Oct. 5, 2010
WASHINGTON - When Georgetown University track & field All-American Liz Maloy finished her competitive career on the Hilltop, she knew it wasn't the end to her running days.
Maloy had the opportunity this summer to travel in Europe with a pair of Hoya teammates, Maggie Infeld (C'10) and Liam Boylan-Pett (C'09).
She raced four times during the month of July and the trio made their home base in Amsterdam. Maloy's racing exploits took her from Cork, Ireland to Brasschaat, Belgium to Laphinlati, Finland and finally to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
"I ran two significant personal bests and came home with a European win in Belfast," Maloy said via e-mail. In Belgium, she ran the 1500m and finished in 4:09.84 and her win came at the Belfast Grand Prix on July 24, finishing a 3,000m in 8:56.89.
"I got back to the United States at the end of July," Maloy said via e-mail. "I took some time off and got in a good vacation and now I'm back into the swing of things."
Maloy is still no stranger to the halls of McDonough Arena. She works part-time at the Citizens Association of Georgetown and serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the Hoyas. While working and helping coach the team, Maloy has trained under Head Women's Cross Country Coach Chris Miltenberg.
"Coach Milt agreed to continue to coach me and I've decided to stay in D.C. to continue to pursue this whole professional racing thing for another year," Maloy said. "I'm pretty sure I can get a lot faster and having the experience of racing in Europe - where going to a track meet is like going to a baseball game...so fun - is a huge confidence booster."
Two weekends ago, Maloy competed in the Continental 5th Avenue Mile, finishing in 4:37.
"While it didn't go quite as well as I was hoping, it was the first race of the entire year that I walked away disappointed," Maloy said. "You can't be 'on' all the time. The experience as a whole was good. It was great to line up with the best milers in the country and to be in the mix with all of them."
Maloy has also become a sponsored athlete now as she was recently offered a shoe contract from New Balance.
"While having a shoe contract is not the `end all, be all,' it does help with training and expenses," Maloy said. "Now that the Mile is done, I'm just going to get back to business, training and re-cooping for a few months. I'm ready for the excitement to start all over again."
