After American Record 5k in  2010, Molly Huddle Undecided On Whether to Focus on 5k or 10k in 2011

By David Monti
February 5, 2011
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

SAN DIEGO (05-Feb) -- Nearly one year ago before the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Molly Huddle was doing a track workout with American 5000m and 10,000m record holder Shalane Flanagan.

"We were in Poland and we were going a track workout, and I think it was you and me and one of the juniors," Flanagan recounted at a press conference here yesterday in advance of today's USA Cross Country Championships at Mission Bay Park.  "And, I was watching Molly.  She's got beautiful form.  I remember telling her, 'You're going to break 15 this summer.'  I could just feel it.  You looked really great."

Flanagan paused and turned to Huddle.  "I didn't think she'd break it by that much, though."

While Flanagan's remark drew laughter from the audience Huddle, modest to a fault, blushed.  The 26 year-old had started her 2010 campaign with a solid 15:17.13 personal best --a time she had run two years before-- but she didn't even break 15:50 in 2009.  She never thought she would close out her season as the American record holder for the distance, clocking a world class 14:44.76 in Brussels last August, surpassing Flanagan's previous mark by just 4/100ths of a second.

"If someone told me that was going to happen at the beginning of the year, I'd probably would have just laughed, or something," Huddle explained.  "I think I gained some momentum and rolled with it and went along with it.  It started when I got second to Shalane (at the USA Cross Country Championships).  I never finished that high before in any U.S. championships on the track or cross."

Huddle, who ran for the University of Notre Dame, went on to finish 19th at World Cross (the second American after Flanagan) and helped the American team win the bronze medal.  Huddle credited that race with setting the stage for her track successes which followed.

"World Cross Country has become a staple to my outdoor season," she said.  "I think it really is that world-class race that really toughens you up a lot for 10-K on the track after getting killed on the world level.  I look forward to making it back there."

At the Mt. SAC Relays last April, Huddle came the closest to the 15-minute mark she ever had, finishing second to Kenya's Sally Kipyego in a personal best 15:05.71.  She began to sense that something special was happening.

"It continued into the track," Huddle continued.  "At Mt. SAC I ran a 5-K I was happy with...  Things just kind of took off."

Huddle won the 10,000m at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in a solid 31:48.59, a feat which was largely overlooked because Chris Solinsky set the American men's 10,000m record on the same night.  Huddle also ran in a much weaker field without pacemakers, and ran lap after lap on the track alone.

Still, that performance prepared Huddle for a runner-up finish over 5000m at the USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines where she actually ran her final 400m circuit faster than champion Lauren Fleshman (65.42 to 66.90).  Huddle was feeling strong, and was clearly training at a higher level under coach Ray Treacy in Providence, R.I.

"I didn't have to interrupt any of my training for injuries," she said.  "I could start working with some of my better training partners at home, with (New Zealand 10,000m record holder) Kim Smith; I didn't used to be able to go out with her before.  I think everything just kind of fell into place last year."

Opening her track season with a low-key 1500m in Brasschaat, Belgium, last July (4:09.22 PB), Huddle ripped through her first Samsung Diamond League 5000m in Paris in a startling 14:51.84.  She then made the tough decision to stay in Europe and skip the USA 7-mile road running championships in Davenport, Ia., where she was defending champion and would have earned significant prize money.  That move caused friction with the race organizers who had already announced her participation.

It was, in retrospect, the right decision.  She ran 14:57.93 at the Aviva London Grand Prix before breaking Flanagan's record in Brussels in a race which saw all 13 finishers get under 15 minutes.

For her 2011 season, Huddle isn't sure which event she'll emphasize.  She could make the national team for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, Korea, in either the 5-K or the 10-K.  She would also like to get faster over 10,000m where her 31:27.12 personal best is solid, but more then a minute slower than Flanagan's.

"I'd like to run a fast ten this year," she said.  "I think I was in shape to run a little bit better than I ran in the 10-K last year.  But, apart from making the standard in the 10-K, I'll probably focus on the 5-K this year.  But, it's still a little bit up in the air, just to see how things are looking."

For today's race Huddle, who won the Bay Area Cross Challenge in San Francisco on January 16, is a favorite to make the podium, along with Flanagan and 2010 NCAA 5000m and 10,000m champion Lisa Koll, Flanagan's training partner.  She could win the race, but her modesty would never allow her to say that.

"I definitely look forward, first and foremost, to making the team this year," she said.  She added: "On Saturday, I just want to run as hard as I can and test myself and get a good hard effort in and just have a good race and make the team."

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Today's USA Cross Country Championships is also the American selection Trials for both the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, on Sunday, March 20, and the North America, Central American, & Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Tobago on Saturday, February 19.  The first six athletes to cross the finish line in the men's and women's open and junior divisions will select themselves for the World Cross team, while the seventh finisher will be declared the alternate.  By no later than February 10, 2011, athletes must state their intent to join the USA team for World Cross, or their team spot will be passed down to the next eligible athlete.

Today's meet will be webcast LIVE at RunnerSpace.com beginning at 9:45 a.m. Pacific time (12:45 p.m. Eastern time).

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