Keely Henninger

Lexy & Andrew, we love you both so much! 💫

Watching your little sister and best friend marry such a top-notch guy is one of the most special and surreal moments, and last weekend is something I’ll be holding onto for a long time.

I can’t wait to keep making memories with the two of you. I hope you continue to stay the goofballs you are, keep supporting each other’s dreams, and showing up for each other (& Beau Beau) as the incredible team you already are.

Welcome to the Henninger clan, Andrew! 🤍

📢📢We’re recruiting Portland women (athletes with ovaries) between the ages of 18–35 who are currently training or competing in sport at a high level. Any sport counts. If you’re training hard, you qualify!

Sessions take place at Spring Fertility (NW Portland) and last ~1 hour. Athletes will participate in a physician-led discussion on reproductive health + training, complete a brief survey and blood draw, receive a 1:1 call with Dr. Sacha Krieg to review results, and be entered into a raffle for free sports nutrition. Multiple dates available over the next few months — sign up at the link via the QR code or in my bio (more dates on weekends hopefully coming soon!).

As a medical student, former professional runner, and former Nike scientist, I’m deeply committed to female athlete health and performance. This study explores the links between menstruation, low energy availability, athlete perceptions, and fertility to help improve future care.

Please help spread the word in the Portland community!

Western States 100 mile: F9 17:57 💖 🌺

It has been quite the wild 4 years since my last Western States finish. This race has haunted me for too long and when I saw that we had our week long “summer break” from medical school the week of WS this year, I made it my goal to make it back to the start line. I’m so glad that I finally got to the track in Auburn and landed another top 10 finish in a super speedy year.

After 2 DNFs, it has been hard mentally to feel like this race doesn’t control me. I’ve spent years putting back the pieces of my heart and mind that have been broken by this silly sport. On Saturday, I ran confidently by the spot where I tore my medial ankle tendons in 2022, cried when I passed the spot where I laid on the ground for 20 minutes with a dislocated shoulder in 2023, and zoomed through the section that destroyed me in 2021. I executed the race that I’ve always wanted, and while it didn’t lead to the top 3 or 5 finish I had dreamed of, it was the best I could give, and that’s all I could ever hope for. I did it for myself, the past versions of myself, and the future versions of myself to look back on. I did it to remind myself what I am capable of when I put my mind to something in the face of adversity.

My pacers pushed me and we ran hard from foresthill to the finish line. It was so special to finally run with who has supported, trained with me, and planned to pace me throughout my long saga with this race. We celebrated down cal street in the heat of the day. Cranking the final 20 miles with my girl Marianne was amazing. I followed her feet when I was feeling low and we pushed hard when we could.

Crew : has seen the ugliest and prettiest sides of this 4 year journey, and has stood by my side through it all. is one of the smartest, strategic, and calming human beings, & Mike is thoughtful and thorough. who signed on in early 2024 for a knowingly challenging road to get me here.
S/o to my parents who flew from PA 💖, the volunteers who make this race possible & the competition- HOLY COW THESE LADIES ARE FAST(final vid shows how excited I was for .k.hall )
📸:

J, you have loved me through my lowest moments, encouraged me to follow my dreams, supported me in all of my crazy endeavors by spending nights in the middle of a jungle anxiously waiting for me to arrive, and I can confidently say that you have helped me evolve into a version of myself I didn’t know existed, one I love best, & one that loves you. I promise to continue to do the same for you, encouraging you to excel but always reminding you that you alone are enough, that I will love you through it all.

It’s hard to believe it was a year ago that we got to spend time with all of our loved ones, in our favorite place, solidifying our love. One crazy year down, love, and many more to go. I wouldn’t want to tackle them with anyone else. Happy first anniversary, 💖

The stoke was real, even with my legs feeling toasty 🔥

I got exactly what I needed- some tough climbing and descending on my legs. With school, this is not something I get enough of with school and while that’s totally fine with me, I needed a good downhill stimulus.

👩‍🔬 The Repeated Bout Effect: The cool thing about the body is that it adapts, and it can adapt pretty quickly. Research shows that just one downhill run can help reduce muscle damage in future workouts. This is called the repeated bout effect 💫, and it can lessen fatigue and damage to your legs during similar downhill runs for up to 5 weeks after. Aka- crush a downhill effort and you may be more resilient for the next one! 💪🏽

If you’re prepping for a race with lots of elevation but don’t have the time or terrain to run a lot of vert, try adding a few downhill-focused workouts before race day. They could help reduce muscle soreness and damage when the big day comes.

Anyone have some serious DOMS (delayed onset muscle fatigue) lately from doing something epic? Tell me what you’re training for! 🤗

Papers:
PMIDs: 38921863, 33139834, 33037592, 35225166

💫 First race in nearly a year, and it definitely felt like it! The Big Alta was the perfect rust buster, quad buster, doozy of a course!

I took my exams from our hotel in Ashland on Friday and made the rest of our way down to the Headlands for a 50k adventure to kick off spring break! Running and then not having to study or do much of anything for the rest of the day is so novel these days that I thought I’d take full advantage of some proper chilling post race!

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that finding “the balance” between med school and continuing to pursue this sport was easy. Med school is nothing short of incredible; I’m more excited than ever about my future ahead in medicine, and it fills me with purpose every single day. But it’s hard to ignore how much of a juggling act it can be—between long days of studying, clinical rotations, exams, and then trying to carve out time for training, racing, and recovery. On top of coaching, podcasting, and trying to be a good friend/partner/dog mom, there seems to be no real balance. It often feels like there’s not enough of me to go around.

