Maia Ramsden is just a smidgen away from an Olympic qualifying time and has successfully defended her NCAA 1500m title in the US last weekend. Photo: AFP / Nur Photo
"It used to be two Weet-bix and a banana with milk. But since coming to school (in the US), you can't get Weet-bix here. So now it's avocado on toast, usually with an egg."
Kiwi athlete Maia Ramsden is talking about her pre-race meal, and the excitement in her voice is apparent down the phone during a chat with First Up.
She's riding high, having just defended her 1500m title at the NCAA Championships last weekend in Eugene, Oregon.
She had plans to celebrate the win, but exhaustion got the better of her.
"My family was here, so we went out for dinner, which was super lovely. And then I got back to our hotel and I lay down, and didn't have the energy to get out of bed."
Ramsden's parents and sister travelled all the way from Wellington to cheer her on, while her aunt joined them from Brisbane.
"It was just the best thing ever, I couldn't have asked for a better support crew."
Last month Ramsden was just eight-one hundredths of a second outside the Paris Olympic qualifying mark. She's now got her sights set on qualifying this weekend at an event in Vancouver.
"I'm just taking it one race at a time. There's other ways to get there on points and stuff as well, so I'm just looking to execute a good race this weekend and then we'll kind of assess where that puts me."
Kids' events laid career foundation
The 22-year-old recently graduated from Harvard University, after studying history and literature. It's a world away from her introduction to running back in Wellington, where she competed in the Weet-Bix triathlon at age five.
"I think my parents just threw me and my little brother into them. It really is what started me on this path, because I moved from Wellington to Solomon Islands and then I kept doing triathlon there, and then eventually I realised I really didn't like swimming."
Foreign countries are familiar to Ramsden who was born in New York.
Her family have moved around due to work commitments. She started her schooling in Wellington, then hopped around the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Ethiopia, before heading to Boston for university.
With the likes of Kimberly May, who finished runner up in the NCAA's 1500m, along with Paris-bound Geordie Beamish and Sam Tanner impressing on the track, Ramsden said the future of New Zealand running looked bright.
"We obviously have such a rich history of of 'Milers' at home, and yeah, just being able to be in the NCAA with Kim has been so fun.
"With all of us being over here, everyone makes an effort when we're in the same place or going to the same meets to just catch up.
"I really appreciate that, 'cause I didn't go to secondary school at home, but I had this community of runners mostly who I've known and grown up running with over the years. To be able to have that community here is really important to me."
And while Weet-bix or avocado on toast are the go to before a race, Ramsden said she always ate the same things after competing. Burgers.
"I always get a burger. I'm just like, I need some iron. Something big and filling."
She's imagining Olympic qualification, and eating burgers in Paris next month.
"That would be the dream! And some real fries, some actual French fries instead of chips," she said with a laugh.
