Elite runner Neely Spence Gracey really goes the distance – and fast. A four-time Olympic trials qualifier, she competes in distances from 5k runs to marathons, coaches amateur athletes, and even co-authored the book, “Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart.” The book gives sage advice from experts and discusses experiences from other professional athletes. It aims to help female athletes nail down fundamental aspects of race preparation, including goal setting, strength training, and injury prevention, to help them achieve break-through performances.
Gracey has represented the United States twice at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, the most important and prestigious competition in international cross country running, finishing as the top non-African runner in 2013. She also ran at the 2011 Pan American Games.
Gracey was the top American at the 2016 Boston Marathon and was also among the few American female runners to ever break 70 minutes in the half marathon. She followed up Boston with a personal best of 2:34:55 at the New York City Marathon that same year. In December 2022, she ran a four-minute-mile personal record at the California International Marathon in a time of 2:30:29, which placed her in ninth place in the U.S. Marathon Championships.
“I definitely cried some happy tears when I crossed the finish line, just knowing the highs and lows and the ups and downs that I’ve experienced over these years,” she said in an interview with Women’s Running. “I’m at the point where I just want to run and enjoy where I’m at and what I can do, whatever that looks like, and for it to look like a huge PR was a dream come true.”
Gracey’s father is a world championship medalist marathon runner, and her mother was a high-standard amateur runner. She took up running as a teenager and competed for the Shippensburg Raiders collegiate team while attending Shippensburg University. She is based in Boulder, Colorado and is a Lydiard level I & II certified coach, having already worked with over 500 athletes through her business, Get Running.