Women's Running Stories
Women's Running Stories features inspiring stories told by exceptional women runners about their running experiences. Hear about the many ways women are achieving excellence and changing their lives through the sport of running. Get motivated to reach your own running goals by women who are making it happen.
Episodes
In August 2020, marathon and ultra-distance trail runner Emily Halnon set out on an FKT (fastest known time). The goal: cover the 460 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail that traverses Oregon, from south to north, faster than any other human yet recorded. The purpose: to honor her mother, Andrea Halnon, who had been her inspiration and her biggest supporter.
Emily Halnon is also a writer, and this episode is being released on the publ...
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April 30, 2024 • 31 mins
Adidas professional runner Emily Durgin is back on the podcast! She shares how it all went down at the 2024 USATF 10-Mile National Championships, which took place April 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
This is a follow up to Durgin's last appearance on WRS, where she told the story of how the USATF Olympic Trails Marathon played out for her. While Durgin had a really strong showing at that race, she didn't walk away with her ultimate g...
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April 26, 2024 • 40 mins
Women's Running Stories is moving to Tuesdays; expect the next new episode Tuesday, April 30. This Friday episode is a re-air of a great story featuring running great Sally Kipyego. The episode first aired back in March 25, 2021, and it centers on Kipyego's return to competitive running after having her first child, and the journey to making the 2020 Olympic Marathon team.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Race Report: Emily Durgin + 20...
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April 19, 2024 • 68 mins
In 2016, elite ultra-distance trail runner and writer Katie Arnold experienced a traumatic river rafting accident that left her questioning whether or not she would ever be able to run again. This is the story of how Arnold healed after her accident and how that process helped her rediscover a pure joy of running and a magical return to racing. This happened over the period of time when Arnold was 46 to 48 years old.
This episode w...
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April 12, 2024 • 42 mins
In this episode, Emilia Benton focuses on how she discovered the approach to marathoning that earned her a Boston Marathon qualifying time, and then how it all went down at last year's Boston Marathon.
Benton is a well recognized journalist in the running world, with a particular focus on professional runners as well as runners and stories that have typically been underrepresented and overlooked by the media.
As a runner, a big foc...
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April 5, 2024 • 39 mins
Michelle Wheeler is an internationally competitive marathon and distance road racer. Last year saw Wheeler race marathons in Boston, Berlin, Sydney, London, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, in addition to traveling throughout the US to shorter-distance races. And, this year, she'll also be returning to shorter distance racing on the track. Wheeler will be competing at the Paralympic Trials in the 800, 1500, and 5000, vying for ...
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March 29, 2024 • 32 mins
Jen Kanyugi is running her 20th consecutive Boston Marathon this year. Her journey to get to this point is about this one event, and so much more. In this time, Jen went from not running more than 20 minutes on the treadmill to being a steady presence at this, one of the most recognized and celebrated running events in the world.
In that time she became a mom, three times (she ran two of her Boston Marathons while pregnant). She le...
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March 25, 2024 • 33 mins
In this episode, part 4 of this series, Cherie tells the story of her return to formal training and workouts after recovering from an injury. And, back at it, Cherie returned to racing and experienced a frustrating bought of race anxiety. This set Cherie down a path to tackle this difficult barrier and think deeply about what this goal means to her and the importance of believing in abilities.
Cherie discusses the strategies she be...
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March 22, 2024 • 37 mins
Liz Rock is a marathoner and community leader, focusing on women and diversity: "We [women] are so powerful and I wish we knew that more," she says. "We are powerful and we need to lead with that more often than not."
Rock tells her running story with a focus on training for the 2024 Boston Marathon, and her journey is about so much more than putting in the miles. Rock's reasons for running Boston this year, her second Boston Marat...
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March 15, 2024 • 34 mins
Minnesota Distance Elite Team member and Puma professional marathoner and long-distance road racer Annie Frisbie shares how it all went down at the 2024 15k National Championships, which took place March 2, 2024, in Jacksonville, FL, at the Gate River Run.
