Sister Mary Shea Interview

garycohenrunning.com
be healthy • get more fit • race faster

Enter email to receive e-newsletter:

Join us on Facebook

"All in a Day’s Run" is for competitive runners, fitness enthusiasts and anyone who needs a "spark" to get healthier by increasing exercise and eating more nutritionally.

Click here for more info or to order

This is what the running elite has to say about "All in a Day's Run":

"Gary's experiences and thoughts are very entertaining, all levels of runners can relate to them."
Brian Sell — 2008 U.S. Olympic Marathoner

"Each of Gary's essays is a short read with great information on training, racing and nutrition."
Dave McGillivray — Boston Marathon Race Director

Sister Mary Shea — December, 2024

Sister Mary Shea is best known as one of the ‘Pioneers of High School Girls Distance Running.’ Mary and her sister, Julie, dominated girls’ distance running nationally in the 1970s. As a prep senior in 1979, she won the USA Championship 10,000 meters in an American Record of 32:52.5. Mary is a four-time NCHSAA State Champion, winning the 2-mile in 1978 in a prep National Record of 10:17.5, and winning the distance triple in 1979 at 880 yards, the mile and 2-mile, setting another National Record of 10:08.4 in the 2-mile. At N.C. State, she helped the Wolfpack to two AIAW Cross Country Team Championships in 1979 and 1980. At the 1980 AIAW Track and Field Championships, she was sixth at 3,000 meters, third at 5,000 meters and second at 10,000 meters. Mary, her sister, Julie, and Betty Jo Springs scored all 55 of N.C. State’s team points in a second-place team finish by only four points. She won the USA Cross Country Championship in 1980 and finished 14th at the 1981 World Cross Country Championships, helping Team USA to a Silver Medal. As a prep, Mary finished second at the 1976 Virginia 10-mile, 1978 and 1979 Great Raleigh Road Race 10k, 1979 Nike Club Road Championship 20k, third at the 1978 Peachtree 10k, and won the 1978 Capital Area Women’s 10k. From June 1978 to June 1979, she finished in the top three in 11 of 12 major road races. During her collegiate years, Mary won the 1980 Maggie Valley Moonlight 5-Mile in 26:12 and 1980 Bahamas Bluewater Half Marathon in 1:15:15. Julie and Mary finished first and second at the 1980 Olympic Trials in the 5,000 meters, which was a demonstration event. She finished third at the 1983 Boston Marathon in 2:33:24 and competed in the 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon. After two years of collegiate competition, Mary focused on her calling to become a Catholic Sister and has served with the Daughters of Charity for nearly four decades, including almost ten years in Kenya. Her personal best times include: 3,000 meters – 9:02.9; 5,000m – 15:50.5; 10,000m – 32:52.5; 12k – 41:43; 15k – 51:20; 10 miles – 56:33; 20k – 1:14:55; half marathon – 1:15:15; and marathon - 2:33:24. She is a member of the Cardinal Gibbons Athletics Hall of Fame, the Cardinal Gibbons Alumni HOF, the NCHS Track and Field/Cross Country HOF, the ACC's 50th Anniversary Cross Country team, and the NCHSAA's ‘100 to Remember’ female athletes. She resides in Hyattsville, Maryland. Sister Mary was gracious to spend over 90 minutes on the telephone for this interview.

GCR:

THE BIG PICTURE I was a member of the Appalachian State Track and Field team and Cross-Country team in the late 1970s, and many of North Carolina area teammates have asked me, ‘Are you going to interview the Shea sisters?’ Is it surprising to you forty plus years later that you and your sister, Julie, are still so strongly remembered for your performances and contributions to U.S. women’s distance running in its early growth stages?

Since Julie was National champion for so many years, it is not so surprising for that reason. Also, we were so involved with N.C. State running, that we have been able to keep in touch with many people. It’s fun to think back on the old days.

GCR:

In my family, I was the oldest of four sports-minded boys and set an example in distance running at the high school level which my brothers all followed to varying degrees. What was it like to have an older sister set the example for you to follow?

It was good. I graduated from high school in 1979 and when we were running in the late 1970s in North Carolina a lot of the schools didn’t even have girls’ teams. At least the Catholic schools at that point didn’t. We only ran in the meets such as Sectionals, Regionals, and State competitions. We didn’t have a full team and usually just had one or two other girls race along with Julie and me. It is so different now as there are so many kids running. It looks like a big road race now when I see cross country meets as there are so many runners in the meets.

GCR:

Your father, Mike, was an outstanding distance runner in the 1950s. I wish to pass along my condolences as he passed away in the past few months. Was there any separation of his roles as dad and coach for you as a youth and teenager, or was it seamless for him to do both?

It was pretty seamless for him to do both. Before we could walk, we were almost living at N.C. State. One of the perks of the Physical Education Department at the time was that, when the gym was closed, family members of those in the P.E. Department could use the facilities. We were swimming, playing volleyball and basketball, running and everything else. When we were in high school, since we lived four miles from N.C. State, Julie, me and our younger brother, Mark, would run to N.C. State, take a shower, and walk as fast as we could or run to Cardinal Gibbons High School which was about three-quarters of a mile from N.C. State. My dad died on October 20th. During the Covid time, I was given permission from my religious order to return and help take care of my parents. We went to N.C. State each morning at 6:00 a.m. so my dad could go swimming. From the age of three to recently, N.C. State and running have been a part of our lives.

GCR:

When an athlete’s career is reviewed, we often discuss championships and records. What did it mean to you to win four North Carolina High School State Track Championships, including the half mile/mile/two-mile triple in 1978, to set the National Prep Record in the 2-mile and overall American Record in the 10,000 meters?

