Nagel, who expects Camille Buscomb, of Hamilton, to be among her archrivals, keeps in touch with Athletics New Zealand officials.
Early this month Nagel stopped the stopwatch at 15m 42s in a "mini-meeting" at Boston University to finish shy of the Games B standard qualifying time of 15m 35s.
While the indoor track meeting wasn't a major one, she finished third behind fellow varsity athletes, Emily Sissons (1st) and Sarah Collins (2nd) in a field of 12 to whittle her personal best time by eight seconds.
"The three of us just kept pushing each other all the way," says the athlete who receives her coaching from the university head coach, Ray Tracey, who hails from Ireland.
Nagel is a former middle-distance runner who Mick Cull coached in Hawke's Bay. She has no qualms about leaving the region to hone her running skills and building a career on winning a US college scholarship.
"It's the best decision I have made. Obviously I miss home and all that but the size over there [in the US] is bigger, there's more competition and you get to meet a whole lot of different people."
Catching up with Cull over lunch last Sunday was on the top of her agenda.
Fellow running talents Ashley Aitken, who now works in advertising in Sydney, and schoolgirl Shannon Gearey made the lunch special.
"Mick's always one of the first people I meet because it [running] all started off with him."
Nagel, who returns to the US on January 17 in time to prepare to run a mile in Boston, has moved on from her middle-distance pursuits.
"I've changed my decision to accept I'm a 5km or 10km runner now," says the runner who also harboured teenage dreams of one day winning the sought-after Sylvia Potts Classic in Hastings.
Cantabrian Angie Smit has had a monopoly on the 800m event for the past four years.
The annual meeting, which will be in its 14th year in January, is run in memory of Bay Olympian Potts who died in 1999 after losing her battle with cancer.
"You learn to love what you do, especially if you're good at it," said Nagel who labelled Smit "an amazing runner".
The Boston miler is simply a preparatory exercise in her 3km-5km-3km build up towards a 10km run before her marquee 5000m event.
"If you just keep running long distances all the time then it takes a toll on your body."
Letting loose tomorrow through to New Year's Day in a festive spirit isn't an issue for her considering running is an ideal way to boost her fuel supplies while staying fit although she has no intentions of "going too, too crazy".
Nagel is coming off a memorable stint in crosscountry running for her university as the captain of the team who became the women's champions of the NCAA Crosscountry Championship.
"It's the first time the team have won it since 1995," she explained, adding only the top five runners' times from each time counted to decide the winners.
All the runners were to receive especially engraved championship rings to acknowledge their achievement but, unfortunately, they were not ready when she left for New Zealand although the prize-giving ceremony after the crosscountry was special.
Nagel's best 5000m performance this year was at the outdoor Big East Championship in New Jersey in May.
