Fast Women: Emma Grace Hurley's excellent half marathon debut
When it comes to political views, to share or not to share?
Issue 323
A last-minute decision works out well for Emma Grace Hurley
On Saturday, Emma Grace Hurley, 26, won the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon, running 1:08:26 in her debut at the distance. She dominated the race, winning by 1:50 and setting a course record. It was her first victory at the pro level. One week earlier, she finished third at the USATF 5K Championships in New York City, which helped her clinch the 2024 USATF Running Circuit title.
Hurley, who lives in Indianapolis and is a member of the Heartland Track Club, spoke to Fast Women the day after her race. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You mentioned it was a surprise to you that you were making your half marathon debut. How much of a surprise are we talking?
I started thinking about [it] in the airport going to New York City [for the USATF 5K Championships]. And I didn’t decide to do it until six days before the race.
What led you to start thinking about it?
I plan really far ahead, and I want to run very well in the half marathon next year. I felt like I had some questions about what was working and what wasn’t. At the [USATF 20K Championships] this year, I kind of fell apart in the last two miles, and I wanted to have another crack at that kind of a race. With having such big goals in the distance next year, while I was fit and healthy, I wanted to have a day to learn.
So what did you learn?
I learned that [my past struggles] were probably more related to fueling than fitness. Instead of taking my gel in the last couple of miles, which was probably dumb, I took it just before halfway. And I learned that I like [the half marathon].
What kind of time did you think you could run going in? What was the plan?
The plan was a little loose. We’ve just been doing 5K work over the last month or so. I thought I could run under 70, but I wasn’t sure how far under. I wanted to be right around 5:15 pace for most of it. (She averaged 5:13/mile.) I found myself in a pack of guys and around 5K I asked them what they were trying to run. They were like, “Oh, 68 minutes or so.” I was like, “Oh crap, I might have messed this up, but we’re here, so let’s just go for it.” So I was very pleasantly surprised.
Did anything interesting happen during the race?
At one point, a couple of the [men] in the group asked me, “Do you realize Sara Hall is behind you? Is this a good idea?” And I was like, “Yeah, I know. I’m nervous about that.” And at one point, one guy was like, “We’re way ahead of course record pace.” I just thought it was really sweet how supportive they were. Honestly, other than that, the race was uneventful, in a good way.
You mentioned you’ve been focusing on the 5K, but do you generally do the kind of training that would prepare you well for a half?
I think so. I usually run around 75–80 miles per week, which is lower than what a lot of people do, but I still have one long run in there that’s like 18–20 miles every week. So just keeping that in there really helped with being able to run the way I did yesterday.
Did it feel special to run a local race?
That was so fun. Honestly, more people cheered for me by name than I was expecting, which was kind of nice. Because I feel like I’m still a little bit under the radar in terms of like, I’ve been second or third in a lot of things, but I haven’t won, and I haven’t been around for as long. So at most races, no one really knows who I am, which is both a good and a bad thing. But yeah, there were a lot of people cheering for me out there. It’s just nice to be in your home city and have people supporting you. I’m also so grateful that they let me in only six days before the race.
When you say you have big goals in the half marathon, what are you thinking about?
I just would love to run the half marathon at World Road Championships next year. That’s been a big goal in the back of my mind for a couple years now. So I just wanted to make sure that going into March, I’m ready to be at my best, and I’ve left no stone unturned in terms of being able to show up on that day. (The 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships will take place September 26–28 in San Diego. The event includes a mile, 5K, and half marathon. The selection race for the half will take place on March 2 in Atlanta.)
Do you want to start doing more long races in the future? And what are your thoughts on the marathon?
When the longer races have gone well for me, I’ve felt so at home in them, and have really, really loved them. But part of the risk of those races is they’re fewer and farther between and, because it’s a longer way, more can go wrong. So that scares me a little. But when they go well, I really have so much fun. I definitely have marathon FOMO, and I’m really excited for when the time is right, but I’m not sure when that will be yet. I’ll probably never not run some 5Ks and 10Ks here and there. They’re just fun. But I definitely have more goals in the longer distances.