The appreciation was there when it happened, but not as much as now when looking back. I guess, as most runners have a similar experience, when you are at your best it does not seem hard. Yes, it is hard, but a runner can do many races at a high caliber, and it is much easier than later on in one’s career. It was like that when I did my best in 1979 and 1980, which were my best years. When I broke the 10,000-meter American Record, before that race, I stayed with a friend of mine who had moved out to California. I wasn’t doing well in the workouts when I visited her. The day of the race we went to Taco Bell and watched the movie, ‘Jaws.’ In the race, Joan Benoit led the entire way, and I passed her on the last lap a little before the final 220 yards.

GCR:	When you raced for N.C. State, you didn’t have quite the individual success as in high school, though you were an All-American and two-time All-ACC performer. But how exciting was it to be a team member on the 1979 and 1980 AIAW National Cross-Country champions and to celebrate winning and raising the championship trophy as a group with your fellow athletes?
MS	It was a lot of fun. We were super happy. We enjoyed being together. I always liked going on road trips and being together. Now there is a big group of us who keep in touch, and we met in Raleigh, North Carolina which has been nice.

GCR:

I was raised Catholic and many of us had a mindset that could be summed up by an often used saying that ‘Our talents are God’s gift to us and what we do with them are our gift back to God.’ And many of my college teammates at Appalachian State who came from families who were Southern Baptist had the same thought process. How did your upbringing in the Catholic church contribute to your thoughts and practices on training and racing and doing your best?

There was a mixture as running has helped my faith life and prayer life and vice versa. As a Catholic Sister, the endurance that a person uses as they sacrifice to do well in running, paid off for me. When I became a sister, I thought, ‘What am I going to do? I know how to run.’ When I went to Kenya, I could walk anywhere because I had the endurance. Even the little kids up in the mountains walked everywhere. Faith does take discipline and openness to how God may be speaking to you through other people and situations. It has been a good mix for me both ways.

GCR:

After two years as a student-athlete at N.C. State, you decided to become a Catholic Sister. Can you relate when you started thinking about this, contributing factors over the years, and how you made this decision to serve God this way?

A snapshot of that starts when I attended Our Lady of Lourdes school in Raleigh. As an aside, until my dad died, we lived in the same house there in Fallon Park. In sixth grade my class collected food for two families for Thanksgiving. I was one of two students chosen to go with Sister Nancy of Catholic Social Services to visit the two families. We gave them the food and I remember being so moved by the experience. My family had eight children, seven at one time since my brother, Michael, died of meningitis when he was eight years old. We had what we needed, but not much more. These families didn’t have what they needed. This impacted me so much so that my teacher at the time, whom I am still in contact with, has told me several times over the years that she could see the difference in me as we brought the food to the families and the connections that were made. I didn’t think then about becoming a Sister but, looking back now, I think that was the start of it. When I was in high school, the Sisters of Notre Dame from Cardin, Ohio taught at Cardinal Gibbons. They were always smiling and happy. They went to the State meet and watched me race. I was drawn to them and thought that may interest me. They had a vocation club. If a girl thought they may want to pursue a vocation, you could pray with the Sisters. So, I did that. I signed up at the last minute. Their community of Sisters was primarily an education community and I didn’t feel called to be a teacher. The Sister who was our Principal suggested I speak with the Sister at Catholic Charities who was a member of an order, the Daughters of Charity, founded by Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac in Paris France in 1633. I met her and she suggested I major in Social Work if I was thinking about becoming a Sister. So, I changed my planned major from Business to Social Work. My Junior year I did my field work with Catholic Social Services and spent time with the Sisters. While I was in college, I was still discerning my future.

GCR:

What was it like when you were balancing running with your religious studies?

My main focus was running, but I was still involved with the Sisters. Interestingly, when I ran in the Olympic Trials Marathon, I knew I wasn’t going to race well. There was a Catholic Sister in the race, Sister Marion Irving and, by the time I was a couple miles into the race, my goal was to beat her. When I left the N.C. State team, I continued as a student but started doing more road racing. Julie and I were sent by our coach, Jack bachelor, to Colorado to train. We were running in both Boulder and Vail. The part that was hard for me was that we weren’t doing anything except running and swimming. I had a bit of a feeling of emptiness. I ended up finding a book about Mother Theresa of Calcutta. I read it and that was the end of my running career. I don’t know what it did to me psychologically reading about the destitute poor while I was in this genuinely nice place. But after that my running was sliding downhill. Jack asked me if I were sure that I wanted to race in the Olympic Trials Marathon because I couldn’t do workouts that I could basically close my eyes and do previously in years before. God was helping me to see what I should do in the future. To back up a bit, when I ran the Boston Marathon, I took it as my sign from God that, if I did well, I would continue running but, if I didn’t, I would take my vocation route right away instead of later. It turned out that I raced well at Boston and that affected my decision timetable.

GCR:

What are the parallels you have experienced in your running and racing as a teenager and young woman and over the past four decades as a Catholic Sister in terms of dedication, structure, discipline, and sacrifice?

It all truly connects. One thing my dad always told us was to do something that we enjoyed. I think God wants us to enjoy what we do as far as our vocation. In running, the ‘runner’s high’ has helped me with so many things. I never understood it until I was only running for my health. I feel so much better after I run. It gives me more energy for when I’m praying or going to do ministry. The discipline, even now is there, such as not doing fun things because I have other priorities.

GCR:

In the past, I have been a speaker with the topic, ‘Be a Star in Your Own Life.’ I tell my audience that there are five points of our star of improvement as a person – mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially - and in the middle of our star is balance. Has your life as a Catholic Sister helped you to ‘Be a Star in Your Own Life’ and to reach your potential as a human being by finding a balance in life?

I think that is right and is what I have experienced.

GCR:

RUNNING AS A YOUTH AND IN HIGH SCHOOL You briefly mentioned earlier recreational activities and sports that you participated in as a youth including swimming, running and ping-pong. What do you remember about when you started running?

