Running Is Therapeutic for Orange Coast’s Mills

Donna Mills of Orange Coast runs for a lot of reasons. She has always enjoyed it and she thrives on the competition.

Just the idea of winning a race brings a wide smile to her face, like the one she had when she won the Orange Empire Conference individual championship Nov. 9.

But for Mills, the conference runner of the year, running also relieves stress. Mills, 22, is going through a difficult period and running has helped ease the tension.

Her father is battling cancer and as a result, Donna and her fiance, Andrew Harris, have moved up their wedding date to Nov. 30.

She also is working two jobs and trying to keep pace with her school work.

“It’s like being a writer,” Mills said. “They write their greatest poems when they are the most depressed. I feel like that sometimes. When I run, I think of happy things and bad things. It really motivates me.”

Mills has only one race left this season, but it’s the biggest one of all. She will be expected to be in the front pack Saturday at the state championship race in Fresno’s Woodward Park.

Orange Coast, which won the conference title, also will be competing as a team. Mills said being part of the team has been the most fun thing about the season.

Mills, who is a strong sprinter, is very familiar with the Woodward Park course, which is mostly flat and fits well with her style.

“She is just one of those natural talents,” OCC Coach John Goldman said. “A lot of times, I stick her with the men when we’re doing sprints because she’s so fast . . . If it comes down to a kick, there’s nobody in the state that can stay with her. She just has to hang on [until the end].”

Mills also has positive memories about the course at Woodward Park.

It’s where her biggest cross-country victory took pace. As a senior at Newport Harbor High in 1991, she surprised many by winning the state Division III individual title.

Mills went to Saddleback College but competed in only two races, suffered a leg injury and left the college.

Mills is appealing to regain a year of eligibility as a medical redshirt. After leaving Saddleback, she tried several things.

First, she entered a search-and-rescue school in Long Beach but later decided she didn’t like it enough to make a career of it. Next, she worked in Los Angeles as a fashion model, doing mostly runway work.

She also tried acting, primarily as an extra. She has been in background scenes of Eddie Murphy’s “The Nutty Professor” and “The Net.”

She has been on television in “Melrose Place,” “Models Inc.” and “Party of Five.”

She returned to college last spring and worked out with the OCC track team while taking classes. She said the main reason she came back was because “running was a missing link in my life.”

She missed about six weeks of running this summer after having a cancerous mole removed from her foot and said she is just now getting into shape. Goldman estimated she is at about 75% of peak condition.

“It’s all been really fun,” she said about the season. “I’ve learned so much about myself.”