One of America’s most accomplished middle and long-distance runners will be making her debut in this year’s TCS New York City marathon, produced by New York Road Runners. Jenny Simpson has had a remarkable running career already, becoming a 3-time Olympian and World Athletics Champion. The 38-year-old from Colorado has gathered many titles in her career thus far, but she will seek to add onto that by competing in the TCS NYC marathon on November 3rd.
Simpson first developed a passion for running in elementary school when her gym teacher encouraged her parents to enroll Simpson in an after-school cross-country program. She recalled an early memory from the program of running around in loops, collecting popsicle sticks for every lap she ran.
“That little bit of encouragement from a PE teacher charted a course that no one could have dreamed or imagined all the way to the Olympic games,” Simpson said.
From elementary school to now has been quite the journey. Coming out of an impressive collegiate running career at the University of Colorado where she won four NCAA Championships, Simpson made her way to the Olympics three times in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She earned a bronze medal for the 1500 meter race at the 2016 Rio Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic medal for that event.
With all the triumph she was experiencing in her running-career, Simpson’s life came to a standstill at the end of December in 2021 when the most destructive fire in Colorado took over her town.
“We were displaced from our home for three months, and it took us a long time to get back here,” Simpsons said.
The fire took two lives of Colorado residents along with damaging over 991 structures in the state. Simpson said the resilience of her Boulder County neighborhood has been an inspiration to her, especially in continuing to run races and marathons. For the past three years, Simpson and her husband Jason Simpson have made it their mission to support their community through this hard time.
“You’re just there for people that need you, and you show up,” Simpson said. “You might not have a task or job that’s obvious right away, but it’ll show up and you do it.”
In February, Simpsons’ career went in a different direction when she unexpectedly decided to drop out of the Olympic marathon trials. Simpson was on mile 15 of the marathon when she realized she wasn’t feeling well. By mile 18 she had to leave the race, disqualifying her from the Olympic marathon team.
“It was a really big disappointment. My attainable goal that day was just to finish, and I wasn’t even able to do that.”
Simpson had initially transitioned into marathon running for the past three years with the goal of making an Olympic marathon team in her distance, but the process has been a challenge, as evident when she dropped out of the marathon trials.
“It has been really hard,” Simpson described the transition from running just one mile to now 26 miles. “I’ve been humbled by the experience. As much as I’ve learned over all these years and as much success as I’ve had, I had everything to learn [about] the marathon.”
It’s been a huge learning curve for Simpson.
“Just learning that what I was good at before doesn’t always transfer and I have to learn new skills, and I have to be willing to rest and be willing to do hard things.”
Simpson mentioned that the training for a mile compared to a marathon is quite similar, but the race day is entirely different in terms of mentality and duration. “It’s just a lot longer, it takes a different kind of mental focus. I’m never running as hard as I can in the marathon the way that I am in the mile” Simpson said.
Her goal for the upcoming TCS NYC Marathon is to have a new personal record on time, compared to her race during the Boston Marathon where she finished in 2 hours and 31 minutes.
But her ultimate goal for November 3rd, is to give it her all that day in the streets of New York, arriving at the finish line with absolutely nothing left.
