Emily Durgin - Unconventional Pathway
Updated: Jun 13, 2020
"I didn’t have an agent, there was no agents reaching out to me, I didn’t want an agent. I had no idea even if I wanted to continue running as a full-time career."
Every athlete and person has their own pathway to success but resilience is needed to follow through the rough patches to enjoy the wonderful moments. Emily Durgin has been able to be resilient to pursue a true passion of hers, running. She has proved that you do not need to win national titles in high school or college to run professionally rather determination.
Starting young, Emily Durgin would attend a small high school in Maine where she was able to find success with a strong group of runners. “I graduated from a small Jesuit school in Maine and we won 3 straight state titles in cross country while I was their.” Durgin would not only find success with her teammates but as an individual when she would qualify to Nationals as only a sophomore in high school. “I was only a sophomore, so that was a pretty big deal for a sophomore to make it, but at the same time, it also set a lot of pressure up for the rest of my running years to follow.” Having ran at cross country nationals, Emily Durgin would start to feel as though she had added pressure to become an elite runner. However, this pressure would play a major role in her final years of running in high school. “The two years after that, … that unnecessary pressure I put on myself because I had qualified for nationals at such a young age.” While part of Emily Durgin’s struggles came from mental blocks, the other side of the struggles came from physical and health changes. “Junior and senior year I had a lot of body changes, I went from being a 95 pound high school runner to the 115 frame that I am today now, … I dealt with Iron issues and all this stuff and it was just really tough because I wanted to run in college and everyone said Junior year is the biggest year.” With the changes that Durgin was facing in her Junior and Senior year, she was starting to become worried about the recruitment process for college. Emily Durgin after a strong four years of high school running was stressed about the life choice that was is in front of her because she did not have the ‘typical’ pathway a runner takes to college.
The recruitment process for college athletes can vary from person to person but for Emily Dugin it was a life choice that felt very stressful. “I just remember it just being such a stressful process when it should’ve been enjoyable and I should’ve enjoyed it but for me it was probably the first big life decision I had to make, was choosing which university I’d go to. It came down to the university of Connecticut and Providence which are to very different schools.” Having two very different schools, Emily Durgin was trying to sift through what she wanted and did not want. “UConn was this big power house, like this state school and at the time I really wanted to major in nutrition and they had a really good nutrition program and the coach at the time was Andrea Grove McDonough and I really just connected with her, … the girls on the team, and a bonus was that Abby Niece who I had competed against with all through Maine, had committed to UConn and we were the same class and we kinda grew up together and competed on national teams together.” Realising that the University Connecticut was what she wanted in a school and running program, Durgin says, “I think that Storrs Connecticut just reminded me a lot more of home over providence being kind of in the country.” Having gone through the recruitment experience, Emily Durgin was trying to shake off some of the struggles she faced in the last years of high school.
Moving to a new state and school Emily Durgin would start her career off continuing to struggle. Durgin was facing different struggles than in high school, she was adjusting to being a collegiate student-athlete. “I had a pretty tough first year in college, my first semester I was doing terrible in my classes and the thing is I wasn’t partying, or anything, I was just going to practice and training, and going to classes. … My personality just didn’t quite click right away, it took me an entire year, so my first semester was tough and cross country I was like making the travel team but barely making the travel team and I was used to being the best on my team and I couldn’t even keep up with workouts for the first six months of college.” These struggles would be seen by the coaching staff luckily as Emily Durgin needed help during this rough patch in her life. “Thankfully, I had a great coach that basically said come on we can get you out of this rut, your so much more than your running. Andrea was kind of more of a life coach then a running coach because she never really got to coach me in running because we almost put running to the side, lets just get you happy and your schooling back on track. We spent the second semester just working on myself and my grades, she redshirted me. She recognised that I was in no place to be competing when I needed to be focusing on myself.” Having a coach that cares about your well-being outside of sports can be very impactful and in Emily Durgin’s scenario she was relieved of the stress she was feeling. “I think it almost allowed me to become more excited and not burn out, I had a lot of peers by my senior year that were so burnt out from the sport and that was it.” Being able to clear the stress and mental fatigue, Durgin was able to refocus for the next four years of college.
