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Rebecca Donaghue competes at the 2006 Mayor's Cup in Boston's Franklin Park.

Interview with Rebecca Donaghue

Posted on January 30, 2007, Interview conducted January 22, 2007

By Alison Wade

Every once in a while, a runner will have a breakthrough performance, which leaves fans thinking she "came out of nowhere." Some probably felt that way about Rebecca Donaghue's eighth-place finish in the 4k race at last year's USA Cross Country Championships in New York. Though Donaghue missed making the World Cross Country team by four seconds, she firmly established herself as one of the country's up-and-coming runners.

Donaghue, age 30, originally hails from Stow, Massachusetts, approximately 30 miles northwest of Boston. She earned State (1993) and New England (1994) titles in the outdoor 800m for Nashoba Regional High School before going on to star at the University of Massachusetts. During her four-year stint at UMass, Donaghue won 10 Atlantic-10 titles and qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships twice. She still holds UMass' indoor mile (4:50.07) and outdoor 1,500m (4:22.13) records.

Donaghue has lived in State College, Pennsylvania for the past three years, where she is the head girls' cross country and assistant track & field coach at State College Area High School. Her assistant during the cross country season is Gi-Gi Miller-Johnson, the 2006 USA Champion in the heptathlon. Donaghue is also pursuing a Master's degree in Art Education at Penn State part time, as well as focusing on her training.

Donaghue's eighth-place finish at last year's USA Cross Country Championships earned her a spot on the U.S.'s squad for the NACAC (North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association) Cross Country Championships last March. Donaghue's third-place finish there led the U.S. to a team victory. She followed that up with personal bests in the 5,000m (16:02.33) and 10,000m (34:05.18) during the 2006 track season.

In November, Donaghue outran Claudia Camargo to win the Slattery's 5-Mile Turkey Trot in a course record of 26:11. She finished fourth at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in December, and set a new mile PR (4:41.27) last weekend in finishing ninth at the New Balance Games in New York City. She represents New Balance Boston, and is coached by her boyfriend, Artie Gilkes.

Let's start out by talking about your high school career. You won some state titles in track in high school, right?
I just won one, the 800 in 1993, my junior year. The two years before that—this is funny—I ran the 100 and the 200. I ran cross country but when track came around, I said to my coach [Bob Cali], 'Please, I don't want to run any long distance events, just put me in the sprints. Trust me.' He said, 'Donaghue, we'll make a deal. I'll put you in the mile and the 200.'

This was my very first track meet. I was like, 'Oh no, the mile!' I ran the mile and came in dead last barely finishing it. But for 200 I was so fired up. I ran 27.0 and I beat all the upperclassmen and won the whole thing. My coach was like, 'Wow, you were right!' So after that I ran the 4 x 100, the 200, the 100, and I made it to states in the 200 and 4 x 100 [as a freshman and sophomore].

I gradually started improving in cross country, placing as high as fourth at the state meet, so my coach said, 'I think it's time for you to move up in distance.' [laughs] He put me in the 800, and I hated it. I ran 2:29 in my first-ever 800; I ran horribly, but my coach kept encouraging me to keep at it, and told me that wasn't a bad time and that I had a lot to learn. Gradually, my times dropped. Before I knew it, I was at the state meet, and I just kicked it in and took the win with a 2:16.

The next year, at the state meet, I actually caused a bit of a pileup at about the 600. I'm sure the girls who were in that race remember that pretty well. I just remember hurdling over a girl and ending up taking third. I was so angry and upset about it. I think I channeled this energy into New Englands the next weekend because I went into the race thinking I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of winning this time. I ended up winning with 2:14 and ending my high school career on a really good note.

What did your 200 PR end up being in high school?
Well, I ran the Bay State Games over the summers. My high school coach still doesn't believe me, but I saved the results sheet for proof that I ran a 25.9. It didn't count as a school record or anything because it was out of season, but I always laugh when I tell people that time.

You make a good point. A lot of kids who do the sprints would probably end up being great middle-distance and distance runners, but because they do well in the sprints, they think, 'I must be a sprinter.'
I think it's great that I ran the sprints for the first couple years, just to save my body and work on my speed. My coach just gradually moved me up. I ran the 400 and 4 x 400 as well. He was great about gradually moving me up and not overdoing the volume with me. He always said, 'You need to have fresh legs for college and you want to have a future in running.'

So you went on to UMass and improved pretty significantly. Tell us about your running there.
Freshman year I had a good cross country season; when track came around I went into it thinking I'd still focus on the 800. We didn't have indoor track in high school—I was actually on the ski team for a couple of years to stay in shape for outdoors—so indoor track was all new to me in college. I figured I'd just run the 800, but they moved me up to the mile and 1,500, which I was definitely nervous about because the last time I had run that was my freshman year in high school and it was a bad experience [laughs]. But my workouts were going pretty well and my coach [Julie Lafreniere] said, 'You're going to have to move up to the 1,500, you have the potential.' I still ran the 800 occasionally. In one meet, I ran the 200, because my coach wanted me to get a little speedwork in. I think I ran 26.4. A lot of people did a double take and said, 'Wait, aren't you a distance runner?' It was funny to see their reactions.

