Laura Galvan has her eyes set on Tokyo, Japan, home of the 2020 Olympics. A year ago, the former K-State standout distance runner was putting in casual miles in her free time.
She definitely was not training for anything like this.
How Galvan, who competed for K-State cross country/track and field from 2011-15, went from a retired competitive runner working in the food science industry to an Olympic hopeful started with a feeling she got when she visited her family in Mexico.
"Just seeing my family again, I was, like, 'OK, I probably should just go back and (compete),'" she said. "I kept running, and I would do 10 miles, 15 miles, and I just felt really, really good."
After graduating with a food science degree from K-State, Galvan spent one more year in Manhattan at a restaurant in K-State's Union, before finding a job in her field in Chicago, Illinois. After a year there, she moved to Seattle to live with her sister and work as a quality specialist.
Galvan still continued running and feeling good about her pace. In December, her longing to compete again increased on a trip home. So, she said she eventually thought: Why not try one last time?
"This just takes lots of discipline and so many things…you have to be 110 percent all the time, resting, taking care of your body," she said. "It's just so demanding that I thought was ready to do it again, just like I did when I was at Kansas State, and enjoy it one more time."
Galvan's enjoyed it more than she ever imagined.
Since she moved back to Mexico and started training in January, she's picked up three gold medals this season in the 5,000-meter run, highlighted by a win at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, in August. Her time of 15:35.47 was about 25 seconds off the Olympic standard.
"Finally, I see this process and results showing up, and that's really exciting because, as an athlete after all these years, you want to see that. It's hard when you don't see that after so many years of doing it, and now it's finally happening," she said. "I think it's because everything has lined up now. It's really exciting because all of it was worth it. It is a feeling of satisfaction. I've been working for this for so many years. I'm so excited and thrilled to see what the next season is going to be about.
"The Olympics is what every athlete dreams of."
To be honest, however, Galvan said she never had this in mind when she started training again. At least, not this early. Her win in Peru, which followed first-place runs at the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas in March and the Mexican Championships in June, moved up her timetable of goals.
"I was very surprised," she said of this year's performances. "I thought I was not going to achieve at this level until like a year from now. I was really surprised by how it's went. This season has literally been like a line, just going up and going up. Every race has been better and better. It's really crazy. It's almost too perfect to be true."
Except, it is true. When pushed for a reason for her success, Galvan did not hesitate to point the source.
"A huge, huge thing that happened that's impacted me now, I think, is the time I spent at Kansas State, training with the team and training at the Division I level, the best that there is over there," she said. "The training, the coaches, everything, I think it changed my mind from running at a juvenile level and it transformed me all those years to train like an elite runner."
Galvan's career at K-State was decorated, to say the least.
She made the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2012 and 2014, one of seven Wildcat women ever to qualify multiple times. She also picked up three top-15 finishes at the Big 12 Cross Country Championship, a feat only K-State Athletics Hall of Fame member Amy Mortimer has matched.
K-State, Galvan said, is more than a place she learned to train at a high level, too.
"Kansas State is family to me. I'll always be grateful for everything. It was just like a family. The word itself explains so many people who were so helpful. My best friends forever I made there. The teachers who always were really nice and helpful to us when we were competing," she said. "So many things stand out. It is such a feeling that I get when I hear Kansas State. I still follow their pages on Instagram and I'm constantly looking at (their) news. When I saw they put purple on the track, I was, like, 'How pretty!' Purple was actually my favorite color. I'm just really happy I got to be there at Kansas State. It's just been the best experience that I've ever had.
"Kansas State is the place. I think if I wouldn't have had that experience, I don't know if this would be possible."
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