FAYETTEVILLE — After graduating from Arkansas, Christin Wurth-Thomas was set to begin a career in computer programming.

Her last race for the Lady Razorbacks, she figured, would be her last race, period.

“I was looking toward getting a desk job,” Wurth-Thomas said. “I majored in computer information systems, and I had fun writing programs. It was like a big jigsaw puzzle to me, and that’s what I had planned on doing.

“ Running was a fun ride, but I thought it was over.” That was five years and more than 60 races ago for Wurth-Thomas, who is ranked second among Americans in the 1, 500 meters going into the United States Olympic Trials.

Breaking her own school record by nearly three seconds and running 4: 10. 49 to take third at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships convinced Wurth-Thomas she should give professional running a shot.

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“When I ended up popping that big time at the NCAAs, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, there still may be more in the tank,’” she said. “I decided I had to keep going.” Wurth-Thomas, 28, is going strong heading into the Olympic Trials at Eugene, Ore., Earlier this season on the same track at Oregon’s Hayward Field, she ran a career-best 4: 04. 88 in the 1, 500 at the Prefontaine Classic.

The only American woman to run a faster 1, 500 this season is Shannon Rowbury at 4: 01. 64.

Including the 2008 indoor and outdoor seasons, Wurth-Thomas has run personal-best times in seven events ranging from the 1, 500 to the 5, 000.

“Christin is stronger and faster now than she’s ever been,” Lady Razorbacks Coach Lance Harter said. “She’s doing things in races and in workouts that we never would have imagined.

“ There no gimmes at the Olympic Trials, because the U. S. may be as loaded as it’s ever been in the 1, 500, but Christin is going to be very formidable.” The top three finishers in each event make the U. S. team for the Summer Olympics in Beijing, but Christin-Wurth’s goal is to win at the trials, as she did in taking the 1, 500 title at the U. S. Indoor Championships in February.

“There are more to the Olympic Trials than just finishing in the top three. My goal is to be the best,” she said. “That’s why I’m doing this.” Patrick Thomas, Wurth-Thomas’ husband, said she is competitive away from the track, too.

“She’s competitive about everything,” said Thomas, a former Razorbacks runner who works at J. B. Hunt. “If we’re watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune on TV, she wants to win that, too.

“ If I try and run with her, she’ll beat me into the ground.” Wurth-Thomas had a best of 4: 34 as a high school runner in Bloomington, Ill., before she signed with Arkansas. She’s quick to note Harter’s impact on her career and is grateful she’s still training with him in Fayetteville.

“Lance has done a phenomenal job of coaching me — he’s taken me from 4: 34 to 4: 04 — and I can’t imagine training anywhere else,” she said. “He knows me so well as an athlete.

“ I can be honest and open with him, let him know how I’m feeling, and he’ll design a workout or change something to help me get through it. He knows how to help me respond to different workouts.” Wurth-Thomas began running in elementary school at the suggestion of a physical education teacher, but almost gave it up in middle school.

“I tried out for cheerleading in the seventh grade and missed it by one spot,” she said. “So instead I got on the cross country team.

“ A lot of little circumstances have led me to running and kept me in it.” Wurth-Thomas has enjoyed more financial sponsorship from Nike as she’s continued to excel on the track, but turning pro had its share of struggles, too.

“If it wasn’t for the support of my husband and my family to keep doing this, I wouldn’t be here,” she said. “I wouldn’t be going for the Olympics.”