Molly Huddle wrapped up a disappointing college running career in 2007 and sequestered herself in Rhode Island, looking to turn herself into the champion she knew she could be. And after a decade of laps on the Providence College track alongside walkers and joggers oblivious to the Olympian in the inside lane, she has transformed herself into one of the best distance runners in the world.
Now Huddle plans to take on the New York City Marathon — but only after racing in the middle-distance events at the Olympics this summer in Rio de Janeiro.
Huddle, 31, said she saw her move to the marathon as a coming-of-age.
“As a distance runner you don’t feel complete until you run a marathon,” Huddle said. “I think it’s almost a different sport, the level of strength you rely on. But I want to test myself at that, and see what it’s about.”
After a career at Notre Dame that failed to live up to its initial promise, Huddle began training with a small, informal group of elite runners under the guidance of Ray Treacy, an Irish runner who has coached the N.C.A.A. champion distance teams at Providence since 1985. In an era when some coaches are known for subjecting their athletes to altitude-simulating units or underwater interval sessions, Treacy and Huddle have an uncommonly low-key, hands-off relationship. Although Huddle lives perhaps 100 yards from her coach’s office, they see each other only about twice a week. He will sometimes tweak the length of a run by phone.
“I work with athletes who buy into what I do and the way I do things,” Treacy said. “My primary job is college teams. The people I work with outside of college understand that. Molly understands that. I’m not in her face all the time, and that’s the way we like it.”
He credited Huddle’s restrained approach for her ability to avoid gaps in training. She has not taken more than an annual two-week break for the past three years.
“The philosophy is gradual progression, to pull back rather than push the buttons,” Treacy said. “She’s gotten better every single year.”
Huddle said that her routine with Treacy has allowed her to do fairly intense workouts that keep her close to race-level fitness throughout the year, at steadily improving increments. Her 5,000-meter season debut for the past five years has come down from 15 minutes 15.91 seconds in 2012 to 14:48.14 on May 27. She set the American record for the event, 14:42.64, in 2014.
“Molly is not a workout queen,” Treacy said. “You have people who are workout queens and not great racers. Their races don’t correlate to their workouts. Molly’s the opposite. So she doesn’t do amazing workouts. She races amazingly.”
Huddle’s tenacity has most likely never been tested more than in the past year as unusual incidents have accompanied her rise.
At the world championships in the 10,000 meters last year in Beijing, Huddle put her hands up in celebration too early while approaching the finish line. She let up just enough that another American, Emily Infeld, surprised her on the inside lane and beat her by nine-hundreths of a second.
“I had a hard time finding something constructive with it,” said Huddle, a native of Elmira, N.Y. “I’m not really able to turn that experience into a motivator. It’s better to just move on.”
She dealt with the disappointment by channeling her energy into the fall road-racing season, and she came back with a string of victories.
Huddle won the New York City Half Marathon for the second year in a row — this time by eight-hundredths of a second, the race’s closest finish ever. But, again, there was controversy. In the sprint to the line, she put out her left arm as Joyce Chepkirui closed in, and, to some, the arm appeared to obstruct her opponent. The race was deemed fair, but it ignited a cacophony on social media and message boards.
“That was really hard to get over,” Huddle said. “Having my integrity questioned based on something that was accidental, incidental contact. I think if people had paid attention to other races, they would see I respect my competitors and I’ve had my fair share of losses and I can handle losing. I was called a win-at-all-cost athlete, but I’m the opposite of that. The race was a great battle between two very competitive women.”
Her coach was more measured.
“I told her to get over it, move on,” Treacy said. “This time, at least you won.”
Huddle’s style is quiet, lacking the bluster that can buoy other track stars. She has struggled to adjust to the scrutiny that has come with her rise in distance running.
“I know as a professional athlete you sign up for some commentary or scrutiny with whatever you do on the road or the track,” she said. “I’ve had to accept it as part of being a public figure, not that I’m a famous person. You get a thicker skin. Otherwise it affects your training.”
Despite its hilly course and lack of pacers, the New York City Marathon has long been home to American marathon record debuts, like those by Kara Goucher and Deena Kastor. Huddle will be aiming to set another one in November.
“I think we get so many fast marathon debuts at New York because the runners are only running against each other, and not for time,” said Peter Ciaccia, the New York City Marathon race director.
He added, “It’s a big race on a big stage, and I think that all plays into the mind-set of the athlete coming in.”
Huddle said she was foremost a competitor, rather than an athlete who runs for time, so the dense field in New York will be favorable for her.
“I get the best race out of myself when I’m dragged to it,” she said. “I feel like I have another level of racing when I’m racing someone versus myself.”
Huddle was concluding a brief period of training at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz., with her husband of seven years, Kurt Benninger, a Canadian distance runner she had met at Notre Dame. She will return to the East Coast on Friday to participate in the girls’ segment of the Mini 10K in New York.
She hoped to continue racing for at least four more years, through another Olympic cycle.
“I want to end my career knowing I tried everything out,” she said. “I’m not slowing down at all.”
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