Fast Women: Ali Upshaw emerges as a leader for NAU
Beatrice Chebet takes down the 14:00 barrier.
Issue 331, sponsored by PUMA
NAU’s Ali Upshaw is making her last year in the NCAA her best one
Aliandrea “Ali” Upshaw worked hard during high school, but when she joined the University of New Mexico cross country and track & field teams in the fall of 2020, she was exposed to a new level of intensity in training. The team had won two national titles in cross country, in 2015 and 2017, and she was diving into the deep end of collegiate running. “I remember going to practice just being ready to hurt the whole time,” she told Fast Women. “The first workout we had, I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do that every single Tuesday and Friday.’”
But she drew on the values her family had ingrained in her growing up. Her mother, who was also her high school coach, would tell her, “T’áá hwó’ ají t’éego,” a Navajo phrase that translates to, “It’s up to you to make it happen.” Initially Upshaw’s goal was to make her team’s top seven and earn the honor of wearing a turquoise jersey, which New Mexico reserves for special occasions, at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Upshaw, now 22, accomplished that goal just over a year after she arrived on campus, though she wasn’t satisfied with her 140th place finish at the 2021 NCAA Championships. But over the past three years, she has plugged away at her progressively tougher goals, and now a fifth-year senior at Northern Arizona University, Upshaw is seeing her hard work pay off.
In November, she won the Big Sky Cross Country Championships and then finished 22nd at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, leading NAU to a fourth-place finish and becoming an All-American for the first time. Two weeks later, she ran a school and personal record of 15:27.86 5,000m on the Boston University indoor track. So far, Upshaw’s final year in the NCAA has been her best one. And she’s hoping that it will lead to the opportunity to run professionally after she graduates with a B.S. in public health in May.
Becoming a runner
Upshaw grew up on a small ranch near the border between Arizona and New Mexico, in an area called Rabbit Brush. For simplicity’s sake, she usually tells people she’s from Fort Defiance, Arizona. The ranch, owned by her grandmother, was passed down from Upshaw’s great great grandmother. They have sheep, cows, a couple of horses, dogs, and they used to have chickens. During high school, one of Upshaw’s regular chores was bringing the cows back home after she got home from practice, before she did her homework. During the summers, she spent a lot of time hauling wood to heat her family’s home during the winter. When she visits home now, her grandmother still sometimes puts her to work.
On her TikTok account, she has documented aspects of life at home, including epic runs, the challenges of living on a clay road, training in harsh conditions but having plenty of canine companions, and rounding up cows and puppies.
In retrospect, it seems almost inevitable that Upshaw would become a runner. Her grandfather was the first person to teach her about the significance of running in the Navajo culture.
“He taught me that running is a blessing and a prayer, and you do it every single morning,” she said. “That’s our way of telling our holy people that we’re there, we’re grateful, and asking them for more blessings. When you wake up super early in the morning, and there’s a little light over the horizon—they say that that specific time of day is when the holy people are present and looking for you. So when you’re running, they recognize you.”
Upshaw’s training schedule makes it tough to get out for early morning runs now, but later in her high school years, her grandfather made sure she did, even if it was just for 10 minutes before school.
Running was a family tradition as well. Upshaw’s grandfather coached her mother, Kelly Bia, when she attended high school at St. Michael Indian School. And when Upshaw was young, her mother—who is also a veterinarian—became a coach at St. Michael as well. This meant that Upshaw spent time around the team growing up, before she started running competitively in seventh grade. “I really think my mom just wanted me to love running at first,” Upshaw said. “And she gave me a lot of space to decide whether or not I wanted to run.”
By ninth grade, Upshaw made the Wings of America national team, which gave her the opportunity to travel to races out of state. For decades, Wings has been nurturing talent in Native youth. Upshaw was part of the team throughout high school and has since returned to help out as a facilitator at the organization’s summer camps.
Upshaw excelled academically and athletically at St. Michael. She was valedictorian of her high school class, she won two Division IV state titles in cross country, leading her team to titles as well. On the track, won four state titles, despite losing her senior season to Covid, and she ran PRs of 4:58.80 for 1600m and 10:37.69 for 3200m. And during the winters, she helped St. Michael win two 1A basketball state titles.
Thriving at NAU
Upshaw spent her first three years of college at the University of New Mexico. But when her coach, Joe Franklin, unexpectedly announced he was leaving for the University of Louisville in the spring of 2023, she decided to make a change as well, which led her to NAU.
Because the schools didn’t offer the same majors, Upshaw has had to make a late shift in her area of study. And that’s how, as a fifth-year senior, she ended up taking 18 credits during the fall semester, on top running cross country and doing an internship with Vot-ER, an organization focused on integrating civic engagement into healthcare. At both UNM and NAU, with the support of her coaches, Upshaw has spearheaded initiatives to recognize Orange Shirt Day, which honors the children who never returned home from Federal Indian Boarding Schools, as well as the survivors.