But this race was a turning point. It felt like a reminder that even though it’s tough, it’s worth it. I executed my race exactly as planned, stayed on top of fueling, hydrated well, finished with energy left, and my quads toasted. Still, I finished a bit off the front, and that’s always a blow to the ego, especially after feeling like I’ve been out of the game for so long. There’s still so much more to achieve, but I’m closer to where I want to be than I’ve been in a while. To all of you balancing a lot, I see you, it’s hard, take what you have, you’ve got this.

Being out there with all of you was everything. There’s something truly unique and special about the trail running family. Esp 🤗

A huge shoutout to Tabor, Emily, and Lindsay for absolutely crushing it. 🔥 I backed off after the first 10k and didn’t see them again after that! 😝

Always grateful for my team of friends and fam who support me through all of this, couldn’t do any of this with you you all or (literally wouldn’t have made it 🍭)

The End of an Era 💫

Words can’t fully express how grateful I am for the past 3 years with and . You both gave me the opportunity to chase my dreams full-time, supported me through countless races, and believed in my vision of conquering Western States. More than that, you supported me through my journey into medicine, my marriage, and everything else that makes me who I am. For that, I will be forever grateful.

This year, I’ve made the decision not to re-sign. Balancing running with the demands of life has never been easy, but I know racing without the weight of a contract will allow me to perform better. I put enough pressure on myself, I know I would be prone to overdoing it with any additional pressure (even if constructed in my head). It’s bittersweet to step away from something I’ve worked towards for years, especially when it’s such a huge part of my identity. But it feels right.

So, am I still a runner? At first, it felt like I was losing a piece of myself. But now, I’m more certain than ever that the answer is absolutely yes. I’m still committed to training, to pushing my limits, and to racing big races on my own terms.

Here’s to continuing the journey, on my own path. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to and for everything. Onward.⚡️

2024, you were great to us. Getting married to this man, in our favorite place, surrounded by the loveliest, most supportive people will go down in history as one of the best days of my life 💕💫 🏔️ 💃🏼 🕺🏼 🚵🏼‍♀️ 🚵‍♂️

👋 all! Been a bit busy over here, but absolutely loving medical school! Running looks and feels a little bit different than it did the summer of 2023, but it also has a lot of similarities.

Some new changes and priorities:
🌕 A lot of my runs take place before 6am
🏔️ I don’t make it out to the mountains very often
🍭 I have to plan out my meals and snacks so I pack enough for the day! Goodbye random snacking!
⏰ I don’t have much flexibility with my run time slot, so if I wake up super tired, I take an off day or cut it short.
🧠 I use my brain power during my studies as a gauge for recovery and energy availability (brain fog and inability to focus plague me if I’m a bit low on calories post longer run)
🏃‍♀️ focusing on consistency in training by capping my long runs to 3 hours (1x week) and most other runs are

OHSU MD Class of 2028! 👩‍⚕️

Huge thanks to all of my friends and family who have gotten me here, I literally couldn’t have done it without you. From J encouraging me 3 years ago to pursue this daunting dream, my parents always believing in me, my sister being my biggest fan, stylist, and hooking me up with the cutest medical equipment (hello pink stethoscope!), and countless friends serving as mentors, I’m so grateful for you all.

I’m sure I’ll be posting a similar post in 4 years thanking everyone for supporting me during this challenging but so rewarding journey, it takes a village!

Let’s do this 💫

Can I still train competitively while in medical school? This is a question I get a lot.
 
I’m not certain how it will look, but I’m planning to try! I’ve been fortunate to see some of my best friends, and train for big things over the years, and while it isn’t easy, it’s doable. One thing I will have to embrace is mental flexibility. Some days may not go as planned, and that must be okay. The good thing is, mental flexibility is crucial in our sport; often these races throw us curveballs, and being able to roll with them and not get overly stressed is critical to our success.
 
In the first couple of weeks, I am not planning to run a ton. This is still a new stress, so I want to give myself time to adapt and not overdo it right away. For any of you going through life transitions right now, it’s okay to put running on the backburner for a little bit while you get your feet underneath you. Stress is stress is stress, they say. We can only take so much.
 
Happy Friday, lovelies!

👀 those fwd wilds in the wild! They made it up Mt. St. Helen’s 3 days after running around Mt. Rainier! Most versatile shoe out there! 😍

👋 everyone! I’m Keely Henninger.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been a professional trail runner for over 7 years and have worked as a scientist, coach, and advocate for the health of female athletes. I worked as a scientist for Nike for 7 years where I got to study everything from the 4% marathon shoe, sports bras and breast mechanics, pregnancy, and the menstrual cycle’s impact on performance.

As someone who’s been in the sport of running for a very long time, I have both personally experienced and witnessed countless females enter the sport, train too hard, eat too little, suffer season ending injuries, and never return again. The prevalence of low energy availability, disordered eating, and RED-S in the sport of running is extremely high and I have dedicated my latest research efforts to helping raise awareness in this space.

I have coached athletes back from times of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and LEA by collaborating with physicians, dietitians, and physical therapists.

However, I want to do more. I am returning to school to become a physician who can hopefully help make changes in the space of women’s health, sports medicine, and hormonal health.

Thanks for following along over the years! And 👋 to all the new followers!