PORTLAND, Ore. -- It seemed an unlikely venue for Kara Goucher's press toward Beijing.

On a cloudy and cool spring night in Portland, after a high school meet, Goucher took to the track at Lewis & Clark College for a specially arranged 10,000-meter run.

The goal was the Olympic automatic qualifying standard time of 31:45.

With a crowd of about 600 onlookers, some of whom didn't understand exactly why one of the United State's elite was running that night, Goucher raised an arm in victory as she crossed the finish line at 31:26.48.

Then she hugged her husband, fellow runner Adam Goucher, as her fellow racers trickled in well behind.

The Gouchers are on the final stretch of a race toward the U.S. Olympic Trials and a place in Beijing. They are part of Nike's Oregon Project, an elite team of distance runners under the guidance of three-time New York City Marathon winner Alberto Salazar.

Kara Goucher is considered one of the top women in the 10,000. She won the bronze at the world championships last August, becoming the first American woman to win a medal in the event.

A top-three finish at the U.S. Olympic trials and the "A" standard are needed to secure a spot on the Olympic team. The trials are set for June 27-July 6 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

Goucher plans to run Sunday at Hayward in the 5,000 at the Prefontaine Classic. Among those entered is Ethiopian Meseret Defar, who will attempt to break her world 5,000 mark.

Defar, 24, broke her own world record with a time of 14 minutes, 16.63 seconds June 15 in Oslo, Norway. She won the gold medal in the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"It will be interesting because Defar is attempting a world record -- so it will probably be like two races," Goucher joked.

In the race at Lewis & Clark, Goucher said she felt no ill-effects of minor knee surgery she had in December. The only surprise she had was seeing Lynn Jennings, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist in the 10,000, who was in the crowd and cheering her on.

Her husband says Goucher is "strong. Hands down, the best shape of her life. So strong, and ready to go. It's going to be a great year."

Adam Goucher, a two-time U.S. outdoor champion in the 5,000 (1999 and 2000), is taking a cautious approach to his bid for the Olympic team. He did not run in a men's race at Lewis & Clark as planned because of a sore back, and he'll take it easy before the trials, where he'll run in the 5,000 and 10,000.

Galen Rupp, another Olympic hopeful and part of the Oregon Project, pulled out of the Lewis & Clark race with just more than two laps to go because of tenderness in his left calf.

The Oregon Project made news years ago when the runners lived in a Portland house that was outfitted to simulate the conditions at altitude -- considered beneficial for training.

Now the group, which includes Kara Goucher's training partner Amy Yoder-Begley, trains at real altitude in Deer Valley, Utah, near Park City. They plan to stay there until about a week before the trials.

"It's a great place to get away and focus just on running and what we're doing, without any distractions," Adam Goucher said.

And now that she has met the "A" standard, Kara Goucher can sharpen her focus on grabbing a top-three finish in Eugene and that trip to Beijing in August.

"It's just like a weight off my shoulders. At the trials I don't have to worry about taking it out, leading," she said. "I can just sit in and focus on being in the top three."