Today’s guest is Elizabeth Carey. Elizabeth is a writer, editor, author, and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. She ran Division I cross country and track at Columbia University and it was her experiences as an elite-level collegiate athlete that inspired her to become a leading voice in the world of girls in sport. Burnout culture, work till you drop, unhealthy and unrealistic body expectations and so on were all things she experienced while at Columbia. Since leaving college, she’s made it a point as both a coach and a writer to spread the word on how to best coach female athletes to help them perform and feel at their best. Most recently, this came into the form of a book titled Girls Running which she co-authored with former high school running phenom Melody Fairchild. In this interview, we get into how she stumbled upon her love of running, her experiences (both positive and negative) as a student-athlete at Columbia, her philosophy as a running coach, and her new book Girls Running.

Timestamps

00:02:33 Growing up in Portland, Oregon

00:04:33 Getting into running

00:08:18 Passions outside of running growing up

00:09:07 Her time at Columbia University

00:12:54 Experiences as a runner at Columbia

00:21:50 Career ambitions in college

00:25:30 First job out of college

00:27:07 Journalism

00:29:52 Coaching runners

00:34:58 Post-college running career

00:37:50 Becoming a large voice in the world of girls sport

00:39:43 Girls Running book

00:49:50 What does she want to have accomplished 10 years from now?

00:50:32 Her daily routine

00:51:36 Her driving force

00:52:20 Parting words of wisdom/advice for the person training for their first distance race