Lower Mileage, Less Stress Helped This Former Pro Steeplechaser Become an OTQ Marathoner - runnersworld.com

Earlier this summer, Ashley Higginson decided she wanted to shake things up. The former professional runner and her husband, Liam Boylan-Pett, were planning to move from their home in New Jersey to his hometown of Lansing, Michigan. The move set the stage for other new beginnings.

“A lot of my friends have caught the marathon bug, and I wanted to see if I could do it,” Higginson, 30, told Runner’s World. “For my first marathon, I didn’t want to do a major one on a big stage. I wanted to do a small, local one in Michigan, to celebrate our new home state in a low-pressure way.”

On October 20, Higginson and Boylan-Pett, a former Columbia University runner and founder of Løpe Magazine, stayed side by side through all 26.2 miles of the Grand Rapids Marathon. During the race, Higginson, who is a two-time national medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, said the hardest part was battling her fear of the unknown.

“It was so much farther than any race I’ve done before,” Higginson said. “There was a lot of fear in my mind. I couldn’t think about how much I had left, because I’d get overwhelmed. I had to stay in the moment and keep checking in with my body. Luckily, I kept feeling okay.”

Higginson said her goal going into the race was 2:44:59, the qualifying standard for the 2020 Olympic Trials happening next February in Atlanta. Coming into the homestretch of the race, she broke out into a grin, knowing an OTQ was in the bag. Boylan-Pett eased up to let Higginson surge ahead to the line, which she crossed first for women in 2:43:45. Afterward, she and her husband were embraced by their family and friends.

“It was really personal, since we’d just moved to Michigan and we were back in Liam’s hometown,” she said. “The race was also really validating for me. It showed me that I can still be a runner and enjoy it even if I’m not a professional runner. My life after running still includes running, but in a different way.”

Choosing Between Careers in Pro Running and Law

Growing up in Colts Neck, New Jersey, Higginson first played soccer and basketball before discovering running in middle school. She excelled in the sport in high school—winning the two-mile at the indoor and outdoor national championships—and eventually was recruited to run at Princeton University in 2007.

In her sophomore year of college, Higginson asked her coaches if she could try the steeplechase. “I struggled in cross country, but I was much stronger in track. I thought the steeplechase could be a good fit,” she said.

Her hunch was right: over the next three years, Higginson became a three-time Ivy League champion and two-time All-American in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. After graduating in 2011, she was planning to hang up her spikes to focus on law school at Rutgers University that fall, but she had unfinished business on the track. As a first-year law student in 2012, she joined the New Jersey-New York Track Club to prepare for the 2012 Olympic Trials.

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“I anticipated it being a year-long stint of professional running, but it turned into five,” Higginson said. “It was hard to balance school and training, but I didn’t know any better. I would put school first and usually train by myself in the fall and winter. Then I would jam-pack my spring and summer with meets.”

Despite her hectic schedule—which included intensive classwork on top of 80-mile weeks—Higginson placed fourth in the Olympic Trials in 2012, then went on to win silver medals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2013 and 2014 national championships. In 2015, she set personal bests in the 5,000 meters (15:18.53) and mile (4:34.32), and won a gold medal in the steeplechase at the Pan-Am Games. She returned to the 2016 Olympic Trials with her sights set on Rio, but finished 9th in the steeple final.

Soon after the Trials, she retired from professional running.

“I wanted to leave running on a high note,” she said. “I didn’t want to hate it. At the time, I was starting a law career, and I knew I couldn’t compete at the level I’d want to if I was working full-time. I also didn’t want my work to suffer because of my training. So it was a good time to go.”

Marathon Training on Her Terms

This past August, Higginson began a new job as an attorney in Lansing. While she adjusted to the change of pace and scenery in Michigan, she began training for the Grand Rapids Marathon, which she’d picked for its small size and proximity to her home. Unlike when she was as a pro, she didn’t stress about hitting a certain amount of mileage every day, but rather let her training ebb and flow with her schedule.

“Before, if I couldn’t get in an hour-long run that day, I would write it off as a wasted day,” she said. “But while training for the marathon, there were days that I could only do five miles—and that was okay.”

Training this time around was different, too, because Higginson was never alone. Boylan-Pett joined her on every run, as well as his sister and brother. “It was fun, because it was sort of a family activity,” she said.

Though she was preparing for a distance much longer than her track specialty, she kept her mileage lower than her pro days, peaking at 65 miles per week. Her weekly training included easy mileage and core work, one long tempo run, and a long run of up to 20 miles. She used long runs as marathon simulations; one 20-miler included a six-mile warmup, 10 x 1-mile at marathon pace, and a cooldown.

At the race, Higginson didn’t use a watch, but instead relied on her husband to hit the splits.

“He was incredible,” she said. “He told me when to slow down or speed up, and eased my worries.”

Looking ahead to Atlanta, Higginson said she’s approaching this race much differently than the others. This time, she doesn’t feel any pressure to make the team; she isn’t competing as a pro, but as a career woman who really loves to run.

“I’m more confident in who I am now,” she said. “I still want to be competitive and pass as many people as I can. But I don’t have the stress of racing anymore.”

Hailey Middlebrook Digital Editor Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.

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Lower Mileage, Less Stress Helped This Former Pro Steeplechaser Become an OTQ Marathoner - runnersworld.com
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