"A lot of us were really struggling with our own issues, particularly related to issues with eating disorders, issues with body image that sort of thing, myself included. and I think unknowingly I was kind of passing it on to my teammates," shares Julianne Morse, or Coach Jules as she's known these days! 

Morse joined the Wheaton Lyons women's cross country and track team as a walkon athlete her freshman year. She competed through injuries, setbacks related to REDs, and struggles with body image. She found support in both a therapist and a dietitian, connecting with Boston's Female Athlete Clinic, and eventually ran major PRs in her 5K and 10K events. Despite what was considered a career-ending injury during her senior year, she's stuck with the sport and continues to advocate for her care so she can, hopefully, get back out on the run soon. She's now a Graduate Assistant Coach at University of Wisconsn-Platteville, where she's also pursuing her Master's degree in Sports Administration. 

We talked about: 

• not being the fastest runner in high school, and reaching out to the Wheaton coach asking to be the team photographer...which turned into her own spot on the XC and T&F teams
• struggling with disordered eating, body image, and amenorrhea during her freshman and sophomore years of college
• connecting with both a therapist and dietitian who supported her to come back to the sport and stay injury-free for over 2 years
• the injury that ended her season, and her D1 committ to Niagara University
• her decision to coach as a Graduate Assistant Coach at University of Wisconsin-Plattevile
• her future plans and ambitions as both a coach and an athlete

If you're struggling with REDs, body image, underfueling, digestive issues, or resonate with any of Julianne's story, we have a directory of women's health and sport clinicians ready to support you. Go to Lane9project.org/Directory and find a clinician that feels like the right-fit for you. We're happy to help! If you have questions, contact us via Lane9project at gmail dot com. 

For show notes, a full transcript (via email/PDF), and more work that we're doing in Lane 9, head to Lane9project.org. 

If you share this episode on social media, tag @lane9project.

"I never once felt like myself while I was running in college," shares Val Rubio Meza on the Lane 9 Podcast. But she certainly found her stride with running groups, and longer distances, after her collegiate running days were over. While she specialized in the 400m in high school and college, and couldn't fathom doing a 6 mile training run, she eventually gravitated toward 13.1 and 26.2 mile races. She found running groups in Denver that she connected with, and felt supported by, which helped her find joy and fun in the sport again. 

Val shares how she increased her endurnace to run longer distances, the story of her first marathon in Indianapolis (where she ran a 3:02), and the three world majors that followed. As she shares, she learned "to respect the marathon", and eventually ran a 2:55 at CIM in December 2024. 

Follow Val @valrunsdenver on IG. 

Mentioned on the show: SELF article by Cindy Kuzma, "Sorry, but running without energy gels isn't the flex you think"

Go to Lane9project.org/directory to find a clinician or coach to work with as you navigate post-collegiate running, REDs, and/or fueling for your sport. Our directory includes RDs, DPTs, MDs, therapists, and more. 

Get in touch via Lane9Project.org/contact to bring Lane 9 resources to your team or clients. We'd love to work with you!

Follow @lane9project on IG, and get all show notes at Lane9project.org. 

Katie Steele LMFT competed for University of Oregon and Florida State as a collegiate runner, and now incorporates her experiences with mental health struggles, unethical coaching practices, and the pressures of collegiate athletics into her work as a therapist. She co-authored the book, "The Price She Pays: Confronting the Hidden Mental Health Crises in Women's Sports, from the Schoolyard to the Stadium" 

The title says a lot, and the book lives up to it. Telling the stories of female athletes across the country and across a variety of sports who have struggled with eating disorders, mental health, menstrual health, abuse, and more. 

Katie's story is also one for the books. Her own experience as a collegiate athlete touches on most of the above, and we talk about it. 

Find Katie and her team at thrivementalhealththerapy.com. 

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, mental health, menstrual issues, or medical health as a female athlete, head to Lane9Project.org/directory to connect with one of our vetted women's health providers. 

Follow @lane9project on IG.

Get in touch if YOU are a clinician and want to add your services to our directory! 

"I've done a lot of work trying to unpack the ''faster is better, or faster is the only way to run...it sounds so silly saying it out loud, but it's just been like, weighing on my consciousness." Cate Barrett shares about this process, of unlearning the one and only way she knew how and was trained to run, as a competitive collegiate athlete and finding her post college stride. She ran an Olympic marathon trials qualifying time in 2018 at CIM, and ran the 2020 Olympic Team Trials Marathon in February 2020. Soon after that, she was pregnant with her first kid, and a year after that, she was pregnant again. 

Now, with 2 and 4 year old kiddos at home, she's continue to navigate this season of life, and what it means for her running. 

"I didn't realize before I had to take such extended breaks how much of a role running was playing in my self care. I think I was just like, well, it's just what I do, but, it was multiple things rolled up into one."

Tune in for a relatable, but not-as-often-widely-shared story of how Cate is navigating what running looks and feels like now, how she's still building community around running, and finding new ways for it to be in her life, as a parent and 30-something in tech. 

For more from Lane 9 Project go to Lane9project.org. Find a women's health and sport clinician to support you through this season of life, with nutrition, therapy, Physican therapy, and/or medical care—our national directory of providers is ready to support YOU. 

Lane9project.org/Directory

@lane9project on Instagram

Weekly newsletter: Lane9project.substack.com

"Okay, no one on your team is fueling. But, what if you're the person to set the example?" 

