10/30/2020
Inspiration comes from so many places, but one of them is often the professionals who do what we love to do. We asked our Sierra Endurance Sports team who is their favorite professional runner and why. Check it out and tell us who your favorite professional runner is!
Amanda Henriques: My favorite professional runner is Collier Lawrence!! She runs for Oiselle and is an amazing person who works very hard to achieve her goals. Also, she is a personal friend and local legend!
Dominic Henriques: Lopez Lamong. His story is such an inspiration! Amazing that he is alive, let alone a refugee that found a new life in America and has become a premier athlete in the 5k 10k distance. Second fave is Eluid Kipchoge, he’s like a philosopher. Everything he says is deep, has meaning and assumes the best in humanity.
Sarah Raitter: “I’m a huge runnerd and I am in awe of and respect anyone who dedicates their time, energy, and passion to our sport. My current favorite is professional ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter. Courtney ALWAYS smiles during her races and truly seems to love what she does. I actually wrote her a message on Facebook and she responded almost immediately. She also left me with a quote that has stuck with me…”You can do more than you think you can.” She has this amazing mental strength that I hope to channel in all of my runs and races.
Lupe Cabada: Dathan Ritzenhein. He's done amazing things for American Distance Running and put us back on the map. He's really gritty and he just seems like a humble and Genuine person on top of everything.
Christal Cuadra Keegan: Krissy Moehl is this super-ultrarunning-being, yet is approachable and down to earth. I'm so grateful to have shared running miles with her, and to have witnessed how she handles the ups and downs that are natural in ultra-marathons with this effortless positivity. She is indisputably an incredible runner, but more importantly a great friend and mentor.
Freddy Barraza: Haile G. He was on top of the world when I started running. Many great runners only have a few hits and then flame out, he had a 25 year career and did it all. Road, track, and XC.
5k and 10k and Marathon WR holder during his career (He set 27 WR!). Multiple olympic and world championships.
Always a great ambassador for the sport, smiling and doing great interviews. And most importantly he always did a lot for his home country, he started many businesses with his road racing earnings to employ his fellow Ethiopians.
Abby Parker Sargent: My favorite pro runner is Magdalena Lewy Boulet. She’s currently a professional ultra runner, but I got the opportunity to know her when she was training for the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2008. She ran one of the gutsiest races I have ever seen. She was without a professional sponsor at the time and was a complete underdog, but that didn’t stop her from running her race. She knew what she could do and went out there and did her thing. Ran 24 miles by herself, with a stacked chase pack behind her, before finally being overtaken and finished second, earning her spot. She’s also just a wonderful human being, super brilliant, amazing mom, amazing wife, and advocate for the sport.
Jaime Cabada: Shelby Houlihan because she has a vicious kick that’s unbeatable and fun to watch!
EmKay Sullivan: Emelie Forsberg! She is a badass sky runner.
Anna Costello: My favorite pro runner right now is Allie Kieffer. A few years ago she got a lot of flack for not “looking like a marathoner" but still finished in the top 10 at the New York Marathon 2 years in a row. She stands firm that you don’t need a “runner’s body” to be successful at a high level. Body image is a really important issue to me and her statements came at a time in my life where I needed that kind of message. I think she is a great example to young women runner everywhere.