Welcome back or welcome to the single track podcast. As always, I'm your host, Finn Melanson,

and in this episode, we talk with Hillary Allen. In addition to announcing a major shoe sponsorship

change at the top of the conversation, we also dig into the details of her new book

and specifically examine issues like health care for pro athletes, the importance of mindset in the recovery process, risk aversion, her perspective on going all in on trail running after entertaining a potential career in academia, her racing plans for 2022, including UTMB, and more.

I loved this conversation. I hope to have run the podcast again. With that, let's get started. Hillary Allen, welcome to the single

track podcast. Hey, I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for hopping me.

So we are recording this at an early date in January, but you do have some breaking news to share.

I saw on Instagram that you'll be leaving the North Face.

Maybe we can start by talking a bit about that because you were a mainstay there for five, six, seven years.

Yeah, I mean,

it is, it's definitely bittersweet. I've been with the North Face since 2015. They were my first, you know, big sponsor. And they, they were with me through a lot. They're with me,

you know, through some incredible highs in

my running career as I kind of broke out onto the world um the world seemed specifically like in

Europe and racing sky running races all over the world and then you know through my accident

they really supported me through that um through the comeback um you know, when I wasn't sure if I was actually

going to be racing. Yeah. So not only just like the athletes on the team who've become my family

and helped me grow as an athlete and individual, but, you know, to the employees that I got

to know while working with the North Face and, you know, really understanding

what it means to be a professional athlete, but then also just a member of the community in

the athletic world, but also the trail running world. It was just an incredible, valuable experience.

And yeah, but I think, you know, everything, I think in life there's I mean not to

use a a stupid quote but or like a metaphor but you know it's like just different chapters in life right

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