Lorraine Moller is a native of New Zealand who competed internationally for 28 years highlighted by an Olympic Bronze Medal in the marathon at Barcelona in 1992. She won the Boston Marathon in 1984. She also is a three-time champion of both the Avon Women’s World Marathon Championship and Osaka International Ladies Marathon. At the Commonwealth Games Lorraine won bronze medals in 1982 at Brisbane at both 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters and a silver medal in 1986 at Edinburgh in the marathon. She is the only woman to compete in the first four Olympic marathons. As a Masters runner she was undefeated and ranked number one in the world in 1995 and 1996. Lorraine was a forerunner for equality in women’s athletics and an activist for professionalism in distance running. After retiring from competitive sport in 1996, this longtime Boulder, Colorado resident continued her travels as Vice President of Hearts of Gold, a charitable organization that raises money through running events in Japan, Cambodia and Mongolia. She writes for various publications and published her autobiography, ‘On The Wings of Mercury,’ in 2009. She currently resides in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and daughter.
GCR: Perhaps your greatest achievement was winning the Olympic Bronze medal in the marathon at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Describe the magnitude of this, especially since you had been competing internationally for over 20 years.
LM: When I look back on my career it certainly is the highlight. At times it seemed that I should retire and by the time I was 37 many thought that if I had something to achieve I would have done it by then. But I kept sticking at it; you know you’re not done until you’re done. I had to take it to its completion or I would never have been happy with myself. That drive brought me some of my best performances when I was technically past my prime. For me the whole process of being in the sport was breaking my own personal barriers and even after twenty years of competition I still knew there was better in me. The bronze medal was the culmination for me of a very exciting career that gave me a ringside seat to phenomenal changes in the sport especially for women.
GCR: How had competitive racing for women changed since the beginning of your career?
LM: I began running when I was 13 and competing internationally at age 16. Back then the longest Olympic event for women was the 1,500 meters. Kazankina of Russia won the first women’s Olympic 1500m in Munich in 1972. I ran track because that was all there was available for one who had Olympic aspirations. When the Olympic marathon was added in 1984 it was another huge milestone for women. It brought parity with the men in terms of opportunity. The ideas of what women were capable of were more cultural limitations than physical limitations. Given the opportunity women quickly filled the void that existed and I was fortunate to be a part of it.
GCR: What kept you motivated in training and helped you mentally prepare for your third Olympic Marathon in Barcelona?
LM: When Barcelona rolled around after two Olympics I knew that this was probably by last chance to medal so I synthesized everything from my long career and tried to put it all together. That’s what kept me going as I knew in my heart I could do what I hadn’t done before and achieve an Olympic medal. When I started out I thought an Olympic medal would be the be-all and end-all, but when I got one and it was ‘only’ bronze it wasn’t good enough at the time, though now I am very proud of it.
GCR: The weather conditions were very hot and humid in Barcelona which led to a slow early pace, eventual winner Valentina Yegorova breaking the race open with a fast split between 20k and 30k and Japan’s Yuko Arimori catching Yegorova who still was able to prevail over Arimori by eight seconds. You were a little over a minute back. Is there anything you would have done differently and was there a time when you thought you might reel in the leaders?
