Katie Mackey: Same runner, new name...

Courtesy of media partner Flotrack, here's a video interview with Katie Mackey (left/photo by Paul Merca), the University of Washington alum who has now moved to Portland to train under Sean Coster of Run Portland, after working with Husky coach Greg Metcalf through all four years at the UW, and her first pro season running for Bothell-based Brooks.

If the name doesn't quite ring a bell to casual track fans in the state of Washington, it's because you knew her as Katie Follett, the two time Pac-10 1500 meter champion, and key member of the Huskies' 2008 national championship cross country team, before getting married on New Year's Eve.

In this video, she talks about what she learned from her first full year running as a professional, and about how she's been accepted into the Portland running community after making the move from Seattle.

The former Katie Follett made me look like a genius four years ago when I worked for FOX Sports Net on its telecast of the Pac-10 track & field championships from Tempe, when she beat favored Lauren Centrowitz of Stanford and Nicole Blood of Oregon, after I told the graphics coordinator on the show to build a "hero" graphic of her to bank, since they had pre-built graphics of Blood & Centrowitz.

Mackey is entered in the 1500 at this weekend's USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the top two finishers who have the necessary qualifying standards will represent the USA at the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

The current list of accepted entries is available here.