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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: At Home With Aisling Cuffe
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| Aisling Cuffe with her mother, Mary O'Hanrahan, who cheers her on in virtually every race. |
July 12, 2010
Two weeks after she set a new Junior National record in the 2-mile race and a month after she set a record for the New York State 3,000 meter, Aisling Cuffe was at home on a recent July morning doing what many other 16-year-old teens are doing this summer– waiting for a driver’s ed instructor to show up.
Cuffe had already had her breakfast: a single chocolate chip pancake that forms the basis of the breakfast her mother has made her every morning since she was in 2nd grade at Cornwall-on-Hudson Elementary School. Since becoming a champion runner, Aisling monitors every morsel that she puts into her mouth but she would never consider giving up her pancakes, which she eats dry, with no butter or syrup.
Cuffe Developed Her Own Eating Strategy
At 5’4”, Cuffe’s weight hovers around 100 pounds. She’s got the narrow hips and physique of a runner and she has learned to listen to her body to find out what it needs to fuel her successful runs. Now, when she is preparing for a race she doesn’t eat for four hours before the competition starts, a result, she said, of noticing how she felt if she ate too close to a race. If she is at a multi-race event, however, hunger can set in and Cuffe will eat a 100-calorie pack of chocolate chip cookies to keep her power up.
College Recruiters Are Calling
As we sit in the kitchen talking, it’s easy to be won over by Aisling’s giggling personality and apparent absence of egotism despite the tremendous achievements she has made as a runner in just the past two years. She mentioned casually that since July 1st, when college coaches were allowed to begin recruiting runners, that she has “got a lot of calls” from places like Villanova, Duke, Syracuse, and Stanford. Aisling said that wherever she decides to attend college, she plans to take a rigorous course load and doesn’t expect to have any problem maintaining a high grade point average.
Everything Revolves Around Running
While she has plenty of academic abilities, Aisling explained that since her running career has taken off she has decided to become a professional runner after college. She admits that she always has had a competitive streak and said that now she is able to direct it into her running. “I micro-manage my life,” she said, “everything revolves around running. It’s a lot of dedication.”
During the school year, she routinely came home after practice at 5 pm each evening, ate dinner, then headed to the computer to see what other runners were up to. She reads running blogs and interviews with her competitors to see what they may be saying about an upcoming race or whether they comment about what aspects of a race they found to be easy or hard. All of these clues can give Aisling an edge during a race.
Looks Forward to Cross Country – and New Records
This summer, Aisling is taking it a bit easier. She still runs daily around Cornwall and Cornwall-on-Hudson and looks forward to the fall cross-country season. She said she prefers cross-country to track because the courses are diverse, unlike a track course, which she finds “monotonous.” Aisling also finds a simpler joy in being outside among the trees. “In the fall everything is fresh,” she said, “it’s a happier time.”
This fall will also mark the beginning of Cuffe’s senior year and her opportunity to break records in national races. She noted that she was just over one second and a half off the national record in the 2-mile race in June, indicating that she felt she could surpass her performance next year, as she has done so many times in the past.
Listen to Aisling talk about her running just after the National race in June:
Track and Field Videos on Flotrack
Comments:
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Aisling is a great role model for young girls. We are very lucky to have her living right here in our community. Besides being the great track star she certainly is her down to earth personality is such a great thing for younger kids. We'll all be rooting for her next year.
posted by P W on 07/12/10 at 7:28 PM
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