You qualified for nationals in cross country, correct?
Yes. My sophomore year (1995), it was in Ames, Iowa, and it was super cold and windy. I was pretty intimidated. The next year I qualified again, it was in Tucson, Arizona. Going into my senior year I started to struggle with injury and I didn't qualify. Actually, outdoors, junior year was when all of [the injury troubles] started.

But you never qualified for the NCAA meet on the track?
No. I think I was one of the first people they didn't take in the 1,500 my sophomore year. During my junior and senior outdoor seasons, I struggled with injury.

You graduated from college, and then what? Where did you go next?
Then I joined Reebok Boston [which is now known as New Balance Boston]. [Then-coach] Bob Sevene had seen some of my races, I believe, or had heard about them. A former UMass teammate of mine, Jen Waeger, was running for Reebok Boston at the time, and had told him a little bit about me.

After I graduated, I had no idea what I was going to do as far as my running. I was actually kind of upset because I worried that it was going to be over; I had no idea about the club scene. Then [Waeger] called me, and I think she even wrote a letter explaining Reebok Boston and how much she had improved, and I thought, 'That's perfect. I want to be part of that.'

Did you move to the Boston area at this time? Where were you living?
I got a full-time teaching position in Dedham at the high school, so I figured I'd save money by living at home in Stow [about 30 miles outside Boston]. Reebok Boston had all of their practices right in that general area, either at [the Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center], Lincoln, or in Weston. It was all in the the general area for me, so it was a good fit.

How often did you practice with the team right out of college?
Right out of college, over the summer, I was just going to some of the Sunday long runs in the Lincoln trails. Then, I started doing some of the Tuesday night workouts at [the Reggie Lewis Center] in the winter. I gradually built up to doing Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays with them. We met, at the most, sometimes four times a week. I was still struggling with injury, which was why I gradually started working out with the team.

Who were you training with at that point?
At that point, Jen Toomey was on the team. She was just starting to kind of break through. I'd do some stuff with her from time to time, depending on what it was. Kristin [Beaney] Chisum, Jen Waeger, June Snow…it was a really good group. There were also women who were shooting for the marathon trials. It was an amazing group of quality women with a good range; there was always someone to work out with.

I was shooting for the 2000 Olympic Trials standard in the 1,500 and missed it by .2 of a second. It was frustrating to be just a hair away, but I still have my 1,500 PR of 4:18.7 and 800 PR of 2:07 under Reebok Boston.

Did your training change much?
The quality of the workouts definitely went up. The mileage didn't really go up all that much; I've always been a lower-mileage runner.

How do you define low mileage?
At that point, 45-50 was high for me. I just learned that I really couldn't do too much volume, or I'd get into trouble with injury. My long runs increased a little bit. I think a long run for me in college was 8-10 miles, and post-collegiately it went up a little bit to maybe 12-15 miles.

How long did you stay with that setup—the teaching, living at home, and training with Reebok Boston?
That lasted exactly 4-1/2 years. I was commuting—it was a 45-50 minute commute one-way from Stow to Dedham. That just wore me out, plus I was coaching at Dedham High School. I started coaching the boys in track, and then I switched to the girls the next year. I'd get up at 5:00 a.m., leave by 6:00, teach until 2:30 p.m., and much of the day I'd be standing too, which I learned didn't help my running. After school, I'd go coach, and then I'd go to my own practice. If we didn't have organized practice, I would either run in Dedham or drive home and do my run, shovel some food in, and go right to bed. It was a lot; it definitely wore on me and I knew it wasn't the lifestyle that would allow me to do what I wanted to do with my running.

After 4-1/2 years, the state deficit in Massachusetts really kicked in and when they made budget cuts at my school, art [what she taught] was one of the first things they cut. I think it was a blessing in disguise, actually. I was a little upset because that was such a huge part of my life. I was quite nervous about what the future would hold for me.

That was 2003. I figured why not just focus on training for the 2004 Olympic Trials. I set out to do this and figured it would really be great since I wouldn't be worn out from working full-time. At this point, you have to remember, that I was still battling injury, pretty much what I had in college.

How did that go?
Well shortly after the teaching ended I decided I should start doing some graduate work. My boyfriend, Artie Gilkes, a former Penn State runner was running for Reebok Boston too, that's how we met. He decided to come back out here to State College to work on his schooling and pursue coaching. I figured I'd do the same and train out here.

