Aisha Praught-Leer is an Olympian, the 2018 Commonwealth Games Steeplechase Champion, and has held Jamaican records from the 1500m to the 5000m....but some of her favorite moments in sport are from the parts you never got to see! Molly and Aisha also get into how she decided to structure her retirement, what she is doing now, the mental transition and it's challenges, what she'd like to see improve in the sport as a whole and what gives her hope. Thanks for Keeping Track!

Alysia and Molly talk about some of the &Mother initiatives and beyond in how to support Mother Athletes at the Olympics and Paralympic Games. "What we want for female athletes is to allow them to be holistically themselves.... this is what I tell my daughter. You have an opportunity to be yourself, you have an opportunity to be an upstander and you have the opportunity to leave the world better than you found it and if you listen to every negative voice....you are going to be the one who's on the bottom of the floor. What you want to do is be the one climbing the ladder and bringing people up with you" -Alysia Montaño on racing while pregnant and not listening to negative comments

Dr. Jessica Gall Myrick was a 3 time all American distance runner while at Indiana University and went on to become a social scientist and full professor at Penn State University. We talk about her work studying Media Psychology and health and given her running background we dive into how it relates to women’s sports- which she is equipped to speak on. In 2020 she did a study to see what happens to audiences when commentators use sexist language around women’s sport .Links to Jessica’s published works including her text book and her articles via her website emotionsandmedia.com. She’s also currently needing feedback for a study on college athletes so we link her survey as well https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5zOXFRNpB19RFdk Recap and links are posted at our site as always www.keeping-track.com

Molly and Ro host a group run in Providence RI to support Alysia's &Mother Mom Forward 5k fundraiser. They held a live podcast afterward at Marathon Sports discussing the intersection of running, career and motherhood. Thanks to Vita Coco and Run Rhody for supporting this event and to support &Mother and all of Alysia's impactful work head to the link!

Buy All in Stride Here! We are speaking about the new book All In Stride by author Johanna Garton featuring the intertwining running journeys of Shadrack Kipchirchir and his wife Elvin Kibet as they go from young kids in Kenya to sports careers in the US NCAA system and US Army. Elvin has joined us as well and we will link back to her pre Olympic trials interview with us in February if you missed it. Elvin was a 6 time all American while at university of Arizona and qualified for the USA Olympic Trials Marathon 18 months post partum after having her first baby, her son Mylo in 2022. Her husband Shadrack had made multiple US World Championship teams and the 2016 US Olympic Team in the 10,000m.  Johanna is an author who in addition to writing All In Stride a has written such books as Edge Of The Map which is based on the lives of trailblazing mountaineer Christine Boskoff and her partner Charlie Fowler and Awakening East about moving her adopted children back to China for a year- her website is http://JohannaGarton.com .

Molly and Alysia introduce Keeping Track X &Mother's newest partnership: The Mother's Lane; a series keeping up with athlete moms . We're going deep on the topics around the intersection of motherhood and sport with some of the amazing Mom's on the track, roads, sport leadership spaces and beyond. We'll talk about things like training while pregnant, post partum return to running, and a variety of challenges and topics cantered around thriving in career and motherhood . Come join in the conversation in the Mother's Lane! Today we talk with Makenna Myler, who recently finished 7th at the US Olympic Marathon Trials and has 2 kids under 3 years old. She has run a sub 5:20 mile in her third trimester (!) and has recent PBs of 68:28 at half marathon and 2:26:14 marathon.

 Our final installment of the Marathon Team nTrials spotlight is Seargent Elvin Kibet Elvin was a 6 time All American while at the University of Arizona graduating in 2015 -you can read more about her story and her childhood in Iten Kenya in the book All In Stride by Johanna Garton which comes out this spring! Its about the journeys of Elvin and her husband (US Olympian Shadrack Kipchirchir) as they come the the US and chase Olympic dreams in the WCAP program via the US Army. Elvin Is debuting in the marathon distance this weekend and speaks about navigating post partum training after having her son Mylo in 2022 and her interest in public health and using her education to help her village back in Kenya.

Our second installment in our miniseries of spotlights around the women of the 2024 USA Olympic Team Trials Marathon is Fiona O’Keeffe. As a 6 time all American at Stanford graduating in 2020 Fiona got to chase some fast women on her own team in the middle distance events. She steps up to the Marathon as one of a few women debuting in the distance at the trials. Since joining the Puma Elite running team with coaches Amy Hastings Cragg and Alistair Cragg, Fiona has run great times as the events got longer like her 10k pb of 30:52 and 67:42 in the half - I think 26.2 will follow this trend and we can’t wait to watch her run the event! 

In Erika's debut marathon this past spring she became the fastest American Born Black Woman Marathoner, she's also a two time USA road Champion and fresh off a big half marathon PB. She tells us about her preparations for the upcoming Olympic Team Trials Marathon on Feb 3rd -spoiler it's going well!

Alysia and Molly have a conversation with Canadian Olympian (2004 and 2021!) and former record holder Malindi Elmore on her journey in the sport: takeing a step back during a burned out phase, exploring other sports and kinds of training, becoming a Mother and finding herself in a while new event and more Olympic berths at age 43! This was a live podcast from Oct 24th and there are some great listener questions at the end.

Molly chats with Natoya about her off season plans, breaking her own National record at the Diamond Leage Final, her philanthropic goals, how she's getting faster with age and how injury and a car accident almost derailed her 2023 season.