Did you stay in New York City for the marathon? And did it make you want to run one more?
I did, yes. I was in the grandstands. I’ll be honest, some people look amazing finishing and I’m like, “Yes, I want to do that.” And some people look like they’ve really been through an ordeal. But honestly, it’s so impressive. So yes and no. My best friend was in town to run the [Indy Monumental Marathon] and I was very excited watching the finish. So after two weeks in a row of being at marathon finish lines, I would say it was a mostly positive experience.
Congratulations on winning the USATF Running Circuit! Was that something you set out to do at the beginning of the year?
I don’t like to run track and I don’t run the marathon yet. Past the World Cross Country Championships in March, with it being an Olympic year, I just didn’t have that big goal that a lot of people who run marathons or track did. So [the USATF Running Circuit] was something to keep me going. And, just to be transparent, some of the [circuit] money is being reallocated to the [World Road Running Championships] selection events next year. So it made sense to go for it this year.
A lot of the same people show up to the races, so we have a fun little group that did a lot of the ones in the fall, especially.
The last time we talked, you hadn’t announced your Asics sponsorship yet. How has that affected your running?
I genuinely think that their shoes are the best on the market. As someone who’s had lower leg and feet issues for years, I don’t remember the last time I’ve had an entire pain-free year. Obviously I’m getting good care here and I take care of myself, but it also has to come back to the shoes. And everyone at the brand that I’ve interacted with has been really supportive.
And was this the end of your season?
Yes. I’m going to take probably a week [off]. I’m going to altitude for the first time in January and I probably won’t race again until the half marathon in Atlanta. I really want to go all in on that and just make sure I’m as prepared on the day as I can be.
Not sticking to sports
I considered trying to summon the energy to send you a newsletter solely about this week’s running news, but I couldn’t do it. For the sake of self-preservation at the end of a long week, I’m condensing some sections of this newsletter.
It was frustrating for me to see a good portion of the running world continue with business as usual, not acknowledging last week’s election. That’s not to say it was every outlet, pro, influencer, group, or brand’s responsibility to do so, just that some of the post-election content I saw felt like a failure to read the room. I decided not to have a sponsor this week so I don’t have to worry about speaking freely about a contentious topic.
I write this understanding that we live in a divided country, and that in being devastated by the results of the election, I am in the minority. I also understand that putting ourselves into categories like “red” and “blue” contributes to the division. I’ve been working on expressing my views in a less polarizing manner, but that’s definitely a work in progress. Here are some of my election-related thoughts, as they relate to running.
To share or not to share, when it comes to political views
I mainly follow people on Instagram because they are fast runners, not because I know them or know much about them. Leading up to the election, I would have said that fast women appeared to lean heavily to the left. So many athletes expressed their support for Kamala Harris, in both obvious and subtle ways, that I wouldn’t be able to remember them all.
In the months leading up to the election, I saw only one professional runner show support for Donald Trump on Instagram. There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of her, and she has fewer than 3,000 followers.
In retrospect, I think it’s not so much that fast women lean so heavily to the left, but that publicly expressing support for Trump comes with judgment in a lot of circles. If you are a widely-known runner and you want to be beloved, one effective and common strategy is to never say anything remotely controversial, especially not anything political. And if that’s how a runner builds their following, and then they suddenly start expressing their political views, there’s a good chance they will lose followers. (Though they might gain a whole new set of followers, too.)
Most of my favorite athletes to follow have gone a different route and made it very clear where they stand on certain issues. They may not have joined social media thinking that was the plan, but their experiences led them there, especially because many of them are members of marginalized groups. (Both in running and outside of it, I would love to see more cishet White women speaking up. There are many doing so, but there could be a lot more. Men, too, but that’s a different newsletter.)