In the summer, my dad was the swimming team coach and pool manager at Oak Park and for a year or two at Spring Hill. In the summertime, we were at the pool most of the time. We were on swimming teams. I didn’t swim all year round like Julie and some of my brothers did because I didn’t like it as much as they did. The swimming helped our running a bunch. I didn’t do much stretching, so the swimming helped with flexibility. In high school I played softball, basketball, and volleyball on my school team. I stopped after my sophomore year when I got serious about running. Before that I was running mainly so I could go on trips. My dad took us in our car to New York. I missed a trip to St. Louis because I wasn’t working out. One of the incentives was that we got to go on trips if we worked out. For a while, road racing was fun because we would get awards when we placed. I enjoyed going to different places. Julie was serious about running before I was. I did races but I never was able to push myself to the point that Julie did. Julie helped me a lot. We ran together all the time. She helped me go faster because she would do most workouts hard.

GCR:	While today youths who are interested in running either race in track meets or road 5ks, Julie and you were racing the more common 1970s longer distances such as 10ks and 10-milers. Was it only normal to race these long distances because that is what was available and did high school racing seem short since the distances were the half mile, mile and two-mile?
MS	That is true except for the half mile because we had to run fast. I preferred the ten-mile distance and 5ks – those were my favorites.

GCR:

While you were in high school, Julie and you finished first and second at several prestigious races including the 1976 Virginia 10-mile, 1978 and 1979 Great Raleigh Road Race 10k, 1979 Nike Club Road Championship 20k, and you won the 1978 Capital Area Women’s 10k. How exciting was it as a teenager to be racing up front with your sister and to take home awards for your efforts?

It was a lot of fun. We won the ‘Sister-Sister’ division in New York one time. We also ran the L’eggs Mini-Marathon and Trevira Twosome races in New York. There were some races that Julie didn’t go to. We stayed with host families, and I am sorry I didn’t keep connected with them. At that time, races didn’t put us up in a hotel. We stayed with a host family, which was nice as we got to know them for a little while.

GCR:	At the 1978 Peachtree Road Race 10k in Atlanta, Mary Decker was out front and won by almost three minutes as Julie finished in second place eleven seconds ahead of you in between your junior and senior year of high school. Did you and Julie run together most of the way, and how cool was it to run in a race that was growing rapidly into one of the country’s big distance events?
MS	I remember the huge crowd of runners and we had to get out fast. Fortunately, we were invited runners and lined up at the front. That made a big difference because people got trampled. Now, when I watch big cross-country races, I wonder how Julie and I got to the front of the pack in the large races.

GCR:	Speaking of Peachtree, the following year in 1979 the first three women were quite a way ahead of you as you were fourth in 35:28, but the next six women all ran within four seconds of you. Was there a pack of women racing together and you put on a kick or were you ahead of them and they almost closed in?
MS	That race is a little foggy. There were so many races that it is hard to remember those that I didn’t win or come in second place. That race was also before I was at my best. I remember the Bonne Belle race in Boston where Joan Benoit and Allison Goodall beat me, and I was in third place.

GCR:	Switching gears to high school racing for Cardinal Gibbons, though there was no two-mile for girls until your junior year, how thrilling was it for your family when Julie won four State championships, two each in the half mile and mile and, since complete results are difficult to find, how did you fare in those races your freshman and sophomore years?
MS	It was extremely exciting for our family when Julie won those races. I had an aunt and uncle who didn’t have any children, so my other cousins and us were like their children. They were always so interested and wanted to know how our running was going. I was still playing volleyball and basketball, so my running wasn’t great. I don’t remember how I did.

GCR:	In 1978 you won your first State Championship, setting a National Record in the two-mile at 10:17.5. How tough was it racing against the clock or, since you were alone, could you more easily focus on pace and time?
MS	I wasn’t clicking off splits, but I could tell by mile time in the two-mile races. I wasn’t good at the in-between times, only the half mile and mile splits. Most of the times when I ran well, I was in a zone. It wasn’t hard to do though I was tired.

GCR:	Speaking of being in the zone, in 1979 you were a triple State Champion in a 4:58.0 mile, 2:13.2 half mile and 10:08.4 two-mile. Were any of these races close and how exciting was it to pull off the rare distance triple?
MS	Margery Mayer was second in the half mile. She was on the N.C. State team with us when we won the Nationals in cross-country. She was from the mountain area; I believe in Statesville. If someone was going to beat me, it was in the half mile.

GCR:	Are there any other races from high school that stand out in your memory?
MS	A gentleman named Jose Rodriguez invited me to race in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at a high school invitational meet. That was the first time I met Betty Jo Springs, and I ended up winning the two-mile. I think I ran 10:02 and it was the high school record for a little while.

GCR:

COLLEGIATE RACING YEARS When you raced collegiately, in 1980 you tripled at the AIAW Track and Field Championships finishing sixth in the 3,000 meters, third in the 5,000 meters, and second in the 10,000 meters as Julie won all three races. What do you recall of that meet, especially the 10,000 meters where you were less than a second behind Julie and just ahead of Betty Jo Springs in an N.C. State podium sweep?

That was a very good meet for us. It was in Eugene, Oregon and was very rainy for the 10,000 meters. That wasn’t perfect when we were warming up, but it was great for a distance race when we were running. That made it a lot easier for us. We finished second as a team. There was a possibility for us to win Nationals with only a few of us competing, but we missed by a few points. (note – Cal State Northridge won with 59 points while N.C. State was second with 55 points)

GCR:

Let’s talk a bit about the 1980 Olympic Trials. The United States team wasn’t going to the Olympics due to the boycott by President Carter and you and Julie raced the 5,000 meters which wasn’t yet on the Olympic program. What was it like to run under those two unusual circumstances as Julie won in 15:44.12 and you were second in 16:07.50 followed closely by Rocky Racette in 16:12.28 for third place?

It was an honor, and we were happy to be there. The downside is that Julie was capable of being an Olympian then. By the time there was an Olympic 10k, her knees were finished.

