Mechelle Lewis had it all: a dream job on Madison Avenue, a bright future and a social life filled with happy hours.
She left to chase her dream - a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
"My goal was to walk in the parade at the opening ceremony," said Lewis, 27, a sprinter raised in Fort Washington. Mission accomplished. In June, Lewis qualified for the 400-meter relay team in Beijing next month.
The comeback proved daunting. In 2006, Lewis left a promising advertising career in New York to train full time for the Games. It wasn't easy, swapping one fast-track life for another. A one-time All-American at the University of South Carolina, Lewis had not raced at all since 2003.
"For three years, my exercise had consisted mostly of hailing cabs and running after trains," the former account executive said.
She hired a fitness coach who took one look and shook his head.
"Come back after you've had it," he said.
"Had what?" Lewis asked.
"The baby."
"I'm not pregnant, just fat," she said.
She was out of shape and, since quitting her job, strapped for cash. For months, she slept on the floor of a friend's apartment and ate bowls of rice to stretch her budget.
Her early workouts took place in a public park in New York, where Lewis shared the track with skateboarders, dog walkers and women pushing baby strollers.
"It was an obstacle course," she said. "I literally ran into people on more than one occasion.
"One man liked to walk around the track while smoking a cigar. I got, like, really upset and told him it was inappropriate. He just walked off."
Friends witnessed her struggles and shook their heads. At Oxon Hill High in Prince George's County, Lewis had left her mark: homecoming queen, senior class vice president and star athlete. She had set a record in winning the 55-meter dash at the 1998 state Class 4A meet at the Baltimore Armory. But injuries had nagged her in college, and her return to track seemed the stuff of dreams.
"I looked at 'Shell and said, 'Do you know what you're getting back into?' " said her twin, Mikisha Freeman, of Orangeburg, S.C. "People thought she was crazy for leaving her job. I mean, she had her master's degree.
"Everyone had their doubts. But all 'Shell would say was, 'I can't get track out of my mind.' "
Full-time training
