CHICAGO, Ill. - On Sunday morning Lisa Uhl will make her debut in the marathon, toeing the line at Grant Park alongside Boston Marathon record-holder Rita Jeptoo, Florence Kiplagat, and a pack of other top females in the event. After over a year of setbacks and frustration, it is a race that the 2012 Olympian has embraced by letting go.

In 2012 Uhl made her mark on the world scene with a 13th-place finish in the 10k final at the London Olympics, posting a personal best time of 31:12. Under the direction of coach Jerry Schumacher with training partners Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan, Uhl seemed to have the perfect set-up for the most optimal training situation. But the Iowa native missed her hometown and decided to move back to Des Moines in late 2012 and return to her Iowa State coach Corey Ihmels.

Despite the comfort level of being back in her hometown, the past year has been a roller coaster of injuries, sickness, inconsistent training, and frustration.

“I’ve just spent the last year and a half kind of struggling with fatigue,” Uhl said. “It’s been a lot of training off of ‘feel’ versus ‘this is what’s on paper, this is what I’m going to do today,’ but I’ve responded really well to that.”

In 2013 Uhl worked as a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater, where she racked up three NCAA titles during her career, but in June of 2013, Ihmels accepted the head coach position at Boise State. Uhl recalls that she was disappointed when she heard the news that her coach was leaving, but happy for the great opportunity presented to him. For Ihmels there was never a question of commitment to his athlete.

“We sat down after USAs right after he had taken the job and he said, ‘I’m 110 percent invested in you still I want you to know that,’ and I said, ‘Good because you’re not getting rid of me,” Uhl recalls with a smile.

They decided to continue their coach-athlete relationship from afar with Ihmels sending her workouts and checking in over the phone periodically throughout the week. Uhl also travels out to Boise for one-on-one time with Ihmels a couple times throughout the year, and together they’ve been able to come up with a balance.

2014 started with disappointment as Uhl strained her calf before the Houston Half Marathon and was forced to withdraw. In February she attempted a road 10k in Puerto Rico that ended in a disappointing mark and complete exhaustion. Ihmels and Uhl decided to take a step back from running in the spring to focus on getting mentally and physically ready for her ultimate goal of running the marathon. The training block started in June and includes less weekly mileage (90-100 miles a week) with longer workouts and a focus on balance and perspective.

“The hardest part of committing to it (the marathon), was accepting the fact that it wasn’t going to be originally what I thought it was going to be,” Uhl said. “I had this idea that I was going to break 2:30, be in that 2:27ish range and be America’s next great marathoner.”

Part of finding the right balance resulted in Uhl becoming more involved in the high school running community. She hosts a three-day camp aimed at educating young runners and uniting them in the Iowa running culture. As a high school runner, Uhl had never won a state title and was not highly recruited for college. Her progression throughout her career resonates with young runners who grew up in similar situations. The first camp was this past July and she has every intention to continue the tradition.

“A lot of kids in small-town Iowa don’t really get the experience or know that there are other people out there that enjoy running as much as they do and appreciate that culture,” Uhl said. “They don’t know that there’s a whole culture out there that they can connect to.”

“It’s so close to my heart because it really is where I’m from and my roots.”

Uhl’s shift to the marathon reflects her ultimate goal of making her second Olympic team in 2016, an aim that she felt was achievable through the inspiration that the event gave her.

“I realized that I had to have perspective and once I accepted that, I started to think, ‘well what inspires me?”

“What inspires me right now? What gets me motivated for training and competing again? And I let go of the embarrassment and I realized that’s what I want to do.”

On Sunday, Uhl will toe the line and take her first steps in an unknown event, shooting for anything below the Olympic ‘A’ Standard of 2:37. It’s a conservative goal for the Olympian, but one that will be the first step in achieving balance through inspiration in the sport that gave her so many opportunities.

“I think I’ve done what I can do in this training cycle, I think I’m ready to take a step forward, I think I’m ready to really experience the marathon and figure out what it’s about.”