Was that the fall of 2003?
It was November of 2003. I figured, why not establish residency for a year, so the price of graduate school would go down a bit. I figured I could just train and see how that went. I got a part-time job at a health club and even did some commissioned art work to make some extra money just to survive. Then, a coaching position opened up at [State College Area High School] so I started that. I ended up putting off graduate school a little longer than I had planned because I really got into the coaching.

Did you end up getting a qualifying time for the 2004 Olympic Trials?
No, I didn't. I came somewhat close. I had only run one 5k prior to that. I think I had run 16:40-something out in Boston. I kind of knew the longer stuff was where I was stronger, Sev had always said that as well. I ended up lowering my 5k to 16:11 that year but you really needed to be somewhere in the 15s to get in. I was still struggling with injuries at this time, so I was pleased with the 16:11, [but also] frustrated knowing that my body still wasn't cooperating after so many years.

Are you now getting certain types of treatments, or doing certain types of things that help you stay healthy?
[In the summer of 2005] I found someone out here in State College who really got what I was going for and really invested a lot of time and effort into getting me straightened out once and for all. He realized that I had a lot of imbalances that a lot of other doctors had missed. They're very slight, but it was enough that it would really throw me off. The root of everything was in my hips. It started in college during my junior outdoor season—I started walking with a limp because of the imbalance and was in pain all the time. I saw doctor after doctor. After graduating, it was the same deal—traveling throughout the state, and even other states, to find someone who could figure out what was going on.

[In the summer of 2005], the person I just spoke of found that I had a little bit of scoliosis along with kind of an inward twist in my pelvis, and I was very weak in the areas that need to hold proper alignment. He just said, 'You're going to first stop running and even exercising for four months straight.' I had never done that; I had always crosstrained through injuries. I took the four-month break and [after those four months were up], he just had me walking on a treadmill for over a week. He'd watch and analyze my form, make some adjustments to my hips, have me do some very specific stretches, and then introduced some very specific strengthening exercises. He had me going in every day. It was amazing to see and feel things change with my body, especially when he had me start running on the treadmill. I had never been so excited to run—not because of the layoff from it, but because I felt like I was in a different body! I am so thankful for everything he has done. I also had orthotics made for both training and racing…I've had so many orthotics over the years, but these ones seem to be working really well.

Since then, knock on wood, I've been stronger than ever. I've been able to finish hard workouts and actually be able to cool down and even run the next day without any trouble. Before this, I would do a hard workout or a race and I almost couldn't walk the next day because I'd be in so much pain. But, all this struggle is so common among runners [laughs], so I know it's not unique to me. It really helps knowing that others struggle just as much and find a way to get back at it.

It sounds like he kind of rebuilt your body so that you could be more even and handle the stress of training.
Yes. I've had so many doctors tell me, 'We're going to straighten you out.' And they couldn't quite get it or make it stick. It's been over a year now, the longest I've ever gone without injury, and things have been going really well, it's very exciting.

When you ran [the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships] and finished eighth, that was a result of all of this?
Yeah. I had literally only been running for about three months and really only two months of serious training. The first two months I was on a treadmill, starting at something like two minutes of running for day one and building up so gradually everyday. I think after one week he still had me at like 2-4 minutes of running and then 20 minutes of walking, so the buildup seemed to take forever.

So it's not like your eighth-place finish was the result of a long stint of better-than-ever training or anything.
Yeah. That was me finally feeling like everything was in line; the way I should have been feeling throughout the years. It was really exciting. I was like, 'Alright, it's happening.'

After the race, I actually wasn't sure what place I was. I thought maybe I was right at 10. Then they called for the top eight and stuck me up on the podium, and I was like, 'Am I supposed to be up here?' Someone said I was ninth, and I was like, 'Alright!' Then someone else said, 'No, you were eighth.' I think people got confused because someone collapsed at the finish and all the attention was on that.

In the end you were one spot away from making the team [the top six qualify for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but Lauren Fleshman gave up her spot on the team, allowing seventh-place finisher Kara Goucher to run].
Yeah, so if one other person had decided not to go, I would have gone. But I was really happy with eighth. I was definitely psyched with that and how good I felt. I still ended up representing the US at the NACAC [Cross Country Championships] which was such a great feeling.

So you've remained completely healthy since then?
Pretty much. Last summer, I did get into the 10,000 for [the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships], but I had developed a slight injury. I wasn't willing to make it worse. It was just some insertional tendonitis in my heel. It wasn't a horrible injury, it was just enough that I thought, 'If I do a 10k, it's going to make it worse.' I had been doing so well that I didn't want to risk [a setback].

After not going to nationals, I trained in the pool for the summer while the tendonitis healed. That's another thing that I do quite a lot of—water running. I run lower mileage, so I try to make up for that by doing a lot of water running. I often use a heart rate monitor to see how hard I'm working, because it's so different from running on land.