We last spoke to Tori in early 2022 and a lot has happened since! She is publishing her book You Anthem, building a non-profit and heading to the World Championships in Hungary as the US Champion and 2022 World Championship bronze medalist. Listen in on what's going on off the track and how she stays motivated on the track. You Anthem LiveHappyRetreats on instagram @livehappii_retreats Follow Tori on insta @livehappii and here

Be an Underbird with Oiselle! Apply today! We catch Up with Justine in Hungary leading into the 2024 World Athletic Championships and speak on her Hungarian (and French/ Caribbean) background , how she has "pieces of her heart all over the world", her athletic carreer, her creative work, her work with Oiselle and her hopes and goals for the sport of Track and Field!

Molly interviews Ro about athlete Mental Health. Roisin McGettigan-Dumas is of course our Co-Host, but also: a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (and 2012 Olympian in Track and Field!) and also coaches athletes on sport performance psychology. We chat about the information Ro Learned from the IOC's new course on Athlete Mwntal Health and share resources for athlete screening. Ro also talks about how she found her passion for this field, working with young athletes, barriers to seeking a provider and we share some personal experiences on the topic as well. Resources: IOC mental health assessment and recognition tools https://olympics.com/athlete365/app/uploads/2021/06/BJSM-SMHAT-1-Athlete365-2020-102411.pdf https://olympics.com/athlete365/app/uploads/2021/06/BJSM-SMHRT-1-Athlete365-2020-102411.pdf

Check out their website for inquiries on joining or supporting! Social media announces events: @angelcityelite Angel City Elite is a women's running group based in the Los Angelese area. Their athletes have competed at the US Olympic Trials Marathon and other track and road races around the country. They are a small group of runners now but hope to support more women who want to contitnue to train at a high level post collegiately and also offer support to youth athletes as well as host community events. Their mission is to bridge the gap: Angel City Elite's mission is to bridge the disparity gap of BIPOC representation in the running community, raise awareness, empower, educate, and inspire by creating a supportive platform and establishing partnerships in LA and surrounding communities.

Liberty AC is the oldest all women’s track club in the country, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. I speak to president of the board Viki Bok and official- unofficial team historian Alda Cossi (both women are competitive members of the masters running scene). Liberty has run through the gauntlet of sea changes in society via womens sport: It began as a new england sports club for young boys, and soon also became an opportunity for girls in sport when there were none-as schools did not offer this to girls in the 50s. During the 60’s and 70’s they had women athletes from many events in track and field competing for them and some went on to become Olympians and National Team Members and Champions like sprinters Betty Selman and Kathy Lawson to name a few. On the distance side of things, women like Darlene Beckford, Lynn Jennings and Joan Samuelson came through the program, and eventually professional contracts came into the picture to offer more support. (We didn’t talk about it as I wasn't sure who else had been traumatized by this but one of the eras of coaching in the club was that of John Babbington-who has recently been named as a serial abuser of his young athletes, which is extremely upsetting and a sadly not unheard of piece of the womens sport landscape . Currently, athletes and supporters are pushing for prevention and better protected against this.) Their website statement: “Liberty is a community of women committed to inclusive athleticism, compassion, and fairness. We are deeply disturbed to learn of the behavior that led to SafeSport’s investigation and findings of sexual misconduct by John Babington. We acknowledge the extraordinary strength it takes to share the pain associated with sexual misconduct, including assault. Liberty’s current board and membership want Lynn Jennings, Darlene Beckford Pearson, and others who suffered similar abuse to know that we stand with them and will do whatever we can to support their healing and justice.”   “today-Liberty is mostly adult women actively engaged in career and community in addition to being dedicated runners” The club is a hub for masters women athletes -some of which only tried competitive running once reaching this age. The fulfillment, community and healthy habits cultivated in the group are a benefit to women of all abilities and show you don’t become invisible or have to give up parts of your life when you hit a certain age. 

Julia Lucas was a multi time All American at North Carolina State and Professional Distance runner for 8 years. She talks about how that's informed her own coaching approach and she tells us about the 2 NYC groups she is guiding and some other stops along the way on her coaching journey: Julia is currently working with the womens Elite Group Atalanta , the Atalanta community group training team online which you can join, a few private clients and the No Name Program (@thenonameprogram) community group. More from Julia here and on our blog Keeping-Track follow her on instagram @justrunjulia

Molly Talks to co founder Abeo Powder and Run LeadHer Alia Qatarneh about Boston Based women's running group TrailBlazHers Run co . They touch on topics like their big event -The Bra Run- their weekly events and other activations and how they are crearing a welcoming space for women to enter the running world and find community through all paces and levels of running. As they say they "Value and nurture the diversity in sisterhood!"

Molly will also link the resources mentioned in the National Women and Girls In Sport Day recap on www.keeping-track.com , but here is more info on Vaughn Childcare Fund for college Mothers Books: Good For A Girl How She Did It Sites: Voice In Sport online mentorship program for girls Womens Sports Foundation Molly catches up with Betsy Saina on her new journey as a Mother and American Citizen who has stepped from the track into the Marathon and road race world.  Betsy recently signed with Asics and won the Seville half. Betsy talks about her struggle for motivation and lack of opportunities during Covid, her decision to have a baby in the middle of her running career and how her agent and new sponsor Asics reacted to this. She also talks about how much more support she has in Kenya around childcare and pacing duties compared to the USA. look for Betsy at the Tokyo Marathon next month ! (note-baby noises in the background due to two Moms talking !)