For Nikki Hiltz, who is nonbinary but competes in the women’s category, I imagine things have only gotten worse recently, as Republicans spent nearly $215 million on TV ads attacking trans rights during this election. It makes me livid that women’s sports have been used as a vehicle to promote an anti-trans agenda, especially because there is so much misinformation out there. But Hiltz does a fantastic job rising above all of it, which must be incredibly difficult at times.
Neither Allyson Felix nor Alysia Montaño set out to become activists either, but their activism has led to post-competition careers. Countless other athletes have spoken up about important issues over the years. And I can’t even begin to list the many runners who made some kind of statement leading up to or after the election. No athlete owes it to anyone to share what they believe in, but I appreciate it when they do.
Sharing one’s views isn’t just for the current generation. Joan Benoit Samuelson has been outspoken about climate change for years, and she has also posted about gun control, women’s rights, and supporting Joe Biden in 2020. And this year, she helped Maine’s Angus King win his third term in the U.S. senate, which included appearing in one of his campaign ads.
Speaking up online, especially when an athlete has a large following, can also mean having to deal with a lot of trolls and harassment. I imagine most high-profile athletes try not to spend too much time looking at the comment section. This is a very mild example, but last week, Felix shared a photo of herself wearing a Vote Like a Mother shirt, holding her ballot return envelope in one hand and her baby in the other. It was a part of a campaign to help get women to the polls, and she didn’t say who she was voting for. But the post attracted a lot of Trump supporters in the comments, who took her post to mean she wasn’t voting for him.
There are a whole slew of reasons pro runners might not want to speak up about their political views and what’s important to them. Some of them have other jobs that prevent them from doing so. I’ve been told that some teams and sponsors ask their athletes not to make political posts. (Those brands/teams are clearly in the minority, though, given how many athletes have said at least something in recent weeks.) Some might fear for their safety if they speak up, and others might not feel well established enough in their running careers to start voicing opinions. Some likely realize their views might not be popular. And I imagine some weigh the pros and cons and decide it’s not worth it.
Much of the posting I’ve seen in recent weeks has been in athletes’ stories, so there’s not a lot to link to now. But I happened to notice that posts from NAU runner Ali Upshaw and U.S. 5K champ Annie Rodenfels this past week only increased their following. (That’s clearly not the purpose of their posts, just a side effect.) I also appreciated this post from hurdler Freddie Crittenden, and I noticed that it led to a pretty significant jump in followers. Even though Trump supporters are in the majority, I’ve seen only three people whom I follow for running-related reasons, not names most running fans would know, post anything in support of Trump since the election.
The spread of misinformation
Especially as someone who cares about accuracy and facts, I’m concerned about the spread of misinformation in this election and in general in this country. I think one of the reasons we’re so divided is that our news sources are telling us such different things. I don’t have a solution for that, but the Camille Herron/Wikipedia story really drove home for me how dramatically one story that lacks the appropriate context and nuance can change someone’s life, and how hard it is to correct incorrect information once it’s out there.
I appreciated this article about how misinformation on social media has changed news. “What [does] well on social media is not exactly even-keeled and well-researched stories,” the author writes. “For posts on large platforms, ‘outrage is the key to virality,’ as social psychologist Jonathan Haidt puts it.” It’s true in politics and it’s true in running.
The story also mentions using out-of-context details to make a story harder to look away from. Like when Molly Seidel made the Olympic team in 2020 and headlines made it sound like she had just accidentally found out she was good at running. In reality, though she was new to the marathon, she was an experienced and accomplished professional runner.
Additional Thoughts
Hearing stories about teams that are very divided politically has me feeling for anyone who is lining up for championship races feeling that divide. On one hand, running is great in the sense that it brings together people who might otherwise not interact. On the other, I don’t envy some of the coaches who are trying to deal with these team dynamics in the wake of the election.
I was interested to read how Donna Lopiano of The Drake Group thinks the outcome of the election could affect the House vs. NCAA settlement. (Runner’s World) It’s all theoretical at this point, but I saw the words “roster limits…may be challenged,” which caught my attention. It’s a dense piece, but you can read it here.
