604. Molly Seidel, On Returning to Racing in 2023

"What I would want to tell that person, but I think would have destroyed that person is, 'You're going to get everything you ever wanted, and it's going to destroy you.'"

In 2020, Molly Seidel finished second at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, earning herself a spot on Team USA for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She had no idea what was to come. When the Olympics finally happened, in August 2021, Molly had the race of her life. She finished third, taking a bronze medal back to the U.S. — the first American woman to medal in the Olympic marathon since Deena Kastor in 2004. Then, it was a whirlwind of media, requests, appearances, and fanfare. Molly finished fourth at the 2021 New York City Marathon, breaking Kara Goucher's American course record in the process. All the while, though, behind the smiles at events and during interviews, Molly was struggling with an eating disorder and with her mental health. She went on to drop out of the 2022 Boston Marathon, and to give up her spot on the 2022 World Championships marathon team. In this unflinchingly uncensored conversation, Molly offers an update on how she's doing today. She talks about the past year and a half (more on that here, in conversation with Sarah Lorge Butler), and shares what's next. (Spoiler: The Nagoya Women's Marathon on March 11.)

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What you'll get on this episode:

• Where is Molly's Olympic medal? (3:10)
• Molly's decision to race a spring marathon! (5:05)
• On recovery, and where Molly is at now emotionally (8:20)
• All about Molly's Olympic rings tattoo (11:40)
• What running and training looks like for Molly right now (17:10)
• Molly shares her marathon goals (31:35)
• All about the past two years, and what it took to get to rock bottom (36:00)
• How Molly met her now-boyfriend, photographer Matt Shapiro (45:30)
• What it's like having a camera on you while you're running a marathon, and Molly's message to the masses (47:40)
• A little love for Des Linden (58:00)
• On hitting rock bottom (1:01:30)
• What Molly's relationship with social media is like right now (1:09:00)
• A rousing game of Mollygories! (1:14:00)

Molly on the Ali on the Run Show:

Everything You Need to Know About the New York City Marathon, October 2022

Girl Talk with Molly Seidel & Anoush Arakelian, February 2022

LIVE with Molly Seidel, Olympic Bronze Medalist, August 2021

Molly & Izzy Seidel, March 2021

Follow Molly:

• Instagram @bygolly.molly
• Twitter @ByGollyMolly12

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