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Tera Moody runs in fourth place with less than 1.5 miles to go at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Women's Marathon.

Interview with Tera Moody

Posted on April 27, 2008, Interview conducted April 26, 2008

By Alison Wade

Though she did not make the Olympic team, Tera Moody pulled off what was probably the biggest upset of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Women's Marathon with her fifth-place finish on April 20th in Boston. Her time of 2:33:54 was a PR by 12 minutes and 46 seconds. Looking back on Moody's running resume and recent accomplishments, along with the circumstances of her previous marathon PR, her success at the Trials is less surprising. However, it's quite understandable that most people didn't pick the woman with the 152nd-fastest seed time going into the race to place fifth.

Moody was a top runner for St. Charles East High School (IL), where she finished sixth, fourth, second, and 12th, respectively, at the state cross country championships during her four years of high school. When she finished 12th as a senior (while battling anemia), the runners in front of her included now-professional runners Ann Gaffigan, Christin Wurth, Victoria Jackson, and Delilah DiCrescenzo. On the track, Moody was a two-time state champion in the mile, and ran a best of 4:52 for that distance.

Moody then went on to become a solid performer for the University of Colorado. She was a four-time top-five scorer for the CU team at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including 2000, when she was the fifth runner for their national championship winning team. Moody won the Pac-10 10,000m title as a freshman, but running on a team with a handful of individual NCAA champions, she was overshadowed a bit.

Now 27, Moody still resides in Boulder and competes for the Boulder Running Company/adidas Women's Racing Team, and is coached by Art Siemers. Her 2:46:40 PR (in her third attempt at the distance) at the 2007 Chicago Marathon may have only put her under the Trials qualifying standard by 20 seconds, but the time should come with an asterisk, because she ran that time in a race where the temperature was approximately 90 degrees, and the course was eventually shut down due to the conditions. More indicative of her performance that day was her place in the women's field—ninth. In January, she followed her Chicago performance up with a seventh-place finish at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston, running a PR of 1:13:05. In March, Moody finished sixth in the USA 15k Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, in 52:35.

By running a big PR and contending for a spot on the Olympic team last Sunday, you did what most people only dream of doing at the Trials. Looking back, were there things in your training that indicated that you were ready for a big performance?
I definitely knew I was in really good shape. I had been training for a sub 2:35. I had never put in 100-mile weeks before, and I just started doing double runs this year. Everything had been going according to plan, and I was hitting every workout. I was still really nervous about those last four miles, because I still had in my mind the memory of Chicago. The last four miles of that race were agonizing. [I was in] so much pain, and I was nervous about having to go there again. But I just kept telling myself, 'It's not going to be 88 degrees, I'm in much better shape, and I'm going to be able to take in more fluid.' Don't get me wrong, I expect the last few miles of a marathon to be painful, but Chicago was unreal. I have an abnormally high sweat rate and it doesn't mix well with 88 degree temperatures.

Also, some of my races indicated I was ready. I ran a 1:13 half marathon in January and finished sixth, but only a couple seconds out of third, at the USA 15k Championships in March. I also ran a 5k road PR (16:26) at altitude two weeks before the Trials. I couldn't believe I had run that fast while marathon training. I thought the course must be wrong, but three people there had Garmins that said it was right on.

Can you walk us through what your day was like last Sunday, from when you woke up, to how the race unfolded, to what you did to celebrate after?
I woke up at 2:30 in the morning and I was just excited. I was really happy that I had slept for a few hours. I have severe insomnia. At 4:00 a.m., I did a short shakeout run and felt really good. Then I had breakfast...a PowerBar and a bagel. I got all my stuff ready and just tried to relax. Then we all met in a room before heading out to the course. I was with my teammate, Paula. (There were four of us there. We don't get to train together much because we live all over Colorado, but its nice to be part of a team.) We warmed up a little bit. I just felt relaxed and ready to go. I was excited.

When we went out so slow, it was frustrating, but I knew I had to not worry about time and just go for place. I had never had my own bottles in a race before and didn't know really how that was going to work with so many people together in the beginning. I was glad when things started to break up a bit. For a while, there were still a bunch of us together, but I started running a little bit faster pace than what I had trained at. I felt great, but knew that can come back and haunt you in a marathon. So when the first pack picked it up even more, I just held the pace. I was in a group with Dot McMahan and Turena Johnson Lane, and we worked together for a long time.

There was one point from about 8-10 miles where I felt kind of odd, but it passed quickly. I noticed that Dot and Turena were carrying their bottles for a while and drinking more, so I started doing that, and it made a huge difference. I also ended up taking more Power Gels than normal, probably three to four total. I just kind of sat in behind them, because it was really windy. It felt effortless, but I was anticipating that all changing later in the race, like it had in previous marathons. I felt really comfortable working with them, as opposed to being in a big pack. I knew Dot before the race, and she always runs really smart. I really just went with my gut instincts throughout the race. I think it's nice to have a plan, but in a marathon, you never know how things will play out.

