Oregon State graduate Stephanie Casey will compete in trials on Sunday

Race walking has been a part of Stephanie Casey’s life as long as she can remember.

Her father, Jim Bean, was a race walker competitor and coach, so Casey was involved in the sport as soon as she was walking.

On Sunday, Casey, a 2007 Oregon State graduate from Salem, will compete in the women’s 20 kilometer walk at the Olympic trials in Eugene.

Most people in the United States probably know the regular track and field events and are aware of the marathon, but only those who follow the Olympic Games closely every four years even have a chance at a glimpse of race walking on television.

Even Casey admitted that she did not follow race walking at the higher levels.

Although Casey had an early start on the sport, she dropped it for running when she got to high school because it wasn’t the cool thing to do at that age, she said.

“It’s been a part of my life for so long,” Casey said. “It never seemed weird to me until I got older.”

So Casey ran track and cross country in high school and joined a running club while at OSU. She also participated in fun runs in the area.

She ran a marathon for the first time two years ago in Newport, but didn’t like the worn-out feeling she had after the run. Her father suggested that she take up race walking again to ease her way back into training for the runs.

“I liked it so much I never got back to running,” she said.

Later in 2006, she race walked the Portland and Seattle marathons. It wasn’t long before her father suggested that she go for the Olympic trials.

“He said that the next Olympic trials were in Eugene and said, ‘If you really started training, I think you can qualify for the trials,’ ” Casey said. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll give it a shot.’ ”

Casey didn’t have to look far for a coach and started work with her father. Training for race walking was quite a bit different than running events.

“It’s harder,” she said. “You’re not really part of a club. You’ve got to do a lot of workouts on your own. You’ve got to be a lot more self-motivated to make it work.”

The work paid off. Casey qualified and is seeded seventh going into the trials. Her best time is a 1:41:47.70.

She tapered off her workouts and has been resting up for the race. She quit her job two weeks ago because she is planning to move to Iowa the week after the trials to go to medical school at Des Moines University.

Making the Olympic team will be difficult. The trials race needs to be fast so the athletes can make the Olympic standards.

The race will be held at Autzen Stadium and contested on a one-kilometer loop on Leo Harris Parkway. The athletes will not be starting or finishing at Hayward Field because of the Eugene 08 Festival.

“That was the original plan, but they wouldn’t let us because of the festival, so they moved us over to Autzen,” Casey said.

If Casey does meet the Olympic standard and place in the trials, she’ll have to make her own change of plans to head to Beijing.

“I’ll have to work it out,” she said. “I think there’s a possibility of being able to still start medical school and take enough of the work with me. There’s also a possibility of deferring medical school for a year and starting a year later.”