LM: I prepared for that race better than for any other. I went to Barcelona a year before the Olympics to scout the course, get familiar with the weather conditions and visualize the race. Then I prepared accordingly. I knew it would be very hot and that the last three or four miles finished uphill. I usually don’t like hot weather and in Barcelona it was 96 degrees for the late afternoon start with temperatures on the road as high as 118 degrees. It was something that dashed the hopes of many racers. Due to the preparation on my reconnaissance trip I had a feeling of ‘mind over matter’ during my training and knew I had to redefine myself – my thoughts that I wasn’t a good hill runner and heat runner had to go by the wayside. During that year I worked on my weaknesses by running in the heat as much as I could and completing my runs with a strong finish uphill behind my house. I would sprint up the hill at the end imagining that the Olympic Stadium was at the hilltop. Then I would throw my arms into the air and pretend I was running into the stadium. It’s the best way to do visualization. Sitting down and thinking about it isn’t nearly as effective as ‘play-acting’ during training. One of the beauties about sport is you learn how to use your mind effectively. In hindsight I gave the race away when I let the other runners get away from me. There is a point that happens in every marathon that’s usually after halfway and around three quarters of the way when there is what I call a ‘crunch point’ where you won’t win unless you make a bid to win. You won’t win at a high level unless you make a move as too many others are willing to do so. At the crunch point I was running side by side with Yuko Arimori and had to make a decision whether to go after Valentina Yegorova and I decided to play it safe and hold back. Yuko eventually caught Yegorova and they raced each other as we were going up the hill. There was a gap and there was no way I could close it so I maintained third place the rest of the way. Afterward I wondered, ‘What if I had gone with Yuko instead of holding back?’ That’s what kept me going for another round in Atlanta.
GCR: Several leading marathon racers at the time including Ingrid Kristiansen, Rosa Mota, Uta Pippig, Liz McColgan and Grete Waitz didn’t even make it to the starting line in Barcelona for various reasons including injury, age or racing another distance. What does this say about the difficulty to bring home a medal of any color on the World Stage?
LM: It’s an incredible thing when you think of how many athletes there are, how few go to the Olympics and then such a small number who actually get a medal – your chances are pretty slim. There is a certain amount of luck but athletes create for themselves the amount of influence they will have on their outcomes. There is a focus to screen out all useless information you are exposed to and to focus on and use the most useful. It took all of those years to get halfway smart and maybe I had such a long career because I’m a slow learner.
GCR:You raced the first four Olympic women’s marathons at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996 and were the only woman to do so. Reflect back on this achievement and also compare your success in Los Angeles and Barcelona with less than optimum performances in Seoul and Atlanta.
LM:1984 was very important since it was the first Olympic marathon for women. I finished in fifth behind Joanie Benoit, Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota and Ingrid Kristiansen so that was pretty distinguished company. Generally there isn’t a linear progression of performance; it is more of a roller coaster ride with highs and lows that hopefully take you to a higher point eventually. In Seoul I hit a low. But you can’t judge a performance out of context of a whole career. Seoul was a valuable lesson for me that enabled me to get the bronze medal four years later. On days that don’t go so well you learn about your limitations and where you need to do your work. In Barcelona it was the biggest high getting the bronze medal, but afterwards I was thinking I could have done some things differently and perhaps got the silver or gold medal. So that propelled me to give it another shot in 1996. In some ways the 1996 Olympic Marathon was my most important marathon as I knew that Atlanta would be my final marathon. It allowed me to have closure. It let me come to a place where I was satisfied with my running accomplishments and could move to other things in my life. Afterward I had the epiphany that that feeling of personal satisfaction was the ‘gold’ that I had been seeking my whole career and could hang up my racing shoes and do it with a sense of peace and fulfillment.
GCR: The most prestigious marathon outside of the Olympics is the Boston Marathon which you won in 1984. Describe how the race developed with you and your countrywoman Allison Roe up front, the crowd support and excitement of the final miles when you had the race in hand.
LM: That race for us Kiwi women was our chance to qualify for the New Zealand Olympic Marathon team. New Zealand has selection criteria based on time and Boston was the last chance for both Allison and me as the selection period was almost over. We both wanted to make the team and five other women had already qualified. I ran very smart and did all of the things you are supposed to do to race well. I think Allison started out a bit too quickly and I picked her up on Heartbreak Hill. It was phenomenal not just to win, but also to get my Olympic berth. Boston remains one of my favorite races ever. The crowds were incredible. It’s one of those races that has the whole city behind it, is so steeped in history and the entire weekend is geared toward an amazing event. I was just looking at a photo the other day of me getting my laurel wreath at Boston which I received from John Kerry who became a senator that year.
GCR: When you ran your first marathon, the 1979 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, you were intending to use the first 20 miles as a training run, and then drop out, but since you were leading at 20 miles kept running and won the race in 2:37:36.5 seconds, then the sixth-fastest time ever run by a woman. What was going through your mind as that race transpired and how tough was it to race the full 26.2 miles when you were just ‘going out for training run?’
