If dedication is measured by the lengths an athlete goes just to practice, Brittany Marshall has the dedication of an Olympian.

The figure skater entertains Olympic ambitions in the back of her mind, and her dedication is evident by splitting five practices weekly between her hometown of Milton and Birmingham, Ala., where her ice-dance partner, Ashley Deavers, lives.

"It's an all-or-nothing sport," said Marshall, 17, whose online schooling allows such travel. "I've been blessed with a family who's helped me keep my dream going."

Deavers, 23, drives the 160 or so miles to Milton on Sunday afternoons and stays at the Marshall home for the pair's practices at The Cooler in Alpharetta on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The two then stay with the Deavers family while practicing at the Pelham Civic Center near Birmingham on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, before Marshall's mom, Robyn, picks her up on Friday afternoons.

"It's only painful when I have to drive twice in a week," Robyn Marshall said. "But when we see how happy Brittany is out there on the ice, it's all worth it."

In ice-dancing circles, a partner in Birmingham is considered just down the road. Before Marshall and Deavers hooked up last November, Marshall had networked nationwide to find a partner, trying out one from Texas and going to Michigan to skate with another.

"Birmingham is right around the corner, as far as figure skating goes," Marshall's father, Richard, said. "It's hard to find someone of the same ability level, someone you look good together with, who's the same height, etc."

Like the miles, the cost of pairs ice dancing adds up fast. In addition to costs for ice time at The Cooler, there are the hundreds of dollars for skates and the $1,500 to $3,000 for four competition dresses each year. The pair's coach at The Cooler, Graham Payne of Roswell, costs $1,000 a month. Likewise, their choreographer in Birmingham, Heather Mumper, commands $64 per hour.

To help defray costs footed largely by their parents, Marshall works part time at The Cooler, and Deavers coaches some.

Yet the estimated tens of thousands each is on course to spend annually seems worth it, considering how much Marshall improved in five years of individual figure skating before beginning in pairs dancing two years ago.

Despite two ankle surgeries and another on her knee, Marshall won one individual competition in Michigan and was fourth among 15 competitors at another in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Marshall and Deavers skated exhibitions at The Cooler in March and June, the latter of which included invaluable private critiquing by Olympic judges afterward.

Next up are the Ice Dance Championships in Lake Placid in August, then sectionals in Boston in November, where Marshall and Deavers hope to qualify for nationals in Cleveland, Ohio, in January.

"Nationals is definitely doable," Deavers said. "We're going to have to work [very hard] to get there, though."

Marshall watches skating on television whenever possible and spends hours on the Internet researching the sport. Still relatively new to it, she's focused more immediately on jumping from the junior scene to the national and international stage.

Like all skaters, she dreams of some day competing in the Olympics.

"It's on every figure skater's mind," Marshall said. "Right now, we're trying to do the little things to take the next step.

"For now, I'd like to make it to nationals and compete well, but [the Olympics] aren't out of the question," she said.