Stephanie Herbst-Lucke's return to the world of elite running after nearly two decades out of the sport came with the realization that she's not in Wisconsin anymore.

The former University of Wisconsin All-American, now 42 and married with children and living in Atlanta, was surrounded before last month's USA 15K Championships in Jacksonville by iPod-wearing runners who were younger and more experienced.

While waiting to check in, the inevitable happened.

"My God, you're Stephanie Herbst," one of the runners said, then turned to others in the room. "My God, she's a legend. I remember you when I was a little girl. What are you doing here?"

It was, and is, a good question. Why after giving up elite running to enter the business world, raise a family and live life on her own terms is she back looking to challenge for a spot in the Olympics? The answer sounds simple: "Yeah, I can run at the elite status again."

Today Herbst-Lucke will be in the 161-runner field —- one of 11 runners over 40 —-in the 2008 women's Olympic marathon trials in Boston. That she could be a threat to earn one of the three Olympic spots (a fourth runner will be the alternate) may be debatable. That she's back and belongs; well, there's no question that's the case.

She also admits, however, that it's been sort of scary.

"I am in Boston now and very nervous," she wrote in an e-mail Friday. "Some really good girls have showed up, and I think it will be tough to try to make the top 10, but God willing, I will do well. I still get recognized by the [U.S. Track and Field] folks. Thank God they are old. But otherwise I don't remember the last time I was this scared."

Herbst-Lucke, who grew up in Chaska, Minn., then starred at Wisconsin, was a fearless runner as a collegian. The Big Ten athlete of the year in 1985 and '86 won three individual NCAA championships (3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meters), set two NCAA records and won seven All-American awards (track and cross country).

At the same time, she disliked the stress of being an elite runner and team leader and eventually quit after her sophomore year to take a year off.

"It was almost like it got to the point I couldn't take another day of it," she said earlier this week at her north Atlanta home she shares with her husband, Jim, an Atlanta attorney, and their children Katie (12), Madeleine (10) and Daniel (6). "So I stepped away and tried to have a normal life."

She rejoined the team for her senior year and qualified for the 1988 Olympics in the 10,000 but didn't make the team. She had an offer to run for Nike, but it was during a time when Olympic-contending athletes couldn't be paid directly if they wanted to keep an amateur status (that's changed now), Instead, the money would have to go to a trust fund.

"I thought, who would go and run for Nike for a year and put it in [a] trust fund? I thought I'd have to be an idiot," she said. "I went to work [with IBM] instead."

Herbst-Lucke got immersed in her business career but took a brief stab at running again in 1998 after she timed herself at 33 minutes for a 10K, close to an Olympic qualifying time. But a series of injuries forced her to quit. "I gave it a shot. It didn't work out."

But two years ago, spurred on by a friend who was training for a marathon, Herbst-Lucke tried again. Her breakthrough was at the Philadelphia Distance Run (half-marathon) on Sept. 17, 2006. Her time of 76 minutes told her she could do this. A month later, despite "feeling like crap and that I'll never do this again," she was 22nd overall at the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:42, her qualifying time for the trials.

She says she has no regrets for stepping out of the sport for such a long time. "I wonder what if I gave it maybe five more years [after college], but I don't think I missed out on anything. There's so many other things to do in life. That's what I did."