Interview with Jean Driscoll

This interview was conducted before Driscoll's seventh win on the Boston Course. She discusses training and her racing career, her disability, women in wheelchair racing and the Boston Marathon.

Training

Q: How did you first get interested in wheelchair athletics?

JD: I definitely had a different perspective when I first got involved in wheelchair sport. I never heard of it before I was a junior in high school. And when a kid in high school who also used a chair and was also born with spina bifida asked me to come and check out a wheelchair soccer practice. I didn't want to have anything to do with them. Because I was still dealing with my disability. I had only been using a chair for a year...well for less than a year. And I was not comfortable with it. And I didn't know how to make other people comfortable with it either. And I didn't want to hang out with those wheelchair people. I didn't want people to think the only friends I could get were people in wheelchairs and the only boyfriends I could get were people in wheelchairs and I certainly didn't want to go to this hokey wheelchair soccer practice. But after a whole year of bugging me finally I decided to go with this guy and I knew I wasn't going to like it and I wasn't gonna return but at least I was going to go and get this guy off my back. And when I went I was completely surprised how competitive it was and I was hooked instantaneously and another thing I liked was it was a very rough game and people were flipping out of their chairs and, you know, bodies were flying but they were getting back in their chairs ok. I mean if you think of any sport--in soccer or basketball, obviously football--people are always falling down. What do they do? They get up and they keep playing. But even though I really enjoyed wheelchair soccer and I got involved in so many other sports--football, hockey, softball--um tennis, racquetball, I mean I even tried out square-dancing, even though I tried out all those sports I was still not totally comfortable with disability.

Q: Was Sharon Hedrick's Olympic victory in 1984 an inspiration to you?

JD: Well, in 1984 I was walking past the television set up in Milwaukee and I happened to catch the wheelchair exhibition event and it was Sharon's 800 meter event and I remember watching the race and seeing her win and saying Well I'm gonna do that someday. It was just a loose comment but and I didn't know how to go about doing that. But I had made that comment and my dad was like, Well...just don't get too big an idea...that might be tough for you to do.

Q: Describe Marty Morse's training program?

JD: He's got a lot of strengths as a coach. Although he is on the cutting edge of this sport, he is still a student of this sport. He's constantly reading, and constantly experimenting. The training programs we go through are not written down anywhere except for the piece of paper Marty writes them down on and prints them out on. I think that all the athletes involved in the program here are guinea pigs and most of us are willing to trust what Marty and Tim Millikin come up with and it's been successful so far. And so I think I have a lot of respect for him and his constant interest in trying to push the envelope a little bit further, trying to push us out on the edge a little bit more. At least in my case it motivates you to want to give it your all and go to the edge just like he has gone. Marty is not a cheerleader and he doesn't feel it's his responsibility to motivate athletes. He feels that athletes need to be self-motivated and self-directed and by and large I think that the student population here is self-directed and self-motivated. If they want to come in three times a week, he will have workouts lined up for them three times a week. If they want to come in five times a week, he will design workouts that allow them to train five times a week. He tailors each workout individually to the athlete and what their goals are. He's just very tuned into the people with whom he works.

Q: Describe your early years training at Illinois.

JD: I think Marty saw a lot of potential long before I did and Marty also had a lot more confidence in me long before I did. When I first came here I thought I was going to be as successful right away because I had been successful the summer before I got here both nationally and internationally. I didn't lose a race on the track before I came here. You know, I had heard about this Sharon Hedrick who had won the 84 Olympic gold medal but I had won all these races! And I was really anxious to push against her and Ann Cody. When I got here I learned a big lesson (laughs). They had a lot more endurance than I did. And a lot more strength. And I'll never forget the first push. I went out with Ann Cody and Marty, and we were doing one minute intervals; one minute on, one minute off. So we did the first interval and Marty and Anne are WAY ahead of me and so I finished my minute but then I kept on going because I wanted to catch back up to them. I wanted to be close to them. Well just when I touched them then, boom, it was time to go again and it was another sprint. And so I was very humbled and very humiliated by how easily dropped I was out on the road. So I was kind of wondering if I had made the wrong decision (laughs) coming down here. But every athlete knows it takes a while to build up to having enough strength in order to compete at a level where you want to compete.

Q: Here is central Illinois you don't have hills, but what other challenges do you face?

JD: Well the winds here are unforgiving and we have done workouts where we'll go out and push a 5K time trial, 3.1 miles, with a tail wind and then we'll get a little rest recovery and then you have to do a 5K time trial into a head wind and the head wind is unforgiving. You stop pushing you slow down. In some cases you almost feel like it's going to push you backwards. And so there's a lot of strength training in just pushing into a head wind, or even the crosswinds. I think that just the nature of the open prairie and the winds picking up speed, having that opportunity to pick up speed is great strength training out on the road.

