2019 brought plenty of highs and lows. Scroll down to read about a rollercoaster year and the 24 books I read or listened to along the way.

2019 Reading List

My goal for 2019 was to read 24 books- 2 each month. I made it! Here’s the list of the books: (*=listened on Audible)

Dare to Lead by Bréne Brown
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins*
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson*
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton*
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi*
Girl, Was Your Face, by Rachel Hollis
Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou*
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuck*
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou*
Courage to Soar by Simon Biles*
Educated by Tara Westover*
Shrill by Lindy West*
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert*
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday*
More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng*
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Range: Why Generalists Trump in a Specialized World by David Epstein*
How Bad Do You Want It by Matt Fitzgerald

Nights at Home

In 2019 I only spend 116 nights at home! That’s an all-time low for me. March and April I was mostly in Portland training. Other than that I was only in town for a couple weeks, or a couple days per month. Might be cheaper to just live in a hotel in Portland for 2020…

Miles Flown

55,968. This year was actually kind of light on miles (last year I flew almost 100k) but I spent more nights away from home than ever before. 🤔

Highs and Lows

Low: The year started off with a low. Injury at altitude camp (an omen for the year, actually…)

It was only about a week into our first training camp of the year when my left foot starting hurting. A week later I got an MRI that said I had a grade 3 stress reaction. My feet and right hip are my weaknesses, and I’ve dealt with this before. After discussing it with my doctors, I decided to run through it. I only ran what I could do without limping, not wearing spikes until my first race in Feb. I did all my workouts in Nike’s Vaporfly 4%, a very cushioned but still fast shoe. It wasn’t the best prep, but I made the most of it.

High: WINNING MY FIRST NATIONAL TITLE

My foot healed and on Feb 23rd I raced at the USATF Indoor National Championships in Staten Island New York and I WON! F$%& yeah! This one felt good. The race was slow, I sat back until 500 to go, then took the lead and never looked back. I was the runner up in 2018 and 2017, so to come away with the win and to do it in New York with my parents, boyfriend, and brand new puppy all in the stands? It doesn’t get more perfect that that.

Low: Aaaaand another injury

This time it was a weird one. I did a workout on the track with my #BowermanBabes in Portland after Indoors and it went GREAT. I was feeling strong and fit after so much time training at high altitude. After that workout, my achilles sheath and soleus started to bug me. I ended up getting a PRP injection in my achilles sheath and the bottom of my soleus. This one took me out for 10 weeks in total. Woof.

High: Opened my season by competing at the Prefontaine Classic!

I’ve always wanted to compete at the Pre Classic for as long as I have known about this prestigious meet. Last year I came close, but got injured right before. This year I was fit, healthy, and even though it was early season and my first outdoor race of the year, I ran 9:11, just 1 second shy of my personal best. My parents, boyfriend, and dog were all there again… they were my lucky charms this year for sure.

Low: Injury strikes again

About 2 weeks before Outdoor USA Championships I was training with my team in Park City, UT when I started having issues with my foot again. It all started with a heel bruise that I got coming off of a water pit in a workout. The heel bruise turned into a jammed ankle which turned into another stress reaction. No more spikes again, some time off, some missed workouts, more laps in the pool. Not the prep for USAs I had hoped for.

High: Made the USA team for Worlds

By the time I got to Des Moines for the Outdoor Championships, my foot was feeling 100% again, but I had lost some fitness and was still finding my legs after the time off. Luckily, even though my fitness was not all the way there, my experience kicked in and I was able to race well and finish 3rd, qualifying for my 5th national team for the USA.

Low: Dropping out of Worlds because, you guessed it, Injury

Dang- my 4th one of the year. That’s a new record for me, folks. This time it was my hip. I’ll try to briefly explain. I have impingement in my right hip. There’s a little deformity on the head/neck juncture of my femur bone right where it comes into the hip socket. That little bump rubs up against my labrum and causes tearing which is no bueno. In Sept my MRI showed not only a labrum getting ragged, but also edema (swelling in the bone) in that bump on the femur. I couldn’t hop on one leg, I couldn’t run limping, and I certainly could not hurdle. The docs said the bone damage was likely what was really keeping me from running and that could take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to heal. I hoped for 4, it was more like 8. I went out to Doha where the IAAF World Championships were held, but after arriving and trying to do a shakeout the day before my race, my doctors, coaches, and I decided it was not safe (and really not even possible) for me to run a steeplechase. We were all hopeful that it would turn around in time, but in the end the clock ran out. If I had another week? Who knows. As it were, I went from Doha to Vail, Colorado to see the best hip doc in the country and get another PRP injection in the joint to help heal the labrum tearing.

High: Ending the year on a high!

Believe it or not, I feel like right now I’m in such a good place that I would consider this a high point for the year. After my injection I went to LA where my boyfriend and dog live and I spent the fall getting healthy and building gradually back into my training regimen. I love training with my team, they are the reason I have been able to be as successful as I have been since college. However, when I was coming back from injury this fall I wanted to take it super slowly, at my own pace, and be able to really listen to my body and not get caught up in what anyone else was doing. Pie (my dog) and Kevin (my boyfriend) really allowed me to do just that. After spending Thanksgiving with my family, I was ready to join the team for workouts again. It took me almost 8 weeks to build up to this point, but I truly enjoyed the process and embraced the break in my normal routine.

I’m going into 2020 feeling refreshed, healthy, and more determined than ever to have FUN along the way and enjoy the process of becoming a great athlete.

It’s an Olympic year, people! LFG!!!!!! #2020vision

Media Blitz!

In 2019 I started working with a PR company, Berk Communications, and my rockstar team of Melanie Wadden and Shannon Donohue have helped me to tell my story to an ever-broadening audience. Here are some of my favorite media appearances in 2019: