Allie Kieffer: Thriving in Austin

With the Marathon Olympic Trials around the corner, we hope you are enjoying our special blog series this whole month of February, checking in on all of Oiselle’s OTQ runners. Earlier this week we heard from our 3 Andreas, plus Sabrina, Caitlin, and Jessa.

Last week, Lesko and I jumped on the phone with Allie Kieffer (who’s now living and training in Austin, Texas), to get her lay of the land. We caught Allie chilling and fresh off a massage, a good state of mind for truth-telling. Allie’s spirts were high; training and living in Austin agree with her and her four-legged friend, Winston.

Brenda: “Sounds like Houston went well?”

Allie: “I feel really good. I had a rough year in 2019 and I’m really excited for 2020. Things are finally going in a good direction.”

Brenda: “I like running and all, but I’m really curious about your life and lifestyle. Who are you when you’re not running?”

Allie: “I’m not cool at all! I go to sleep at 7pm. I run with a lot of people in Austin, and they run early. I used to run by myself and I’d cycle through so many audiobooks. I was so lonely on my run. Now I have friends for all my runs! Once you decide to run early, you start going to sleep early. It’s not so bad!”

Brenda: “So by lunchtime, you’re tearing it up in Austin! What was one of your favorite audiobooks?”

Allie: “I really liked Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.”

Brenda: “Who’s this posse you’re rolling with?”

Allie: “They’re out of The Loop, a running store in Austin. It’s a great group.”

Brenda: “Where were you before Austin?”

Allie: “I was hopping from place to place: Buffalo, Boulder, Mammoth Lakes, Flagstaff, Tempe. I didn’t really have a home. Austin feels like a home; I think it’s the people here. I like the mountains, but I really love the large town vibe.”

Brenda: “I grew up in San Antonio and love spending time in Austin. I love that it’s so hip and fresh. What’s your favorite Austin food? Tex-Mex? BBQ?”

Brenda: “I grew up in San Antonio and love spending time in Austin. I love that it’s so hip and fresh. What’s your favorite Austin food? Tex-Mex? BBQ?”

Allie: “I do love the breakfast tacos. Sausage, egg, and cheese for sure. Breakfast taco, lunch taco. They all work! Have you heard of Franklin’s? I really want to wait in line and go to Franklin’s. Maybe you can visit and we’ll do it.”

Brenda: “I’ll do it! We’ll bring chairs. After the babies pop out. What is your favorite karaoke song?”

Allie: “Oh I haven’t been to karaoke since college, probably. I really want to go two-stepping though. There’s a bar here that has free lessons.”

Brenda: “You’ll have to hit up Val Allman, you two can stand in line at Franklin’s and go twp-stepping together! We’ll hook that up!”

Allie: “You know what’s cool? I’ve been going to kickboxing. It’s so much fun. I feel like maybe it’s a fake sense of security. But I really believe when I leave class that I could win a fight. It’s a boot-camp style class, but you punch and get some aggression out, too. I haven’t been lifting heavy weights this marathon training cycle.”

Brenda: “Say you go to a party and no one knows you. What do you say you do for a living?”

Allie: “Yeah, I try to not really answer that question. I don’t want people to judge me. Sometimes people…it’s all they want to talk about, and I want to be more than a runner. The next question is often, 'What do you do with all of your free time?' And I think it’s kind of a degrading question. So I try to avoid the conversation. I just say I have a flexible job.”  

Brenda: “When are you going to Atlanta?”

Allie: “Thursday, the 27^th.”

Lesko: “Oh, are you working with Brad as your coach again?”

Allie: “He’s been helping me again; we just never stopped talking. I got myself out of the hole of being over-trained, tired, and hurt, so he’s just there to help. Brad has no ego regarding my running.”

Brenda: “So are you on Tinder? What’s the romance like, Allie? Give it to me straight.”

Allie: “That’s a really hard question. Let’s just say, 'It’s complicated.'"

Ok, some fun questions:  

If you were famous, what would you be famous for? “I would love to be famous for having a great voice. I cannot sing, and I think that would be such a great skill.”

What are you Netflixing/binging on? “On AppleTV: the Morning Show. I saw Bombshell, too. Also Little Women. I cried. It was really good.”

Tablet or book: “Tablet”

Money or free Time: “Free time”

Text or phone call: “text” (haha we’re on a phone call)

Emojis or actual words: “actual words”

Phone Screen: “It’s my dog Winston. He’s 12 ½, he’s always chilling. He goes to the dog park once every three days and that’s good! I got him in college.”

Do you believe aliens exist? “No.”

Philosophy: “I mean, we all live in our bubbles. We just make a narrative, a story we want to believe.”

...

Brenda: “We’re all cheering for you at the Trials! You sound really happy; we’re super excited for you!”

Allie: “Yeah. I’m happy.”