'Running In New York Is The Best': Olympian Colleen Quigley On Track Career, 2020 Olympics, Mary Cain
(CBS Local)-- Track and field star Colleen Quigley has run all over the world, but Central Park is one of her favorite places to train.
The 2016 Olympian spent the past few days in the Big Apple and is gearing up to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
"Running in New York is the best," said Quigley in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "I did a 14 mile run this weekend. I ran two miles up to Central Park and then around the Jackie Onassis Reservoir a few times. I got a few hey Colleen and hey Steeplesquigs. Everyone was out on Sunday morning and getting their run in. It was vibes out there. Everyone is super active in the city and I get super competitive with people on that loop. I was grinning from ear to ear like a goofball the whole time. It's a great city for running."
Although she came from a family of runners and ran in high school, Quigley focused most of her time on modeling before she ran in college at Florida State University. The 2016 Olympian finished 8th in the steeplechase and hopes to have the opportunity to learn from this experience and medal next year.
"I was still a newbie pro at that point and raced the summer before in Beijing and that was my first international experience," said Quigley. "Rio was my second and I had that little experience under my belt. Four years later, I've raced against these women so many times since then and have done many international competitions. I've learned so much about myself and my racing style."
One of the big stories in track & field this year was when New York native and former Nike track star Mary Cain went public with accusations of physical and emotional she endured from her former coach at the Nike Oregon Project Alberto Salazar. Quigley says a lot can be learned by having public conversations around difficult topics.
"I was on a panel talking about some of this stuff and we were talking about normalizing talking about periods in sports for example," said Quigley. "Women and female athletes need to be more open about it not being normal to lose your period for six months out of the year. That is not ok, it's not normal, and it's not a sign that you're in shape. That means you're not eating enough. That means your energy output is not equal to your intake and you can do serious damage to your body and hormones. It can take years and years to recover from it and it might affect you for the rest of your life. We need to make it not embarrassing for women to talk about."