At mile 18 or 20, I think, I picked up the pace and people started coming back. Everyone in the crowd kept telling me how good I looked, and I definitely felt that way. Passing people gave me a lot of confidence as well. When I went into fourth, everyone was so encouraging, telling me how far back I was and that I could get her [Blake Russell]. I tried to put on some distance, but she was really far away. With a mile to go, I finally started to feel tired and was anxious to get to the line. I was counting down how many minutes to go in the race. I knew Zoila [Gomez] was coming up behind me. I was giving it everything I had in that last 400 meters. The crowd was going crazy, and it was deafening. The last 200 meters were so painful. It was in slow motion and felt like it took a half hour. I felt like I was running through sand. When I crossed the line, I was so mad I had gotten clipped at the end, but my good friend, Amy Manson, was right there when I came out and she was so excited and screaming. She told me I ran 2:33 and I'd better be happy about it! So I decided a 13 minute PR was going to be okay with me. It was crazy. So many people were saying good job, and some even asked for a picture with me! I think people were really surprised that such a high seed did so well. I did a cool down, met up with my family and friends, and we went to a really nice lunch. No one could really believe how I had done, and everyone was excited. We even had champagne! Then I went to the awards lunch and it was really nice.

Did you have many friends/family in Boston cheering you on?
I felt so lucky to have my family and friends there! First, three of my teammates were running as well. My mom and dad were there, along with my brother and his girlfriend, my best friend and her boyfriend, and my coach. I couldn't help but break into a smile when I saw them while I was running. I didn't [see] them, though, right before the last lap. There were so many spectators, and I wasn't following where we were exactly...I was so focused on the race. So they thought I was totally dying when I didn't smile and wave right before the last lap...I was in eighth or so then, and they were really hoping I could hold it together and still place in the top 15, which had been my goal. My dad had his binoculars out, and my brother told me later that he started shaking when he saw me coming down [Boylston Street] in fourth. My mom was crying and she almost passed out. I feel so lucky to have such amazing and supportive friends and family.

To fill in some of the holes in the bio above, can you tell us if we've missed any of your significant running accomplishments?
I made the World Junior Cross Country team in 1997. College was really disappointing and very frustrating for me. I won Big 12s in the 10,000m my freshman year, and was on the NCAA Cross Country Championship winning team my sophomore year. Those were both great, but the rest of the time, I didn't meet my expectations for myself at all. My senior year, I wasn't even fast enough to make the team to go to the conference meet. I think I ran the 5k in like 19 minutes or something. I think a lot of things contributed to such disappointments. I was anorexic for the first half of my freshman year, and it took a long time to get my confidence back after that. I also trained too hard in practice. That's something I do much differently now. I run my easy days really slow. Also, I have had severe insomnia my entire life. In college and for a few years after, I was on prescription sleeping medication. I think it really messed with me. A couple years ago, I spent a few nights in different sleep labs to try and figure it all out. I even went to the Mayo Clinic! At one point I was misdiagnosed with sleep apnea, and had to use a CPAP machine. It was a pretty low point in my life. Luckily, I don't have sleep apnea, and I've been able to get off medication. I sleep very little now, but I feel a ton better than when I was sleeping eight hours a night with medication. It's made a huge difference in my running as well.

What kind of training did you do leading up to the Trials? If you were telling someone else at your level how to train, what would you say are the most important components of training to run a marathon?
I really ramped up my training for this race. I had never done 100-mile weeks before or double runs. I don't enjoy afternoon runs as much, so I don't do that many of them. I always do my big run in the morning. It's also tough to find the time for everything with work. I love long runs! They are definitely my favorite part of training. I did a 24-mile progression run for my longest and hardest workout before the Trials. I also did tempo runs, mile repeats, and hills. I do yoga a couple times a week, too.

How did you come to be coached by Art Siemers? Do you do a lot of your training with other people? When do you usually squeeze your running in?
Art coached most of the girls on my team, and everyone spoke very highly of him. He also coaches at the Colorado School of Mines (a college team in Golden, Colorado). I wanted to coach myself through Chicago, just to see if I could do it. Plus I knew if I had a coach, I wouldn't be able to do all the local road races that I love to do, so I figured I should get that out of my system first. I think I ran somewhere around 30 races last year.

Art had four girls running the Trials — Paula Morrison, Megan Lund, Mary Cote, and me. I would say that's a pretty huge accomplishment as a coach. It was really nice, because we were on very similar programs, so we could talk about how we were feeling and the workouts and all that. It's so nice to have people to talk to who are going through the same things as you. I was relieved when Paula was telling me that she felt pretty bad in the taper, too.

We don't train together because we live too far away from one another. I do all my workouts with my iPod. I know its 'not cool' to wear an iPod, but I love it. I listen to podcasts, audio books, and sometimes music. I also love the treadmill and have run 25 miles on one. I clip a book open and just read and zone out. I get weird looks at the gym, but hey, whatever works.

On my easy days, I will get together and run with friends in Boulder. There were four women from my gym who qualified for the Trials (Colleen DeReuck, Kristen Fryburg, Katie Blackett, and I) and we did some Sunday runs together early on. It's definitely nice to have people to run with and talk to. I wish I could train with people more often. It's tough because everyone's schedules are so different and different coaches are involved.

