Sara Hall

On this week's episode of Hurdle, Emily sits down with professional runner Sara Hall. Sara is an athlete whose longevity, incredible range, and commitment to the sport are truly inspiring. She's also the only American athlete in history to win USATF National Titles in both the mile and the marathon.

Recorded in New York City on the weekend of the TCS New York City Marathon, this conversation highlights the depth of her incredible career. In it, Sara opens about her journey, the perseverance required for success, and the mental fortitude it takes to navigate the inevitable challenges—whether that’s a tough injury cycle, the complexities of competition, or even online critics.

IN THIS EPISODE

• The Power of Perseverance: We dive into the grit required for a long and successful professional running career.

• Love Over Fear: Sara opens up about the decision to adopt four children from Ethiopia and how that was rooted in choosing love over fear. The adoption included four girls, ages 5 to 15, all at once.

• The Emotional Tax of Sport: Sara discusses how to navigate the mental fortitude required to deal with challenges like injury cycles, competition complexities, and online criticism.

• Doping & Disappointment: Sara shares how she copes with the deep emotional tax of competing against athletes who were later disqualified for doping.

• Learning from Failure: She reveals how her biggest failure—coming in last at a US Championships—was actually a profound turning point in her life, helping her understand God's unconditional love.

• The Meaning of the Grind: Sara talks about what the "grind" means to her specifically at this chapter in her life, and her upcoming book, For the Love of the Grind.

• Rebounding: Sara shares her advice for moving on from big disappointments, including "slamming a bunch of coffee" and setting a new goal.

QUOTABLE MOMENTS

On Resilience and Perseverance

• "I want to be good period, not just good for my age."
• "What you speak over yourself is powerful."

On Motherhood and Family

• "We just chose love over fear... it was just like closing your eyes and jumping off a cliff and just choosing faith."

• "The word 'Berchi' [Amharic for 'Be Strong']... I was like, I want them to be like keep their Ethiopian toughness."

• "When you're happier, you run better."

On Identity and Self-Worth

• "You have to really have a love for the process, and an excitement to just continue to believe in what you're doing that holds you through all of it."

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“If I just focus on competing, it’s turned out to be really fun and turned out to work in my favor each time. That’s been the mindset: Let's just race, focus on competing, and not really worry about the clock. That’s a lot of how I approached Boston.”

After finishing one spot off of the Team USA squads in the marathon and the 10,000m for the Olympics and the half marathon for the World Road Running Championships, Jess McLain has made it a habit of being so close, yet just off of these national teams.

But on Patriots Day in Boston, she kicked it open, running a smart, gutsy race that saw her surge through the Newton Hills strategically with Emma Bates and Sara Hall chasing a lead pack and then closing in 5:15 seconds for the final mile. Jess cemented her place as one of the top contenders in American distance running.

In today's conversation, we get into what changed with this particular marathon build, from training under coach David Roche to how she's getting used to these major marathon scenes. We talk a lot about the importance of carbs and how that's also been a game changer for her as well as why her drive to compete instead of focusing on times works so well.

With big goals on the horizon and the 2028 Olympic cycle now underway, Jess McClain might just be getting started and really coming into her own as a marathoner.

Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram

Guest: Jess McClain | @jesstonn on Instagram

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Coach, athlete, mom, author, Sara Slattery comes on the podcast today for the first time! 

Sara has a diverse and impressive resume, which began in high school when she ran for Mountain Pointe High in Arizona.  

Sara went to run at the University of Colorado, where she placed 8th at the 2000 NCAA Women’s Cross Country championships, becoming the first frosh to win All-American honors at Colorado. She was an 11-time All-American, four-time NCAA champion and was inducted in 2016 as a member of the Colorado Athletics Hall of Fame. She earned her Master’s degree in Education at this time. 

Sara began her 2006 season as a professional runner. It was that year she set PRs in the 5k with a time of 15:08 and the 10k with a time of 31:56. Sara was the Pan American Games Champion in 2007 after recovering from a stress fracture. She also came in fourth at the Olympic Trials in the 5k in 2008.

Sara turned her focus to coaching when she became the head coach of the Grand Canyon University cross-country team from 2015-2022. She is one of a few women Division One coaches that has coached both genders.

Sara has been busy since making coaching and parenting her priority: she is the Director of Nike Camp Elevate XC Camp in Prescott Arizona; in addition to co-directing the Women’s Running Retreat at Civana Resort in Carefree, Arizona with marathoner Sara Hall. Today, she is coaching middle school cross country and track.

