Fast People

Hot off winning their seventh-consecutive U.S. 1500m title between indoors and outdoors, Nikki Hiltz talks to Sarah Lorge Butler before heading to Poland to compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Nikki Hiltz on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkihiltz/

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

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Professional runner Emma Grace Hurley talks to Sarah Lorge Butler three days after she, Jess McClain, Ednah Kurgat, and Carrie Ellwood were led off course by at the USATF Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta. McClain was leading the race when they were led off course, and Hurley and Kurgat were running in second and third. By the time they rejoined the race, they were well back in the field. 

Two days after the race, the Atlanta Track Club published a timeline of events that they believe explains the mishap. They said that shortly before the lead women were misdirected, a police officer who was working the race, was struck by a vehicle while riding a motorcycle, which left the intersection in question unattended. (News reports indicate the officer has been released from the hospital.)

The ATC also announced that they would pay first-place prize money to McClain, and Hurley and Kurgat would split the second and third place prize money, because they were running together when they were led off course. The trio was on their way to qualifying to represent the U.S. the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September. USA Track & Field has yet to make any announcements about how they will address the missed opportunity there.

In addition to discussing her experience in Sunday's race, Hurley also discussed how she went from thinking she was done with running after college to becoming a professional runner. And she talked about her plans to try her first marathon later this year.

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

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Sarah Lorge Butler talks to Nike marathoner and physician assistant Gabi Rooker, a Minneapolis-based 2:24 marathoner who is preparing for the 2026 Boston Marathon. They discuss living and running in Minneapolis amid ICE's invasion of the city, and how that has affected the community and her patients. And Gabi discusses her December surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized uterine fibroid and her longer-than-expected recovery.

Gabi talks about her ongoing fertility journey, and how that intersects with being a 38-year-old professional runner, who only got serious about the sport in her mid 30s. She also discusses her experience at last year's Boston Marathon, where a race-morning panic attack derailed her goals, and how she's viewing this year's race as a celebration of how far she's come. 

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Sarah Lorge Butler talks to LetsRun's Jonathan Gault about his background, track & field media, mixed zone etiquette, LetsRun's often toxic message boards, and his recent reporting on Citius Mag. 

Jonathan Gault on X: https://x.com/jgault13

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

This one's for the real running/T&F nerds!

Amy Begley, USA Track & Field's general manager of high performance, and Rob Mullett, USATF's director of long distance running programs, talk to Sarah Lorge Butler about some of the initiatives they're currently working on.

Amy discusses the recently-announced USATF Tour and Rob discusses the fact that USATF is now scheduling and announcing its championships much farther in advance than it has in the past. 

And they also talk about the status of the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. As of this conversation, on December 17, 92 athletes have hit the women's qualifying standard of 2:37:00 and 77 have hit the men's standard of 2:16:00.

There's also discussion of making it easier to find where to watch various track & field events, and you can see USATF's 2026 broadcast schedule here: https://www.usatf.org/events/event-resource-pages/television-webcast-schedule And USATF's events calendar is here: https://www.usatf.org/events

Amy mentions in passing that she competed in 10 events at the 2017 USATF Masters Outdoor Championships to help the Atlanta Track Club win the national title. We had to look those results up, because it's not every day that a 10,000m Olympian competes in the shot put, long jump, discus, and 4x100m relay. https://mastershistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017outdoors.pdf

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Sarah Lorge Butler catches up with Katie Izzo after her runner-up finish at the USATF Cross Country Chamionships earlier this month. By finishing in the top six, Izzo earned a spot on the team that will represent the U.S. at the World Cross Country Championships on January 10 in Tallahassee, Florida. 

Katie discusses what makes her so good at cross country, how she's preparing for Worlds, and tells the story behind the titanium rod in her tibia.

Katie Izzo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katieizzo/

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Host Sarah Lorge Butler talks to Ben Rosario, CEO of the Marathon Project, about the return of the race, which takes place December 20-21 in Chandler, Arizona. 

Ben discusses what fans and runners should expect from the race, and how things have gone so far in year one. He also discusses as well as his decision to leave NAZ Elite, and how he's balancing his new role with teaching middle school.

Marathon Project website: https://www.themarathonproject.com/

The Marathon Project on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marathonproj/

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Sarah Lorge Butler talks to longtime NC State coach Laurie Henes, coming off the team's fourth NCAA cross country title in five years. Laurie discusses teamwork, managing nerves, what she's looking for in recruiting, the dynamics behind coaching some of the best collegiate runners, and much more.

Laurie was an eight-time All-American at NC State and went on to run professionally, and she's now in her 34th year of coaching at the school. That kind of longevity at one school is very rare in the NCAA.

NC State T&F and XC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolfpack_tf_xc/

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Sarah Lorge Butler talks to Mike Smith about his transition from coaching cross country and track & field at Northern Arizona University to coaching Nike's Swoosh TC Flagstaff hub. 

Mike discusses his decision to leave NAU, work-life balance in coaching, how building a pro team is different from building a college team, the impact of NIL and the transfer portal on collegiate running, and much more.

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/

Two-time Olympian Elise Cranny discusses her decision to join the M11 Track Club, which is based in Manchester, England. The team is coached by Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows and includes Olympic medalists Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell.

Thank you to Aletheia Run for sponsoring this episode. Visit aletheia.run to start your free, no obligation 30-day trial.

Elise Cranny on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elise.cranny/

The M11 Track Club on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/m11_trackclub/

Sarah Lorge Butler on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/slorgebutler.bsky.social

Fast Women on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fastwomen/

Fast Women on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/fastwomen.bsky.social

Subscribe to the Fast Women newsletter: https://fastwomen.substack.com/