By Matthew Clancy
Amy Kelly is just 24 years old and looks even younger but, don’t let the looks fool you, she’s a wise runner. She’s also a fast runner, real fast. Amy won the Tar Heel 10 Miler in April. The following week, she won the Flying Pirate Half Marathon. A few weeks after that, she finished 7th Overall (out of 13,000 women) at the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. Wisdom typically comes with age, but it also evolves from experience or the ability to overcome challenges. It is unusual that we find running wisdom in our youth. Blessed with short recovery time, those years are typically spent running fast and exploring our pain threshold. You might think that someone as young, and as talented as Amy, would be new to challenges and struggles. But Amy’s been at this for quite some time.
Amy’s running career began in her youth, before she even stepped foot on the track. Her father was a runner, and she used to sit by the window waiting for him to return home. She started running in the fourth grade when her older sister was competingon the distance team. Amy was pushed by her older sister running the mile. Amy was a sprinter, but dreamed of running farther. “Distance had the more talented runners, and that was the motivation; to make the distance team.”
She also had realizations and connections during her early days in the sport. “So many principles of running could be reflected to my everyday life. I thought I became better in school because of running. There was always room for improvement, too.”
She did improve. Under the tutelage of her father, who coached her through high school, Amy earned a full scholarship to North Carolina State University where she would take her talent to another level. But throughout her years at NC State, she fought injuries. “At 23, I couldn’t even run. I thought my career was over. After two hip surgeries, I rushed back to compete in the ACC championships. I tried to compete and hurt myself even more.” After forcing herself to take ten weeks off from running and cross training, she decided to experiment with longer distances. “Post college, I increased my running mileage, and it’s definitely helped. I used to hammer every run. Now with high mileage, I can’t do that anymore. I’m just too tired. Throughout college, I put so much pressure on myself. I do better now by telling myself there’s no pressure, because I am unsure of myself at (longer) distances.”
“I went into the Flying Pirate Half Marathon not knowing what to expect at all. The week before I raced in Chapel Hill and that was the longest distance I had ever run. My fiancé John (Crews) asked me to run the half marathon with him. To come back from injury and run the half, that meant a lot to me. I tell myself, ‘No pressure, now. Go out and have fun with it’. I just go out and do my best. It works better having a little uncertainty.”
With the uncertainty of moving from shorter distances to longer ones, Amy has changed the way she approaches training and competition. “I have to stretch a lot before my runs, and definitely after them. It’s easy to want to not stretch after my runs in the evening, after I’ve worked all day. That’s the hardest thing. But I know that is what I have to do. Leading up to competition, I really try to taper well. I will eat better, cut back mileage, get added sleep. And I’ll look over my training logs.”
Those are wise practices and words from such a young voice in the sport of distance running. A young voice that has fifteen years of running under her soles. “It’s hard to say what keeps me motivated. I love the sport, and want to continually improve. Being away from the sport showed me how much I loved it. Now running healthy, I enjoy getting out and running every run.”
They say hindsight is 20/20. Imagine having that type of clarity at 24.
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Matthew Clancy is a certified endurance sports coach with a master’s in sport psychology. He is the founder of Compass Elite, LLC, a performance coaching company. For more information on Compass Elite, LLC or to contact Coach Matt, please visit www.compasselite.com.
