Lewis soon moved to Raleigh, N.C., to train year-round with other Olympic aspirants. She ratcheted up her training, doing endless sit-ups, lunges and squats. Five days a week found her in the gym at 8 a.m., lifting weights for two hours or more.
"I couldn't walk for the first week," she said. "It hurt to sneeze. To laugh was painful. The [training] program was really intense. Hurtin' as I felt, I was living on faith alone and thinking, 'Things will work out.'
"Then I sprained a hamstring and had to sit out for four weeks."
Sidelined, she fought the fears of self-doubt.
"I was hurt, I'd quit my job and I had no money," she said. "I thought, 'Where am I? What am I doing here?'
"I'd go to the Baptist church, to pray and to cry."
Once the hamstring healed, Lewis injured her Achilles' tendon. She sought strength from the Bible, reciting passages such as Psalm 18 ("It is God who ... makes my feet like the feet of a deer").
Finally, in January 2007, she was fit enough to enter a local indoor meet in Chapel Hill. Borrowing a friend's uniform, she competed for the first time in four years and won a 60-meter race.
For Lewis, the victory was a godsend.
"Everything came back to me," she said.
More success followed, and by summer she was competing big-time at 100 meters: fifth place in the USA Championships, followed by a silver medal in the Pan Am Games. Nike quickly signed Lewis to a five-figure clothing contract. Other sponsors followed, including Young & Rubicam, the New York advertising agency for which she had worked.
Lewis' efforts had paid off. Literally.
'I was like, 'Wow' "
"I was like, 'Wow,' " she said. "No more hand-me-downs."
At the Olympic trials last month, she ran a personal best (10.97) in the 100 semifinals and placed seventh in the final. Though she failed to qualify in sprints, Lewis earned a berth on the relay team - and a place in the Olympic parade.
There, she said, she will stand on the track alongside Michael Phelps. Or LeBron James. Or Kobe Bryant. Or any big-name athlete who'll be a media magnet during the opening ceremony.
"I'm going to march beside someone who's sure to be on TV so I can be there, too," she said.
To those at her old job, Lewis is already a hero.
"There are posters of Mechelle on every floor of our agency," said Fernando Urruchua, her supervisor at Young & Rubicam. "She's our only Olympian, and we're very proud.
"Her leaving here was bittersweet, but you don't get in the way of someone who has that much fire. She said, 'The Olympics is my dream, and I'm going to go get it.' "
And afterward? Would Lewis return to the corporate world?
Come back or run on?
"We would accept her back any time, with open arms," Urruchua said.
That's one option, Lewis said.
"I really enjoyed what I did at that job, but ..."
A telling pause.
"All that has happened in the past few years tells me to keep running, maybe to 2012, until I can't go anymore," she said. "Then I'd like to work with underprivileged kids and help them reach their potential. I want to be the avenue by which they get exposed to the world.
"If what I've done is possible, then all things are possible."
mike.klingaman@baltsun.com
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