Interval Session #8 - Claire Durkin You've probably heard of Stephanie Morgan and Emily Infeld, the top 2 finishers from the NON Mile who have raised the profile of Ohio girls prep distance running another notch. Well, the talent goes far deeper than those two. Let us introduce you to Claire Durkin, the Worthington Kilbourne senior who is also rising to the top. Last fall, Claire was 3rd in the Ohio D1 State Championship, trailing Amanda Burger and Brooklyne Ridder. But in the spring, she raced to a super PR 10:33.18 to win the state 3200 and was 2nd in Infeld in the 1600. Now as a senior, she has been unbeatable over hill and dale, with victories over both Ridder and Morgan, and is quickly making sub-18 times commonplace. SteveU heads to the heart of Buckeye Country to visit with one of the newest Foot Locker contenders.

1. You've run some very fast times early in the season, mostly against light competition. Have these efforts been very difficult for you, or are you finding the times are coming naturally because of the result of increased or improved summer training? I knew the top runners in Ohio were going to be prepared for me. So I worked very hard this summer to get myself ready for this season. Every year, I try to build on my training from the year before. I increased my mileage and added more cross training. Early in September, I was able to race successfully against Brooklyne Ridder (2005 Ohio CC champion) and Stephanie Morgan (2007 NON Mile champion), which pushed me to run under 18 minutes for the first time. I carried that intensity over to the rest of my schedule. 2. You've watched and raced against some outstanding runners in Ohio during your career (Bridget Franek, Emily Infeld, Angela Bizzari). Have they been an inspiration to you to get to the next level and, if so, please talk about that These runners were all state champions from the time they were high school freshmen, which was not something I could relate to. Their speed always seemed unattainable to me when I was an underclassman. I used smaller goals for inspiration, like trying to beat a school record. Local competition helped me to get better. Then I realized I could set larger goals as I became faster. 3. After gradually improving relative to your Ohio competition, you had that very impressive victory in the state 3200 last year. How did that impact who you are as a runner and your perspective coming into this fall? That win showed me that it was possible to be a top contender in Ohio and only made me want to work harder this season to keep my momentum going into cross country. 4. It looks like you haven't really raced outside of Ohio in any national-level meets to date. Do you plan to run Foot Locker or the Nike meets this year? What thoughts do you have to approaching them and what sort of goals do you have this fall overall? I am considering running in the Footlocker Midwest Regional but don’t want to decide until after the Ohio cross country state meet. It is still a long time away and a lot can happen between now and then. My main goal is to improve on my third place finish at last year’s state meet. 5. I've heard you've had a wealth of sports experiences outside of cross-country and track. Can you talk about what those were, how they've helped you in different ways as a runner, and also what got you into running in the first place? I did a lot of organized sports growing up, mainly soccer and swimming. I played soccer for basically as long as I can remember and know a lot of different people from playing soccer. One of my friends, who goes to a different school, even introduces me by saying, “This is Claire, but you probably already know her from having been on her soccer team”. I joined cross country and track in middle school because I saw how much my older brother enjoyed the teams and thought it would be fun. That was an easy choice because soccer was not a school sport and I could actually continue to do both as long as I placed the school sports ahead of soccer. In middle school, I would always be rushing from a cross country or track meet to get to a soccer game across town. In high school I had to choose between soccer and cross country. I played soccer for the last time my freshman year. Currently, I am on my high school swim team. Training for swimming gave me a different perspective on what training hard really means, because it is not easy getting up at 5:15 a.m. to have two-a-days throughout the entire winter. Swimming has really helped my aerobic training because there is no pounding like there is with running. I also do a lot of sports for fun on weekends and during school breaks like biking, going to the driving range to hit golf balls, rollerblading, and skiing with my family. Doing so many sports has made me somewhat of a nut about athletics and keeping physically fit. 6. I've heard you are a National Merit semifinalist. Tell me about the importance of academics to you and what are the subjects that really light you up. Do you have thoughts about what you'd like to study in college? People tell me that I train really intensely for running, but they haven’t seen me when I am studying. My favorite subjects are biology and physics. I think it would be cool to study science in college and participate in research projects. My dad is a particle physicist and my brother constantly used to build contraptions in our basement like a trebuchet, so science runs in my family. 7. Can you talk about those close to you in running, your family and coaches, and how they've inspired and supported you? I’ve gotten a lot of support from all of my coaches. My track coaches Mike Zelch and Ryan Beck showed me what I was capable of doing and got me enthusiastic about running when I was a freshman. I really appreciate everything that they’ve done for me. I’ve also had a lot of support and a great experience with Mel Williams in the three years that I have run cross country. I have to mention Jim Callahan, my swim coach. I don’t know how he does it – gets up every morning to swim even before the swim team starts at 5:30 and maintains such a positive attitude about life. My parents have also been great – I have my own cheering section at every meet and have “carb-cram-Fridays” with them before Saturday meets. They volunteer for all of my sports teams and do a lot for me. 8. Putting in the miles and hitting the books takes up a huge chunk of any elite runner's time, but what are your favorite things to do when you have free time? - Hanging out with my friends - Playing Wii - Doing the NYT daily crossword puzzle - DQ Blizzards with my friend Mallory - Grilling with Dad. Photo by Madeline Shaw

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