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O�Neil will be looking for victory No. 8 By Don Hunt Deanna O�Neil hasn�t been completely healthy for about three years now, but she remains the woman to beat in Saturday�s Pear Blossom Run. The Canby runner has won seven of the past 10 events, including a record-breaking performance of 57:07 in 1995, and has been second three other times. She�s run the event 11 times. Recurring hamstring problems have curtailed her training � and thus her conditioning � in recent years. But even at 70 to 80 percent, O�Neil is superior to virtually every other runner in the field. "I�ve only been able to run about 45 miles a week, and I can�t do the hard interval work I used to do," O�Neil, 36, said. "It�s frustrating, but I like to run too much to give it up." O�Neil, who won last year in 1:00:32, has experimented with all kinds of treatment: additional stretching, physical therapy, ultrasound, anti-inflammatory drugs and, more recently, some visits to a chiropractor. And yet nothing seems to thoroughly limber up her hamstring muscles. "It�s an ongoing thing � it bothered me to sit on the floor as a kid," she says. "But until the last few years, I was able to stretch out and not have problems running." O�Neil heads to the starting line with three goals in mind: win the women�s event, run under an hour and hit the finish line ahead of her husband, Jeff. The latter objective might prove to be the toughest. Deanna beat her husband most of the time when she was 100 percent, but Jeff sped to a 58:31 clocking last year to finish 20th among the men and dust Deanna by just over two minutes. "There�s always a fight for the household yellow jersey," she says. Jeff O�Neil is also a top-notch golfer, playing to a 3-handicap. He�s a former runner-up at the Southern Oregon Golf Tournament. "There�s no competition between us in golf," Deanna says. "He could grab any two clubs out of his bag, play left-handed and still beat me." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.