Lanni Marchant reacts after finding out she’s running two events in Rio

Yesterday, Athletics Canada announced the team of runners heading to Rio to run for Canada. On that team is Canada’s best female marathon runner, Lanni Marchant who found out that she will be doubling in Rio running the 10,000m as well as the marathon.

The June controversy

Marchant’s story has been one of the most controversial ones in the running scene as of late. She had declared that the 10,000m would be her focus but when she hit the qualifying standard in the marathon, she made it known that she wanted to run both.

But early last month, she got word from Athletics Canada that she should not hold out too much hope for running the marathon in Brazil. The decision on whether or not she would be lining up with fellow Canadian Krista DuChene was not going to be an easy one. They worried that sending her to do both would put her marathon performance in jeopardy, and that the 10,000m was a safer bet.

RELATED: After a wait in limbo, Lanni Marchant finds out Rio 2016 fate

Getting the good news

Marchant trained not knowing if she would be running an August marathon until she got an email in the early hours of the morning yesterday confirming her spot in both races.

“It was exciting. I read it and it’s like it’s real now. I’m going to the Olympics,” she said on Monday evening. “That was at 3:00 a.m. this morning and I didn’t go back to bed after. I couldn’t. This has been a four year long dream.”

She says that the athletes knew they were getting the news early on Monday morning after the championships in Edmonton came to a close. A group of them tried to stay awake together until they got the message. That was unsuccessful but when Marchant woke up in the pre-dawn hours, she checked her messages prepared for any outcome. If she wasn’t named to run the marathon, she would appeal but either way, she didn’t want that to overshadow the excitement of getting to run the 10,000m.

“Regardless of what it said about doubling, I’m looking for an email that said I’m going to the Olympics period,” says Marchant. “I didn’t want that to get lost. [I wanted to] make sure I enjoyed being named to an Olympic team.”

Training for the unknown

In the nearly six weeks of limbo, Marchant had to show up to practice and train for an Olympic marathon — whether she would run it or not.

“It was tough, I’d be lying if I said I just went to training and it was fine,” she says adding that she did her best not to let the negative thoughts stick. Instead, she went through with the workouts because regardless of how tough it is to train for the unknown, not doing the work and winding up unprepared in Rio would have been worse.

She battled a couple weeks of sickness– likely partially related to the stress, she thinks. During that time, she backed off training to give herself time to recover while also hitting the necessary mileage. Now though, she is in good health and is confident in her ability to train and stay focused with less than a month to go before the Rio Games kick off.

RELATED: Marchant mimics Rio double in workout and crushes it

Getting Rio ready

“It was hitting the reset button,” says Marchant when speaking about yesterday’s news. Though this summer has started with a fair amount of stress, she adds that she feels backed by Athletics Canada and is ready to move forward. “I’m going there lining up for Canada and I’m going to have the support of my federation,” she says adding that running fans should feel proud of the dominant team of runners that are being sent to race in Brazil next month.

Marchant now has some time before the world will watch her double. That time in crucial in her training.

“I’m going to be focused,” she says. “And I’m excited.”