Despite her busy schedule, Upshaw has thrived at NAU. She credits the culture that head coach Mike Smith has built. “One thing that I really like about Smith’s program is that it’s very intentional, especially the way everything is centered around focusing on each other,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if one person has a good workout; it’s more about how we did collectively.” And she’s found that with the emphasis on running for her teammates, competition is easier, too.
Last year, Upshaw had a breakthrough indoor season, running 15:36.48 for 5,000m, but she missed qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships by two seconds. Any other year, it would have been fast enough to qualify. Frustrated, she went to Smith and told him she wanted to take a break. “He was like, ‘It’s the hardest meet of the entire year to get into. If we just base success on getting into that meet, then we aren’t doing this correctly, and you’re going to have so many of these setbacks and you’re going to burn yourself out,’” she said.
She has also found her work with the team’s mental performance coach, Shannon Thompson, to be invaluable. During the spring, Upshaw qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 10,000, but she had a rough race in Eugene, finishing 21st.
Upshaw was embarrassed and felt like she had let her supporters down. Because there aren’t a lot of Native athletes competing at a high level in the NCAA, Upshaw says her success means a lot to her community. “I feel like there’s an extra responsibility because they want to see someone do well on this level,” she said.
Recently, a high school coach told Upshaw that she hasn’t seen cross country be so popular in the Navajo Nation in a long time and credited her with leading the way. “Words like that really blow me away because I don’t think I have that much power or play that type of role much,” she said. “But when people say things like that, it puts things in a different perspective.”
On top of helping her put her most challenging days in perspective, Thompson has worked with Upshaw on her anxiety and helped her reframe things in the way that enable her to get the best out of herself.
“I still have a lot of the values and beliefs from high school,” she said. “Like I really do believe that anything that you put your mind to, you can do it. That’s what my grandpa and my mom taught me for so long—you’re just as strong as your ancestors. You’re from the Navajo Nation; you’re so strong in so many ways, with your cultural beliefs and being resilient in running. Throughout the years, I’ve tried to frame my outlook in a way that fits me best. It’s definitely been a long process of motivating myself in a way that doesn’t add pressure.”
Upshaw hasn’t been approached about any professional running opportunities yet, but she is hoping some options will open up this spring. Living in Flagstaff—the U.S.’s unofficial professional running hub—and having many former teammates who have gone pro, she has plenty of people to turn to for advice. She’s open to staying in Flagstaff or going elsewhere.And whenever her running career is over, she ultimately sees herself moving home and seeing what kind of impact she can have on her community.
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Beatrice Chebet runs 13:54 for 5K, smashes the world record
Because a lot of professional track athletes take down time at the end of the season and then focus on base-building in the fall, I usually expect their fall and early winter races to be rust busters. Maybe the cross country race Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet ran in November was her rust buster, because when she lined up for the Cursa Dels Nassos 5K on New Year’s Eve in Barcelona, she was ready to go faster than any woman has gone before.
Chebet, 24, covered the 5K course in 13:54, becoming the first woman to break 14:00 on any surface—track or roads. That’s 4:28.4 per mile! And she took a whopping 19 seconds off of the record Agnes Jebet Ngetich set in January 2024. Chebet placed 11th overall and finished only 26 seconds behind men’s winner Matthew Kipkoech of Kenya, who has run 13:18.45 for 5,000m on the track.
Paced by Latvia’s Dmitrijs Sergojins, Chebet hit kilometer splits of 2:46, 2:49, and 2:49 and went through 3K in a blazing 8:24. Sergojins dropped back just after 3K, and Chebet picked up the pace, running 2:44 for the fourth kilometer before closing in a 2:46.
"I am very happy, everything went great,” Chebet said afterward. “I love running in Barcelona, and it is the best way to end the year. Now I will focus on my big goal for 2025, which is the World Championships in Tokyo, where I would like to win the gold medals in 5,000 and 10,000m.”
Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa, who turned 20 three days after the race, finished second in 14:23 and set a pending world U20 record. Uganda’s Belinda Chemutai took third in 14:36.
Last year at Cursa dels Nassos, the women raced separately and Chebet set the women’s-only world record of 14:13, which she still holds. Until Tuesday, the world record for a mixed-gender race was also 14:13, which Ngetich set en route to her 10K world record last January. As fast as that is, the mark was clearly a bit soft because Ngetich ran it and then kept going, and Gudaf Tsegay’s 5,000m world record on the track is 14:00.21. But Chebet’s performance really pushed the record out into challenging territory.