Even if many of us don’t agree about who should be president, I am hoping that many runners can agree about the importance of slowing climate change. The election has me thinking about what else I can do. I started following @commonsearth on Instagram last week, after Angel Piccirillo shared one of their posts, and I began listening to the Second Nature podcast. It was the nudge I needed to finally get around to giving away more things through our local Buy Nothing group. I’m thinking about how women control 85 percent of purchases and the difference we can collectively make there. If you’re interested in sustainability in running, Tina Muir and Zoë Rom have a book about that. (It’s also available as an eBook and an audiobook.)
The election has also inspired me to make more of an effort to get involved in my local community. And I appreciate that it has inspired the formation of the North Raleigh (NC) Run and Walk Crew.
If you’re sad and want to talk to runners about it, you’re welcome in the Fast Women Facebook group. I don’t publicize the group much because it isn’t particularly active. (It’s definitely not worth joining Facebook for.) But everyone is welcome, just make sure to actually read and answer the membership question so I know to let you in.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Other News, Results, and Links
This TikTok just happened to catch Maggie Montoya sharing her bottle with Jenny Simpson during the New York City Marathon. Montoya saw Simpson miss a bottle, so she helped her out. On a very different note, Montoya underwent a parathyroidectomy last week. Parathyroid glands are usually very small, but she said hers was 80 times larger than the norm.
There was initially an error in the New York City Marathon age-group results, but it has been fixed. Great Britain’s Lindsay Dixon won the 50–54 age group in 3:01:42.
Stephanie Benko ran 3:17:18 at the New York City Marathon while dressed as a hot dog (last photo). That’s an unofficial Guinness world record for the fastest marathon dressed as a fast food item.
When mentioning former pro’s times at last week’s New York City Marathon, Deena Kastor’s 4:26:02 was on the slower side of the curve. But she’s the only one who recorded a podcast along the way.
Sydney, a service dog, completed the New York City Marathon. Apparently she’s an experienced marathoner, and of course she received a medal, too. Her Instagram account is fun.
This is a really nice NYC Marathon post from Christine Fischer, who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer two years ago.
I noticed there were a bunch of women who broke 3:00 at this year’s New York City Marathon. As a pre-election distraction, I made a graph. (You might have to click on the image to see the whole thing.) The previous high was 108 women breaking 3:00 in 2019. This year, 203 women did so.
Near the end of the Hurdle podcast, Dakotah Popehn said that she’d love to take down Des Linden’s 50K world record in a few years. The rivalry continues.
Speaking of ultra records, Courtney Olsen won the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile in a pending world record of 5:31:56. Ann Trason set the previous 50-mile record of 5:40:18 in 1991. (Results)
Ethiopia’s Fentaye Belayneh won the Boston Half Marathon (formerly the B.A.A. Half), in 1:10:26. The top seven women all finished within six seconds. (Results)
In addition to Emma Grace Hurley’s win at the Indy Monumental Half Marathon, Dot McMahan, who turned 48 last week, ran an incredibly impressive 1:12:30 (1:12:28 chip time) to finish fifth. She said she thinks it’s her second-fastest time ever. Lindsey Bradley won the marathon in 2:31:49. (Half results | Marathon results)
Great Britain’s Alice Wright won the Phoenix Half Marathon in 1:13:11. Kiki Vaughn, who runs for NAU, won the accompanying 5K in 17:01. (Results)
Whoopi Goldberg announced last week that she’s launching the All-Women’s Sports Network.
Canada’s Gracelyn Larkin has joined Dark Sky Distance.
Darrah Wiseman, a 17-year-old high school senior, recently died in a car crash. She had just qualified for the Tennessee state cross country meet, so her family walked her bib number across the finish line, to finish the race for her. More on her here.
I’m grateful to all of you who help keep this newsletter going with your support via Venmo and Patreon. And I hope you all have the best week possible.
Alison
Thanks Alison, I appreciate your words and I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. You summed it up better then I ever could.
Thank you for this post…all of it. 💙