Q: It seems like were faced with an impossible task as a student at Illinois, since you were juggling academics, basketball and racing?

JD: I was not expecting the type of schedule that I ended up leading when I moved down here. I was recruited to play basketball but obviously I wanted to be in racing too. I had heard Marty was one of the top coaches in the world. I would get up and do my classes from eight o'clock to twelve o'clock and then I would come here to the Rehab Center and I would lift for an hour or two and then it would be time to go to basketball practice. So then you go to basketball practice for two hours. And it was a tough schedule. There was no time to meet people or make friends and I had left a very large circle of friends up in Milwaukee. In between basketball and racing you are traveling every weekend, and a lot of times you'd take your work on the road with you. But you didn't get it done. You couldn't focus on work when you're competing. And so then you'd come back and you'd have to pull all-nighters to get everything done. It was really tough being a dual-sport athlete. But it also taught me time management and skills like organization, discipline and focus. When I'm training I need to be focused on training. When I'm studying I need to be focused on studying. When I'm doing my homework I need to understand this stuff and that's where my mind needs to be. I had a lot of trouble that first year just being focused. I needed to be and I was bucking that...almost resenting it. And now I can't imagine it being any other way

Racing

Q: When did you experience a turning point in your racing career?

JD: In 1989 I won my first national level race. It was in the May of 89. It was in Spokane, Washington at the Bloomsday 12K. I remember out sprinting Candace Cable by three seconds and she had not lost a race on the road in five years. And I got to break that streak. It was SO exciting. And so when we got back to the hotel I called him Marty...I mean he was so excited and I had never heard him that excited before. He'd always been very controlled and quiet and I could almost here him jumping out of his chair you know. It was great and then when I got back here there was so much excitement in the building. There was a banner that was hung up in the front lobby "JEAN BEAT CANDY" and everyone was congratulating me.

Q: Why did you start racing marathons?

JD: When I returned from my first Bloomsday victory, I was still riding this high and Marty said I really think you should do the marathon. And he had been telling me that for the last two years and I had no interest in doing a marathon. That was something nutty people did. 26 miles was too long and I didn't want any part of it. It was going to be too hard. And I had this fear that I wouldn't finish it and so he got me while I was on a high and I said ok all right I'll try the Chicago Marathon. And so I started training for it with Ann Cody and I did it in October of 89 and ended up finishing about a minute behind Ann Cody and I was really happy. It was 8 seconds under 2 hours and my first marathon was a sub-two-hour marathon. I was happy with that. And so when I saw Marty after the race. He said JEAN GREAT JOB! And I said, yeah I'm really happy. He said do you realize what you just did? I said yeah my first marathon, my last marathon. (laughs) I don't want to do em anymore. He said, "NO, you qualified to do the Boston Marathon!" And I was really put off by that comment. I didn't want to do any more marathons. I said, "yeah but Marty I just did the marathon. You've been talking to me about this marathon and I trained for this marathon and I just did it. I don't have an interest in doing any more marathons." "But Jean this is the Boston Marathon!" And we all know when coaches strongly suggest something you usually go along with it. And so there I was signed up to do the 1990 Boston Marathon.

Q: You were talking about retiring after the 1996 Paralympics, what made you decide to continue racing?

JD: I think being forced off the marathon is what changed my mind. After breaking my leg the summer of 1995, I was in a immobilizer for ten weeks, I couldn't get into my racing chair, I couldn't travel with the team for races I'd never be left behind before, not even as a freshman. The 10k national championship, the fact that someone else won it because I wasn't there just really got to me. It was very hard for me to accept that and I think more because it wasn't my decision to stop racing.

Disability

Q: Marty says your biggest weakness is that your schedule is too full.

JD: I don't think doing too much is a weakness. But I do have a problem saying no. And every year when I sit down with Marty to do my goal setting that is something he brings up. You need to learn to say no to some of these speaking engagements. But I love speaking. I love going out and meeting people and talking about disability and doing disability education. I love turning light bulbs on. I love sharing my Olympic medal. I love sharing the stories about sitting with George Steinbrenner and running with President Clinton and having Jackie Joyner- Kersee cheer for me at the Olympic trials. These are personalities that people can relate to and love to hear about.

Q: How do you educate people about disability?

