Hannah Miller chasing Olympic marathon dream
Running has taken Hannah Miller around the world and helped furnish her with a university education, but she’s not finished. Not by a long shot.
If anything, the Southlander has returned home from the collegiate system in the United States with the flame burning even brighter, fanned by the dream of running the marathon at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
That dream gets an early examination this weekend when the 24-year-old competes in the Reboot: Athletes Marathon near Christchurch, an event designed to give runners like Miller a chance to smash personal bests on a short loop course surrounded by sheltering hedge rows.
It also doubles as the New Zealand marathon championships and triples as Miller’s best chance this season to run her way into a black singlet by beating the eye-watering qualifying time of 2:29.30 for this year’s world championships.
That’s nearly 10 minutes faster than the time she ran in her first, and only other, marathon to date - a win on debut (and second overall) at the Woodlands Marathon in Texas.
Miller grew up on a farm near Gore, attended Southland Girls’ High School and was a member of Academy Southland.
She became one of a number of Southland athletes who have trodden an increasingly well-worn path to college scholarships in the United States.
That’s despite the fact her high school 800m and 1500m running experience saw her watching others climbing the podium as often as she found herself doing it.
Under the patient guidance of coach Lance Smith, Miller was going about building an engine which is now starting to pay dividends over the longer distances. Even if she didn’t really appreciate it at the time.
“I cannot thank Lance enough for the foundations he gave me,” Miller says.
“Every year I think, ‘oh my god I’m so lucky I had Lance early on’. I definitely took it for granted at the time, but that patience to know that it’s better to peak in your mid-to-late 20s, rather than be a high school success and then be a forgotten name by the time you are 18.”
The persistence to get better over time is something which has seen Miller overcome any number of challenges including injury, an eating disorder and her own expectations.
Those who know running understand the role that resilience plays. It’s an aspect that is both mandated and nourished by a simple act which can be brutal and beautiful all at the same time.
“It annoyed me when I was at school because I felt useless and didn’t know why I was doing it - but I just didn’t have any hand eye coordination and I couldn’t do any other sport so I had to just stick it out,” she jokes.
Alongside triple jumper Atipa Mabonga Miller attended Southern Methodist University in Texas, studying journalism and political science.
Later she completed a masters degree in public policy at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Her six years in the United States included plenty of highlights.
She represented New Zealand at world university games in 2017 and 2019, she ground down her personal bests across a wide range of distances and in her freshman year SMU won the conference cross country title.
Unfortunately the impact of Covid meant the end of her collegiate running career was a little anticlimactic.
“In terms of athletics, going back over it was a bit rough with Covid. They didn’t really have a season until the start of 2021, where they had a half season. I’d had some health issues and wasn’t superfit. Coming into the track season and the end of 2021 is cross country season, I really started to find my stride again. I had a really good 5km race in Boston and then it was kind of bittersweet because I came to the end of my college eligibility and I started running the half marathons and my first marathon and that was really where I found that that’s where my distance is,” she says.
“I didn’t necessarily get to shine at the end of my college career and have that fairytale finish, but that’s life. I don’t think everything always falls into place at the right time, but it falls into place when it does and you’ve got to take it and run with it.”
Which is where we find Miller now. Based in Wellington, finding her feet as a junior policy officer in strategic planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Many student athletes are happy to put a bow on the sporting aspect of their lives once they finish college and look to start their careers, but not Miller.
“I’ve always been academically minded and wanted to pursue a career as well as my athletics. I did have an opportunity to take a couple of low level sponsorship and team funded opportunities with professional teams in the States, but it wasn’t huge contracts and it meant I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my career.
“I think I’m so type-A that I need something else to focus my mind. If I’m just running I get almost too far into that and it can be detrimental to my performance, I think I tend to overthink things.
“I decided to come home, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks and see if I can do the career and marathon training at the same time. I’m passionate about both, both of them get me out of bed in the morning.”
Before she races Miller watches the documentary, The Golden Hour, the story of Peter Snell and Murray Halberg’s gold medal runs at the 1960 Olympics.
She is spurred on by being part of the next generation of New Zealand athletics, and providing a role model for young athletes.
“I’d love to be part of this next wave and inspire the next generation to get out there and do the same thing. I think New Zealand has so much opportunity for distance running and we have really a wealth of talent here, it’s just hard being at this end of the world and getting to events with the cost. I’m super thankful for all the support Athletics New Zealand has put into me over the years and I’m hoping to continue that relationship and help them to build that support base for younger athletes.”
