Olympic runner comes to Newton on eve of 2008 games

With the 2008 Games of the Olympiad starting this Friday, it couldn’t have been more perfectly timed for an Olympian to come to Newton this week. Her married name is Kate Taylor, but thousands know her by her maiden name: Kate Fonshell, winner of the 1996 US Olympic Trials in the grueling 10,000 meter race, a representative of the United States in the Olympic Games and a proponent of the sport nationwide who encourages kids to get off the couch and put on a pair of running shoes. Seventy campers at the Ninth Annual X-Treme Youth Running Camp listened intently as she traced her running career, spoke of the lessons learned and gave out advice about how to get the most success and enjoyment out of the sport on Monday at Swartswood State Park. Fonshell fell in love with the sport of running at age 15. After sitting on the bench a lot during field hockey season, friends encouraged her to go out for track. She loved the feeling of freedom as she rounded the oval, but more than that, she said, “I loved contributing to a team. Running is considered an individual sport, but cross country and track are also team sports.” Fonshell went on to Penncrest High School, in Media, PA, where she enjoyed a lot of success. So much so that she decided to set a goal for herself: get a college scholarship for her running. She did, to Villanova University. That’s when the high school standout encountered a speed bump. “The training there was very different from the training we’d done in high school. I found myself struggling to finish workouts.” The Villanova team traveled by plane all over the country, but Fonshell didn’t make a single trip that year. “At the end of the year, the coach asked me to go on one of his notorious ’walk-and-talks,’” she said, “If he walked you around the track the way we run, that was to be a good talk. If he went in reverse, not so good.” The talk was to let Fonshell know he thought things weren’t working out with her and to ask her for her scholarship back so he could give it to another incoming runner. That summer, Fonshell had a big decision to make. She chose to challenge the coach, keep her scholarship and redouble her efforts to fit in on the team. In the next three years, she was a member of two NCAA cross country championship teams and earned All-American honors six times. Upon graduation, Fonshell self-coached herself for a year then went under the tutelage of Coach Jim Schlentz. Over the next four years, she got stronger and stronger until there was a possibility of her qualifying for the 1996 US Olympic Team in the 10,000 meters. She breezed through the qualifying heat in New Orleans and remained calm for the week leading into the finals adhering to Schlentz’ advice to remain focused on herself rather than getting caught up in what others were doing. But the night of the finals, as the runners were being introduced, Fonshell got a bad case of the butterflies. Her first mile was a battle with self-doubt and heavy legs, but then her mental fortitude kicked in, and by the half way mark, the pack was down to four of them contending for three spots. With a mile left in the 6.2 mile race, there were only three, and with a lap to go, Fonshell took the lead and won in a glorious moment she’ll never forget. She went on to represent the US in the 10,000 meters at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. “Some people have asked me if it was a letdown to be in the Olympics in the US rather than abroad,” she said, “My answer is no way: there was nothing that could be more American.” Fonshell described being from the last country to be introduced at Opening Ceremonies, and how it felt to be wearing red, white and blue among 196 US delegates. Fonshell professed four things to the campers: be dedicated, set goals, believe in yourself, and remember your “hook” to the sport: why you loved running in the first place. At nearly 40, Fonshell ended by saying, “The great thing about running is you can do it all your life.” She showed them her Olympic Uniform and answered questions and then did something really special: she went running with them.