GCR:

What do you recall of the August 1980 Maggie Valley Moonlight 5-Mile where you won the nighttime race on that out-and-back course, which includes downhill the first half and uphill the last half, in 26:12?

Before that race, Julie and I reported to the Florida Distance Camp in Brevard, North Carolina in the mountains. It was held by the University of Florida distance coach Roy Benson. Julie and I were counselors and ran with the high school kids. We also did some running instructional talks. There was incredible running up and down cliffs and steep terrain. I got in my best shape. Shortly afterward was the Maggie Valley race and I attributed much of my performance to being jump started at that running camp where we were for a couple weeks. Judi St. Hillaire was also there and became a friend of ours. That is one of the best races I have ever run. My dad told me afterward that he was absolutely shocked I was ahead of Patti Catalano. I just felt good.

GCR:

That fall in November 1980 at the TAC Cross Country National Championships in Pocatello, Idaho, you won in 18:18.7, followed by Julie in 18:31.1 and three other strong runners, Jan Merrill, Brenda Webb, and Betty Jo Springs. Can you take us through that day, which was the first time you beat Julie in a race?

I only beat Julie two or three times. Once was in North Carolina at a Richard Petty speedway and then at this one. Before the race, I found out my spikes were the wrong size. I went to a gas station and the guy was nice to unscrew my spikes and put in the proper spikes. Julie told me she was going to make her move around the mile mark. We hadn’t talked about those strategy points in previous races, but that is what she told me. That is what we did. We were at altitude. Everyone else seemed to hold back as they must have thought we would come back to them. However, the altitude didn’t get us and that was the key. I was surprised when I looked back for Julie one time and she said, ‘Go!’ That was a big surprise for me.

GCR:	The next month in December 1980 you raced the Bahamas Bluewater Half Marathon in 1:15:15, nearly three minutes ahead of Joan Benoit who was second in 1:17:59. What are highlights from that effort?
MS	That was one of my best races. It is up there with my win at Maggie Valley, the TAC Cross Country win and when I broke the 10,000-meter American Record.

GCR:

The next spring at the March 1981 IAAF World Cross Country Championships where Grete Waitz won in 14:07, it must have been neat to be on the U.S. team with Jan Merrill who was second in 14:22, Betty Jo Springs who was sixth in 14:28, your sister, Julie, who was 13th in 14:41, just ahead of you in 14:42, along with Brenda Webb and Francie Larrieu-Smith. Also, I noted Ingrid Kristiansen was five seconds behind you in 14:47 as Team USA scored the Silver Medal behind the Soviet Union. What was it like racing internationally in Spain?

I remember being a little disappointed that Julie and I weren’t further up in the pack. It was the only cross-country race I recall running that was on a flat circular course. It was a field or horse track. We didn’t go into the woods or run on hills. It was a tough race. Julie and Betty Jo went back to the U.S. afterward, but I worked it out with my college schedule, and I raced in Sweden. Grete Waitz won again there, Ingrid Kristiansen was second and I came in third place. Many U.S. runners raced there.

GCR:	At the World Championships, are there any memories of team camaraderie and from the awards ceremony where your team received the Silver Medals?
MS	I remember that the coaches were disappointed that we didn’t run better. When I looked at the results, I was surprised that I wasn’t back too far. I thought I was further behind Julie. We didn’t have our best race. Julie ran well, but I think she could have run better.

GCR:	At the 1981 AIAW Track and Field Championships, you placed seventh in the 10,000 meters followed by the 5,000 meters where there was an N.C. State sweep as Julie won in 16:11.04, with you second in 16:16.02 and Betty Jo Springs third in 16:18.76. What do you recall from those championships?
MS	It was in Austin, Texas. I did badly in the 10,000 meters but ran okay in the 5,000 meters. It was hot, but I was happy about that. My Aunt and Uncle live out that way, so they visited with us, and they got to see us run.

GCR:

POST-N.C. STATE RACING You briefly mentioned the 1983 Boston Marathon earlier. I raced that day and so am familiar with the race day weather conditions. That was the day when Joan Benoit set the American Record of 2:22:43 and Jacqueline Gareau was second in 2:29:28. It was close after that with you third in 2:33:24, Karen Dunn fourth in 2:33:36 and Susan King fifth in 2:33:53. What do you recall of that race as there were so many top men running and you must have been with a group of runners the entire way?

It was a bit cold and rainy. I was pushing the pace. It sure wasn’t an easy stroll. When I finished the race, it felt like all the energy ran out of my legs. I had never run a marathon. I had planned to one other time, but there was a bad storm, and I couldn’t go to it. After the race, it was painful to walk downstairs. I was extremely excited and happy with my race. My coach, Jack Bachelor, and my family were incredibly happy that I was able to make third place.

GCR:

You touched briefly earlier on some of the reasons why you weren’t in top form going into the 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon in Olympia, Washington. I noticed in the results that Susan King, who finished 30 seconds behind you at the 1983 Boston Marathon, finished in tenth place at the 1984 Olympic Trials Marathon. Do you wish that it could have played out differently, or were you moving in such a different way in life that you ran 2:47 and that’s what it was?

It would have been nice to make an Olympic team but, at that time I knew there wasn’t any way on earth I would be near the front of the race. I couldn’t even do my workouts. The other part was that it was nice to finally make my life decision though it was nice as well to have the running experiences.

GCR:

Over the next few years, did you do any racing or were you focused on your religious studies?

I wasn’t racing much. In 1985 I joined the Daughters of Charity. I ran a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in Washington, D.C. for the homeless. I did some other races, but I haven’t been racing much as a Sister. I have lately as I ran the shorter race this fall at the Lynchburg 10-miler. It was 4.4 miles. I have gotten in better shape. I run for exercise, but I can’t stand it when somebody passes me. Sometimes I have to deal with it because most people are passing me. There was a little girl at the Lynchburg race who was under age twelve. She went flying by me after two miles and there was no way I could go with her.

