In her 24 years, Jordan Hasay has never been injured. The phenomenon that competed at the Olympic Trials as a junior in high school, won two NCAA titles while at Oregon, and made the 2013 U.S. World Championship team had never suffered the pain of an injury until this year. 

“I am determined to use these challenges to make me a better athlete and I hope anyone else out there who has struggled or is struggling with an injury will be able to find inspiration through my story,” Hasay wrote in her blog announcing that she would be pulling out of the USATF Outdoor Championships last June.

Five months later, Hasay has faced the challenge and will return to the track at the Pacific 10000m Pursuit on Sunday night in Sacramento, Calif. 

The race will be paced with the goal of running the Olympic qualifying standard of 32:15. Hasay holds the fastest personal best in the field at 31:39 but will face a familiar foe in Olympian Kim Conley, who beat Hasay at the line in the 2014 national championship on the same track. 

Although Hasay has not run a race since the 5K at the Portland Track Festival in June, the Nike Oregon Project athlete is coming into Sunday’s competition and the Olympic year with a new perspective. 

“The Olympic year is always an exciting time and I am really looking forward to the year,” Hasay told FloTrack. “No matter what year it is, I always try to focus on giving 100 percent and becoming a little better each and every day.” 

“I plan to continue to focus on that process and continue to learn from my mistakes. I ultimately think the injury this past year has made me better able to handle adversity which is something that translates itself towards becoming a better athlete,” she said.

The injury was a common distance runner ailment known as plantar fasciitis, inflammation of the plantar fascia, which runs across the bottom of the foot. Hasay began feeling symptoms of the injury in April, just two months before the USATF Outdoor Championships when she planned on contending for a spot on the U.S. team headed to the World Championships in Beijing. 

“It is a tough injury as once it comes on it's hard to get it to go away,” she said. “It came about in April and so it was a time crunch towards trying to be smart but also trying to be ready for USAs.” 

“Unfortunately there just wasn't enough time for it to completely heal from April to June which is why I had to pull out of nationals,” Hasay said. 

Hasay had to watch her Nike Oregon Project teammates compete in Eugene, Oregon without her. Nearly all of them were able to make the national team, notably Galen Rupp who won the 10K and placed third in the 5K. Shannon Rowbury finished second in the 1500m, and Matt Centrowitz won his 1500m race. 

Determined to return healthy, Hasay took a full month off after the championships, the most time she had ever taken off in her career. She cross-trained in the pool to maintain a decent aerobic fitness but when she returned to running, she had, as she says, “Bambi legs,” where she had to work to bring back her muscle memory to run. 

Starting at just 800m of running per day, Hasay and her coach Alberto Salazar worked on a gradual build-up throughout the fall. She reached full mileage around mid-September and has been doing three months worth of harder workouts. 

When asked what got her through the tough periods of regaining fitness, Hasay credits her faith, coaches and family support. 

“My faith has always been a huge part of my life and my running so I just really tried to remain confident that it was all in God's hands and things would work out for a reason,” Hasay said. 

“Through the process I also grew closer to my coaches, physical therapists and massage therapists as I really relied on them for treatment and emotional support. Then of course my family! I am very thankful to have such a strong support team,” she added. 

This race will be Hasay’s first 10K since racing Conley at the 2014 USATF Outdoor Championships at Hornet Stadium. The same stadium lights that brought Conley and Hasay a 1-2 finish at USAs will light up for the field Sunday night. 

Hasay is ready with one goal in mind. 

“The race will be set up to try to run the Olympic standard of 32:15. That will be my goal,” she said.