FOR THREE-TIME WINNER HUDDLE, UNITED AIRLINES NYC HALF IS NOW PART OF THE ROAD BACK TO FITNESS

Molly Huddle has been part of our sport at the elite level since 2007 when she began competing for Saucony. This writer first met Molly Huddle in 2011, in Daegu, Korea, after her 5,000m run, where she finished 19th, and shared a Korean BBQ dinner with her and her manager, Ray Flynn. Molly has competed in cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, and the roads. An insightful athlete who gives her all, Molly is coming back to fitness after having her daughter, who she calls JoJo. 

We wish Molly Huddle the best of luck at the United NYC Half Marathon! 

FOR THREE-TIME WINNER HUDDLE, UNITED AIRLINES NYC HALF IS NOW PART OF THE ROAD BACK TO FITNESS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

NEW YORK (17-Mar) — The United Airlines NYC Half came into Molly Huddle’s life in 2014, and it was one of the key turning points in the now 38-year-old’s storied career.  Never a fan of cross country or an indoor track, the 28-time national champion liked to de-camp from her Providence, R.I., home in the winter to put in her pre-season base miles in the warmth of Arizona.  With its mid-March date, the NYC Half was the perfect race to close out her winter training block.  Her long-time coach Ray Treacy, whom Huddle affectionately calls “The Guru,” gave his blessing, and she signed up for the 2014 race.  It would be her first-ever half-marathon.

With the temperature right at the freezing mark, Huddle ran the entire race with the leaders.  She went through the first 10-K in 33:01 and the second in a much faster 32:21 as the pace heated up.  Although too far behind eventual winner Sally Kipyego (1:08:31), she finished a close third to eventual 2014 Boston Marathon champion Buzunesh Deba, 1:08:59 to 1:09:04.

“It was good,” a shivering Huddle told Race Results Weekly’s Chris Lotsbom that day.  “I think I stuck my nose in it in the beginning, and the distance got to me a little in the end, but it was definitely a fun experience. I definitely want to do another one.”

The rest, shall we say, is history.

Huddle would repeat the same winter program for the next three years, training in Arizona and then coming to New York for the NYC Half before starting her track season*.  She won in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and in the 2016 race, she set the still-standing USATF record for an all-women’s race: 1:07:41.  During her reign at the top, she beat top athletes like Sally Kipyego…