Sunday Inspiration -- Molly Seidel

I met Molly Seidel briefly at the Indian Trails Conference Meet last May. This is a small meet of other small schools who like us typically have small track teams. It is often one of our teams favorite meets despite being a long way away on a Tuesday afternoon -- it's in Delavan, WI. Molly runs for University Lake School outside Milwaukee. In the 3200m run, Molly, her sister, Isabel, and our own Annie Roge broke the old meet record for the race -- a pretty unprecedented accomplishment. Molly won running 11:21. She went on to win a Wisconsin State Title in Track and then repeat as Wisconsin State Cross Country Champion this fall. But her greatest accomplishment was last Saturday when she won the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship which annually crowns the best Cross Country runners in the country. This past week Letsrun.com used her quote on why she runs as their quote of the day. It comes from an interview I have linked below the quote.

I have run since I was 16 years old, approaching 34 years. Non-running friends always ask why I do it. I thought Molly's words captured the reason why I and other runners run every day we can. I especially appreciated her words about competition in running. It is always fierce but incredibly friendly when it is over. I wish all sports competition was like it.

Good luck to Molly with the rest of her year. It is always great to see champions come from small schools. 

"I just love running. More than anything. It's what keeps me sane ... I just absolutely love to do it. I do love competition .... it's just so much fun, getting to go out into a race and pitting yourself against everybody else. I think what I love about it is that even though people are such fierce competitors in races, everybody gets along so well afterward. You share camaraderie with everyone. Like everyone understands what you're going through, and you all bond together because you know the challenges that everyone faces."

A Brief Chat with Molly Seidel