Frisbie had a great race at the 15k, for some interesting and special reasons. And she gets into it.
And, this episode is a bit of a twofer because what happened at the 15k champ...
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March 8, 2024 • 33 mins
Professional middle distance track racer Rebecca Mehra shares her professional running story. It's been marked by great success, two years of disappointing hurdles, to now: coming into 2024 healthy and ready, with a new perspective, new coach, and new set of training partners.
Rebecca Mehra is a professional middle distance track racer, sponsored by Oiselle. She specializes in the 800 and 1500 meter. For her collegiate career, Mehr...
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March 1, 2024 • 37 mins
Kelly Bruno has been an athlete since she was a child. Because of a birth defect on her right leg, she went through a below-the-knee amputation, and competes with a prosthetic. Competitive sports has played a fundamental role in her life and her development, and throughout, Bruno has been a role model in the para-athlete world, pushing the limits of what's possible. She's here to tell the story.
Throughout her long athletic career,...
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February 23, 2024 • 39 mins
Adidas professional runner Emily Durgin shares how it all went down at the 2024 USATF Olympic Trials Marathon, which took place February 3, 2024, in Orlando, FL.
On the line at this race, in addition to a national championship title, cash awards and series points, racers were vying for a spot on Team USA going to the 2024 Paris Olympics. This was the most anticipated US marathon of the last four years, and the competition was deepe...
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February 16, 2024 • 29 mins
Emma Grace Hurley is an exciting young professional runner, now running for the newly formed all-women's team, the Heartland Track Club. Emma Grace was first featured on WRS in March 2023, in our Race Report episode about the USATF 15k National Championships, which was held on March 6, 2023, at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Florida.
In this episode, get caught up with what's happened since; it's been an exciting time, and you...
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February 9, 2024 • 29 mins
Jay Ell Alexander is a runner and the CEO of one of the largest running groups in the United States: Black Girls Run, aka BGR, with 258,000 members.
Alexander has been leading BGR for six years now, after working as marketing and PR lead for the previous six years. And she has a very clear understanding of the women she is inspiring and motivating because she is her own target audience.
The goal of BGR is to "encourage and motivate...
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February 2, 2024 • 30 mins
Emerging professional runner and new member of Tinman Elite out of Boulder, Colorado, Katie Camarena tells the story of how it all went down from her viewpoint racing in the 2024 USATF Cross-Country National Championships, which took place January 20, 2024, in Richmond, VA. On the line at this race, in addition to a national championship title, cash awards and series points, racers were vying for a spot on Team USA going to the Cro...
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January 26, 2024 • 33 mins
Michelle Sikes's story centers around how her collegiate running career is inextricably linked to her first book, Kenya's Running Women: A History, published in December 2023. This is the first academic monograph to focus on the history of any women's sport in Africa.
Back when she was in her collegiate years, Sikes became a Rhodes Scholar and the 2007 NCAA outdoor 5K national champion. The story of her surprise win in that race o...
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January 19, 2024 • 42 mins
"I don't think I really liked running until maybe two or three years in of actually trying to run. I wouldn't even call myself a runner at that point at all, but just somebody trying to get their life right and trying to have some balance. It really started to open up a new world for me."
Sister Liz Sjoberg's running journey started out as an interest and need to improve her health and lose weight, but over the years, it became a s...
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January 12, 2024 • 44 mins
Anita Cardinal is an ultra trail runner, advocate for the indigenous community, race director, and community builder who lives in Northwestern Canada in the beautiful city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
In her story, Anita gets into why running has been a powerful force in her life from a very early age, and how the impact of the sport continues to evolve for her.
A First Nations woman, Cardinal has a specific focus on empowering ...
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January 5, 2024 • 37 mins
In this episode, part 3 of this series, Cherie shares how a freak non-running injury caused her to take time away from structured workouts and formal training. While the injury was a bummer, in the end, it provided a healthy reset. Cherie shares how the recovery process has gone and why she feels like navigating this period of relative downtime has resulted in her realizing how much she is truly enjoying the process of going after ...
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