Portland, Oregon

@strongfastanna

Hometown: Woodinville, WA

College: George Fox University

Bio: Currently helping coach the University of Portland's women's track and field team. I'm in between 2nd jobs. I take care of the house, our animals, and try to be the best wife I can be. I love coaching and I am very passionate about women's leadership in this sport. My athleticism has been called, " a diamond in the rough". My nickname: "pocket-rocket". I have lots of heart and un-polished talent. Now, through the help of mentors and coaches, I'm polishing that talent and beginning to live my dream. It's exciting!

Read on for my story...
I grew up playing various sports and was very fast on the field in Washington club soccer circles. HS running didn't go great. I was injured a lot and also didn't train much. You would never catch just running on weekends or in the off-season. Middle of my senior year I decided to, "stop sucking", and "be good at something". In 4 months I set PR's in 5 events, placed 2nd in State in the 800, and had the privilege of anchor leg on our State Champion 4x4 team. From then on I was hooked...

In 2004 I started the college season off injured with a fractured vertebra and I finished at nationals. I was the 2nd athlete in George Fox history to qualify for NCAA's as an individual and the only one from 2004- 2021. However, my college career didn't take off as I had hoped. I wondered if I should hang up the spikes. Post College I took 2 years off running: traveled, got married, taught English in Korea, and moved to Portland, Oregon.

Where I met and began to be coached by Jonathan Marcus. He took the time to teach me from the ground up everything he could about this sport. I learned a lot! At 29 years old I set 5 more PR's in the 400-10k and began pacing some of the professional races. It was an amazing year full of hope. I threw myself into training even harder with the hope of making USA outdoors. I ended up injured on and off the next 5 years. During Covid I switched coaches to Dena Even and thus began a new chapter. Under Dena's strength, generosity, knowledge, and mentorship I have been mostly injury free and competed in my first indoor USA nationals event. My confidence and belief have returned. Running has once again become a joyful addition to my life. This last summer I lowered my 800 pr by 2 sec... and counting...