It's been over three weeks since the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials and surprise fourth place finisher Trent Briney is gingerly getting back to training. Although pleased with the way his body reacted to his 2:12:35 breakthrough run on the streets of Birmingham, the new Hansons- Brooks/Team USA Michigan star took two weeks "completely off" and is taking another couple to progressively build back to serious training.

Briney's cautious return to running is typical for a runner coming back from a marathon. In most other aspects, however, Briney's reality is unique. The Colorado native left the Trials with a mixed bag of accomplishments, objectives, and emotions and faces a not-exactly-clear-cut future.

Briney, 25, flew back to Michigan the proud owner of a sparkling new marathon PR and as the most exciting new hope for American marathoning to spring from the event. Yet, he also finished in the heartbreak position of any Olympic Trials - fourth - close but no uniform nor guaranteed spot on the Olympic team. In addition, Briney, who began his marathon career reluctantly, is still driven to attain the goals he has for himself on the track.

With all that on his plate - plus the possibility that a spot on the Athens starting line could open up if Alan Culpepper, Meb Keflezighi or Dan Browne opts for another event or gets injured - Briney is still trying to keep things simple.

"My plans are to try to get a really good 10K in at the April 30th Stanford race and try to, obviously, make the Trials in the 10K and put myself in a position to compete really strongly there," Briney explained.

"Obviously, if a certain phone call comes and puts me in a position that I need to get ready for the Olympics, I'll be very happy with that. Until then, it's just wake up every day and try to become a better runner. I've just got to do what any runner would do - get up, take care of the body and try to be fit."

Indeed, Briney seems quietly excited - armed with the confidence that comes from running 2:12 - to return to his original goal of cracking 29 minutes for 10,000 meters on the track.

"I'm not like 'Oh man, now I have to run a 10K because I don't have another choice.' It's not like that," Briney said. "It's more of 'Okay, now I'm going to focus on the 10K for this segment of my training.' Given how things went in the marathon for me, hopefully that will pan out to a much better 10K. I'll be able to be performing in a way that I've believed in the past I could."

Briney's 10K PR has been stuck at 29:13 for longer than he'd prefer. Briney notched that mark in 2001 as a senior at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs during the season that would see him also take second at the NCAA Division II 10,000m Championship. While he credits his PR run as an indicator that he had a future as a top post-collegiate runner, he's been frustrated in his attempts to break through the 29 minute barrier since then.

"I had bad races in the two opportunities I had to run a 10K the last two years," Briney offered. "One year I was sick and one year I don't know what happened, it just wasn't my day. The combination of things that make you a fast runner on a certain day just wasn't there for me."

That he finished the 2003 track season without a 2004 Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10,000 prompted the Hansons-Brooks coaches Keith and Kevin Hanson to urge Briney toward the marathon last fall. Briney, who didn't like the idea of giving up on the original goal, was left to ponder staying with Hansons, but as a marathoner, or perhaps moving on as a 10K runner.

"I was weighing whether this was the right place for my 10K training," he explained "That's probably the best way to put that. Keith and Kevin are wonderful, but regardless of whether somebody's wonderful and if their training program works in general, you have to weigh how it works for you."

The Birmingham breakthrough has left Briney more comfortable with his relationship to the longer race, but still determined to crack the 10K.

"I still have this 10K goal and I'm never going to let myself off the hook. I will finally run under 29 minutes, I know that now."

Ironically though, his Trials success resurrected the stay-or-go question, but from the point of view of a 2:12 guy with new opportunities, rather than a 29-something guy trying to find his niche. Briney acknowledges that he has pondered the possibilities that might come from getting an agent, hooking up with a shoe company or changing training venues.

"It was like, 'Well, what other opportunities are out there?'" he explained. "I want to understand what's out there before I make a decision. I don't know what's out there and there may be some really good options."

"Ultimately it came down to: I want to run 2:10 and I believe I can do that here. I don't know, if I make a change, if I can. I decided to stay here because my next goal, realistically, I can see it happening. I almost know I can do it if I stay. If I leave I don't know. It was an easy decision once I realized that."

Amid all the decisions and excitement of Briney's last few weeks is a deeper satisfaction he feels from his accomplishment.

"The biggest thing that I think I've done is that people believe things now, in their own lives. I think that's pretty cool," Briney said. "Whatever people are fighting for or shooting for - it's one more thing that says: It can happen! I think it's neat because it shows how much human potential is in us. To me, that's the meaningful part of it - in a way I kind of helped to prove that."

And a 29-something college guy having run 2:12 and finishing fourth at the Olympic Marathon Trials may prove invaluable to American distance running by keeping runners in the sport that, too often, drift away for fear they're tilting at windmills if they continue.

The new poster-boy for the aspiring crowd will begin his campaign for a new 10,000 meter PR and a spot on the line at the Track Trials with a tune-up race at the Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago on March 28. He plans to follow that up by running the Papa John's 10 Miler, the USA Championship, on April 10, before toeing the line at Stanford.

And no matter the results on the oval, Briney has that newly calibrated marathon goal to shoot for too.

Who knows, his phone might also ring with a call for Athens.

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