Is this the first time that an Olympic Marathon medalist has switched to ultras? If she dominates the competition, this could be huge for the Ultra-Haters of letsrun.
Eric Wainaina won Lake Saroma 100km in 2010, ten years after his second Olympic medal.
Is this the first time that an Olympic Marathon medalist has switched to ultras? If she dominates the competition, this could be huge for the Ultra-Haters of letsrun.
I don’t know about medalists but Des Linden broke the 50k WR 3 years after winning Boston
And the WR holder in 100km is a marathon medalist in the World Championship. (Tomoe Abe.)
is a shift to trails wise for someone with a fair amount of orthopedic injury history, eg, patellar tendon, hip impingement. i get it would no longer be international track/marathon speed demands, but as someone with beat up legs from years of soccer and running, last thing i do is seek out the longest races or uneven ground.
to me shorter and road would make more sense than longer and trails.
i had a lot of chronic injuries from years of running mostly on roads but switching to trails was great for me... i think the overall slower pace, softer terrain, change in rhythm, plus frequent changes to stride rate/length and whatnot were all beneficial.... always had this constant problem with my hip where running even 70 minutes easy on the roads could be a problem the following day but I could run 3+ hours on trails with no issues.
She has an Olympic bronze medal. She won the HS nationals in xc, and the college.
When she was on her game, she was a fantastic runner.
But she's also battled eating disorders, overtraining etc. We've seen it before with Hall, Salazar, Hasay though. Once the body gets wrecked, often you are totally totally done.
She's done as a regular pro runner so this is smart if she wants to continue to be a pro runner?
Can she remain somewhat relevants in ultra scene where there is way less competition? Maybe. I honestly have no idea.
I do think her stubborness / desire would fit well in the ultra world from a mental standpoint once the gun goes off but I have little confidence in her ability to stay healthy.
But you don't have to be 'fast' to be great at ultras. Courtney Dauwalter just ran like 2:49 in the marathon, right? I mean how many women in the world are there training full time for ultras? 10? 20?
would love to see how some world class marathoners do if they competed in UTMB right in the middle of their build for their marathon
Ali on the Run Show episode 843. Molly Seidel, On Returning to the New York City Marathon
Molly Seidel will run the TCS New York City Marathon — her first marathon in two years. But the Molly who will be lining up in Staten Island this year is very different from the fresh-off-earning-an-Olympic-bronze-medal Molly who ran it in 2021. (Her 2:24:42 is still the fastest time run by an American woman in NYC.)
In this conversation, Molly talks about the highs from the past few years, including that fourth-place finish in New York City in 2021 and an eighth-place finish and personal best (2:23:07) at the Chicago Marathon in 2023. She also talks about the lows, including what was going on behind the scenes during those races, injuries, mental health struggles, and sponsorship changes.
She offers updates on her new coach (Left Jonathan Green's track club in May 2025), her new home base in Austin, Texas, her new lesbian relationship, and her new relationship with running, and talks all about her training (only threshold (no repeat workouts) in the first 6 months in Flagstaff), mindset, and goals for race day in New York City as it leads to February 2028 Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles.
She's a lesbian now? And isn't Notre Dame a catholic school? So their 2 best runners in history are both gay? I'm not religious but I know the Bible.
The races she has listed… black canyon, javelina, western states all makes sense. These are your prototypical “runners races”.. assuming training goes well she should certainly make some noise. At these races speed is relative. If she were talking proper mountain races like a UTMB she wouldn’t stand a chance.
I don’t think people realize the amount of money available on these new contracts for runners in ultra. While the prize money may be non existent, the individual sponsorship is flowing well. I personally know a top US ultra runner making around 500k per year with all the sponsorships combined. Also on the singletrack podcast which just released a couple days ago it was discussed by a sports agent representing athletes in the sport that there are 3 runners in the US alone making nearly 1 million per year.
Also on the singletrack podcast which just released a couple days ago it was discussed by a sports agent representing athletes in the sport that there are 3 runners in the US alone making nearly 1 million per year.
i'd pump the brakes a do some research before i put much stock into anything that comes from the rad boulder camp. marketing is her specialty, especially when it comes to attaching value to who she represents.
Big news coming from Molly today. She's raced on the trails in the past - but it looks like her focus will be on ultras after NYC. Black Canyon 100k in February and then Javelina 100 Mile in October 2026. Long term goal is Western States in 2027.
There's a detailed article from TrainingPeaks on this that looks at her training for NYC with her new coach as well.
is a shift to trails wise for someone with a fair amount of orthopedic injury history, eg, patellar tendon, hip impingement. i get it would no longer be international track/marathon speed demands, but as someone with beat up legs from years of soccer and running, last thing i do is seek out the longest races or uneven ground.
to me shorter and road would make more sense than longer and trails.
So true. All the downhill running that comes with ultras might wreck he knees and quads.
Also on the singletrack podcast which just released a couple days ago it was discussed by a sports agent representing athletes in the sport that there are 3 runners in the US alone making nearly 1 million per year.
i'd pump the brakes a do some research before i put much stock into anything that comes from the rad boulder camp. marketing is her specialty, especially when it comes to attaching value to who she represents.
That’s fine but like I said.. I personally know someone making nearly 500k per year based off their main sponsorship and all the smaller ones combined
sure but Rojo referencing her 2:49 like that is all she's worth... i doubt she was focused on TCM and had raced 120k less than ~2 months before and it went poorly... Shes prob worth 2:35 or so at this point if she were to fully transition to focusing on a full marathon but her best days are also behind her
i'd pump the brakes a do some research before i put much stock into anything that comes from the rad boulder camp. marketing is her specialty, especially when it comes to attaching value to who she represents.
That’s fine but like I said.. I personally know someone making nearly 500k per year based off their main sponsorship and all the smaller ones combined
while I'd like to believe you I would be surprised that person would tell you that kind of info (and the fact that you didn't disclose who.
I don’t think people realize the amount of money available on these new contracts for runners in ultra. While the prize money may be non existent, the individual sponsorship is flowing well. I personally know a top US ultra runner making around 500k per year with all the sponsorships combined. Also on the singletrack podcast which just released a couple days ago it was discussed by a sports agent representing athletes in the sport that there are 3 runners in the US alone making nearly 1 million per year.
Big news coming from Molly today. She's raced on the trails in the past - but it looks like her focus will be on ultras after NYC. Black Canyon 100k in February and then Javelina 100 Mile in October 2026. Long term goal is Western States in 2027.
There's a detailed article from TrainingPeaks on this that looks at her training for NYC with her new coach as well.
Big news coming from Molly today. She's raced on the trails in the past - but it looks like her focus will be on ultras after NYC. Black Canyon 100k in February and then Javelina 100 Mile in October 2026. Long term goal is Western States in 2027.
There's a detailed article from TrainingPeaks on this that looks at her training for NYC with her new coach as well.
That’s fine but like I said.. I personally know someone making nearly 500k per year based off their main sponsorship and all the smaller ones combined
while I'd like to believe you I would be surprised that person would tell you that kind of info (and the fact that you didn't disclose who.
I'm a close friend and I simply asked. They have no reason to lie to me. Not everything is a secret. That said it's not my position to disclose who it is. I will say they told me at the time they had an agent representing them and told me the agent takes up to 20% on certain deals which I personally thought sounded quite high. I'll leave it at that, you can believe whatever you want.