JD: I would like to think I am changing people's minds. Every time I speak I always have people come up to me and talk to me afterwards. And it is very enriching and fulfilling a lot of times to hear what they had to say, you know especially when they are like "Wow I never thought about things like that. I never realized such and such." One thought that I always try to lead people with is that disabilities are just characteristics like hair color and eye color. It's not a defining principle. We've got people with disabilities who still commit crimes and belong in jail and you've got people with disabilities who are competing in the Olympics. Or who are lawyers or professional singers or whatever. It's just a characteristic. And I think when people start to see disability in that way it makes them more comfortable with the idea of disability.

Q: What are some of the stereotypes that able-bodied people have about people with disabilities..things that you have dealt with in your life?

JD: The top one on the list is you have a mental impairment if you have a physical impairment. And I know that my brains are not located in my buttocks, but I feel there are some people walking around whose are. That is so frustrating. A lot of times people think that if you have a disability you are dependent. And you are helpless and that's just the way it is you're used to being pushed around and that's what you want. And I think that a lot of ignorance and I don't mean that in a negative way but a lot of ignorance could be curtailed if they would just ask questions. Do you need help? For them to assume you'd rather be pushed or a lot of times they want to push you up a ramp. it's like, No, I do marathons I can do this..Thank you. Another stereotype is you're depressed. And your options in life are limited. I hear that all the time. "Wow, If I had to use one of those things I don't know what I would do. I don't know if I would ever make it." First of all, if you have to deal with being in a chair, once you get used to doing that you forget about it. I don't think every second of the day that I'm in a chair. When I'm working or working out I don't think about the fact that I have a disability or the fact that I am in a chair. It's easy to forget those things but a lot of people just can't get beyond that, can't seem to get beyond the limitations that stare them in the face. I think there's ways around everything. A lot of times you need to figure out how to compensate for things before they are accessible or before you are independent but once you learn to compensate you are as free as a bird.

Q: Explain to people who don't understand what is the difference between Wheelchair athletics and the Special Olympics.

JD: The Special Olympics is something that is very valid in what it tries to do but it is different than wheelchair sport in that in the Special Olympics their emphasis is on participation. And they try to get as many people involved in the event to participate in it. And everyone is a winner because of their participation in the event. Where as wheelchair athletics or wheelchair racing is just like cycling and running and basketball any sport you can think of its competitive and I don't train 6 times a week two to five hours a week to participate. I do that because I want to get stronger and I want be competitive and I want to win. And so I think there's a big difference between participating and being competitive and being an elite level athlete

Q: How did you come to terms with your disability?

JD: When I was growing up, it was a bad thing. It was an inconvenience. It was something I felt guilty about. It sucked all the money from our family. It made my mom get up in the middle of her night, she worked third shift and um slept during the day, but if I had a doctor's appointment she had to get up in the middle of her night and take me to doctor's appointments. It took me out of school. All I could see were the negative things about disability and I couldn't get past that. Until I moved down here to the University of Illinois. And got around people who were very proactive and very goal-oriented. I had set goals but I really didn't know how to go after them. And I also didn't have a very good self-esteem. Then I came down here and I realized people were serious about setting goals and going after them.

Women in Wheelchair racing

Q: Do you see the number of women participating in the sport growing each year?

JD: The number of women participating in the sport I would like to think is growing. The Boston Marathon 1995 there was a field of 13 women and while it doesn't compare to the numbers that the men draw there is definitely quality competition. Men have a very strong arguement against prize money in the women's division that is how deep you should go. Because they say look the women don't even have twenty five percent of the men's division. But in spinal cord injury, seventy five percent of those that are injured are male. Only twenty five percent are female. I don't necessarily think numbers is what makes your race as it is competition. And every time I enter a race its not guaranteed I'm going to win that race. When I enter a race I'm breaking world records and it's very frustrating for people to assume because there are so few women the quality of athlete is very low too. There are huge discrepancies between my time and the time of the woman who comes in thirteenth.

Q: So you have to struggle to be recognized not only as a wheelchair athlete but also as a female athlete.

JD: The thing that really gets me is I feel that wheelchair sports has evolved in a parallel manner to women in sport and when women first got involved in sport people didn't think they belonged out there. People thought that they were too fragile. What happens if they get hurt. What happens if they fall down? And the same thought is with people with disabilities engaging in sport. Oh my gosh what happens if people hurt themselves? Well they need to wait until they get healed. That's kind of logical. And so all wheelchair athletes have dealt with the illegitimacy of our sport, so to speak. People not thinking we are legitimate athletes. That what we do is valid in the world of sport. Yet there is still a pecking order among men and women and quads. I mean, quads really get the shaft. Uh you could have a world class quad that far exceeds what he SHOULD be able to do based on the level of his injury. And yet because it's not an open division race and the time isn't that fast. People don't relate to that. And part of that is the need to educate the public on the difference between a paraplegic and a quadriplegic and what makes this quadriplegic such an incredible athlete. The fact that he doesn't have half the muscles in his upper body or you know something like depending on the level of injury. Shawn Meredith is a quad in this program and he puts in as much training time as Scot Hollonbeck does. As much as Jean Driscoll does. And yet he has not received the notoriety for his world class accomplishments.