LM: That first marathon was on a lark as it wasn’t an Olympic event and when I was growing up we always held the opinion that the only people who ran the marathon were those who were too slow for the track. So I ran the marathon because I was visiting the U.S. and the friends I was with were running all of the local races. I didn’t want to miss out so I went with them and jumped in the Grandma’s Marathon planning to do the first twenty miles as a training run and happened to be leading. When I reached twenty miles my ride was waiting for me and I thought, ‘Well, I feel pretty good and it’s only six miles to the finish so I might as well keep running because I might get a prize.’ I had done twenty mile training runs when I was training for the track as that’s what we did under the Lydiard method of training. Everyone worked on getting a big aerobic base from 800 meters all the way up to the marathon. The race felt fairly easy as I had done the training. It just hadn’t been in my mindset to run a marathon.
GCR: In addition to your exploits at Barcelona and Boston, you were a three time winner of both the Avon Women’s World Marathon Championship and the Osaka International Ladies Marathon. Are any of these victories especially memorable due to their competitiveness, coming from behind or some other standout reason?
LM: On the basis of winning Grandma’s Marathon I was invited to run the Avon Women’s World Marathon Championship which was used as a showcase to lobby for inclusion of the women’s marathon in the 1984 Olympics. That race was in London and I thought, ‘I can’t turn down a free trip to London, so I decided to go.’ I had gone back to running track races and ran Grandma’s five weeks before London as a training run and won again. When I won in London it really caused me to think more about the marathon as my new event. In London I broke away about 18 miles. It was the first time the streets of London had ever been closed for a sporting event. On top of that it was for a women’s marathon which was such a new thing for people. They thought, ‘What are all of these women doing out here running around in their underwear?’ Joan Benoit and Joyce Smith were in the field along with all women who had raced high caliber marathons. It became the blue print for the London Marathon. The 1984 Avon race in Paris had a sprint finish with Carla Buskin down the Champs-Elysees which was so exciting. It was the first time the Champs-Elysees was closed down for a sporting event. This became the blueprint for the Paris Marathon. The 1982 Avon Marathon was in San Francisco and that one started on the Golden Gate Bridge and it was the first time that any of it was closed for a sporting event. Women were leading the way not just for themselves, but for events for all runners and I had a front row seat in history. The Osaka races were amazing. The audience, television coverage and media attention was huge. There were over a million spectators along the course that stood there to see us flash by a few times. The stadium was packed and people sat there for three hours to watch us leave, follow on the screen and watch us come back. It was taken very seriously and at the time the Japanese women weren’t in the top finishers though we have seen a rapid rise in Japanese women runners. In my first Osaka race in 1986 I took the lead about halfway from American Olympian Julie Brown and stayed in the lead. The second one in 1987 I had quite a battle with Lisa Martin from Australia and it came down to the last mile. That was very exciting and one of the closest battles I had. In the third Osaka in 1989 I wanted to redeem myself after my Seoul failure and did so with a triumph over the gold medalist Rosa Mota.
GCR: Who were some of the marathon competitors you respected and enjoyed racing the most based on their talent, drive and competitiveness?
LM: My great marathon rival was Lisa Martin. We had some grand races and there was a little extra rivalry because I’m from New Zealand and she’s from Australia. We always were great competitors, but when we were done with the day and hung our shoes up we were friends. I can say that with nearly all of my competitors. I have a great fondness for my rivals as they were very important. That’s the way it should be as you respect each other because you understand each other. And you know you need each other to help you go up the next rung as that is what a good rivalry does. The sport is made on good rivalries.
GCR: You had some great success at the Commonwealth Games winning bronze medals in 1982 at Brisbane at both 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters and a silver medal in 1986 at Edinburgh in the marathon. What was the significance of winning these international medals and what are your memories of your strategy, tactics and competitors?
