(Photo: Emily Oren | Courtesy)
Emily Oren ’16 can add another half-marathon title to her long list of accomplishments. The nine-time D-II national champion is now a two-time Detroit half marathon champion after her race on Sunday. Her winning time was 1:19:1, just one second over a six-minute mile pace.
“I wanted to go faster than that, under a six minute pace. But this course is a little long, like 13.2 or 13.3,” Oren said.
Oren now runs professionally for Oiselle, a women’s running athletic apparel company, while balancing her demanding job schedule that she said requires a lot of travel.
“I’m a Hillsdale College admissions counselor, and I visit high schools for college fairs,” Oren said. “This year I’m doing Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin.”
Andrew Towne, Hillsdale’s head cross country and track coach, attributes Oren’s success to her competitiveness.
“From the time I first met her in the fall of her senior year, you could tell she wants to be the best, she’s really motivated and competitive to make that happen,” Towne said. “I’m proud of her, as always. She continues to do good things and continues to improve.”
Although a half-marathon is a much longer race than the races she’s used to, Oren said she enjoyed her experience.
“It’s kind of a fun distance because the pace is a little more chill compared to a track race,” she said. “It was really humid this year so that sort of threw for a loop. But it’s still fun.”
She is now getting ready to train for the indoor track season, when she will be competing in the mile and 3K races. Her goal is to compete in the USA championships.
“I am taking a little bit of downtime, then I’m going to start building a base for indoor,” Oren said. “Indoor USA’s is like three weeks earlier this year, in February.”
