Duluth's Kara Goucher: 'I got to grow up seeing how running could bring a community together.'

INTERVIEWER: Our next guest has come a long way from running up and down the hills of Duluth as a teenager. Kara Goucher is a two time Olympian and medal winning marathoner. Her new book The Longest Race details her rise from her first race at six years old to becoming a decorated runner.

Goucher is known as much for her elite athleticism as she is for holding powerful people to account in the sports world. And we are lucky to have Kara on the line right now. Welcome to Minnesota Now, Kara.

KARA GOUCHER: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

INTERVIEWER: Well, I have to start with something Duluth focused. Some of us in Minnesota remember when you won the Grandma's Half Marathon in Duluth back in 2012. It was such an incredible atmosphere with so many hometown fans cheering for you. What has Grandma's Marathon and the Duluth running community meant to you?

KARA GOUCHER: Oh, it's meant so much. I think growing up in Duluth and seeing what a race could do for a community, I mean, the community really supports Grandma's Marathon. It's Grandma's Marathon weekend. Everyone's in town. Everyone's supporting the runners if they're not running themselves. So I got to grow up seeing how running could bring a community together.

INTERVIEWER: Well, as I mentioned earlier, you are well known for holding powerful people to account. You blew the whistle on Nike and your former coach, Alberto Salazar, for doping, sexual assault, and sexist discrimination. Salazar was, at the time, the most powerful coach in the running world. And you've described your former team, the Oregon Project, as a boys club. It must have been so isolating to be in that situation.

KARA GOUCHER: It was. At the time, I believed that's what it took to get to the top of sport. I believed you had to play that game to get there. Obviously, looking back, it was a very unhealthy situation and it was isolating.

It took me away from my friends and my family. But at the time, I really didn't feel that way. I felt like those were the sacrifices you had to make to rise in professional sport.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. You had a comment in your book that your friends saw the atmosphere tent you were sleeping and said, this is like a running cult.

KARA GOUCHER: Yeah. Yes. It's funny talking to my friends and family now, there were so many signs that they were worried. But they felt like they couldn't say anything to me. And, quite frankly, I probably would not have heard them because I was so dedicated to the goals and dreams I had in running that I felt like I needed Alberto Salazar to take me there.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. There's a theme in your book of if you don't like it, fix it. Who are your role models in this?

KARA GOUCHER: Oh, absolutely my grandfather and my mom. They really raised me to do the right thing even when it was hard. If there's something that's bothering you and you think it would benefit other people to change it, then you need to be. No one else is changing it. You need to do that.

My mom started the MADD, the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, chapter in Duluth because there wasn't one. My grandpa helped her do that. And they just really raised myself and my sisters to do what was right and to take on the work. If no one else is doing it, then it becomes your responsibility to do it.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, that's a really powerful lesson to grow up with. And I know we've seen the changes that can happen when people talk about abuse. Since you shared your story, other athletes throughout the sports world have spoken up about abuse from their coaches. But still, it takes incredible strength to leave an abusive situation and incredible strength to speak up about it. Were you worried about the consequences, knowing the power Salazar held in the industry?

KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, I was definitely worried. And people in my life were telling me this was career suicide to bring up these issues, and to not just walk away from the sport, and let it be how it was. But that's just not who I am. I don't want any other women to go through what I went through or any other athlete to feel so disempowered as I felt. And I feel like it is my responsibility to help make sure that the environment is safer and more equitable for the next generation.

INTERVIEWER: Well, as you were thinking about writing a book about this, who did you imagine as your ideal person picking up this book and resonating with the story?

KARA GOUCHER: I hoped that everyone would resonate with it, but I really was thinking of women who have faced barriers in the workplace. Obviously, it's a running book, so I hoped that runners would read it. I hoped that fathers would read it and see the challenges that their daughters will face in the world. But I really just hope that other women, whether they were runners or not, could see themselves in it and see that small changes lead to great big changes and that one person does have the power to help turn the tide.

INTERVIEWER: Wow. Well, changing gears a bit, your new book also touches on your diagnosis of Runner's Dystonia. May I ask, how are you doing?

KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, I'm doing OK. This is a diagnosis I wish I didn't have. It's a rare neurological movement disorder which really affects my running. And when I get really stressed with work or lack of sleep, it's a lot worse and sometimes can affect my walking.

And it kind of feels like it's really unfair that I, of all people, got this condition. But I've been managing it. And I'm open to trying basically anything.

So I work with the neurological PT, I work with a strength trainer to try to strengthen the rest of my body. I get Botox four times a year to kind of cut that brain signal-- because basically, dystonia is your brain is telling your muscles to fire all at once. And so the Botox cuts that signal.

And I'm still working through it and finding out what my limits are. And they're smaller than what I had hoped. But at least I am doing some running. I'm grateful for that.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. I wanted to ask, what's your relationship with running now after being so central in your life for so long?

KARA GOUCHER: It's still so important to me. And I just have always loved running. Even when I wasn't racing well, I ran to help myself heal from it.

So it's such an important part of my life and part of my day-- sort of like I drop my son off at school, I go for my run. And it may be 2 miles, it may be 6 miles, but I go for my run. It's still sort of the central focus. And then I can move on with my day.

And I have no competitive aspirations. I don't have the ability to train that way anyway. But running is still a very, very important part of my daily life.

INTERVIEWER: So I have to ask-- you're in Duluth. You're coming back to Duluth for a couple of things-- anything that you're looking forward to doing while you're here?

KARA GOUCHER: Yeah. I think just being back in the community. We have a Hall of Fame ceremony tonight, which I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm not excited about having to give a little speech. That part, I'm not excited about.

But I'm excited to see people. And then tomorrow, I have a book event at Fitger's Bookstore. And I'm just excited to talk to people. And I just love it here.

And we own a cabin here now, my husband, and son, and I. So we will be back here in June. But this was kind of a fun little extra trip that we didn't know we were going to get to take. And the sun is out, and things are melting, so it's really nice to be here.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah, you timed it very well with the weather. So a huge congratulations to you. Thank you for coming on the show today.

KARA GOUCHER: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

INTERVIEWER: Kara Goucher is an Olympian raised in Duluth, Minnesota. And, as she mentioned, she'll be inducted tonight into the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Hall of Fame. And then on Friday, she'll give a free reading of her book at the bookstore at Fitger's.