Interview with Kate O'Neill
by Scott Douglas

Kate O'Neill winning the 2003 Mayor's Cup cross country race.
Photo By: Alison Wade, New York Road Runners

Kate O’Neill, 25, will race June 10’s Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K in Central Park, where she placed second in 2004. That year was, to date, the highlight of O’Neill’s running career. In addition to her excellent race in Central Park, she placed 15th in the World Cross Country 8K Championship, set her 10,000-meter PR of 31:34.37, made the Olympic 10,000-meter team, and placed 21st in the Athens Olympics.

O’Neill and her twin sister, Laura, graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2003. Last year, they moved to Mammoth Lakes, California, to join Team Running USA, which is part of the USA Distance Project. To read journal entries by both O’Neills and other members of Team Running USA, click here.

Fast-Women.com: What brings you back to the Circle of Friends race?
Kate O'Neill: I’m so excited to be coming back. I loved doing that race two years ago—there’s such a great atmosphere, and the New York Road Runners always treat the runners well, and it’s fun to race in Central Park. And I’m from New England, so I’m excited that my family and friends will be there to watch me.

FW: Two years ago, you were second in the race. How does your fitness this year compare to then?
KO: I was hurt for a lot of the last two years, but for the past six months, I’ve been healthy, so we’ll see. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in the last two weeks.

FW: What did you think of your 3K at the adidas Track Classic a couple of weeks ago?
KO: That was just awful. [O’Neill was last in 9:41.10.] I don’t know what was wrong in that race. I’ve been running a lot better than that in practice.

FW: And what about your 10K at the Stanford Invite [where O’Neill ran 33:04 for sixth place on April 30]?
KO: There, I just wanted to get a qualifier for outdoor nationals. It was a pretty good race. I didn’t taper a lot for it, so I know I can run faster than that by now.

FW: What were your injuries that bothered you for so long?
KO: The whole summer of the [2004] Olympics, my left hamstring was hurting a lot. After the Olympics, I took some time off. When I came back, I must have been running strangely on it, because then I got a stress fracture. Then when I came back from that, I injured my [sacroiliac] joint. Every time I tried to come back I would get hurt somewhere else.

FW: How did you get better?
KO: I started doing a lot more core exercises. I also got treatment from chiropractors and physical therapists in New York—this is when I was still living in New Haven. I’ve had to change some things about my form. And I have to be patient—during a hard workout, my form will start to deteriorate at the end, and I have to concentrate on keeping that from happening. [My coach] Terrence Mahon makes sure I’m aware of running with good form.

FW: I was going to ask you about that. Don’t take this the wrong way, but a lot of people who are as fast as you look more graceful or whatever when they’re running hard.
KO: Yeah, I know. The biggest thing has always been that my right arm really swings around a lot. Like you know how when you’re rounding a corner on a track, how your right arm swings out more? Mine does that even when I’m not on the track. And my shoulders get really tight. For the longest time, whenever people would see me running they would say, “You have no core strength.” I used to do some core strength exercises, but not as much as I should have, and I was probably doing some of them incorrectly.

FW: Does Laura have the same problems?
KO: No, her upper body moves much more straight back and forth.

FW: In a 2004 interview for this site, you said about leaving New Haven to train elsewhere, “For now, things are working out so well that I don’t even want to think about changing anything.” What led you to leave New Haven and start training with Team Running USA?
KO: I’d always wanted to train at altitude. It’s pretty much a perfect location at Mammoth Lakes, and there are so many accomplished athletes there, like Deena [Kastor] and Meb [Keflezighi]. Laura and I talked about it with our college coach, who we still talk with, and it seemed like the place to go.

FW: How does that work? Does the crew at Mammoth Lakes approach you, or do you go to them and say, “I’d like to come there”?
KO: We heard there were spots open in the group, and we talked with Terrence Mahon, and it seemed like a great opportunity.

FW: What about being there is pretty much as you thought it would be?
KO: It’s great to be on a team again. I really missed that the first two years after college. Laura and I would be there at Yale in those years, but we weren’t part of the team. So that’s great to have again. Something that’s gone above and beyond my expectations is that I’ve become good friends with everyone here. That’s going to be a huge benefit to all of us in the coming years as we work toward our goals together.

FW: Is there anything that’s been different from how you thought it would be?
KO: The only surprises have been good ones. The weather in Mammoth has been surprisingly good. We heard how there would be snow in October, but on my last day here last fall, in November, I remember that I was able to eat lunch outside.

FW: Let’s say it’s a normal running day, with no hard workout. What does a typical day there look like?
KO: We do our longer run in the morning, an hour or so, starting at 8:30. Then we’ll stretch afterward. The second run is at 4:00; it’s a shorter run. After it, we meet, do core exercises, and maybe lift.

FW: What do you do between the two runs?
KO: Well, we have lunch, for one thing. It seems like there would be a lot of dead time between the two runs, but there really isn’t. Some of us will go see the physical therapist for treatment. Most of us take a nap in the afternoon. I spend a lot of time reading.

FW: The reason I’m curious about this is that, when you made the Olympic team, you were fitting in training around working at the Yale development office. Some people I’ve talked with who have switched to being full-time runners have said that, after a while, they felt like they needed something else to do.
KO: I haven’t felt that way, like I’m bored. I feel like I have more time for the things I always wanted to do and knew I should be doing, like icing after a run and really stretching, or having time for quality core work. I did those things before, but it was always compromised, because maybe I had to get home and make dinner and get ready to go to work again the next day.

FW: Is it difficult not turning workouts into races? You were on the team in college, but you and Laura were the best; now you’re surrounded every day by really, really good runners.
KO: Well, in college it didn’t start out that way. Our freshman year, Laura and I weren’t the best on the team, but even then, I was never tempted to turn workouts into races. And it’s not like that here. I think you’re going to wear yourself out pretty quickly in this sport if you have that kind of attitude.

FW: Are there things that are available to you or that have happened to you that aren’t there for Laura, because you’re an Olympian and she’s not?
KO: I wouldn’t say so. In some ways, that seems like a long time ago. Being an Olympian is a great accomplishment to have had, and it’s an inspiration for both of us, that hard work can bring you to great places. But it doesn’t affect or determine how the next two years will be—there’s no guarantee that I’ll make the team again. So I can’t dwell on that. I need to keep looking forward.

Editor's Update: Kate O'Neill placed 13th with a time of 33:22 at the Circle of Friends New York Mini 10K.

Interview conducted on May 31, 2006, and posted on June 5, 2006.

Nothing contained herein may be reproduced online in any form without the express written permission of the New York Road Runners Club, Inc.