I really like working with Art a lot, because he's flexible. He is willing to adjust the workouts if I'm feeling really good or off in a certain week. It was funny—the morning of the race, he said he thought I would run 2:33:53. I was a second off, but that's a pretty good prediction!

Your bio on the Trials web site said that you work in real estate. What exactly do you do? Do you work full time?
I'm an agent for Your Castle Real Estate. It's a smaller agency and more investor-based. I also own some rental properties in Boulder. I bought them when they were pretty trashed, and made some major improvements. I rent them out. I definitely wasn't making a living running, and this gives me the flexibility I need to train. I probably only work about 20-30 hours a week.

How would you assess the time you spent running for CU? What was your experience like being a part of that team, and did you get what you wanted out of college running?
Although it was a frustrating experience for me with my own running, I still value my time at CU. Being part of a national championship team was amazing. Getting voted captain of the team my senior year is one of my happiest college memories. I think going through all the frustrations I did in college helps me to appreciate my life so much more now. I'm a lot happier and healthier. I really feel like a different person. When races go well now, I really appreciate it because I remember what it was like to struggle for so long.

What was your outlook on continuing to run competitively when you graduated from college? Was it something you definitely wanted to do?
Well, since I couldn't even make the team to go to conference, I knew running professionally was a long way off. I have always loved running, and racing is my passion in life. I did take some time off after college, but maybe just a month or so. I really can't imagine not running. I think it's something I will always do. And one of the biggest reasons I run is to be able to race.

I decided I wanted to do something different, so I decided to train for a marathon. I had a goal of breaking three hours in Chicago three years ago. I ended up running 2:50, so I was very pleased. And I had so much fun. That's when I heard about the Trials qualifying standard, and I decided to go for it the next year. I was in good shape the following year and had some decent performances, including a 1:16:53 half. I thought for sure I would qualify, but my insomnia was really out of control. The race was a disaster. I don't even remember finishing.

After that, I tried to come back too soon and ran very poorly the next couple of months. I was frustrated, but I focused on the 10k on the roads because it was my weakest PR (37:30). I ended up winning the Shamrock Shuffle 8k, which is a really big race in Chicago, in 27:07. I was so excited and couldn't believe it. The next weekend, I did my 10k, but the course was a minute long! I ran 35:30, but it should have been a three-minute PR. So I decided to keep training and run a 10k on the track, even though I hadn't done one since college. I went to Oregon, and was pretty tired from not taking a break, but ran 33:53 and was very pleased. I think that's when it set in that running professionally might be an option for me in the future.

In my Chicago buildup, I ran the USA 20k Championships in New Haven and finished sixth, so that was a confidence boost going into the marathon. I was so mad when it was hot in Chicago, because I had really been focusing on qualifying for the Trials for a couple of years. I hate running in the heat, but I just decided that I was going to qualify no matter what and blocked out the weather. Its funny, if you would have asked me a year-and-a-half ago how I felt about running in the Trials, I would have said I would have been really excited to be there and just be a part of it. I feel like things are finally coming together.

What did you see as the major challenges, if there are any, in continuing to run competitively after college?
For me the biggest challenge is sleep. I have tried everything, but I still really struggle with getting more than 4-6 hours a night, even while training at 100 miles a week. I'm really lucky in that my job is flexible with hours and allows me to train. It's tough to fit everything in, but it works.

I'm also really lucky that I live in Boulder...There are so many great trails here, and of course the altitude is a bonus. I also have access to great massage therapists. I go to Mark Plaatjes for physical therapy and the man is a miracle worker. He's also great to go to for running advice. It is tough financially to do all the necessary things to stay healthy. I was really happy when I heard what my Trials payday was going to be.

I think it is really tough to run post-collegiately, especially financially, but those who are really passionate about it seem to find a way to make it work. There are some great programs out there like Hansons and ZAP Fitness, which make the transition a lot easier for some people.

I am on a retail racing team, which has been a big help. We get shoes and some travel from adidas through the Boulder Running Company in Colorado Springs. These programs are fantastic, and I think more companies should look into doing this. It gives people an opportunity to be part of a team after college and be able to train while still working full time.

What is next for you? Will you aim for a Trials qualifier on the track? Do you have another marathon lined up?
I don't know yet. I'm just trying to relax and recover right now.

Has your success at the Trials changed your view of what you might want to accomplish as a competitive runner? Did you come away from your Trials run like Blake Russell in 2004, vowing to make the team next time?
I will definitely be back in four years.

Can you tell us how you got into running? Did you do other sports first?
My brother has always been someone I really look up to and admire, and he ran in seventh and eighth grade. No one else in my family runs. I told my mom I wanted to run, and she said that he was really tired from practice and races, and I should play volleyball instead. I was really motivated by that. I wanted to show her I could do it.

Your bio on the Trials web site also says that you collect antique aprons. How did that become a pastime of yours?
I have this awesome grandma who owned her own antique store for a number of years. She got everyone in the family collecting some type of antique. When I was really little, I used to love going to her shop and trying on aprons and taking drink orders for everyone. So that became my collection. I have probably over 1,000 now.