The Boston Marathon

Q: What will it mean to you to win seven consectutive Boston Marathons?

JD: I'm not after the money, I'm not after the fame, I'm after my name being in the record book for years to come. I want my name to be in the record book like Clarence Demar's name is in the record book. He won his seventh Boston marathon in a period of 19 years, and I have the opportunity to do it seven out of seven. And hopefully next year it will be 8 out of 8, and the next year 9 out of 9. Initially I thought I was going to be retiring after this one and then going on to the Olympics and Paralympics and calling it quits. But now, I've got a hunger and desire that I didn't have last year. In the last year I've realized, Billie Jean King won 20 Wimbledons. That's incredible. Who knows, maybe I'll win 20 Bostons, I don't know how long I'll be doing this, but there are people who have set incredible records out there and I know that I could be one of those people setting another incredible record.

Q: What is more of a challenge to you, the Olympics or the Boston Marathon?

JD: The Olympic event is an 800-meter event and I'm not a sprinter. Although I'm working to become one (laughs). I got a silver in 92 and my goal is a gold in 96. And 800 meters is a very short race and it's hard to shake people in just a half a mile, to get them out of your draft. It's hard to be that much stronger to be able to just run away with it. And on the road, that's normally how everyone races. I run away from everyone. I'm just so strong over distance that I'm able to out power them. But on the track I don't have that luxury of running away from everyone. And so it's usually it requires a lot more mental preparation.

Q: Tell me about the morning of the race how do you control your nerves?

JD: I'm going to make sure I got my headphones and my walkman because when I'm on the bus going out to Hopkinton, I just want to listen to my music. I don't want to talk. I don't want to engage in conversation. I don't want to appear rude, I just want to keep all my energy inside of me so that I have it, so that I can stay focused. I'm very introverted, very focused marathon morning. I almost wish I could hide under a rock. My mind is constantly on the coarse, it's constantly on the start, the middle, the finish

Q: Describe the start of the race.

JD: You are seated among all these other athletes, and there is a lot of energy in the air. The helicopters that are flying over head I can always hear that. You're so ready for the race to start at that point, and you have to sit in place for 10 or 15 minutes. Craig Planchette usually comes over and we say a word of prayer before the race. Then you just sit there before the gun goes off and then when they start us, we're paced behind a truck, so I'll be going down that hill and holding my position and watching the other racers. And just praying that there isn't any crashes during this time. You're going down a very steep hill and you have to hold your place and you cannot pass the pace vehicle. then when they let us go at the bottom, I try to get right into my strokes and climb up the hill as fast as I can. Once I get to the top I'm going to look around and see who's around me, and then I'll be on my way

Q: Where are you the most vulnerable on the Boston course?

JD: I think the weakest part of my race is my ability to coast down hill with the other women. Typically I'm out coasted my 50 meters or more at the bottom of some of the steeper hills and it's so frustrating because they don't have to work to get away and I've got to work to close that gap. But now since I broke my leg in 1995 and had physical therapy, I've got more flexiblity in my knee. I'm sitting more aerodynamically

Q: After 26 miles what are you thinking about as you near the finish line?

JD: Once I get away from the other athletes, every once in awhile I'll have to keep looking back to see how close they are. I always feel like their breathing down my neck. Even if I can't see them. Actually I'm more at ease when I've created such a distance that I can't see them any more, and when I make that last left hand turn on to Boylston, there's about 500 meters left and the finish line can't come up fast enough. It just seems like you're pumping and pumping and pumping and you're not getting any closer and then you know it's going to happen again, you know you've done it again. I try not to look back on that last 500 meter stretch because first of all I know that all the camera are on me I want to keep my arms going, I want it to be a great shot. But when you finally reach the line and you go through the tape it's just an exuberant feeling, something takes over. I just get filled with spirit and so ready to share the excitement with everybody. I can't control my excitement and when I watch tapes later on I'm embarrassed at how excited I am. But it's all those hours days, months, of training the frustrating workouts, the great workouts, it's all coming together at once.