So after school, you went to the University of Tennessee. Why Tennessee?

I did my Junior and Leaving certificate at Newbridge College. After my Leaving Cert in 2005 I took at gap year to train full-time which was really good. It gave me a taste of the life of a full time athlete. When I left school I was still unsure about what I wanted to do for college, so that year gave me extra time to way up my options. I didn’t know whether to stay in Ireland and go to DCU, go to England or go to the States. I did my SAT’s and took a recruiting trip to America visiting Villanova, Providence and Tennessee. In the end I decided to go to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where the head coach, Coach Clark had a really good reputation and has coached Olympic gold and World gold medallists.

So how did you adapt to your new environment.  What was the set-up like in Tennessee?

It was a bit of a shock to the system for the first few weeks when I didn’t have my Mum and Dad doing everything for me!! I really missed my Mum doing my cooking and laundry, but I soon got used to fending for myself!

I really got on with Coach Clark and built a really good relationship. The facilities were amazing there, we even had an Olympic size indoor and outdoor swimming pool which was great for sunbathing at!!.. But not so much fun for our 6am pool workouts which we had twice a week! It was really good having everything at your fingertips, after a workout we would cool down, go into the training room where we could get a massage and then we would hop in the ice baths. We were given so much gear out in America. Once your trainers or spikes wore out we could just go and get another pair. We were sponsored by Adidas at Tennessee and when we made Nationals we were given special gifts from them. The team atmosphere was pretty good there, the distance crew used to hang out with the sprinters and throwers in our locker room where we had couches and a 50inch TV which was sweet!!

What was competing for the college like?

Running cross country out there was an experience. I had a rough season but got through it. The courses are more like tracks, the ground is hard, the grass perfectly mowed and not a bit of mud in sight! I ran most of my cross country races in about 20 to 30 degrees Celsius! It was also weird finishing cross country in November. I came home at the end of November and won Junior Inter Counties and finished 12th at European Cross.

I absolutely loved competing Indoors and Outdoors at Tennessee. We had a really good team and almost won the DMR relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) at NCAA Indoors in Arkansas. I ran the 1200m leg and put us in lead and then by the 1600m leg everything was just clicking and we were about 50m clear but our 1600m girl didn’t run that smart and just got caught and we ended up finishing 2nd, which was still pretty good but to be so close was a bit annoying! We also finished 3rd in the Team Championships so it was a pretty good NCAA’s for me! Both Indoors and outdoors coach got the distance crew to run a 4x400 at most meets as well as our own event just to keep our speed work up. I had never ran a 400 before going out there and I found the relays a lot of fun although kind of scary at some meets when you‘re racing pure sprinters!

DMR Silver Medal 2007 NCAA Indoors: Me, Sarah Bowman, LaTonya Loche, Leslie Treherne

What was your favourite meet?

My favourite meet of the outdoor season was definitely Penn Relays. It was amazing atmosphere with all the spectators. We won the DMR getting our revenge for Indoors! And we then came 2nd in the 4x800m. When we won, we ran a lap of honour then got our "penny" trophy and gold watches. We then did a press conference. The whole experience was so much fun!

I made the 1500m at NCAA outdoors in California. We travelled out about a week before the championships. Because of races all over the country I got to see a lot of America which was really good. At NCAA’s we spent a bit of time in San Francisco after the championships in Sacramento. I also got to experience some extreme weather in America! In Tennessee it got up to about 35 degrees in the summer and down to about minus 8 in the winter. I remember we went to Nebraska for one indoor meet and it was snowing so much and so cold out that the day after the meet, Coach didn’t want us running outside so me another girl ran for 10mins around the top floor o the hotel and then did some cardio work in the gym!

What were some of your best moments in America?

I have some really good memories of America and made a lot of good friends not only at Tennessee but other athletes that I met at competitions that I’m still in contact with. 

I remember running some really good workouts with Sarah Bowman who I‘m still really good friends with. We did all our sessions together and I remember clocking 59 on a 400 at the end of a session one day during track season and running a 2.12 800 in the middle of another workout one day. 

One thing I loved about America was that if we were doing an 800 session there would be 800 specialists to run with and if we were running a 5k workout there would be 5k specialists there, so I always had someone to pull me through. We also trained sometimes with a professional group that my coach also coached. It was brilliant experience to be training with sub 2min 800 girls, 4.03 1500 runners and a sub 15min 5k girl.

I also loved shopping at the mall at weekends and sunbathing by the pool when the weather was nice!!

Me and Sarah Bowman at NCAA Outdoor Nationals, Sacramento 2007

So how come you only spent one year at Tennessee?

When I went to Tennessee I intended on doing the whole four years, and a lot of people ask me why I came back home after the year, especially considering that I was running quite well out there. I really enjoyed the States and learnt so much not only about running but also about me as a person. And if I had I choose again I’d still definitely go, it was a massive learning experience for me. 

I’m going to be honest and say there was a number of reasons why I came back, the main one being that when I came back to race in Ireland and Europe in June after NCAA’s I felt drained from the my American seasons. I didn’t have one good race when I came home and realised that it’s near impossible to race the entire American cross country, indoor, and outdoor seasons and come back to have a track season here in Europe. I weighed up my options and decided my priorities and decided that I want to run at European and World championships and hopefully at London 2012. It was then I decided to base myself at St.Mary’s in Twickenham, London. I love it here, I’m studying Primary School Teaching and have a really good training group of both girls and guys to train with.