LM: In Edinburgh I ran the 3,000 meters and marathon. I was fifth in the 3,000 which was four days before the marathon – it was just a little warm up. In Brisbane I was accompanied by my great New Zealand rival, Anne Audain, who won gold at 3,000 meters. In both races I was in the medals the whole way through and ended up with two third place finishes for bronze. What I really enjoyed about the track was I learned to be a good racer. I figured out tactically what I would have to do to win or place high in a race. I learned at what point I needed to sprint and how to size up my competitors. One of the things that is a little disappointing today in the marathon is the overemphasis on times. Now everyone is talking about World Records and times and they do a rather ridiculous comparison of times on different courses which isn’t that relevant. In Barcelona times were slow but it was nearly 100 degrees so how can you compare times with different courses and conditions? We like to see how fast people go, but I am far more interested in how people compete against each other. If I could win a race in a slow time I was happy. If I could win in the last 800 meters I didn’t care what the time was.
GCR: Your ability to race at all distances from 800 meters to the marathon is impressive as evidenced by your still holding the New Zealand Junior Record for 800 meters on top of your medals in international competition from 1,500 meters to the marathon. Why were you so successful at such a range and what is your favorite racing distance?
LM: It was the Lydiard method as it develops you across the board with an endurance base. Everyone in New Zealand followed that program when I was growing up and it gave me a base that enabled me to compete at a variety of distances and gave me longetivity in the sport. I was around for a long, long time. I was an 800 meter runner and that was my first love. It still remains that way – if I could choose two events they would be the 800 meters and the marathon. I mixed them up as when I ran the marathon I still ran on the track.
GCR: As a Masters racer you were undefeated in 1995 and 1996 and ranked number one in the world. How were you able to maintain such a high level of consistent excellent racing for over 25 years?
LM: Mentally I hadn’t done what I wanted to and I just had a dogged determination to stick with it until I did what I wanted to do. I didn’t really have injuries. I have this theory that we only have on injury and it just circulates around the body. It rarely stops you – it just slows you down and stops highly motivated people from killing themselves. With my endurance training I had good oxygen carrying capacity which helped me to heal quickly and also gave me strong tendons, ligaments and made the weak areas strong. I’ve probably run two times around the globe and I can still go out for a run and enjoy it. I was really good at being my own master and listened to myself rather than other people’s voices. I trusted the voice inside of me and I didn’t try to run hard when I shouldn’t have. I was good at balancing the workload with recovery. I took time off after races and enjoyed myself. I figured that anyone with a full-time job took a holiday so I would take two or three weeks without running, eat a lot and put on weight and then I was ready to start again.
GCR: You are an advocate of the Lydiard training method and in 2006 co-founded the Lydiard Foundation to bring Lydiard’s concepts into the 21st century and to continue spreading his wisdom. What are some of the major tenets that formed a basis for your training throughout your running career?
LM: We, along with many others, have been pretty successful in keeping Arthur’s work alive after he passed away. We have an online training program based on VO2 Max that is done by Dr. Richard Brown from Eugene, Oregon. The Lydiard program focuses you to be mentally and physically ready on race day. Sometimes we can be out training and think, ‘I feel so good that I wish the race was today.’ The only trouble is that it isn’t and by the time the race comes around that feeling has gone! Arthur’s program is successful at bringing you to a peak for your important race so that you get that good feeling when you need it. It is an art form and is the beauty of the Lydiard plan versus many other programs. For people who are willing to give up short-term results for long-term goals the Lydiard program is in line with this thinking.
GCR: What was your base mileage during your competitive track days and during your marathon training? What were some of your favorite sessions for stamina, speed and race tempo?