Caila Yates is a sports and eating disorder dietitian based in Boulder CO, in private practice (Steady State Nutrition). She started running in college because one of her friends was doing it, and the rest is history. For her, running was supportive to her own eating disorder recovery, though we know that's not always the case. Now she works with runners at various levels of the sport, and knows the ins and outs of running culture, disordered and restrictive eating, and how hard it can be to stand up to or stand out from what your teammates are doing. So, we talk about that! 

Go to steadystatenutrition.co to find ways to work with Caila. 

To find and work with a women's health and sport informed clinician from the Lane 9 Project Directory, go to lane9project.org/contact to get in touch!

@Lane9project on IG

Lane9project.Substack.com for our regular newsletter and essays

"When I was in college I saw a lot of people struggling, not just myself, because it's just a very difficult time." 

Tessa (Tess) Barrett won the 2013 Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship as a senior in High School. She was featured on a billboard in her hometown! The highs were high, and it could seem like everything was going well at the time. But she was also struggling with her own health, and with a sick parent. She went on to compete at Penn State, grieving the loss of a parent and navigating the often-fraught world of collegiate athletics, with a lot of eyes on her. 

Tess eventually moved to Washington DC where she trains and competes with Georgetown Running Club, and had a huge year on the run in 2024. She won a couple of local races, including the Marine Corps Marathon with a personal best of 2:39:38. We talk about all of the above, and how Tess balances running with working, and having a life, on this episode. 

Follow Tessa Barrett on Instagram @tessabarrett_ and via the Georgetown Running Club updates. 

Lane 9 working to improve the menstrual and mental health of female-bodied athletes. Connect with a practitioner or coach through the Lane 9 directory by going to Lane9Project.org. Follow on Instagram @Lane9Project.

Hello 2025! The year we are connecting female-bodied athletes to the clinicians and coaches who are trained and equipped to support their fully body health—menstrual, mental, and physical wellbeing that keeps athletes in their game(s). 

Tune into this short n' sweet episode to hear from Lane 9 Co-founder, Heather Caplan, about what we're up to this year and how to work with us. 

For more about the Lane 9 Directory—how to find a clinician or how to join us if you ARE a clinician—go to Lane9project.org / contact. 

Or DM us on Instagram: @lane9project. 

"I think making two Olympics was easier than trying to figure out what I want to do now." Jourdan Delacruz has been competing as a weightlifter for ten years, from training as a highschooler at the US Olympic Training Center, to multiple international competitions, to both the Toyko and Paris Olympics. Meanwhile, she completed her degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, on her way to becoming a registered dietitian with the hopes of working with athletes like herself. 

We caught up with Jourdan at the end of 2024, as an Olympic year winds down and she reflects on everything she's accomplished to date. She's in a time of transition, without clear next steps, but excited about a variety of possibilities. We loved hearing more about her training, competitions, Olympic experiences, and how she's already supporting athletes with nutrition resources via HerAthlete. 

Follow Jourdan @herathlete on Instagram. 

Lane 9 is working to improve the menstrual health of female-bodied athletes at all levels of sport and through various seasons of life. Join our national directory of providers and coaches, or bring a Lane 9 resource to your team! Go to Lane9Project.org for more info. 

Follow Lane 9 @lane9project on Instagram, and say hi!

" Own what you're doing. And, if you're really riding a wave of inconsistency or doubt, remember that you're always on your own side." Georgetown athlete Fiona Max, running Cross Country and Track & Field in her last year of NCAA eligibility joins us on the Lane 9 Podcast. 

Fiona competed for, and completed her undergraduate degree at Princetown University from 2020-2024, then transferred to Georgetown to pursue her Master's in Sustainability and compete again. She wrote a blog post for GU Energy Labs titled "Practice over Perfection" about her experience with performance anxiety and struggling with perfectionism while competing within and studying at an Ivy League school. We talk about her experiences in collegiate athletics thus far, and what she's scheming for her post-NCAA life. 

Read Fiona's post for GU here. 

Lane 9 is working to improve the menstrual health of female-bodied athletes and reduce REDs by sharing athlete stories from all levels of sport and various seasons of life. We're also building a national directory of practitioners and coaches who specialize in women's health and sport. Go to Lane9project.org / contact to get in touch, and/or join our directory!

Follow @lane9project on Instagram. All show notes can be found at lane9project.org, with full transcripts available by request.

Rachel Drake is a professional trail runner with Nike, co-host of The Trail Network Podcast, mom of 2-year old Lew, and a newly-minted medical resident in Salt Lake City, UT. A few weekends ago, she ran, won, and broke the course record for women at the JFK 50 Miler in northern Virginia—a huge accomplishment on its own, but especially considering all of the above. 

We talked to Rachel about her time as a collegiate athlete, finding trail running and a close community of friends in that space when she moved to Portland OR, and eventually getting back to racing on the trails and roads (and doing it well!). 

And she shared the full story of her postpartum running process, getting a sacral stress fracture soon after she got back into high volume training. "We don't hear about the struggle, and I think the struggle is the predominating experience," she said, when we talked about her injury and how she felt like she wasn't seeing as any stories about setbacks. How so often, what's shared is centered around the wins, the course records, the "bounce backs". 

Tune in to hear Rachel's full story, and what she's eyeing for 2025! 

Follow Rachel on Instagram @RachelRaeDrake. 

Follow Lane 9 @lane9project on IG. If you work with female-bodied athletes, and want to 1) add your services our national directory of providers, 2) join a collective of coaches and practitioners who work with Lane 9, or 3) bring a Lane 9 resource to your team/athletes, go to Lane9Project.org/contact.