On June 28, 1984, Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen became the first woman to run under 15:00 for 5,000m, and 40 years later, the 14:00 barrier has fallen, too. It can’t be long before we see a sub-14:00 5,000m on the track as well.
Chebet’s performance caps off a mind-blowing year in which she also won the Olympic 5,000m/10,000m double, won the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, and set a world record in the 10,000m. It looks like she’s ready to build on all of that in 2025. Five days after her 13:54, Chebet won yesterday’s Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza in Elgoibar, Spain, by 42 seconds, covering the 7.62K course in 25:49. Chebet said afterward that she’s not planning to race again until the Lisbon 10K on March 9. (Cursa dels Nassos 5K replay | Results)
Sponsorship Announcements
There’s a lot of sponsorship turnover every year, but especially following an Olympic year. Here are some of the announcements that athletes and brands have made so far.
This Runner’s World article, wherein Molly Seidel introduced me to the term “brand slut,” includes some interesting sponsorship details. I appreciated both Seidel and Emily Durgin’s comments about contract transparency and the business side of the sport. Seidel said her Puma contract expired at the end of 2024 and she’s still discussing her future with the company. Durgin talked about re-signing with Adidas. And Kellyn Taylor told Sarah Lorge Butler that she’ll probably find a coach because she doesn’t anticipate that being self-coached will go well for someone with her level of drive.
Allie Ostrander announced on Instagram and via her YouTube channel that she has signed with Oiselle.
Last year, after signing four distance runners of color—Madie Boreman, Brenna Detra, Carmen Pelar Graves, and Melissa Tanaka—Oiselle received positive press (Outside link) for their commitment to diversity and representation. One year later, Only Graves is still with the brand. Oiselle also continues to work with Briana Boehmer, race walker Maria Coffey, and the Liberty Track Club.
Rachel Smith, 33, said in an Instagram post that she is no longer a Hoka athlete. Four days later, she announced that she is having another baby, who is due in April. That means she was pregnant when she finished ninth at the USATF 20K Championships last September. Given that her husband/coach, Mike Smith, is due to become a Nike coach (Runner’s World link) later this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her sign with Nike.
The changes to the NAZ Elite roster (Runner’s World link) suggested that Hoka’s sponsorship decisions weren’t entirely performance-based, and that seems to be the case in their decision not to re-sign Courtney Olsen as well. The ultrarunner, 37, finished third at the 2024 Comrades Marathon and then set a world 50-mile record of 5:31:56 at the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile in November. She said in an Instagram post last week that two weeks before her 50-mile record, she was told her contract would not be renewed. Like others, she implied that the brand’s communication could have been better, and she said they never acknowledged her Comrades run or her world record.
Emily Infeld announced that after more than 12 years with Nike, she is no longer sponsored by the brand. She hinted on Instagram that she has an announcement coming soon, writing, “When one door closes, another door opens. Stay tuned!”
In July, when Kate Grace announced on the Ali on the Run Show that she would no longer be competing on the track, it was clear she wouldn’t be a Nike athlete much longer. She said at the time that she was still under contract through the end of the year. Grace, 36, posted about some of her favorite memories from her eight years with the brand on Instagram last week.
Great Britain’s Alice Wright confirmed that she’s no longer part of Hoka NAZ Elite. “The truth is, it’s simply time for me to leave Flagstaff and try a new set up,” the 30-year-old wrote on Instagram. “Despite running some races and times I’m proud of over the last few years, I’ve also struggled with a lot of injuries/setbacks and I can’t help but feel perhaps 7,000ft isn’t my altitude ‘sweet spot.’ So I’m heading into 2025 with excitement for what’s to come and a renewed sense of determination to see how fast these legs are really willing to go.”
Great Britain’s Alex Bell announced that she is no longer with Adidas. “Very much looking forward to my next chapter and breaking onto the road scene somewhere near you soon,” she wrote on Instagram. When someone asked in the comments about new sponsors, she replied, “Nothing in the pipeline, unfortunately.” Bell, 32, ran her 800m personal best of 1:57.66 at the 2021 Olympic Games, where she finished seventh.
Canada’s Madeleine Kelly, a 1:59.71 800m runner, announced the end of her professional running career. Kelly, 29, was previously sponsored by Asics.
Other News and Links
Lara Rogers said in an Instagram post that after two years with the team, she will no longer be coaching Under Armour Mission Run Baltimore Distance in 2025. The number of women who serve as head coaches of professional distance running teams in the U.S. is very low, and it just got lower.
Runner’s World’s Sarah Lorge Butler said last week that she updated this article to clarify that when Mike Smith transitions to his new role as a Nike coach, his athletes who represent other brands will be able to continue training with him only through the end of their current contracts. Once those deals expire, they’ll need to be Nike athletes to continue working with him. The timing will be different for everyone, but this will put some athletes in a very difficult position.