GCR:

TRAINING As a youth and in high school, in addition to running the four miles in the morning to N.C. State, what track workouts did your dad have you doing and were there favorite places you trained around the Raleigh, N.C. area?

I depended on my coaches to give me workouts, though I sometimes gave my input. Sometimes we would run home after school and sometimes we would work out on the N.C. State track. Dad would have us run one or two repeat miles, go swimming, and then do a couple more repeat miles. We were able to run some good times. My dad liked to talk to people at the track and years later we found out something we didn’t know at the time. He wasn’t always paying attention when we were running and didn’t always get our times. We were killing ourselves, so he would make up our times based on what he thought we needed. We would run a mile and he might tell us it was a 5:50. But he didn’t actually know since he didn’t time it. My dad was instrumental with the founding of Junior Olympics in North Carolina. We would race any events that we could. That went on for a while and then my dad worked with the Junior Striders, a running club in Raleigh that encouraged kids to run.

GCR:

In 1976 there were various races and running achievements based on the U.S. Bicentennial. I remember winning a 7.6-mile race on July 4th in Titusville, Florida where my parents lived at the time. Want can you tell us about you getting a patch that year for running 1,776 miles?

I still have the patch (note – Mary sent me a picture of the patch). That was one of the turning points in my running. I had this trifold paper where I recorded my miles. If the weather conditions were bad and I couldn’t run outside, I would run in place in the house. I would do anything to get those miles. I needed an incentive and that was big for me. Before I ran well in high school, that was one of my incentives.

GCR:	When you went to N.C. State, what changes were there to your training under the coaching staff there? And what was it like to be able to train with better runners?
MS	The coaching wasn’t too different. Having other people to run with was a lot of fun though Julie and I still were teammates and split our team into two groups. Julie and I were in one group and were usually close to each other in workouts. It was fun being with our teammates and it helped us when we were running with them.

GCR:	When you prepared for the 1983 Boston Marathon, did you do what many of us did back then, which was to keep up our training for 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters with an increase in our weekly mileage and a lengthening of our long run to at least twenty miles?
MS	I made a similar plan. My dad or someone else told me that I needed to complete a twenty-mile run. I ran to N.C. State and back from my house and all around many neighborhoods to try to get my twenty miles. I had one of those Casio watches back then versus the Garmin I have now. When Julie and I were in college we ran about 70 to 80 miles a week so I might have got up to 90 miles in a week.

GCR:

CATHOLIC SISTER Where were you stationed in your early years and how did you end up going to Kenya where you had been on your mission trip?

I was first in Pensacola, Florida at Sacred Heart Hospital which our Catholic Sisters sponsored at that time. I was a medical social worker, and it was a great mission. There were about eight Sisters there. Some were older and some were young. I was the youngest at that time. There was a mixture of people, and I learned a lot. When we Sisters visited with patients, they were so happy to have Sisters who cared about them. We would go to wakes and funerals to visit people. It was my first job after going to college and running. I had a Social Work degree from N.C. State but, other than volunteer work, I hadn’t had a regular job. I was somewhat scared about it. The team we had at the hospital was fantastic and it was great. I worked with kids who had cancer and were supportive of their families. I did some nursing home placement and helped with teen moms that were using drugs. I had many varied experiences. I was doing some running. We weren’t allowed to wear shorts even when running, which was goofy. Though I was running, it was just for exercise. My second mission was in a little mill town, Gloverville, South Carolina. I also worked in Aiken, South Carolina, which is a horse community and a golfing community. There was an ecumenical outreach called ACTS, Area Churches Together Serving, and I was the manager of over fifty churches who had volunteers every day working two-hour shifts. The volunteers helped disburse food, clothing, and financial help. The volunteers were present in the lives of those in need. It was a double ministry as it pulled churches together and helped the less fortunate. The ministers included me as part of their group and they did all they could for the operation.

GCR:

How long after those missions did you head to Kenya and what were your primary areas of focus in Kenya? Was it medical social services, life skills, and specific age groups or a combination of youths, adolescents, and adults?

Since I had joined the community of Sisters we had written to missionary Sisters in Bolivia and Taiwan back and forth. I felt called in that way but every time it didn’t work out. Then I was asked to pursue my master’s degree in social work which I completed at the University of South Carolina. My spiritual director said that God was possibly asking me ‘Will you go?’ rather than actually calling me to be a missionary. That made sense to me, and I felt good. Shortly thereafter, the Sister in charge knew of my interest in the missions. Some of our Sisters in Ireland asked for Sisters to come and help with the Kenya mission that had started a few years earlier. Our main purpose was to form the young Kenyan girls as Daughters of Charity as well as doing mission work. I was there three weeks shy of ten years. I was in a remote village, West Pokot. It is up in the mountains, which I loved. Nobody had a vehicle except the priest, who had a small car, and us Sisters as we had a pickup truck and a car. Near the end of my stay, we had two pickup trucks. The trucks became ambulances because there was no way down the mountain except for our open-bed truck that could hold up to forty people. We would drive slowly. I learned how to drive a stick shift and that was scary for the people who had to be with me on the mountains. I was the driver a few times when our people weren’t available, and I would take sick people down the mountain. It took about an hour and a half. Sometimes it took longer as I had to drive into the bush area, about forty-five minutes, to pick up the sick person and then I took them down the mountain. It would take us three hours to drive down the mountain, do our shopping, go to the bank and come back. If the river was high, we would have to wait a few hours until it subsided. We also had a water project that our men dug by hand. The people had been drinking water from streams. We had to boil all of our water. We also had large water tanks made of cement to catch the water when it rained. We had a rainy season and a dry season. There was a lot of malaria and other diseases. There were walking paths everywhere and the people thought it was neat that a Sister was running and walking. Some of the kids had never seen a white person as there weren’t too many of us there. They loved visitors and were very gracious.

GCR:

I’ve read that your dad visited you in Kenya. Can you enlighten us about his visit?

