429. Henna Rustami, Fifth Avenue Mile NYRR Women’s Road Mile Champion

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Run, Health & Fitness, Women, Inspiration, Runner, Entrepreneur, Sports, Fitness, Health, Running

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I ended up on a dude ranch in Arizona. I just wanted to go far away from New York and from home and just do something completely different. I felt like I’d kind of lost a sense of myself in that pursuit of running really fast and high achievement, so I wanted to recalibrate and go somewhere where no one knew me and running didn’t matter.”

Henna Rustami is a rising star in the running world. Though she describes herself as "the worst runner" on her high school and college teams, she has gone on to thrive on the run, becoming an Ivy League champion (running for Columbia University) and thriving on the New York City competitive running scene. Most recently, Henna won the NYRR Women's Road Mile division at the Fifth Avenue Mile, breaking the tape in four minutes and 45 seconds. And she's thriving off the run, too: Henna graduated from law school earlier this year! On this episode, Henna reflects on her running journey and her childhood, growing up in Long Island as the daughter of refugees from Afghanistan. She talks about her parents' journeys fleeing Afghanistan in the 1980s, and about what it was like growing up in a Muslim family in the wake of 9/11. She talks about finding confidence on the run, about escaping to a dude ranch for six months, and about what her training looks like today as a member of Brooklyn Track Club.

SPONSOR: AfterShokz — Visit ontherun.aftershokz.com for 15% off wireless headphones.

What you’ll get on this episode:

Henna recaps her NYRR Women’s Road Mile win at the Fifth Avenue Mile (4:55)
On confidence in running (8:45)
What Henna’s training looks like (10:45)
All about Henna’s childhood (14:50)
How Henna’s parents responded to her love for running, and what it was like growing up in an Afghan family on Long Island after 9/11 (22:15)
On graduating from law school and starting a career in the pursuit of fighting injustices (35:45)
What it was like going from being “the worst runner on the team” to an Ivy League champion (41:35)
On navigating what role running would play after college (44:50)
What’s next for Henna? (53:35)

Check out:

Ali on the Run Show LIVE on International Women's Day

Caitlyn Tateishi on Episode 226 of the Ali on the Run Show

Follow Henna:

Instagram @hennarustami

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Listen & Subscribe:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by Aftershocks.
0:04.4	Go to ontherun.aftershocks.com to say 15% on all wireless headphones.
0:15.3	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show.
0:17.5	I'm your host, Allie Feller, and every week I talk with people who are doing
0:21.6	cool things on the run and beyond. We all share that love for running, and that's what brings
0:26.9	us all together. But of course, there's more to life than what happens on the run itself,
0:32.0	and that's what we're here to talk about on this show. We're talking about those moments and
0:36.4	decisions that have shaped who we are today, the wise, why do we do what we do, how did running
0:42.4	enter our lives, why do we keep running even when it feels hard, and through it all, how does
0:48.5	getting sweaty factor in. So, quick little story for you before we get into today's episode.
0:53.4	The first time I ever announced a race was in 2019. It was the New York Roadrunners Newport 5K
1:00.9	in New Jersey, and I was the Race Day Central announcer, so I was super nervous, and all my job was
1:07.4	was really telling people where the porta-potties were, and what time to head to the start line.
1:12.6	After the race, though, I found out that I was in charge of the awards ceremony, which felt like
1:17.6	very high stakes to me for this 5K in New Jersey. But I so vividly remember the third place woman.
1:24.6	It was 23-year-old Hanna Rustami. She was tiny and quiet and had this big, happy smile.
1:32.4	I learned that Hanna was a runner with Brooklyn Track Club, that she was in law school,
1:37.6	and that we had a ton of mutual friends. Fast forward to March 2020. I got to host a live show
1:44.8	at the New York Roadrunners Run Center to celebrate International Women's Day, and I got to ask Hanna
1:50.4	to be a part of that panel. We talked about diversity and representation in running, and she shared
1:56.1	her own really powerful stories as the daughter of parents who fled Afghanistan during the war
2:02.0	torn 1980s. That event was the last thing all of us did before the pandemic hit, and the world shut down.
	...

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