Thanks to the Fast Women reader who read this article closely enough to point out that Cory Ann McGee is relocating from Boulder to Boston this winter. McGee got married last year and after six years of long distance, she and her husband will be living together. “I have grown accustomed to traveling nearly 250 days of the year,” McGee told Gulf Coast Woman. “It will be really rewarding to prioritize slowing down and embracing a new chapter of life.”
Marielle Hall has taken a newly-created role as the Heartbreak Hill Running Company’s manager of strategic and creative initiatives. The company has stores in Boston and Chicago and will be expanding into a not-yet-announced city later this year. More details, from Footwear News, here.
Natosha Rogers was blunt in her assessment of her 2024 season, saying it was a big mistake to make her marathon debut at the Olympic Trials, and that it left her broken and injured at the start of the track season.
Addy Ritzenhein, who is a junior at Colorado’s Niwot High School, has verbally committed to NAU. Ritzenhein won NXN in 2023 and has run 4:40.78 for 1600m. Ritzenhein’s commitment is a sign that from a recruiting standpoint, NAU isn’t going to be hurt too badly by head coach Mike Smith’s departure at the end of the academic year.
The USATF Cross Country Championships will take place on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas. Entries are still open for a couple more days, so things could change, but as of Sunday, there were only 12 women entered in the 10K race! Carrie Ellwood, Cailie Logue, and Savannah Shaw are the biggest names in the field so far, but Shaw indicated in an Instagram post on Sunday evening that she is injured, so make that 11. This meet is always less well attended in years when it doesn’t serve as the selection race for the World Cross Country Championships, but I’ve never seen the field be quite this small.
Abby Nichols is now engaged.
I appreciated 2:29 marathon Julia Griffey opening up about her struggles with infertility on Instagram.
Additional Results
Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya was understandably billed as the favorite heading into the San Silvestre Vallecana 10K, held on New Year’s Eve in Madrid. Chepngetich led through about 7K, but she was unable to put much distance on Spain’s Marta García, who caught Chepngetich and then began to open a gap on her with about 3K remaining. Running her second race in three days, García pulled off the upset in front of a home crowd, winning in 31:19. Chepngetich finished second in 31:32. Her overall pace was slower than her marathon world record, but unless you’re Beatrice Chebet, it’s normal to run slower than usual during non-peak times of the year. (Race replay | Results)
Also on New Year’s Eve, Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, 24, repeated as champion at the BOclassic 5K in Bolzano, Italy, winning in 15:31. Battocletti led throughout but she didn’t shake Ethiopia’s Aleshign Baweke, 18, until the kick. Baweke took second in 15:35. (Results)
Ethiopia’s Ruti Aga dominated the Xiamen Marathon, winning in a course record of 2:18:46. (Recap)
Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna won the Hong Kong Half Marathon in a course record of 1:07:56. (Results)
Great Britain’s Revée Walcott-Nolan won the New Year’s Eve Podium 5K in London, running 15:39 for 5K. Poppy Tank, also of Great Britain, finished second in 15:44.
Great Britain’s Holly Archer won England’s Ely New Year’s Eve 10K in 34:32. (Results)
Colleen Quigley won Lululemon’s Run with the Roses 5K, in Pasadena, California, in 16:41. (Results)
British Olympian Phoebe Gill, 17, opened her year with a 54.14 400m, an indoor personal best, at the Lee Valley New Year’s Open. Gill recently discussed life post-Olympics with The Telegraph.
Podcast Highlights
Running podcasts are still picking up post-holidays, but I enjoyed hearing from Susanna Sullivan, who was on Running—State of the Sport last week. (She comes on around the 9:20 mark.) Sullivan said she plans to run the Houston Half, and then she hopes to run a PR in the 10,000m. She has a spring marathon planned, and she said she’s hoping to improve upon the 2:21:56 she ran in Chicago and increase the chances that she’ll get to run the World Championship marathon in September. Based on that, I can guess some places she won’t be racing this spring.
It’s always good to hear from 2:25 marathoner and YouTuber Phily Bowden of Great Britain, who was on The Runna Podcast.
Additional Episodes: Molly Grabill, whom I recently featured, was on I’ll Have Another | Heptathlete Taliyah Brooks was on the Hurdle podcast | Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia was on For the Long Run | New Zealand’s Kimberley May, of Providence College, was on The Running Effect
Tomorrow will mark six years since the first Fast Women newsletter went out, on January 7, 2019. I’m excited to get started on another year of Fast Women and thank you for being part of that. I’m thrilled to be working with Puma this month; definitely stay tuned for more on that. And I’m thankful to all of you who help keep this newsletter going with your support via Venmo and Patreon.
I hope you all have a great week.
Alison
Loved the feature on Ali Upshaw! Thank you!