Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Calibri;}{\f1\fswiss\fcharset0 Arial;}}
{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1515;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sa200\f0\fs22 TS: I\rquote m here with Nicole Cueno, class
of 2002, and an inductee into the Grinnell College Hall of Fame back in 2007. A track
and cross country performer here, a national champion. First of all how often do you get
back to Grinnell to visit?\par \par
NC: After I graduated my brother started here, so I had the perfect excuse to come back fairly
often. I came back for usually a cross country meet or two or a track meet or two. Since
he\rquote s graduated I don\rquote t have quite as many excuses. I\rquote ve been back
a couple times since he graduated in 2006. I came back for my five year reunion, and
then I was back earlier this spring for my ten-year. I like to come back and I\rquote
m from Iowa too, it makes it a little easier. \par
\par TS: Let\rquote s go back to that time, you
come from Maquoketa. You had a solid career there as a runner, but you really stepped
it up several levels at Grinnell College. You went from being a good high school runner
to a phenomenal runner. What was the thing that allowed you to take those next steps
up?\par \par
NC: I think it was being allowed to go at my own pace. I think how I handled pressure
and racing was really allowed to develop along with my maturity. A lot of times I think high
school, even middle school athletes, if a child shows talent they are pushed really
hard. I think I wasn\rquote t necessarily pushed in high school which was good. I didn\rquote
t feel all of that pressure. I liked to race, I was competitive, but I didn\rquote t train
year-round. With the addition of getting allowed to develop my own passion and love for racing
itself and enjoying the team and then getting the benefit of harder training. We trained
hard in high school, but not unless somebody was watching for the most part. I was fairly
self-motivated but I didn\rquote t train over the summer. I think the year-round training;
they always say you see the benefits about two years later. I started training a lot
harder when I showed up at Grinnell, and then it was two years later that I really took
a jump up in my training. I think my level of seriousness with it increased as well.
Once you start to experience success with it, it\rquote s kind of a self-perpetuating
cycle. \par \par
TS: Well you had many career highlights here, in both track and cross country. Looking back
can you give me a few that really stand out in your mind?\par
\par NC: When I look back to high school, we actually
won state in high school. That\rquote s the race that I think of and very much the team
aspect of that. When I think of my races at Grinnell, I think of the individual championship,
national championship, mostly because it was a very close race. I felt amazing about that
race and of course it was one of the biggest of my lifetime. When I think about the team
I think about absolutely everything else. I loved the competition with all of my teammates,
but it was how we interwove the rest of our lives and really supported each other in every
aspect of our lives. I lived with runners after my freshman year. My sophomore roommate
was a runner and after that I lived in a house with other runners, male and female, which
was really fun.\par \par
TS: What was your major at Grinnell and what have you been doing since college?\par
\par NC: I was a religious studies major, and I
did a gender and women\rquote s studies concentration. I did Teach for America, which was one of
those experiences that I would never change and never do again. I learned so much and
it was a hard experience too. I think at the end of those two years I was ready to take
a break from that and went back to graduate school. Grinnell set me up to go out and do
lots of other things like teaching in a school that was a little bit harder to teach in.
I felt really well prepared for graduate school. I went into evaluation studies which was good,
I wouldn\rquote t say I\rquote m using it explicitly now. I started working at a YWCA
in Minneapolis right when I was getting done with graduated school and I loved it. I loved
the people I was working around. I like incorporating more of the athletics but also the management
side of it into my life. I\rquote ve changed positions about four times there, each time
finding my groove and my niche a little bit more. I\rquote m now the Endurance Sports
Director at the YWCA in Minneapolis and the race director for an all women\rquote s triathlon.
Both are really fun things to do, they keep me really busy and have a lot of variety.
The people who I work with I really enjoy. I feel like if there is a way to create a
post-Grinnell I\rquote ve been able to take part in that up in Minneapolis. \par
\par TS: You certainly still had some success in
the world of running, with the Olympic trials, talk about that.\par
\par NC: When I was first out of Grinnell I actually
needed to take a little bit of a break from running. Within about six months I was going
crazy and really wanted to run again. I signed up for my first marathon. I was nowhere near
the Olympic qualifying mark but I was close enough that it got in my head a little bit.
I though that\rquote d be super cool, but I don\rquote t know if I could ever get there.
I was in St. Louis, Missouri at the time. Moving up to the Twin Cities where there was
a fantastic group of runners, and being in the thriving running community again made
it seem like more of a possibility. I was around other runners who had qualified for
the trials and my times started going down there and I qualified the first time, which
was an absolute thrill. It\rquote s one of those things that just qualifying for the
race is the big thing. You go there and you know you\rquote re not going to be in the
top three, you may not be in the top one hundred. The goal isn\rquote t to go to the Olympics
but it\rquote s cool to go to a race where there are some people who will go on to the
Olympics. I probably would\rquote ve told you two years ago that I wouldn\rquote t have
tried to qualify again and then my running came together again and I qualified this last
year. It just kind of shows running follows the rest of my life in terms of providing
some consistency but it will change its place in my life in terms of what else is going
on. It\rquote s been an amazing part of my life. I\rquote ve really met the most incredible
people. I mean, what do you talk about when you go for three hour runs; it\rquote s much
more pleasant to have somebody else there. I\rquote ve really made some fantastic friends
through all of it too. \par \par
TS: Alright, well thank you very much Nicole and welcome back.\par
\par NC: Thanks\par
\par \pard\f1\fs20\par
}