Trail Society
Episode 118: Chronic pain, endometriosis, and major surgery: How Olivia Amber became the first woman to establish a time on Norman's 13
1h 13m
What does endurance look like when perfection is no longer the goal?
In this deeply personal episode, host Corrine Malcolm sits down with professional runner and mountain athlete Olivia Amber for a conversation about movement, identity, health, and choosing paths that don’t always make sense on paper but that feel right in the body.
Olivia grew up in a small Nordic ski community in northern Wisconsin, racing at a high level before stepping away from elite skiing after college. What followed was a series of pivots: a career outside sport, a rediscovery of running as a form of exploration, and eventually a return to the mountains — this time on her own terms.
At the center of this episode is Olivia’s recent completion of Norman’s 13, a roughly 105-mile, 40,000-foot link-up of California’s Sierra Nevada 14ers. Olivia became the first woman to establish a known time on the route, claiming the FKT in the process, but this achievement can’t be separated from the years that came before it: shaped by chronic pain, a stage IV endometriosis diagnosis, major surgery, and learning to listen to a body that no longer responded to “push through it.”
This is a conversation about redefining success, navigating health within high-performance sport, and allowing dreams to evolve when the old version no longer fits.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Growing up in a Nordic ski community and how family shapes athletic identity
- Walking away from elite skiing — and why it wasn’t a failure
- Finding running as freedom, not replacement
- Living and training with stage IV endometriosis
- Fertility decisions, surgery, and long-term health realities
- What makes Norman’s 13 such a unique mountain challenge
- Choosing a harder line because it felt safer — and truer
- The role of community in big, lonely objectives
- Letting go of outcomes and committing to the process
This episode is brought to you by rabbit. If you're looking to treat yourself after the holidays or upgrade your winter running kit, head to www.runinrabbit.com and use code TRAILSOCIETYJAN in January for 10% off.
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