Outside of her running and coaching, Sara has co-authored the book, How She Did It, with Molly Huddle; she is now in the proposal phase for her second book on pregnancy and running, which she is writing with Molly Huddle and Alysia Montano.

In today’s conversation, Sara takes me through her findings of studying 50-elite athletes and how they did it, the differences of coaching female athletes, her years in the NCAA and winning four titles, her life as a mom, camp director, coach, and more. 

Tap into the Sara Slattery Special.  

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S H O W   N O T E S

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run 

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wF
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This episode of Sole Sisters kicks off with some misguided Black Friday purchases from Alice; and Elise battling lack of sleep thanks to her kelpie’s bout of doggy gastro. Elise recaps her recent 10k race, while Alice has been shopping around the run club scene.

For the main topic, Alice and Elise dive into the importance of cross-training to complement any running program. With fewer road running events on the calendar this time of year in Australia, it’s all about building the base you need for the next training block. That means focusing on making your body stronger and more resilient for the training ahead through non-running activities like cycling, swimming, but above all – strength training.

The duo dissect Valencia Marathon which happened on Sunday, throwing a spotlight on Andy Buchanan’s new Australian Record of 2:06:22 and Izzi Batt-Doyle running 2:22:59 to become the 3rd fastest Aussie woman all time.

The episode closes with the usual recommendations, and we’ve added a bonus one here of Sara Hall hammering for 2nd place at London Marathon during covid.

Alice’s Instagram: @alicebaquie

Elise’s Instagram:  @elisebeacom

Run With It: @runwithit.pod

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Intro/outro music by Dan Beacom

Graphic design by Kate Scheer

"We’ll see what happens. We’ll all find out on Sunday.”

A brief chat with Keira D'Amato, Emma Bates and Sara Hall before the 2024 Chicago Marathon.

Unfortunately did not have the time to catch Betsy Saina.

From our race preview on CITIUSMAG.com: The American showdown may become a chase for Emily Sisson’s American record, as three of the five fastest women in U.S. history will be on the start line alongside 2021 Chicago runner-up Emma Bates, Chavez’s pick to take down the record. Keira D’Amato, who held this record for just under nine months in 2022, will be racing 26.2 miles for the first time since moving to Utah to train with coach Ed Eyestone. We won’t know until Sunday exactly what her and Eyestone’s race plan looks like, but don’t be surprised if she’s in the mix for the top American crown.

2024 U.S. leader Betsy Saina, whose fifth-place finish in Tokyo in 2:19:17 was a huge leap forward, figures to be a prominent player as well. 2016 Olympic 1500m champion Matthew Centrowitz is set to be pacing this pack as they go after 2:18:29, so that will be something to keep an eye on even if the leaders are well ahead.

Presented by KETONE-IQ. Save 30% off your first subscription order & receive a free six pack of Ketone-IQ with https://ketone.com/FLOTRACK Sara Hall joins The FloTrack Podcast to talk everything from the upcoming Chicago Marathon to her career and more. Plus, Ryan and Ashley outline the loaded fields to watch out for this weekend on both the men's and women's sides in Chicago. #KetoneIQ #sponsored Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carrie chats with four US pro runners (Emma Bates, Sara Hall, Elkanah Kibet, and Matthew McDonald) in front of a live audience prior to the 2024 Boston Marathon! They talk about their thoughts on Boston, what they are up to now, parenting, getting through injuries, goals, their hardest workouts, and so much more!

Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and Eric Jenkins will preview all of the top athletes and storylines to watch for the men's and women's elite races at the 2024 Boston Marathon. Evans Chebet, Hellen Obiri, Emma Bates, Sharon Lokedi, Zouhair Talbi, Gabriel Geay, Des Linden, CJ Albertson, Jenny Simpson, Sara Hall are among the notable stars competing at the historic race. We will also share our picks at the end of the show. HOW TO WATCH THE RACE ON TV: All the Marathon Monday action gets underway on April 15th with pro races beginning at 9 a.m. The professional men’s field starts at 9:37 am E.T. and the pro women at 9:47 am E.T. Locally, the race will be viewable live on TV or online at WCVB-5. If you’re not in Massachusetts, the race will be shown live on ESPN2 with coverage beginning at 8:30 am E.T. READ OUR PREVIEW: https://citiusmag.beehiiv.com/p/2024-boston-marathon-preview-evans-chebet-hellen-obiri