S11 EP18: Running on Empty: Allie Ostrander’s Road to Recovery
The Thick Thighs Save Lives Podcast
Constantly Varied Gear
4.9 • 716 Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Allie Ostrander, beloved professional runner from Alaska, and one of the most decorated Div.1 NCAA runners in history, an All-American, a Hall-of-Famer, and a passionate advocate for mental and physical health. Allie shares her incredible story from growing up in Alaska to competing on the national stage, offering a raw and honest look at the pressures she faced as a young athlete in the running world. From early struggles with body image and eating disorders to her path toward recovery, Allie’s story sheds light on the challenges young female athletes face in an environment that equates performance with appearance.
Allie opens up about the Olympic trials, and pivotal moments in her journey, including her decision to seek professional help for her eating disorder. She discusses the long and nonlinear process of recovery, the lessons she’s learned about fueling her body, and how she’s redefining success on her own terms. Tune in to hear her amazing story of resilience and hope.
Allie O’s Links:
(00:00:00) Welcome Allie Ostrander to the podcast
(00:05:35) Restricted eating as a means to improve running performance explained.
(00:11:20) What Allie means by taking a step back in order to leap forward athletically
(00:18:05) Allie reflects on how public comments about her appearance shaped her relationship with her body and her sport.
(00:26:36) What made Allie finally decide to seek professional help for her eating disorder
(00:36:40) Allie’s self reflection on what might have been had she fueled herself the entire journey and on advocating for the next generation.
(00:44:23) Allie’s thoughts on redemption and how she’s feeling now
(00:46:27) Where to find Allie Ostrander and how to follow her journey
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | no matter how much I think about it, no matter how much I wish for it, I can't go back in time |
| 0:04.5 | and change the choices that I made, but I can potentially change someone else's future. |
| 0:12.6 | I know that eating disorders are so complicated and that maybe them hearing my message |
| 0:19.7 | won't do anything to change their path. |
| 0:21.8 | But I like to think that it could for even a few people. |
| 0:26.4 | Because if I could have seen this messaging, maybe I wouldn't have done that. |
| 0:31.6 | Or maybe I would have at least stopped to question it or ask questions of some sort of |
| 0:36.4 | medical professional and would have changed what I did. |
| 0:44.0 | Hi, guys, and welcome back to the Thick Thigh Save Lives podcast. I'm Kelsey. |
| 0:48.2 | And I'm Rachel, guys. Today's guest is such an incredibly accomplished athlete. |
| 0:55.2 | Ali Ostrander has done pretty much everything you can do in the world of distance running. |
| 1:02.8 | She is about to be inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. |
| 1:07.5 | She's a Boise State Athletics Hall of Fame member. |
| 1:10.5 | She is an All-American. I am so impressed |
| 1:16.3 | by her story and her running career, but even more inspired by her messaging. So we just want to |
| 1:23.3 | welcome Allie to the show. And thank you for being with us today. Yeah, thank you guys so much. |
| 1:28.3 | I'm excited to come on. Yeah, Ali, I'm really excited to just share your story, not only from |
| 1:34.9 | an athletic perspective, but just from a woman and human perspective of just athletes in sports |
| 1:42.1 | and just how women are particularly affected by a lot of this messaging |
| 1:49.3 | and especially growing up, how that has really changed over time for you and how you've kind |
| 1:55.2 | of come full circle with how you're looking at, you know, eating disorders, athletic career, |
| 2:03.0 | all of it coming together. So can you tell us a little bit about your background growing up and how you found the love for running? |
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