Balance, freedom and excitement are terms that can describe how Julia Griffey feels as the months go by, and she inches closer to racing in the fall.
Griffey has continued to show improvement when it comes to the marathon, and she’s one of the best in the U.S. at the event. She has a lifetime best of 2:29.58, and even secured a top 10 finish at the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2020.
She trained with the HOKA NAZ Elite team in Flagstaff, but decided to make a change and leave the group in order for her to get back to where she was most comfortable training-wise.
“It was a change, and it was a change that was hard to make because I love the team – everyone on the team is fabulous,” she said. “ And I love the people, Flagstaff is beautiful. Like, So to walk away from that is hard. And also to walk away from a sponsor – that’s been my main question is like, why would you walk away from a sponsor? But I just knew I needed to go back to what I was doing previously, to get back to my old, old habits and old ways. And that was what was working for me in the past, so I figured, go back to that.”
Griffey relocated to Phoenix, where she could train at sea level instead of the altitude in Flagstaff. While she wasn’t happy not to be racing in the spring due to a slight injury, she’s adjusted to training with a smaller group of athletes, and she is feeling good again.
“It’s been really awesome to find people that are at the same level that you just met, and now I have friends in Phoenix,” she said. “So training that way has been going very well. But I’m just excited to get back to racing and feeling like my old self.”
The move from NAZ Elite allowed Griffey to not only have the ability to train at sea-level instead of altitude, but it also gave her the ability to control her own pace and operate daily in a way that benefits her.
“I feel like I know what works for me,” she said. “And everyone goes through like ebbs and flows in this sport, and I just had a consistent “up” when I first started. So it was time to have a bad year or two in there. But I think that I just have weight off my shoulders or less pressure and less stress. And that’s how I function better is when I’m kind of more carefree and I don’t think about things. I had a killer first year of running in college, when I had never even heard of a track. I think everyone is so mentally different, some people love and thrive under pressure and being on a team. And maybe that was something I had but, I feel like I just am doing running because I want to right now. That is literally the only reason. It is to make me happy, it is to make me better. And so yeah, I’m really excited, but kind of anxious too. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to show what I can do, so it does feel like I’m kind of in a different space right now. But I’m loving it and I’m ready to get back out there.”
When Griffey isn’t running, she’s locked into her job as the Senior Manager of the Franchise Program Management team at Panera Bread – a job in which she truly enjoys. She also loves exploring life outside of work and running. Keeping the proper perspective that allows Griffey to balance out all the things that she loves makes everything that she does fun for her.
“I feel like balance is really important,” she said. “If you talk about your diet, I eat healthy, probably 80% of the time. Give me my fruits, give me my veggies, give me my salmon. Love that. But then you gotta have some balance in there. You’ve got to have your pizza, you’ve got to have your ice cream. So similar to how we were just talking about foods like that, that’s kind of how I am with life. I love running. I love training, I love pushing my body to the absolute limit in that aspect. So I put that as a priority. I have fun. I go out with friends. I will go do things. You gotta have that balance in there, and everything I’m doing I enjoy. I enjoy running, I enjoy my job. Do you want to work every day? Absolutely not. And then do I want to go for a run every single morning at 4:30? Absolutely not. But overall, I enjoy the process of everything. And I think that makes me like a better runner because I’m able to – once my run is done I’m focused on something else. I’m not thinking about it the rest of the day.
If you’re just running and you don’t have anything else, you’re not enjoying friendships or you’re not enjoying family or you’re not enjoying a job – if running is not going well, then your life is just consumed with how it’s not going well. And that doesn’t work for me. So I think having balance in there, because life’s too short not to just enjoy it, and enjoy what you’re doing. And if you’re not having fun with it, why are you doing it?”
