Willoughby's Katie McGregor continues road racing surge with 10-mile title in Minnesota

Following a disappointing track season, McGregor is having the best road racing season of her stellar career

AP file photoKatie McGregor (here pictured in an earlier victorious race in Grand Rapids, Mich.) has picked up three national road running titles this season with her weekend victory at the Medtronic Twin Cities at Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- At 33, Willoughby native Katie McGregor is a lesson in perseverance. Following a disappointing track season, the veteran distance runner is having the best road racing season of her stellar career.

McGregor won her third national championship this year -- and seventh overall -- when she captured the U.S. women's 10-mile title Sunday in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn. She won the Medtronic Twin Cities 10-mile race in 54:21, finishing 16 seconds ahead of Renee Metivier Baillie, and earned $10,000.

Earlier this year, McGregor won national 15-kilometer and 25-kilometer road championships.

A former 10,000-meter track champion, she placed seventh at nationals in June.

"I didn't really have a good track season, but for some reason it's been going well on the road," she said in a phone interview. "If anything, it shows sometimes that, especially now that there are so many women running well in the U.S., it can be anybody's day. You can never afford to let up."

McGregor narrowly missed 10,000-meter qualifying berths for the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and has a dual focus for the 2012 Games in London. She will attempt to make the team at 10,000 meters and in the marathon. As part of her training, she will run in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 7.

"I want to give myself the best chance to make the next Olympic team," she said. "That's been my main goal my entire life and entire career. That's the ultimate focus. Short term is New York this year, and then trying to make the world championship team. Four years [between Olympics] goes by fast."

McGregor lives in St. Louis Park, Minn., and runs professionally for Team USA Minnesota. She was a two-time state champion at Willoughby South and a two-time national champ at Michigan.