My dad was able to visit me the second year I was there. A friend of ours in the community was a friend of Kip Keino’s daughter. We were invited to the running camp in Eldoret. Kip Keino wasn’t there because he was dealing with a situation with refugees from bad violence the previous year and he was in Nairobi. His daughter called Kip Keino so my father could talk to him on the phone. She showed us the camp and a high school that Kip Keino built which included high school boys attending from every tribe in Kenya. Dad just couldn’t believe it. There were runners from other countries training with the Kenyans. There were many Kenyans running on the roads around Eldoret.

GCR:

Did you return to the U.S. much to visit or have others besides your dad in your family visit you?

Only my dad visited me. My mom was not well enough. The Sisters used to come home about every three years. I was fortunate because the Sisters in Ireland felt that, if our parents were still living, we should be able to go home every year to see them. I did get home a number of times. I was able to share what I was doing on my mission and about the people of Kenya at my school and other places. We also had college students and others who were just out of college who were lay missionaries in Kenya who would do fun camps with the kids, teach them songs, and give them snacks. This was good for our young Sisters. When I started as a Catholic Sister there were four of us from the U.S. where I was in Kenya. Now there are no young Sisters from the U.S. but about thirty from Kenya which makes us happy.

GCR:	After spending nearly a decade in Kenya, what prompted you to return to the U.S.?
MS	I received permission to have a sabbatical due to the health situation of my mom. She was dying and I was home with her for the last three months. Then the community gave me permission to stay with my dad, which I did for the last seven-and-a-half years. I was involved in my parish, visiting the elderly, and bringing communion.

GCR:	You mentioned that you are serving now outside of Washington, D.C. What are your duties and responsibilities as a Catholic Sister as you are in the latter years of service?
MS	After my dad died, I came here to St. Ann’s. I have been here before and it is a program for homeless women with children and teen mothers. I am preparing to start working with Catholic Charities. One of our Sisters works with women who have been trafficked, and I will be helping her with that program.

GCR:

That is interesting because in 2012 my wife kept receiving a calling and we started a nonprofit, The Lifeboat Project, that now provides housing and services for survivors of human trafficking plus increases awareness of human trafficking. Of course, we work with Catholic Charities and other organizations in the Orlando area. It is such a challenging group of people to help because each person is an experiment of one whom we help. Since you are in the early stages of this program in your area, maybe I will connect you with my wife, Jill, to speak about human trafficking.

I would love to. That would be great.

GCR:

WRAPUP For those who do well in sports, there are accolades. You were inducted into the Cardinal Gibbons Athletics Hall of Fame and the Cardinal Gibbons Alumni Hall of Fame, pus you were named to both the ACC's 50th Anniversary Cross Country team, and the NCHSAA's ‘100 to Remember’ female athletes. Is it nice as the years go by to be remembered for your running accomplishments even though they occurred a long time ago?

I do like that a lot and am grateful.

GCR:	Did you keep records of your racing exploits?
MS	One thing my dad did was keep files on us from every time we were at races. I don’t have them with me now as there was a limited amount of space to bring things with me from home to where I am now.

GCR:

I’m glad to hear you are recovering well from that fall you incurred. When you are back up to full speed, what is your current training and fitness program that you were doing and hope to resume?

I also have some osteoporosis, so I have to be careful. I hope to continue running. I have been running regularly since I came home from Kenya. I had the idea that four miles was a good distance. It doesn’t take that long to do and is enough exercise to stay fit. So that is what I had been doing. My brother, Steve, runs a 5k every year in Selma and has invited my sister, Theresa, and me to run it which I have done every year since my return from Kenya. It is a run to raise money for people who need recovery from drug and alcohol issues. There are people who are working on their situations that I see each year and it is nice there is that race to support them. I would like to resume running four miles. I may not be doing it on uneven sidewalks. I may have to drive somewhere. But I’m the kind of runner that doesn’t like to drive elsewhere to run. I like to go out the front door. I have an exercise machine which I will use until I go back to the doctor for a checkup.

GCR:

What has helped me is that I have lived a few miles from Wekiva State Park on the northwest side of Orlando for over 35 years and run on trails four or five times each week which I did this morning. I also walk the first and last half miles of my time on the trails and mix in stride outs some days. Have you utilized soft surfaces, warmups and warm downs, and stride outs to change the action of your legs?

I do some of those things and did have many nice places to run in Raleigh. Here I will have to drive to find better running locales. I was fortunate when I was running seriously to never get injured even though I never stretched and never warmed up. I just went. Julie would warm up. I would start at my pace and go.

GCR:

I still stay connected with some of my former teammates and competitors from other colleges. Also, great runners like Craig Virgin, Bill Rodgers, Rod Dixon, and Greg Meyer are connected with me and many others in the running community through social media. Even though I wasn’t at their level, we went through the same time period and similar training. How nice is it for you to connect with former teammates and competitors?

It is particularly good. I got involved through a group text when N.C. State won the first of their recent three women’s NCAA Cross Country Championships. One of the runners is from Syracuse and invited her high school teammates to North Carolina for a visit. We met at a sports bar and watched the Nationals when they won the first time. We have gotten together two other times.

GCR:

What are the major lessons you have learned during your life from growing up in a large family with religion, academics and athletics all in focus, the discipline and sacrifice that running and being a Catholic Sister encourages, balancing life’s aspects, and adversity you have faced that encompasses the philosophy of Sister Mary Shea which will encourage people to reach their potential as a runner and as a human being?