When you're healthy, you still train in the pool?
Yeah, I incorporate that into my training a lot. I try to get in the pool about 2-3 times a week, not necessarily to do a workout, but maybe just an hour at a medium effort. It really seems to loosen me up and gives me added cardio work.

Who is coaching you now?
For the past year, it's been Joe Klim. He coached at Bucknell for quite a few years and he then moved to State College because his wife was a swim coach at Penn State. He was working as a volunteer coach for the track team. Artie knew him and asked him if he might be able to work with me. The three of us met for breakfast and three hours later he was coaching me. He coached me over the past year, starting January 1st [of 2006]. Over the summer, he found out that his wife got the head swim coaching position at the University of Akron, and he would be coaching the men's distance squad at Akron. So, he moved over the summer and he had been coaching me over the phone. I've found it very difficult for me to be coached long-distance and I've just recently decided to switch to having Artie coach me.

Who was coaching you until last year? Was Bob Sevene still your coach?
No, when Sev left [to coach what became the Big Sur Distance Project in mid 2003] I was coached by [New Balance Boston coach] Kevin Curtin over e-mail.

Unfortunately I've learned that I have a hard time being coached long-distance. I thrive off of having a coach there who can see me and understand a little bit better what I need to do. I was coached by Kevin Curtin until I met Joe Klim.

You still represent New Balance Boston when you race. Is that because you plan to move back to the Boston area, or at least Massachusetts at some point?
Yeah, my whole intention for coming out here was to go to grad school, and it's been a long process [laughs]. I do intend to move back to New England after graduate school. My dream is actually to live somewhere on Mount Desert Island in Maine. My boyfriend's grandmother has a house there and I just fell in love with the whole area.

But Kevin is totally cool with my plan out here. I go home as much as I can, because my family is there, and many of my friends. I'm always home for holidays, so I still get to train with the team every once in a while. I just keep telling them, 'After graduate school I'll be back!'

When did you start graduate school?
I actually only just started this past fall. I'm getting my Master's in Art Education. I'm still coaching, which is helping me pay for the schooling. The schedule seems to be working for right now. The head track coach [at State College Area High School], Jenn Evans, is great. She definitely supports what I'm trying to do with my running, so it's pretty flexible. I'm also working part-time at Penn State, for Student-Athlete Services.

You raced the mile in New York at the New Balance Games this past weekend (and ran a PR of 4:41.27). How did that go, from your perspective?
I didn't quite run the best race tactically. I probably could have held back a little bit in the first half. I felt pretty solid through 1,200 meters, and then the last 400 [laughs] I kind of died a little bit. It was a nice meet; it was run really well. The announcer was awesome; he really created a lot of energy and really got into it, the way it should be. It is a beautiful facility, I had never been to the Armory before.

What does the rest of your winter schedule look like, will you be running [the USA Cross Country Championships] in Boulder?
Yes, that's part of my plan.

Have you ever trained or run at altitude?
No, I haven't. It'll be interesting. Ultimately, my goal is to do well for outdoor track, so if it doesn't go as planned out in Colorado, I'm not making it the end all be all.

Will you run [the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships] in Boston at the end of February?
Yes, I just have to decide if I'll run the 1,500 or the 3k. I ran the 1,500 last year at indoor nationals, taking 8th. I think it's great to work on my speed like that, but I don't quite know if my potential is going to be in the mile. It's funny how I thought of myself as a sprinter back in the day.

What do you plan to focus on in outdoor track?
I'm going to focus on the 5k and the 10k. I felt pretty good running 34:05 and I was all alone from gun to finish; it was at a meet out at Bucknell. I definitely want to get a good 5k and 10k in this spring to make the standard for outdoors.

Are there any runners that you've looked up to or related to?
I've definitely always admired Joan Nesbit. I feel like I can kind of connect with her in that she kind of had her big breakthrough, I believe, in her early 30s. She just kept at it year after year trying to live the dream while working different jobs to survive.

I've also always looked up to my former teammate at UMass, Kelly Liljeblad, now Keane. When I went on my recruiting visit in high school she really stood out to me as someone that was really serious about what she was doing. Somehow it really stuck, and I still think of her as an influence as far as my discipline in the sport. She, too, is still going after it and doing awesome.

And finally, what is your ultimate goal in the sport? What do you hope to accomplish before you're done?
I'll have to say ultimately, the Olympics—I imagine that's every runner's dream. But right now, it's to get to the [Olympic Track & Field] Trials and make a World team in cross and go from there. I want to run as long as I can and compete at a high level into my 40s. Just seeing Colleen De Reuck and knowing that it is possible to continue at that level into your 40s is so exciting for me, because I honestly feel like I'm just getting started. I'll just continue to run until I can't run anymore [laughs].