Hi, everyone. I'm Olympian Kerry Tullifson and welcome to the C-Tolly Run podcast. Today on the show, we have three-time U.S. champ over 5K and 6K distances. And she's also a three-time winner of the Abbott dashed to the finish line 5K presented by New York Roadrunners.

This is Annie Rodenfelds.

And in this episode, we're going to discuss running with confidence, the pressure of being a defending champion, switching coaches and making moves in life, finding what makes you happy, and so much more.

So let's get after it. All right, Annie, three

times. You did it. You did it for the third year in a row. I can't wait to hear about it.

But how like, what do you feel in now after coming back from the dash of the finish line 5K?

I'm exhausted. I'm so tired. So it's such a big weekend. There's so emotions and nervousness and then it happens. But then, you know, you're like super excited. And you're in New York for another like day and a half. And I did a lot of walking and watching the marathon. So now I'm back and I'm like, oh, okay. Like that was a lot.

Now I can breathe. I mean, I often come back home from there thinking, I don't know how people live in the city. Like I like open space. I like rural roads. And I love the city, but I am too exhausted from it. Yeah. Yeah. No, I like the city. I don't know if I could live in New York. It's a lot, but it's so fun like being there for the weekend. So. Well, you clearly crush it there. I mean, this is the thing when we were getting ready to chat. When I was calling your race this weekend, it was so fun because you are in the race the entire time. And we've been talking about you being

two-time defending champion and sort of doing this the same buildup the last few years of where

you go to Boston and run the 10K and then you go to New York and run the 5K. But my mind kept going

to the spot of the pressure that, you know, this race really doesn't have anything besides a really cool

thing to put on your resume and some good prize money. But it's not like you're making a

world team after it. You're not this year, we're winning a USA national championship. It was just a

race. But when you're a two-time defending champion and you have Wainty Clotti, who who's the American record holder in it, then you have L.E. St. Pierre coming back from her second baby. She's a world indoor champion. She's an American record holder. You have Parker Valby, the next biggest thing coming up, right? Like you have all of these. You have Alicia Munson there. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. And you were the person to

beat. Like, what does that pressure feel like and did you feel it this year?

No. I mean, I wanted to win and I was nervous about that. But to be honest, I didn't think I was

going to win because of that field. I mean, I'm never going to count myself

out. But yeah, I told my parents, like, beforehand, I sometimes tell them, like, what to expect.

And I was like, oh, I don't know, could get second or third, could get six or seventh. Like,

there's just a really big question mark over everyone's names at this point in the season. And I was expecting

yeah, a lot of those names to maybe be in really good shape because some of them had been

coming off of injury or pregnancy or whatever. And so maybe hadn't taken a break. Like I just don't

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