For young people, particularly in grade school, enjoy different sports. Try not to worry about others because sometimes you may have a hard time when you feel like others are watching you. Encourage kids to have fun. I still had fun in high school, but it became more serious fun. My dad and my mom were always helping us in many ways. I saw my dad coaching at N.C. State and I noticed when runners were with him that it was great to be in the team atmosphere where you could share with one another and support one another. Church was especially important to my parents, we always went, and it helped me build my prayer life and even more so when I became a Sister. God’s love is for all of us. We should be kind to all people like you and your wife do with people who have been trafficked. There are so many opportunities for us to do good. We have to let people know that we care about them. One time there was something I wasn’t sure how to do and one of the Sisters said, ‘Just love and we will be fine.’ We learn as we go along how to hear God’s voice through other people through certain situations. We just become better people. There are many holy people in my Parish and their joy is to help people whether through the school or raising money for the Kenyan mission or helping at the nursing home. That made me want to do more myself. There is a domino effect and love can conquer many things that are difficult. I liked your five points of being your own star. (note – I mentioned again mentally, physically, emotionally, financially and with balance in the middle of the star). I think you are right. With increases in awareness of kids being bullied, it is important to be supportive of people of all ages. Another thing back when I was discerning to be a Sister and there are so many different communities is that two were similar. My priest said, ‘Where do you feel the most at home?’ Where we feel the most at home is where we feel the most joy and happiness. Those are steppingstones like when some people change their major in college and others don’t find out until later what may be their main focus in life. We should be open to ideas and give a helping hand to anybody whom we can. That will make you a stronger person in the end.

