Olympians are indeed a rare breed. Their normal looks nothing like yours and mine.

Swimmers of Olympic caliber can spend up to five hours a day, six days a week, for years in a pool.

Imagine how such a training regimen could tax your body and, even greater, your mind.

There are countless words in the English language to describe what it takes – drive, discipline, tunnel vision, you name it – to make the daily choice to put in the work, when most others are still counting sheep, required of greatness.

Many youngsters dream of athletic success. Cochranville’s Cierra Runge, a stranger to the snooze button, works for it.

“I don’t look at the things I’ve given up as sacrifices,” said Runge, who spent her teenage years waking up daily at 4:30 AM and commuting with her mother to the famed North Baltimore Aquatic Club. “They’re just decisions I’ve made to get me to the end-goal.

“Sure, (negative) thoughts are always going to creep in (from the monotony of the lifestyle), but you have to combat those. In the end, this is who I am. It’s what I do.”

The 20-year-old freestyler’s life of commitment has paid off, as she recently earned a gold medal as a member of the United States’ 4×200-meter relay team at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Runge – who in July placed fifth individually in the 200-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb., thus securing her spot on the relay team – swam in the preliminary round in Brazil, along with her former University of California teammate Missy Franklin.

“Nerves always play a part,” said Runge. “Standing on the (starting) block is definitely a fight-or-flight moment.

“But it was nothing different from what I’d been doing my whole life. I already had experience on the world stage. It was the same pool, same length, same dive into the water.”

Runge and Franklin, the darling of the 2012 Games in London and one of Cierra’s best friends, were replaced by Maya DiRado and Katie Ledecky in the final, but nonetheless did their part in capturing gold.

The 6-foot-4 Runge, with the wingspan of a 747 and shoulders carved from granite, seems to have been born for the sport.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to water,” she said. “Even before I learned to swim, I was trying to get in the pool. My parents had to tie a noodle around my waist.”

Immediately after shedding her puddle jumper, she began to cultivate her passion to compete at the Jennersville YMCA, doing whatever it took to touch the wall first.

That’s when Scott and Diane Runge decided that they would do whatever they could, without pushing, to help Cierra’s dreams come true.

“I believe every kid has a gift, and as a parent, it’s your job to help them find it and give it the space to grow,” said Diane. “Scott and I can’t take credit for what Cierra has achieved. You can’t do that being pushed or pulled. It has to come from within.

“She knew she couldn’t have her feet in both worlds, having a normal childhood, a social life, and be an elite athlete.”

Runge made the transformation from mere scholarship-level swimmer to a world-class one at the NBAC under the tutelage of coach Bob Bowman, while sharing lanes with Michael Phelps.

“I’d swim for two hours in the morning, then go to a Starbucks or Panera Bread and do school work (online) for five hours,” said Runge, a graduate of Octorara High School. “Then I’d train for another three hours in the afternoon. My mom would drive me home, and we’d wake up the next morning and do it all over again.”

Scott, meanwhile, often worked three jobs to keep the family afloat. (Cierra has an older brother, Taylor, who played baseball at Bucknell, and a younger sister, Madison, now a freshman swimmer at Navy.)

“When she qualified for Rio, we asked ourselves, ‘How are we going to afford it?’” he said.

His analogy said it all: “We looked at each other and said, ‘We’re not swimming 99 percent of the pool and then drowning in the last one percent.’ We had to be there.”

The family launched a campaign on DreamFuel for people to contribute and thus defray the substantial cost it endured traveling to South America.

“Frankly, that was very difficult for us,” Scott said. “We’re not those folks. That’s the German pride in us. But what we were met with was people calling and wanting to give. We’ve been humbled by the outreach, the incredible support of the community.”

The Runges are still short of their financial goal, but a few days still remain in the campaign. Click here to donate.

Cierra returns to college next week, having transferred from Cal, where she and the Golden Bears won the national championship in 2015, to Wisconsin, where she will have three years of eligibility remaining.

Her sights are already set on Tokyo, the site of the 2020 Olympics.

“Qualifying, then winning gold was such a great feeling,” she said. “I’m chasing that emotion. I want that again.”