AUBURN — American track and field basks in the spotlight for two weeks every fourth summer, when the Olympic Games grace our living rooms in high definition.

Domestic race walkers rate even less recognition, settling for respect and tolerance.

Five years of supplying her own motivation didn’t prepare Abby Dunn for what she experienced at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia: Being treated like a rock star.

“In Russia, race walking is like the NFL. They want to take your picture. They want your autograph. It probably took us 30 minutes to go from the edge of the stadium to the street,” Dunn said. “Then we went to a park across the street and more people wanted pictures.

“They don’t care what country you’re from. They just want pictures and autographs. It’s crazy. There were stands filled the entire time around the whole course with people watching the races. They cheered no matter what country you were from, even if you were last.”

Dunn was one of 17 United States athletes to compete May 12 and 13. That gleeful reception from the locals wasn’t the only culture shock to the Edward Little High School senior.

The 10 ½-hour flight from New York to Moscow was the third air travel experience of Dunn’s life, all of them in the past three months.

She also discovered that her training regimen — a minimum of three workouts per week and interminable van rides to competitions throughout the nation — is a far cry from what the competition embraces.

“I think they just put more of an importance on it. They spend more time on it. They have academies in South America where they spend all day training,” Dunn said. “I knew the U.S. wasn’t as good. I just figured there were other countries that weren’t good either. It just seems like all the other countries are so much better.”

Dunn, a nine-time All-American and owner of two national championships and three state titles, fell more than six minutes shy of her personal best and World Cup qualifying time in the final.

The race unfolded on a day when Russia’s heat index soared to 95 and the humidity resembled one of Maine’s dog-day afternoons in August.

She also competed without either her coach, Tom Menendez, or parents, Steven and Elizabeth Dunn, in attendance. Menendez had never missed one of Dunn’s races. It was only the second time that her father and mother were absent.

“At least two people physically collapsed in all five races that happened,” Dunn said.

Dunn’s first journey outside the United States was as much a social experience as an athletic one.

Her traveling party spent six days in the former Soviet Union, including a full day in Moscow upon arrival.

“We spent the day in Red Square. It was a holiday there, Victory Day. They had just had a parade so there were all kinds of military walking around,” she said. “The city was full of people. The buildings are interesting. They’re colorful. They’re blue or red or yellow. They’re not all that colorful, but the big, important ones you can tell.”

Meeting other race walkers from around the world taught Dunn that her sport is less a diversion and more a way of life in other parts of the world.

“I think there are more stakes. The other girl in my age group from the U.S. came from Ecuador. In talking to her I realized that for other people, if you become a good race walker, that’s your way to get out of living a life in poverty,” Dunn said. “It’s more important. They have more pressure than we do. Obviously we want to win the race, but it’s more about having fun, enjoying the experience and representing the United States.”

Upon returning home, Dunn began gearing up for her bid at a four-year sweep of the KVAC and Class A race walking titles.

Those races each are a mile. The race in Russia was 10 kilometers, a distance she’ll tackle again in a national meet this summer.

When she arrives at Goshen (Ind.) College in the fall, the measuring stick is 3K for indoor and 5K for outdoor. Those changing distances and the resulting impact on training are additional obstacles that are foreign to Dunn’s world competition.

Menendez and Rebecca Hefty, Dunn’s coach at EL, have focused most of Dunn’s behind-the-scenes work on her out-of-state races.

“My mile times haven’t been all that great. I’m starting to put a bigger focus on longer distances,” Dunn said. “Hopefully I can get those times. I got motivated by seeing these girls do a 10K race walk in 44 minutes. I could never dream of walking it that fast right now.”

Perhaps not. But she probably never dreamed of signing t-shirts or posing for photos thousands of miles from home with complete strangers, either.

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