Welcome Anna Willard to the Haute Volée
We are so happy to announce that Anna Willard is joining the Oiselle Team!
Anna was born and raised in Maine, and went to college at Brown, where she was a 10:06 Steepler. Believing she had more running potential (and having saved a year of NCAA eligibility), Anna completed a fifth year at the University of Michigan, where she brought her Steeple PR down to 9:35 and won the NCAA Championship. Anna's pro running career then took off, as she won the Olympic Trials in 2008 in the Steeplechase, setting the American Record in that race running 9:27. In 2009, Anna moved down to the middle distances, and shined. She ran an 800m PR of 1:58.80 and was ranked first in the US and second in the world. The same year she took her 1500m PR down to 3:59.38, still the 5th fastest American of all-time, was ranked 1st in the US, and finished 6th at the 2009 World Championships. Anna had continued success in 2010 winning the US Championships in the 1500m outdoors.
After 2010, Anna started to battle injuries, and while she was 5th at the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 1500m she hadn't been able to regain her form of 2007-2010. After a few more years battling injuries and trying to regain fitness Anna decided in 2015 to have a full break from the sport and "retire". She and her new husband live in Lowell, MA and run a Crossfit gym where Anna coaches athletes in multiple disciplines (Crossfit, running) and began to train herself for Crossfit competitions. As her body healed, Anna began to miss running, and started slowly to build up her runs. Soon Anna began to feel the spark that had been missing for quite a while. Anna has blended a few training disciplines that have allowed her to stay healthy, and resumed workouts this spring to try and compete in the 800m. She has already raced to within 2 seconds of making the Olympic Trials, and we are thrilled to be part of her "Second Chapter" in her competitive running career.
Anna competed for the first time in the Oiselle kit at the Adidas Boost Boston Games a couple weeks ago where she finished 10th in 2:05.21.
"I am excited about joining forces with Oiselle because I love the infectious positivity the brand has cultivated. I'm already overwhelmed by all the support I've received from the team on social media! It's no longer just a pursuit of running fast and taking scalps (although I still love that too) but also interacting with the people who are inspired by what I do. This journey is unique to me, but sharing it with others is what keeps my fire burning bright!" - Anna
Stay tuned with Anna on Twitter and Instagram to find out what is next for her racing wise! We're honored to welcome Anna to the team!
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