Molly Huddle discusses mom life, her running future and Wineglass Weekend
Elmira native Molly Huddle returned to her home region this weekend as a special guest for the Wineglass Marathon.
Huddle, 39, cheered runners in the half marathon and marathon on Sunday after participating in the Storflex 5K in Corning on Saturday. Huddle used that as a training run and competed alongside rising 11-year-old runner Molly Doran of Elmira, who said of running with Huddle, "It was a great experience. She taught me a lot of things."
Huddle ranks among the most accomplished American distance runners in history. She is a two-time Olympian, has won 28 American titles in road races in track and at one time held American outdoor records in both the 5,000 and 10,000. Huddle's 10K record stood from the 2016 Rio Olympics until Alicia Monson topped it in March.
More: A record and a repeat from Rochester-area runners at 2023 Wineglass Marathon
In April of 2022, Huddle and her husband, running coach Kurt Benninger, welcomed their daughter, Josephine Valerie Benninger. The family lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
Huddle, a 2002 Elmira Notre Dame graduate, also added author to her resume. She co-wrote with Sara Slatterly "How She Did It," a guide for female distance runners featuring stories from some of the top women's runners in the world.
In March, Huddle finished seventh in the women's race at the New York City Half with a time of 1 hours, 12 minutes, 27 seconds. She is set to compete in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5. She was third in New York in her marathon debut in 2016 and fourth there in 2018.
After running in Saturday's 5K, Huddle talked about Wineglass Weekend and other topics.
Question: Your thoughts on being here this weekend?
Answer: I’ve been wanting to come to Wineglass for years and I’ve always had some kind of race going on in the fall. I kind of race all year round. And luckily I’m not racing until November, so I was able to make the trip. My dad’s run this race when I was growing up. It’s just great to come back to your hometown marathon basically and now there’s a 5K and a half and a marathon. Sheila (Sutton) has grown it to a great event and just really happy to cheer on our local runners.
Q: What's your status as a competitive runner?
A: I’m supposed to be doing the New York City Marathon in November in the elite field. Still competitive running and then after that is the U.S. Olympic marathon trials (Feb. 3 in Orlando, Florida). I’m going to throw my hat in the ring there and see what happens.
I did two halves (this year) and then I got a stress fracture. Then I had to take five months off, so still coming back from that. Hopefully I can fit a few more races in by the end of the year. I actually have a 10K next week as well.
Q: What has mom life been like?
A: It’s been fun. It’s been tiring. I’ve talked to a few high school teams and I tell them how important it is to sleep and recover and eat right. And I’m like, I don’t do any of that now. But it’s just a phase. She’s a year and a half and hopefully sleep will be getting better and things will be getting easier.
Q: Does she run yet?
A: She does. She runs all around. She sees us running all the time, so I’m not surprised.
Q: Your thoughts on your American 10K record holding up for so long and Alicia breaking it?
A: No record is safe now. There’s been so many world records and American records and national records the last three years. We just had the marathon world record a couple days ago: 2:11 for the women. It’s crazy. I think everything’s just getting reset at the moment.
Records are made to be broken, so I kind of knew that when I set it.
More: Elmira native Molly Huddle among 2022 NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame inductees
Q: How did it feel being inducted into the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame last year?
A: That’s a huge honor. When that career comes full circle they want to honor you in that way. Usually it means you’re retired and I’m still somehow going, so I’m kind of proud of that too. I’ve got a few more years left I think. I wish we could have made it (to the induction ceremony), but we always have something going on at this time of year.
More: Molly Huddle runs to fifth straight U.S. title in 10,000 meters
Q: What was it like collaborating on the book?
A: I wrote that with my good friend Sara Satterly. We’ve had good feedback. It’s meant for the developing runner, a younger audience – grade school, high school, college female athletes. We have a lot of tips there specifically for female athletes and some great stories from our friends who we were lucky to have such good connections with. Legends in the sport like Joan Samuelson all the way up to Ajeé Wilson, medalist in the 800. It was cool they would pick up the phone and talk to us.
It was a fun book to create and it’s been really fun to share it with everybody and see everybody learn from these athletes. It was a really awesome project. I don’t think it ever could have happened if it was a different time in my life.
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Molly Huddle returns to home region for Wineglass Marathon
