Julia Lucas writes about losing a shoe contract...

Hammer thrower Martin Bingisser, who is a good friend of the mighty paulmerca.blogspot.com or "the big blower" recently tweeted a link to this blog written by Portland pro runners Ian Dobson and Julia Lucas (left/photo by Paul Merca).

I've gotten to know both of them, as I traveled with them on USA junior national cross country teams while they were undergrads at Stanford and North Carolina State, respectively.

Julia was a member of the 2003 world junior cross country team, along with Amy Hastings, Angela Homan, Clara Horowitz (now Peterson), Laura Hodgson, and Rebecca Walter, that I still consider--hands down--the best group of people I've ever traveled with on any of the national teams I've been a part of. Collectively, they were a joy to be around with in Lausanne, Switzerland!

Both Ian, who was a 2008 Olympian in the 5000, and Julia, are going through a bit of a bump in the road, as their contracts with adidas (Ian) and Reebok (Julia) were not renewed after the 2009 season.

Julia writes about the reality of losing a pro track & field athlete's major source of income, and how they are coping with it.

Click here to read Julia's blog entry!