With one season of cross country eligibility remaining, Chico State distance runner Molly Mulay was looking forward to the fall for the chance to finish her Wildcats career on a high note. A talented harrier, Mulay fought through a painful injury to compete in both cross country and track in 2018–19, then sat out the 2019 cross country season after undergoing surgery. She was ready to return to the oval last spring when the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the 2020 track & field season, and with the cancellation of the 2020 cross country campaign, Mulay’s career came to an unceremonious end. But through the disappointment, she’s held her head high and remains positive for what lies ahead in life. Mulay’s unfailing optimism makes her the latest Wildcat of the Week.
“I was really hopeful (there would be some type of cross country season) because the announcement (to suspend competition) was so early,” Mulay said. “As fall got closer and it became clear that there was no way (the season) was going to happen, it was pretty hard. It was hard to stay motivated and keep running.”
Rather than fixate on a season lost and a running career concluded, Mulay decided to take the high road. The exercise physiology major, who has earned a pair of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Academic honors and the 2018–19 Division II Athletic Directors Association Academic Achievement Award, found solace in concentrating on her studies and leaning on her many friendships in the Wildcat running community.
“I’m focusing on finishing school,” said Mulay, who graduates from Chico State this week. “(Finishing up with virtual classes) is challenging, but luckily I haven’t had as many classes this semester. I kind of knew what to expect, and my instructors and I were both able to start the fall as normally as possible.
“I live with a couple of teammates (Jalen Burns and Alexi Steinmaus), and I go for runs with some of my close friends on the team. (The cross country team) has had a few Zoom meetings, and we have group chats to talk about when people want to meet up for a run. So I’m keeping in shape, but obviously not like I was when I was competing. When you know there’s no season and there won’t be any practices, some weeks are harder than others. I’m just concentrating on the transition of (running) for fun now.”
Mulay was an exciting addition to head coach Gary Towne’s talented stable of distance runners when she transferred to Chico State from Cal State Monterey Bay in 2018. In her first cross country season with the ’Cats, she posted top 25 finishes in two of her first three meets, and logged a personal best 6k time of 22:23.6 at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational.
“The first season (at Chico State) was probably my favorite, Mulay said. “I improved a lot from the previous two years (at Monterey Bay). It made me excited for the future.”
Mulay competed for the Wildcats in the 2018 CCAA Cross Country Championships and traveled with the team to Pittsburgh as an alternate for the NCAA Championships. But a painful lower leg issue—one that first cropped up during her running days in high school—became a major concern. Mulay was being hindered by an injury called compartment syndrome: her leg muscles were putting too much pressure on the fascia, adversely affecting her blood circulation.
“It was in both of my lower legs right around my shin,” Mulay said “I had noticed it my freshman year of high school, but it went undiagnosed for so long. I tried all sorts of treatments, but nothing helped.
“I didn’t notice it as much at Monterey Bay because we ran lower mileage than I did in high school. When I came to Chico, and started running more, the pain kept getting worse. I started the (2019) track season and it immediately was back after doing certain workouts. I finished almost the whole season. I went to the San Francisco Distance Carnival to run my first 10k, and the first two miles I was reaching my goal pace. All of a sudden it drastically changed, and on the ninth lap my legs started to hurt. I did finish the race, although obviously not the way I wanted to. I ran one more 5k race the following week (at the Chico State Distance Carnival), and during that race it was even worse. It was the same thing: the first mile I met my goal pace, then the pain came out of nowhere and continued to hurt for the remainder of the race. I knew that day the season was going to be over.”
Unbeknownst to Mulay, it would turn out be the final event of her Chico State career.
The Simi Valley product had surgery to correct the problem in the summer of 2019, and while she admits the first month was a little rough, Mulay’s recovery process during Chico State’s cross country season went well. It put her in a good place health-wise as the Wildcat distance runners started to make the transition to competing in the upcoming track & field season.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 shut down the 2020 season before Mulay had the chance to compete. With the cancellation of this fall’s cross country season and impending graduation, any hopes she had of a comeback were over.
But as she had throughout her running career, Mulay reacted with a level head and sported a positive attitude. She’s looking forward to graduating and beginning a new chapter in her life.
“I’m going to take some time after graduating to study for and take the TEAS test to get into a nursing program,” Mulay said. “After that, I’ll apply to get into nursing school. I would eventually like to get into pediatric oncology.”
Asked what she’ll miss about her time at Chico State, Mulay again talks about the friendships she made while being a Wildcat.
“I’ll miss living and interacting with friends and teammates,” she said “We all live on the same street, about a half-mile away from the school. When we were still seeing each other in person, after a long run, some friends and I would go to (Meriam Library) each Sunday and spend hours preparing our work and doing homework for the upcoming week. That’s a nice memory.”
In keeping with her positive attitude, Mulay hopes the rest of her fellow Wildcat student-athletes embrace what they have and remain optimistic that better times lie ahead.
“Enjoy your time here while you can, because it goes by faster than you think,” Mulay said. “Stay positive and know it will be back one day, and you’ll want to be ready. Not having it right now gives you an appreciation of how much you love your sport.”
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