{"id":113028,"date":"2024-04-14T12:10:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T16:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/runningmagazine.ca\/?p=113028"},"modified":"2024-04-14T15:09:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T19:09:23","slug":"khamica-bingham-forbes-run-your-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runningmagazine.ca\/run-your-way\/khamica-bingham-forbes-run-your-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamica Bingham Forbes: Run Your Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Representing Canada in the Olympics for the 100m sprint isn\u2019t easy. But for Khamica Bingham Forbes,\u00a0<\/strong>it feels like she was born to do this, and she has. In fact, she\u2019s done it twice in Rio and Tokyo<\/a>, and is now looking at Paris 2024 as her third chance to make the Olympic team. Since she began her professional career as a junior back in 2010, she\u2019s collected an impressive number of medals and trophies, most recently, her third national championship title in the 100 metres, in 2023<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Khamica
Khamica Bingham Forbes. Photo: Sean Burges\/Mundo Sports Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At first, the idea of training for a third Olympic team in the 100m sprint while holding a new job as a coach at Brown University (and moving to Providence, R.I., and setting up a home base there) might sound like an impossible combination. It’s just too much. But for Forbes, it actually feels like just the right amount of busy. Here, the New Balance athlete is talking about juggling work and training, the importance of the mental game, what athletes <\/span>don’t<\/span><\/i> get asked about often enough, and leaning into an identity that contains multitudes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Combining work and training in an Olympic year<\/b><\/h2>\n

Since moving to Providence in November 2022, Forbes has adapted to the cold. (She spent the five years prior in Louisiana at LSU, so she had been dodging winter for a while.) She’s finally used to it, and is now working as the operations co-ordinator for the track and field program at Brown\u2014a seemingly wild choice in an Olympic year, but for Forbes, it’s all upside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Khamica
Khamica Bingham Forbes. Photo: Sean Burges\/Mundo Sports Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Now, as long as I have my laptop, I can get work done everywhere,” she says. “For me, having something else beside always just training is good. It keeps my mind on something else. And organization is a big thing for me. If I can utilize my organizational skills in any kind of way, and also be able to start to build out what that transition will look like for me after my running career ends\u2014because I’m not going to run forever\u2014that’s ideal. The more productive I am, the better, honestly.”<\/span><\/p>\n

She learned that the hard way: “Back in 2016, I actually took a year off school, because I wanted to focus on making the Olympic team, but I was so unproductive and my mind was all over the place,” she recalls. “The next year, as soon as I enrolled back into school, that’s when I had that balance again. For me, I like to be able to juggle a few things.”<\/span><\/p>\n

You have to love a woman who loves a well-organized Excel spreadsheet, and who can also sprint 100 metres in just over 11 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Philip Osei: Run Your Way<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n