LM: When I was first training I remember when I got up to 50 miles in a week I wrote it in my training diary with a big circle around it when I was about 15 or 16. I was trained by John Davies who was a protégé of Arthur Lydiard and a bronze medalist in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 1500 meters He had the task of training me and he was very mindful of not having me do too much. He called Arthur and they watered down the training a lot. At age 17 I went to university to take classes to be a physical education teacher. This group of guys came running by – they were lunch time runners but were pretty good and they yelled out, ‘Hey chick, are you going to come and run with us today?’ That’s how it was back then so I bounded down the steps and joined them which became a daily practice. The guys ran fast and I had trouble keeping up the first week. I ran 80 to 90 miles per week with these guys who became my buddies. I even joined them for 20-mile runs on the weekends on hilly courses. It was a badge of honor for me and they were proud of me. John Davies continued to coach me per mail. In 1979 I came to America and teamed up with Ron Daws who was a 1968 Olympic marathoner. He wasn’t originally my coach but eventually he started coaching me. We were involved personally, which isn’t the greatest dynamic for a coaching relationship. After I ran my first Grandmas marathon on a whim Ron became more involved in my coaching and his experience gave me my entrée into international marathon training. After Ron and I split I was coached by another New Zealand running legend, Dick Quax. The most I ever ran in a week was 130 miles. In one time period I had consecutive weeks of 120 to 130 miles for three or four weeks. When I did this I was pushing to see if I would get better results and I didn’t. In the early stages of training mileage numbers are a goal. But it’s important to tune in to what your body needs rather than to just strive for a number. You have to use how you feel as your compass rather than numbers on a training program. One of the beauties of the Lydiard method is it was a feel-based system… We would run at ‘full effort’ or ‘three quarter effort’ and each of us had to know what that felt like as it wasn’t the same for each person. We didn’t have heart rate monitors so we had to have a direct connection between our mind and body which was the key to getting the best out of ourselves.
GCR: You started out as a barefoot runner until you were in your teens. How did this contribute to your speed, agility and strength and did you incorporate barefoot running in your training regimen as an adult?
LM: We ran barefoot when I started out and I always loved it. I believed it was good for me and I liked the feel of it. There is something about kicking off my shoes and racing away that reminds me of being a kid. It absolutely energizes me. I also believe there is an electromagnetic connection we make when we put our feet on the earth that helps with our bodies. When we walk around in shoes all day we don’t do what is natural by putting our feet on the ground. I still like to go barefoot and it has to be good because it feels so good.
GCR: What was it like competing in running as a young girl in New Zealand in the late 1960s compared to the opportunities for girls and women to run now?
LM: It’s fantastic the opportunities girls have to enjoy sport today. We have come to realize that men and women aren’t as different physically as we thought. Back in the 50’s and 60’s there was a perception that they were poles apart but as the running boom has proved there is much overlap. Now in mass races men and women are mixed in together and are pretty happy about it. It was encouraging to me to run with the men when I was at University and I saw some of them recently when I went back to New Zealand for a book signing and they were all proud of me.
GCR: How much did your coaches contribute to your success and what would you say are the major points you learned from them that helped you with the physical and mental aspects of training and racing?
LM: There was a real culture in New Zealand about Arthur Lydiard’s training and John Davies was a disciple of his. We followed the adage of ‘train, don’t strain.’ If we ‘got over the top’ and needed a reprieve we would run easy for a period of perhaps a week. As a teenager I remember running ten quarters and John was specific about the times I should run. The planned time for the 440 yards was 80 seconds and we jogged a slow 440 in between. I did the quarters from 78 to 80 seconds. I had a good grounding with my coach, but also had a pigheadedness to follow my own instincts. If I didn’t think something seemed right I would defer to my own judgment. For the rest of my years after Ron Daws my mentor was Dick Quax, Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000 meters from New Zealand. Dick was the person I’d call and discuss training ideas with and he’d help me map out my program. He was in New Zealand and I was in the U.S. so he would give me advice and write training programs when I needed them. I would adjust the program as necessary but I needed his voice of objectivity. We worked well together also because Dick had been coached by John Davies. My coaches throughout my career stayed true to Arthur Lydiard’s concepts which I am passionate about to this day.
GCR: You have coached others and helped them to strive toward reaching their athletic potential. How rewarding is it to help others succeed compared to your own personal accomplishments? How much more difficult is it to instill in others the necessary discipline, focus and mental toughness?
