By Jon Tuxworth
Missing out on the Olympics through injury capped off a "pretty crappy last year" for Emily Brichacek.
But while the Canberra 5000-metre runner will take a break from the sport to regain her love of competing, she isn't ready to give up the fight.
Emily Brichacek will take a break from running after missing Olympic selection. Credit: Rohan Thomson
A stress reaction near her shin forced the 26-year-old to withdraw from last August's world championships at the 11th hour. It gave her Olympic selection rivals a big head start she found too difficult to reel in.
Brichacek has recently completed a psychology degree but even with that know-how is mentally struggling to deal with her latest disappointment.
"It has been a pretty crappy last year, fighting to get back and not quite having enough time to get the fitness needed," she said.
"I have nothing planned running wise, I need a break.
"I've got no desire and no plans to race in the near future, I've finished my honours and now I can look for a job and get more of life happening, and come back when I'm ready.
"I haven't really enjoyed it lately and you can only do it for so long, I needed to refresh otherwise I'll burn out."
Brichacek made a last-ditch attempt at the Australian Institute of Sport over the weekend to prove herself to selectors, but fell short of the personal best required to stake a realistic claim.
"Unfortunately it didn't go very well, I was basically out there time trialling," she said.
"Ideally it would be great to be in Europe with the warmth and the racing environment, where the competitive vibes kick in.
"I hadn't raced competitively since July [last year] so it was a tough ask, but I had to give it a go.
"At the end of the race I was like 'screw this'. I put all this effort in and twice now it's come crumbling down at the last moment.
"Despite that I am enjoying going out for easy runs, I love running.
"I'll chill out for a while, get the love for racing back and as soon as I get a nice [training] block together it will happen.
"I know if I can get the training blocks done I can get those times which is the frustrating thing for me."
Brichacek knows she has to get her body stronger to cope with the rigours of her sport at the top level.
She believes her best racing is still ahead of her and after the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, will target the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"There's definitely [plenty of time] especially in this kind of sport and everyone who qualified [for Olympics] is older than me," she said.
"One girl in the British team is 42, I just need to get the kilometres in my legs to prevent future injuries.
"The best strategy with dealing with it is getting back to normal life, because you can get so caught up in athletics and lose perspective.
"You need those mental refreshes, the disappointments are pretty big when they come."