Brie Oakley Shares her Story

Gotta appreciate Ben Crawford for helping NCAA athletes like Oakley create a space for themselves to tell their story. I remember being hyped for Brie’s freshman year at Cal after that wild spring season she capped of by burying the field at brooks pr. Gonna go watch the vid now. Big thanks to Ben for making this video and to Brie for telling her story- this helps the sport grow in a very positive way.

Thanks for sharing. I was at Arcadia the night Brie and Claudia ran stride for stride the entire race. This is a reminder of how vulnerable young female runners are and that the path to greater success has many obstacles and challenges.

I wish Brie the best and hope she rediscovers the pure joy in running again.

Thanks for sharing. I always wondered what happened to her. She ran her fastest her senior year of HS, but has steadily gotten slower since then. It's tough to hear what happened behind the scenes. I hope she manages to find joy in running again. She has an incredible gift and I hope she continues to use it to find joy, even if that just means winning some local road races.

She should step away from competitive running. No race result is worth an eating disorder. Competing at the highest level in running is very stressful and is not compatible with those prone to eating disorders.

She could learn healthy coping skills and still compete. She has a lot of potential and could run really well again. She is young and has plenty of time to reach the top. Mary Cain is running well agains after so many bone injuries and years off. Yes, she is ten seconds away from her old 3k PR but its a good start. They both could overcome and be fast again. But you never know, it's hard to say when you get fast so young

I think that we have to start considering that maybe puberty itself is not as much of a factor in the decline of female athletes--rather, it is eating disorders and eating habits.

So maybe we should stop critiquing the bodies of high school girls.

laivone wrote:

I think that we have to start considering that maybe puberty itself is not as much of a factor in the decline of female athletes--rather, it is eating disorders and eating habits.

So maybe we should stop critiquing the bodies of high school girls.

We most definitely should not critique the bodies of high school girls, but it is puberty and the associated change in body composition that tends to trigger eating disorders. When you add the expectations, both external and internal, placed on some of these girls, the outcome is not a surprise. Reduce the pressure, help them adapt their training to their changing bodies, and be supportive. I have never had the privilege of coaching a national class runner, but I have seen a few girls successfully navigate their way through this. Some posters here seem to delight in forecasting a fall off in performance. Why?

I hope she is able to enjoy the joy of running again and have a healthy lifestyle eating wise. The racing and fast times are just icing on the cake and may not happen again. Just take it slow and be patient and perhaps post College she can have some success on the Track or the Roads.

The problem with these Female runners in High School is all too familiar unfortunately. Some have success pre puberty but once they develop into a Woman their power/weight ratio shifts dramatically and their times get slower.

The bottom line is some Woman once they are mature just do not have the body to be a world class or even national class runner. Each athlete has to come to terms with that and not go down the wrong path trying to loose weight via an eating disorder and as a result end up with more injuries as a result of that.

There was a flotrack video of her a few years ago (see below) and something about the way she was running really stuck out to me and made me think, this is no good, she's pushing too hard. I wanted to like the video but there was something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it's just in my head. See what you guys think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wVSX3jp4xc

Running can go from healthy competitive sport to obsession quickly and with devastating impacts to the athlete. She can complete a degree and work part time to gain experience that will help her find a fulfilling career. Too much emphasis on athletics comes at a cost to the long term education and career goals of young people. It's totally OK to drop track and not compete again.

It's a different story for every individual. Without knowing her though one can say moving on from running is no big deal if the sport is even a little uncomfortable for her. It just doesn't matter that much how good she was at it or how many races she won if it's hurting her in any way. She can pursue other things - anything else that leaves her feeling healthy and positive about herself.

Winning can create a feedback loop that encourages disordered eating/exercising.

Being fast/winning feels good, so you run more, and lose more weight, and get even faster, and win even more, and run more, and lose more weight, and run even faster...until you break down.

Happens all the time, and not just to elites. Seen it happen to quite a few women who were just fast enough to win local-level races.

CAL, where runners go to get injured.

has anyone yet mentioned the dozens of really fast girls that went to Cal only to get worse? Seems to be a trend.

She looks okay, running 5:20s, mechanics wise she might be over striding a bit. Her body type is narrow, not sure what brought on the eating disorder, it could have been because she hit a plateau as she stated and got impatient. The thing is when you starve the body doing heavy training something will eventually break. That is why the running/training part of the overall scheme is perhaps tertiary and nutrition and sleep/rest are absolutely more important in the long run (no pun intended) and many times overlooked.

High-carb "runner's diet" derails hormones around and after puberty. This takes a bigger toll on the girls than the boys.

You all know she alluded to disordered eating in high school more so than college...right?

lt man wrote:

has anyone yet mentioned the dozens of really fast girls that went to Cal only to get worse? Seems to be a trend.

damn-what happened to Bethan Knights---top 3 at Pac 10 Cross as a frosh in 2014 after winning Brooks PR in 9:54 that year---I don't even think she completed her track eligibility due to injuries?

I think it was in your head. I remember watching it at the time and Knights stuck out (in video and in person) with her awkward form and somewhat unhealthy-looking build. Oakley was notable mainly for her shuffling stride, but she always ran like that, which was efficient and seemed like it would translate well to 6km XC and 10,000 on the track, and looked fine otherwise.

David S wrote:

There was a flotrack video of her a few years ago (see below) and something about the way she was running really stuck out to me and made me think, this is no good, she's pushing too hard. I wanted to like the video but there was something about it that rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it's just in my head. See what you guys think: