Hillary Allen was one of the top-ranking trail runners in the world in 2017 when a 150-foot fall off a mountain in Norway during a race nearly ended her life. She broke 14 bones, including both feet, both arms, her back, and five ribs. Despite being told she would never compete again, she slowly eased back into running and eventually went back to conquer the race that nearly took her life. These days, she’s racing at an even higher level than she was before her accident, and just won her first 100-mile race, the Ultra-trail Cape Town in South Africa. In addition to running, Hillary is a sponsored cyclist, author, and former college science professor.
In this interview, she talks about the long road to recovery that involved multiple setbacks (including more broken bones) and a focus on mental resilience. She discusses why she decided to write a book about her experience, and what it’s like reliving such a traumatic moment in her life nearly five years later. She talks about her favored discipline, Skyrunning, which features rough terrain and extreme elevation gain, and explains why, even though her goals are bigger than ever, she prefers not to think about her trajectory as a comeback story.
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