While Emily Durgin took the first year of college running to become acclimatized to school and running, the work she put in would show in her sophomore season on the track. “My sophomore year when I won the 3k, 5k and anchored the DMR to win, that was my sophomore year indoor race, it was the first year that the American Athletic Conference happened. … To me getting athlete of the meet and winning those races, that was a huge accomplishment, huge turning point in my career.” To be able to bounce back from a tough first year, and win three conference titles proved that the work Durgin and her coach put in to get her mentally strong again was worth it. Emily Durgin refers that season back to her younger self, saying, “It brought back freshman, sophomore high school Emily and that’s how I competed the rest of my time at UConn.” After a successful sophomore season Emily Durgin was ready to take another step forward with running in the fall of her junior year.
Coming off an extraordinary performance at the 2019 indoor conference championships, Durgin was ready for an equally strong cross country season. “Me and My teammate Lauren Sarah both made it as individuals which was super fun, so we had two individuals make it to nationals. That was kinda making nationals was my goal, once I got to nationals, it wasn’t over but I just never really learned how to compete at that high NCAA level.” Emily was able to qualify for the national championships for the first time in her college career, further showing the benefits of using her first year to shake off the pressure and struggles she was going through. This performance at nationals was Emily Durgin’s first and only race on the national championship level sadly though. “I’d always do great at conference … but once I got onto the national scene with 200 other runners who are just as good as you, I had very hard time racing in that environment.” Being overwhelmed by the massive field Durgin was not able to reach the heights that she got to at meets prior in the season. In Emily Durgin’s finally season in college she would remember setting her personal best in the 10,000 metres at Penn relays which is not a distance friendly meet. “I would run my 10k at Penn relays, so my college 10k PR comes from Penn Relays and I won that race. I remember, I don’t even know who the next person was, I ran most of the race by myself and I remember losing count of how many laps I had left, like yelling to my dad in the stands and it was in April or March and they hold the 10k at like ten o’clock at night, so its brutally cold.” This was a memorable moment for Durgin to end off her collegiate running career and possibly start a new chapter with track and field.
After a successful tenure at the university of Connecticut, Durgin was unsure about her future with running as she was not being approached by agents or brands. “I was in the next level so the option for you is to sign with like a group deal, so I didn’t have an agent, there was no agents reaching out to me, I didn’t want an agent. I had no idea even if I wanted to continue running as a full-time career.” With the uncertainty of whether or not Durgin would have the opportunity to run post-collegiate professionally, she made the decision to try and find someone who was willing to add her to their team. “I basically wrote up a resume and cover letter and brought it to mark Coogan’s house, and sat down with him, told him I want to train with his girls and I wanted to see how good I can get in 2017 to 2018. He basically told me that let me talk to my boss, I can probably get you a small shoe deal and we can go from there.” With the help of Mark Coogan, New Balance Boston Track Club and New Balance, Emily Durgin would find success in her first season as a post collegiate runner. “I had great success working as a nannie and training with the team full time. I came in 5th at US cross country championships and I was 5th at the US 5k championship, came in second at the Falmouth road race, I PRed by over a minute in the 10k at Payton Jordan.” These performances that year were very impactful for Durgin as she would be recognized by one of the premiere track agents and coaches in Stephan Haas. “That’s when Stephan Haas of Total Sports reached out to me and basically said I want to represent you, let’s get you a longer-term deal.” With the opportunity to work full time as a runner, Durgin would now be faced with another decision, this time between brands. “What it came down to was a business choice, I wanted to stay with new balance and loved the brand and loved who I was training with. But unfortunately, they just didn’t have anything to offer and for me financially I really needed the backing if I wanted to continue in the sport. The opportunity to be one of Under Armours first real longer distance athletes, … they had a lot of track athletes but at the time I was transitioning to the roads and Under Armour was really excited.” Having that financial support was massive for Emily Durgin to continue running post-collegiate and run to new heights in the future. Durgin showed that you do not have to be an NCAA All-American to become a professional runner rather just determination.
Through the highs and lows of Emily Durgin's career, she has been able to show her strength by persevering through to better times when times got rough. From having to work part time as nannie to run post-collegiate she was able to prove to herself the following year that it was worth it by signing a contract that paid a liveable wage. Taking the unconventional pathway is what makes Emily Durgin’s running career special and shows people that if you put your mind to something you can achieve it.
Direct quotes via Emily Durgin phone interview with Evan Smith.
Photos via Getty Images.
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