HOME AND AWAY MARY CULLEN:THERE ARE few more inspiring places in the world to go running than around Drumcliff. This scenic pocket of north Sligo, from the spectacular backdrop of Benbulbin, to the long sandy stretches of Streedagh Point, offers something of a runner's paradise. And if all that doesn't inspire some poetry in motion, one only has to think of it as the burial place of one William Butler Yeats.

It was around here Mary Cullen first discovered the lure of running, and the place she will always call home. But since leaving seven years ago to take up a running scholarship at Providence College her home is now the Rhode Island state capital – at least for most of the year.

After graduating from Providence in 2006, with a degree in social science, Cullen has been living the life of a full-time athlete, and that allows her move around even more to maximise her training. Winters in Providence can be fairly harsh, so Cullen spent six weeks over Christmas in the warmer climes of Melbourne, Australia. By the time she got back to Providence her fitness levels were at something of an all-time high, reflected two weekends ago in Boston when she lowered the Irish indoor 3,000 metres record to 8:43.74.

If that time doesn’t mean much to the non-aficionado, it improved the previous record of 8:44.37 that had stood to Sonia O’Sullivan since 1997. It also left Cullen fourth fastest in the world for 2009 – and more importantly, as she prepares to mount her challenge at next weekend’s European Indoor Championships in Turin, the second fastest in Europe.

“It was special to get one of Sonia’s records, because she’s such an icon, a legend, and someone I’ve always looked up to,” says Cullen. “After being injured for most of last year, I was determined to get myself as fit and as strong as possible. I spent the whole summer in Providence more or less training on my own, and I did build a fantastic base.”

Cullen was paced in through the mile mark in 4:42 by Roisín McGettigan, a fellow Providence College graduate, from Wicklow. At that point her coach Ray Treacy, whom she’s been with since coming to Providence, shouted from the trackside that the record was on. Cullen ran the last 400 metres in 67 seconds and won easily.

There were plenty of signs, however, that a run like this was coming. After spending most of last year recovering from a series of chronic injuries, Cullen returned with something of a bang – winning the New England Cross Country, and following that up with her excellent fourth-place finish at the European Cross Country in Brussels in December.

Part of renewed determination has come from the effort she’s put in to get over her injuries: She qualified for the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, but was already experiencing a pain in her right shin. That was later diagnosed as a stress fracture, requiring a six-week break. With the Beijing Olympics looming, she headed for some winter training in Florida. On one of her morning runs she tripped and fell on the footpath. A few days later the pain in her pelvis area was severe, and, eventually, by late March, she was diagnosed with a bilateral stress fracture of the sacrum – one of the worst running injuries possible.

“In some ways missing out on Beijing has been a blessing in disguise,” she says, “because it’s kept me very hungry for the future, and allowed my body to get stronger as well.

“And this year is really about the World Championships in Berlin, in August. I want to get the A-standard, and that means running sub-15 minutes. I’m 26 now as well, so it’s all about trying to peak at London. The Olympics are still the absolute pinnacle of the sport, and that’s where you want to be at your best.”

She still lives just a half mile from Providence College, sharing an apartment with her boyfriend Mark, and thus gets to use all the college facilities. In fact she spent most of her time in the college gym early last year, cross-training as much as possible to maintain fitness while injured.

“It was difficult leaving home at that age, 18, 19. For the first three or four years I’d come home every summer and that was a help. But I’ll have been here eight years this summer, so it is starting to feel like home. It helps as well to still have such a big Irish crew around.

“Roisín is here, and also the likes of Mark Carroll, Keith Kelly. And I have a great group to train with. The New Zealand runner, Kim Smith, who also went to Providence College, and Sarah Jamieson, Australia’s top 1,500-metre runner, who joined up with Ray in 2007. And Amy Rudolph, who is married to Mark. I’ve been coached by Ray now since I was 18. I’d say it was my sophomore year when we really started to develop a good relationship, and it’s been like that ever since.

“It was through Sarah that I got to go to Australia. She still lives in Australia, and was back down there over the Christmas. She invited me down, and it was a great place to train. I heard a lot about Falls Creek from some of the other Irish athletes that trained there, and of course it was great to get away from the Providence winter. When I got back everyone was talking about how bad the snow had been, but luckily I’d missed the worst of it.”

Yet the life a full-time athlete, particularly away from home, can be lonely at times, and it’s not made any easier by the fact she’s left behind some of the home comforts as well. “I’m lucky that I have a contract with Reebok. It’s definitely not a huge amount of money, believe me. I get some Sports Council funding as well, although none of us are really too sure about where’s that’s going at the moment. You pick up the odd bit of money in road races as well, and that helps pay the bills.”

But Cullen is not complaining. When you’re truly doing what you want to do, money is never an issue: “It’s certainly not the lucrative lifestyle by any means. I can’t really afford to get a job in terms of the time it would take from my training. If you want to be serious about it, you need to be full time. I know the African runners are still running a good bit faster, but you still need to give it everything at your end to give yourself the best chance of matching them.”

Date of Birth: August 17th, 1982 Club: North Sligo AC/Reebok AC.

Resides: Providence, Rhode Island.

Honours to date: American NCAA 5,000 metres champion 2006; fourth place, 2008 European Cross Country; seventh place, 2007 European Indoor 3,000 metres; 12th place, 2006 European 5,000 metres; 11th place, heat, 2007 World Championships 5,000 metres.

Personal bests: 3,000 metres – 8:43.74 (2009); 5,000 metres – 15:19.04 (2007); 10,000 metres – 32:21.42 (2007).