	Inside Stuff
Hobbies/Interests	I’ve always enjoyed photography going back to the Kodak Instamatic and 110 film. Now, I still do. It comes down to figuring out time and sorting. It was nice in Kenya to do that. As a quick aside, when I was in Kenya, I brought DVDs that we had made when I was in Ireland, and we were part of the Irish Provincialate when the Winter Olympics was happening. Where I lived in Kenya, most of the people had not seen a television. I brought a laptop and we used a generator. We took it over to the school and people hung out the windows to see. We have a program for the elderly to have meals and take showers that is a forty-minute walk for them. It isn’t truly a shower, but it is a bucket bath. So, we had them come to watch on television when President Obama and the Pope each came to Kenya. They hadn’t watched television so that was neat. I collected stamps when I was younger. I love playing tennis and that ended up being my favorite thing to do. When I was working as a Sister in Macon, Georgia, I joined a tennis team for a year-and-a-half which was fun. My tennis skills were medium, not great, but okay
Nicknames	As a child, my oldest brother, John, who competed as a Modern Pentathlete, came up with a name from when I was little. He must have been giving candy and said, ‘Who wants this?’ I said, ‘Me, me.’ So, my nickname ‘Me-Me’ became my name until I went to high school
Favorite movies	One of my favorite movies is ‘What About Bob?’ My dad and I both loved that movie, and we watched it every year for a while. We watched it about twelve times. Another I liked was the movie ‘Ghandi.’ I also liked ‘Jaws’
Favorite TV shows	As a child, I liked many detective shows. As an adult, I liked ‘Monk.’ As a child, we watched ‘The Brady Bunch,’ ‘Barnaby Jones,’ ‘Mannix’ and many western shows. Friday night was our big night for watching television shows. This hurt me in graduate school because I didn’t like to read as much as I liked to watch. We had our schedule of television shows
Favorite music	Mostly I like songs that are called ‘Glory and Praise Songs’ that were popular in the 1980s. There were songs I liked from the St. Louis Jesuits from a long time ago. One popular song is ‘Leader of the Band’ by Dan Fogelberg. I think of my father when I hear it. Since my dad has died, I have played it many times because it has a lot of nice thoughts in the lyrics
Favorite books	As I mentioned, I watched more pleasure videos than doing reading for pleasure. The one author I did read was Henri Nouwen, who was a Catholic Jesuit Priest from Holland. He taught at Harvard and other places. He died in St. Petersburg, Russia many years ago. He was a very holy man. At the end of his life, he found most of his peace and satisfaction working at the L'Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill, Ontario with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Volunteers help the residents with their disabilities. Henri writes in his books and speaks in his tapes about some of the young people there who moved him and changed his life. He received many awards and accolades for his work. There was one place he was invited to speak, but he didn’t because they didn’t let the disabled person attend with him. He was so famous and was out giving talks and retreats. His books have simple, easy messages about God’s love and prayer. One book by him, ‘The Prodigal Son,’ is nice because, as a reader, you put yourself in the position of God the Father, the son who goes out and wastes everything, and the son who did everything right but is angry when the son who was wayward comes back and the father is so nice to him. It is a beautiful book that provides insights for anyone who reads it. So, Henri Nouwen is my favorite
Favorite Bible passages	Psalm 46 that says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ For most of my life I was not still in many different ways. In the midst of busyness, the question is ‘How can we quiet ourselves, so we are present to and with God?’ After Christmas we are now reading in church about the love of God. One of my favorite Gospels is when Jesus washes the feet of everybody. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to wash his feet, until Jesus explains why and then Peter tells Jesus to wash his feet and his hands as well. The whole idea is that Jesus calls us to be servants, and we have to be humble. Peter was having a hard time being humble until Jesus, the leader, washed his feet (note – I mentioned to Mary that, when I run in the woods and on trails, sometimes I stop and realize I am the only one there as I hear birds chirping and the wind blowing. In this moment, I feel closest to God because I am alone while God is there and no one else is around. To get this feeling, one has to be a runner, be moving along, and then stop). I do know exactly what you mean. The sad thing is, with several wars going on, kids living in cities where there is mostly cement can’t experience this, which is an opportunity for us to feel. To be still in the midst of bombings and noise has got to be hard
Family cars	We had Fords and Chevys. We would go on long trips to run in places like Van Courtland Park in New York City. Right after the races, my dad would drive home
First car	A Toyota Corolla. It was the fall of my sophomore year in college. There was a race called the ‘Toyota Fall Frost 10k’ in Jersey City and the male and female winner each received use of a car for a year. I was given a Toyota Corolla for a year. Then I won it again the next year. The following year, Betty Jo Springs won
Current car	I don’t own my own car. My community has one for me to use and, unbelievably, it’s a Toyota Corolla
First Jobs	My first real job was at the hospital in Pensacola. As a teenager, I babysat. I also sold football programs at N.C. State. I loved doing that. I sold candy bars at school. I was always a candy high seller and got a free school yearbook. I enjoyed the business of it
Family	: My family has always been remarkably close. On my dad’s side of the family, he had an older sister and a younger sister, and we have kept in touch with our cousins. All of my siblings were athletes either as runners, tennis players, in karate and modern pentathlon. My brother, Mark, ran a lot with Julie and me and he ran for Appalachian State like you did. Mark and I were running behind Julie until he got older. The three of us would do night runs together. My dad would run with us and take short cuts through yards to pass us. We had a lot of fun. My mom, bless her heart, would hold out sweats when we were racing. My parents didn’t have a lot of money when we were growing up, but we had many opportunities through sports
Pets	We either had a dog or cat most of the time. When I was home with my dad, our cat was almost twenty years old when he died. His name was ‘Max.’ In Smithfield they were doing rabies shots for cats, so I took Max there. I used one of my sister’s pet carriers and I didn’t know how to use it properly. Max got out and was gone for two weeks. This was a forty-five-minute drive from our house in Raleigh. I was terribly upset because my dad loved that cat. The Ford dealership across from the pet place giving out the shots contacted us that they saw our cat. My sister and I drove there, and we got Max back. We had him for another six months before he passed. When I was in Kenya, we had a dog and a cat. ‘Rakia’ meant jumping dog. ‘Hyeba’ was the cat. I also had a dog and cat in South Carolina. Many of the Sisters in my community are either allergic to dogs or cats or aren’t fond of pets, so we don’t have any now
Favorite breakfast	I like a good omelet. When I was growing up from when I was little until college, we had French toast every day. That was racing food
Favorite meal	One of my sisters makes a delicious lasagna which is my favorite food. Of course. We always had spaghetti the night before races
Favorite beverages	I no longer drink soda but, if I had to name my favorite beverage, it would be Mountain Dew
First running memory	The first race I remember running is interesting because it is only a thirty-minute drive from the main place for our Sisters in Maryland. In Frederick, Maryland there was a race when I was eight years old. I wore black patent leather shoes. At that time, Nike didn’t exist. I was second to last. But I got a pin and something else and I was excited
Running heroes	In the 1970s, at the track at Duke they had some big meets. There was the USA versus USSR and others. We had several top runners who competed. I saw Kip Keino and got his autograph. Mary Decker was there. I got Steve Prefontaine’s autograph. Those are who I remember when I was little. Then there were Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit
Greatest running moments	Winning TAC Cross Country in Pocatello, Idaho. Winning the 10,000 meters in Walnut, California on the track. Winning the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race and holding the 5 mile record there. Getting 3rd Place at the Boston Boston Marathon in 1983
Most disappointing running moments	At TAC Nationals Cross Country when I finished way back. Joan Benoit and I ran a track meet in Tokyo in the 10,000 meters and I was lapped
Childhood dreams	I didn’t think of being a Sister. I wanted to help people. I thought about being in business
Funny memory number one	When we were at the running camp in Brevard, Julie and I had to give a talk. Julie’s head went through this cardboard box and another counselor’s hands were moving. I would say things about Julie while she had her head in this box. Then, after saying all these nice comments, I took an ice cream pie and smeared it in her face. She did not know that it was coming
Funny memory number two	At the Nike team challenge, Kim Sharpe, who was on our team at N.C. State, was on the race team with Julie and me. We won and earned a trip to Hawaii for a week. Where pineapples were grown there was a fine sand that was extremely light weight. Julie tripped one time and fell. She was covered with sand; I was laughing, and she wasn’t happy about that. I just jumped in it myself so she wouldn’t be mad at me
Funny memory number three	After the Trevira 10-mile Twosome race, my dad’s friend asked me to run a race at Prospect Park the next day. I agreed and began following the subway directions he gave me. While on the subway I saw runners with race numbers and followed them. It turns out they were going to 6-mile race on the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach. I went to get my number and found out I was at the wrong race. I had a good race and won. They made me a lifetime member of the Rockaway Road Runners
Embarrassing moment	When I was a Sister, one of my Sister friends told what they had done on another occasion so she came up with an idea. While one Sister wasn’t in her room, another Sister went under her bed and waited for her to get in her bed so she could reach up, grab her hand, and scare her. We were waiting in the hall, and nothing happened for a while as she took a long time to go to bed. Finally, we heard screaming. About a year later, the Sister who played the practical joke was here, and I hadn’t seen her for a long time. It flashed through my mind to go under her bed. I hid under the bed. She came into her room and got into bed. I reached up and couldn’t find her hand. So, I put my hand under her pillow and started pushing it to scare her. Then I realized from the voice I heard that I was in the wrong room. I was in the room of one of the Mother Superiors who was there to see how we were doing on our Mission. I was sweating, on the floor and there was no way out. I got up and said to the Sister, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t usually do anything like this.’ I left, told my Sister friend, and swore her and others to secrecy. But the next day everybody was talking about it. Young women still have fun - even if they are Sisters!
Favorite places to travel	Domestically, Colorado was incredibly beautiful. I liked Oregon. I liked any places where we stayed in state parks. Of foreign places, I loved Kenya where I went in West Pokot. Of races, I liked the Cayman Islands. When I was at a running camp in Georgia, the ‘Barefoot Brigade’ from the Cayman Islands were there and they invited me to the Bill Rodgers camp in the Cayman Islands. We went snorkeling. They cooked conch chowder for us. It was pretty and a lot of fun
Final comments from Sister Mary	In closing, what a great example my dad was. He had qualified for an Olympic Trials when he was young but didn’t get the message in time. I have so much gratitude for my dad and all the ways he showed he cared for people and enjoyed the students. Thank you very much for this interview. I deeply appreciate it