Seven months after graduating from the University of Notre Dame, All-American and state champion Stephanie Madia (North Allegheny High) is still thriving off that pre-race sickly-stomach feeling.
Photo by Victor Sailor, PhotoRun.net, at D1 XC Champs in 2005.
Only she hasn't been racing. Instead the 2001 PIAA cross country champ has been clocking 50 hours a week as a credit analyst for Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets in Chicago.
"The biggest thing was learning how to perform under pressure," Madia said. "I just finished a training program where I was placed in different areas of the bank and competed with my peers, just like with running.
"It's interesting being able to channel that and focus on Stephanie. There was a huge stress at Notre Dame to have the mindset to develop yourself as a person."
Madia, who finished third in the NCAA Division I cross country championship last fall in a school record of 19:48.4 for 6,000 meters in a NCAA championship, was offered her first professional position shortly after starting her senior cross season.
The finance major and Academic All-American had completed a shadow program at BMO during the winter of her junior
year and had interned at the bank during the summer of her senior year, so she knew the job was a perfect fit.
"The work ethics and core values in college definitely apply," she said. "Notre Dame did a good job of creating me as a
package."
She said she doesn't advertise her running success at work, but that when people find out about her accomplishments
she turns into the go-to running person.
"Keeping a humble heart is the key to the professional world," she said.
Madia hasn't quit running, either, and said she still runs every day.
But, "I thought I owed it to myself to try this," she said. "My whole life I've juggled running and doing other things. In
college you think you have time to do activities when you graduate and then when you graduate you've lost the time to
do those things. It's not that I don't want to run, it's my lifestyle. I like to think the possibility to be running is still out there."
Madia made the decision to put running on hold after briefly signing with a running club based in New York City.
Madia qualifying for Foot Lockers in 2002. (Photo by Don Rich)
"Next spring I might run in some road races if I can manage work with competing," she said. "Right now it's a stress
relief. It was always a gift and my pride and joy and I don't regret a second of it. Nothing was better to me than the sick
feeling before a race."
Running has also become the motivater to drive the 75 minutes to see, and run with, her fiancée of three weeks, Todd
Mobley, who was also an All-American at Notre Dame.
"I was so surprised and excited," Madia said of her recent engagement. "We both share the love for running and are
both hard workers."
Madia said Mobley, who is a few years older and is currently working at Notre Dame, was her sounding board during
her collegiate career, and that has carried over into their real-world life.
She said he's gearing up for the 2007 Chicago Marathon, so she'll support him in that while he'll support her when she
tries out road racing next spring. She said that eventually she'd like to tackle the marathon herself, but plans to focus on
the shorter distances in the immediate future.
But she'll be throwing another challenge into the balancing mix as she and Mobley have set their wedding date for Oct.
27.
And the nice thing about being an All-American runner is that you can ask your former All-American teammates to be
part of your wedding party.
Madia said one of the first things she did was ask former teammate and best bud Molly Huddle to be a bridesmaid.