LM: I pass it on and ‘pay it forward.’ I realize that others because of their love for the sport gave me their time and expertise and their reward was seeing me reach my potential. Now I’m doing the same thing in whatever way I can. I am more than willing to help whoever comes my way. I am not doing so much coaching as education of coaches with the Lydiard Foundation. I find it very fulfilling.
GCR: What advice do you have for younger runners competing in track and cross country and adults who are training for and racing longer distances?
LM: For younger people the important thing is to have passion as that will drive them toward success and fulfillment. If they do things that aren’t technically correct but have passion they will be able to still do well. They shouldn’t participate in something that is drudgery. Kids also need to cultivate a kindness for themselves and not to be so driven that they don’t appreciate their accomplishments. Results are not as important as establishing healthy habits. The foundation you build as a youth is what will carry you through the rest of your life. You want to make sure it’s a really good framework. For adults they often are thinking they want to run and the hardest thing is to establish a habit and to stick with it. If they can make a commitment for three months they will get to the other side of the line where it stops being hard and is enjoyable. They should choose running partners or a group and make it social and more fun. When something is fun we produce good hormones and wish to keep doing it. ‘Hard work’ isn’t something to aim for as those two words are stressful. I’m not saying not to make a good effort and push your limits, as that is important, but to strive for your best without adding mental stress to your workload. And no matter what you do you should always reward yourself after a race which is something I always did.
GCR: How has running contributed to your life and how can others benefit from its discipline, structure, contributions to mental toughness, improvement in self esteem and other areas?
LM: I always looked at running as a journey. I gained much personal transformation and self knowledge from along the way. The greatest thing was having a lot of time to think and to get to know my own mind and what makes me tick. Self-awareness is the greatest gift that running has given me. Running was my life for so long that it didn’t exist in a category of its own. It was a totality that influenced everything I did. It is still a big part of my life but not the central focus anymore.
GCR: What are your thoughts on how running can break down barriers of social status, race, gender and education by bringing together everyone with a common goal of health, fitness and competition?
LM: Women’s running has really paved the way for women in sport and has given them opportunities that weren’t available when I started out. Now there also are mixed gender races and a mass participation which is really wonderful. With running people can come together to find their commonality as human beings where race, religion or other factors are unimportant. At the Olympic Games I always felt an appreciation for being a human being. I came to see that we are all much more alike than different and this has been a great gift.
GCR: You have been involved with organizations such as Hearts of Gold, a charitable organization that raises money through running events in Japan, Cambodia and Mongolia and also with Women’s Quest Fitness Retreats. How important is it for you and other top runners to give back to the running community and general population?
LM: Top runners do give by doing their best and setting an example for others and we shouldn’t expect them to do more. But most of them do anyway. Running encourages a global awareness which is why you find so many runners active in many causes when they retire. Also, we retire from competition when we are still young and don’t have a retirement plan so we have to find something else to do. Doing the charity work in Mongolia and Cambodia was great as I felt I was doing something to help others. There are children who don’t even have homes. Everyone should have a bed to sleep in, an education and people who love them.
GCR: You wrote a recently published autobiography, ‘On the Wings of Mercury,’ that is both popular with readers and critically acclaimed. Has this been something that you’ve thought about doing for a while?
LM: I’ve always enjoyed writing and was inclined to start writing about my experiences which I started around 1999. Gradually over the years it got written. I was writing for myself but also thinking I might want to get published. I decided to write down what was pertinent to me and then if there ever was a time when it was going to be for public consumption that I would edit things out. With that in mind I just poured my heart out on the paper. When it did get published it was pretty much as I wrote it, including all the personal stuff.
GCR: While you wrote ‘On The Wings of Mercury’ what did you learn about yourself through the writing process?
LM: The book is named after the Roman god named Mercury who was a winged runner and also the god of communication and writing. I could see how they connected as one feeds the other. They come from the same mind space. I wrote and as the book started to take shape I got keen on it and in the last year wrote about 80% of the book. After a while the writing was doing me rather than me doing the writing. I started out with ideas and as I put them on paper the words flowed, thoughts came out and I ended up in a place where I didn’t think I was going. Insights and epiphanies came out that I hadn’t thought about but because I put pen to paper it took me somewhere unique. Certain emotions that were tied up in events allowed me to take what was inside of me, put it on paper and look at it from a distance. I saw things in a different light and it was a very cathartic process.
