466. Hiruni Wijayaratne, South Asia's Fastest Marathoner

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

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

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2022

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“I feel like I’m in love again with the process of waking up early, putting my shoes on, bundling up, and going for a run. It doesn’t feel quite easy or fun all the time yet, but I’m definitely in love with the process again.”

For most professional athletes, a day in the life includes running, eating, recovering, napping, resting, running again, eating again, and sleeping. But for Hiruni Wijayaratne — the 11-time Sri Lankan record holder in distances from the 5,000 meters to the marathon, and the fastest female marathoner in South Asia — running has to happen before or after her other jobs. Hiruni lives in Colorado, where she works full-time in the tech industry, coaches with Runcoach, and trains at an elite level under the coaching of Ric Rojas. On this episode, Hiruni talks about her years-long quest to qualify for Sri Lanka's Olympic marathon team, and what it's been like to fall short of that goal and break her mind, body, and spirit in the process. She talks about her struggles over the past few years, and about clawing her way back to loving running again. Most recently, Hiruni ran the California International Marathon (with training partner Nell Rojas!), where she earned her second-fastest marathon time, finishing in 2:34:22. But the road to the CIM start line wasn't easy, and today Hiruni is here to talk about what it means to bet on yourself — and how she's learned to do it.

SPONSOR: The WineShine Half Marathon — Register today for the inaugural event, happening July 16, 2022. See you in Napa!

What you’ll get on this episode:

What it was like being in the Boulder area during the massive fires in December (4:10)
All about Hiruni’s recent wedding! (11:15)
What Hiruni’s job is like, what it entails, and when she runs (13:00)
All about those 12 seconds at CIM (16:45)
The road to CIM (18:20)
What Hiruni’s relationship with running is like now (23:40)
Hiruni’s high point in CIM training (28:00)
Hiruni’s CIM goals (32:30)
How CIM played out for Hiruni (41:35)
How Hiruni learned to bet on herself (51:50)
On goal setting in the new year (58:15)

Check out:

Nell Rojas on Episode 434 of the Ali on the Run Show

Nell Rojas on Episode 431 of the Ali on the Run Show

Nell Rojas on Episode 229 of the Ali on the Run Show

Follow Hiruni:

Instagram @hiruni_w

Follow Ali:

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 The Wineshine Half Marathon.
0:05.6	Registration for the inaugural event taking place July 16th is now open.
0:12.2	Go to Wineshinehalfmarathon.org to sign up today.
0:17.3	Hope to see you this summer in Napa.
0:20.0	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show. I'm your host Allie Feler and I am here with a bonus episode for you today.
0:31.6	And today we have the privilege of getting to know the fastest marathoner in South Asia,
0:38.0	Haruni Wajerutna. Haruni lives in Colorado where she works full time in the tech industry
0:44.8	and trains and competes at the highest level. Her training partner is Nell Rojas and Haruni is coached by
0:52.1	Nell's dad, the legendary Rick Rojas. So they're all in good company out there in Colorado.
0:59.9	Haruni was born in Sri Lanka in between 2017 and 2020. She broke every Sri
1:06.3	Lankan national record from the 5,000 meters to the marathon. She qualified for three world
1:12.8	championships including that marathon world championships in Doha in 2019. Remember the
1:18.3	really hot one? And she ran a nine minute marathon personal best during those years.
1:24.5	Most recently, Haruni ran the California International Marathon, CIM, as you'll hear us call it.
1:30.9	And she earned her second best marathon time finishing in two hours, 34 minutes and 22 seconds.
1:37.6	But the road to that CIM start line was not an easy one for her, Haruni.
1:43.2	On this episode, you'll hear all about the struggle she endured over the past few years,
1:48.4	during which she says training to qualify for the Olympics broke her body, mind, and spirit.
1:54.4	She talks about the quest to become an Olympian, about falling short of that goal,
1:59.2	and about clawing her way back in pursuit of falling in love with running all over again.
2:05.0	So please join me in welcoming Haruni Wijirutna to the Alley on the Run Show.
2:18.9	All right, kicking off a new year. Our first guest on the Alley on the Run Show. Haruni,
	...

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