Macreery shuns traditional careers to chase dream

What is your typical Princeton graduate? A successful investment banker, or the next Dr. House? With each year, a throng of seniors graduate, enter the "real world" with ambitions and dreams to fulfill, a process hopefully made easier by the prized Princeton diploma. Most commonly, the Princeton graduate finds himself or herself on Wall Street or at grad school, slaving away into the midnight hours. For Frank Macreery '06, however, a different path lay ahead.

Known affectionately as 'The Tank' during his years on the Princeton cross country and track teams, Macreery was the fastest Tiger on the field and one of the few individual Princeton qualifiers to the NCAA Championships. Boasting two All-American certificates, three Ivy League titles and seven All-Ivy certificates, Macreery easily — and humbly — captured the spotlight each year, and with this level of talent and skill, Macreery faced a difficult hurdle his senior year: to be the mundane consultant or pursue the thrilling life of a professional athlete?

"Not once before junior year did I entertain the thought of running post-collegiately," Macreery said. "It's not the sort of thing you consider a viable career option; some would even call it a waste of a Princeton education. I certainly felt this way for a while."

However, his passion for running wasn't easily doused. Having run competitively since the eighth grade, Macreery's attachment to the sport grew exponentially each year, helping him decide to delay his business career goals.

"It wasn't until the middle of my senior year that I realized I'll have my whole life to be a consultant or investment banker, but only a few more years to pursue my athletic goals," Macreery said. "I don't want to have regrets when I'm 60."

But what exactly does being a professional runner entail? No, it's not analogous to the money-reaping athletes in football or basketball. It is impossible to live off of the race prizes alone as a professional runner. Macreery may have to work multiple part-time jobs on the side, but his commitment and willingness to sacrifice for running are compensation enough.

Even as a professional athlete, Macreery will be running on familiar tracks, and competing in his collegiate events, the 5000m and 10000m races. Unlike other sports, there is little formal separation between professional and collegiate levels; thus, Macreery will once again enter the Mt. SAC Relays, the Stanford Invitational and the Penn Relays, but as an opponent to his former teammates.

Macreery has served as a temporary assistant coach for Princeton the past few weeks prior to leaving for Eugene, Ore., to train under Frank Gagliano with the newly formed Nike-sponsored Oregon Track Club. Under Gagliano's direction, Macreery is training at higher mileage and greater intensity with each workout, with hopes to slash his times and perhaps even compete at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

"My goal, as with any runner, is to represent the United States in the Olympic Games," Macreery said. "This is a longterm goal, however, and I'll have many races and intermediate goals along the way. One of my first real tests will be the Stanford Invitational in March."

With all of his time dedicated towards training, Macreery's goals are within reach, but it will be a long road to get there.