GCR: How rewarding is it to have ‘On The Wings of Mercury’ so well–received?
LM: In the end I thought, ‘I don’t know if I talked too much and if it’s too personal,’ so I sent it to two publishers. I had heard that after editing perhaps 50% of a book could be cut out. But they liked it and left it pretty much as I wrote it. When the book went on the stands I had to have a talk with myself and own it. The things that I thought were the most personal or painful lost their hold over me when the book was released. It just became a story and people enjoyed it because it was so honest. They could relate to the human condition as we all have fears that we aren’t good enough or that we came up short in something or that life isn’t fair. An example is I gave a copy of the book to the mother of one of my nine year old daughter’s friends. She isn’t even athletic at all but still said, ‘your story is my story.’
GCR: And finally about your book – what about your mother saying ‘On The Wings of Mercury’ was ‘Way too candid?’
LM: You know what moms are like (laughing)
GCR: How does the joy of becoming a mother in your forties compare with the success you had as a runner?
LM: The next part of my journey when I retired was that I wanted to have a child. I had spent the best part of my child-bearing years running. It was quite a challenge to change and to use my body in a different way. I stopped running completely in an attempt to become pregnant. I had a series of four miscarriages before I finally gave birth to my daughter. We talked earlier about statistics and how hard it is to become a medalist and to be on the podium. What kept me going was I was told that statistics were against me having a child because of my age and history. Doctors said my chances of having a healthy child were like zero point one percent. But I knew that my chances of making the Olympic Games and winning a medal were far less than my chances of having a healthy child and that’s what kept me buoyant and in a mind set where I thought it would happen. Now I am so glad to be a mom and to have a second career.
GCR: You have spent about half your life in your home country of New Zealand and half in your adopted country the United States, mostly in Colorado. What do you love most about each place and how exciting was it to be inducted into Halls of Fame in both Colorado and New Zealand?
LM: I love being able to split my time and running allowed me to be fairly mobile. I do have a travel bug in my blood. My daughter is pretty well-traveled too. I like the similarities of both places having ‘the great outdoors.’ New Zealand is my place of birth so there is always a certain comfort in going there. I identify with being a kiwi. Boulder, Colorado is my place of choice and where my family of choice is and I love it here. I am around many runners here which I enjoy. And no, I haven’t met Jenny Barringer yet, but have her picture on my wall. It was great being inducted in both halls and was funny that Colorado inducted me first. It is nice to be recognized in the place where one lives and it was a big surprise.
GCR: What is your current fitness regimen and what does the future hold for you as a runner, advocate for fitness and in your personal life?
LM: I go out to run and usually intend to do more than I actually do. I enjoy running, don’t wear a watch, don’t know how far I run and don’t care. It is purely for the enjoyment of the running itself. It’s just a pleasure to get outside. When I have writer’s block I run so that I can enjoy once again that special mind set. When I get outside and run it just flows through me. I don’t find any reason to run fast and don’t want to measure myself as it’s a bit of a trap I can get into. That’s why I stopped running for awhile as I had to stop comparing myself to other runners. I just did a ‘cold turkey’ to stop running which wasn’t easy. I want to get the Lydiard Online Training Programs off the ground and to continue working with the Lydiard Foundation. I enjoy writing and would like to write another book, but the subject hasn’t come up and grabbed me by the shoulder yet. I would like to develop some more formal writing skills. I am a beginning writer and ‘just wrote’ like when I was a beginning runner and ‘just ran.’
Visit www.garycohen.com, then click ‘Interviews’ for complete interview with Lorraine Moller.
Gary Cohen is an enthusiast for the sport of running. This enthusiasm has branched out to include magazine/essay writing, interviews, coaching and public speaking. In addition to those activities, Gary also leads trail runs in Central Florida and announces track meets.