How Colorado’s Hillary Allen overcame near-death fall to cement status as one of America’s best skyrunners

Forget the winning Hillygoat learned the majority of from the fall that nearly took her life Hillary Allen nicknamed Hillygoat for her ability to zoom across steep technical mountain terrain in an ultrarunning sport known as skyrunning was ranked No in the Skyrunner World Series in She was on track to become the first American woman to win the circuit until she stepped on a loose rock going around a sharp turn in Troms Norway and tumbled feet off a ridge line The Fort Collins native and Boulder resident broke bones in the fall including both wrists both feet five ribs and two vertebrae The months that followed proved that the only thing that could match Allen s endurance was her resilience I saw it as an opportunity to discover how strong I really am because up until that point I don t think I had the opportunity to really experience that Allen recalled It made me utterly rebuild from ground zero I remember thinking in the hospital bed that my life was over I had relied on ultrarunning to be my identity then in an instant it was all stripped and taken away from me I was faced with a choice of either giving up or I could make the decision that I could run again no matter if therapeutic experts were telling me that I couldn t Allen chose the latter and in the process underscored her legacy as one of America s greatest skyrunners Now Allen burst onto the ultrarunning scene in her mid- s despite being only a recreational runner before that After earning her undergraduate degree from Coe College where she played tennis the Fort Collins High School alum joined a running group that met early in the morning each Tuesday at George Washington High School Allen then working on her master s degree in neuroscience physiology and structural biology from CU Denver lived nearby What she unveiled in the runner s group was a mentor in J ne Day Lucore as well as other women who schooled Allen in the art of endurance Yeah we were kicking her butt recalled Day Lucore a former professional runner and Colorado Running Hall of Famer She couldn t keep up on the intervals But it was clear from early on that she had the talent the curiosity and the work ethic to be a good endurance runner I just don t think she knew how good she could be and how far she could go Turns out Allen could go pretty far She won the US Skyrunner Series in as a rookie After quitting her PhD venture to pursue the sport full-time she landed her first contract with The North Face a year later She placed third in the Skyrunner World Series that year to become the first American woman to make the podium on the circuit That same season she won the Speedgoat race in Utah and the Quest for the Crest race in North Carolina both efforts resulting in lesson records Based on her success she also received an invitation to compete for Association USA at Festival des Templiers in France The ascension continued in when Allen finished second in the Skyrunner World Series And she kept impressing in She won the Madeira Sky Race in Portugal with a lesson record and took third at Transvulcania in Spain until the fall at Troms changed the program of her career In the months after one of Allen s primary surgeons recounted her that she would be lucky if she could run recreationally again For a woman accustomed to ultrarunning in skyraces that took her up and down elevation gains sometimes surpassing feet jogging is like a four-letter word When I heard the expert say jogging I had flashbacks to women with fake boobs and pink tank tops holding little pink one-pound weights and I was like That is not going to be me ' Allen disclosed with a laugh When the practitioner explained me that I had two broken wrists at the time and my instinct was I demanded to punch her in the face But I couldn t obviously So I was just really sad instead And in the end I was truly really glad she did tell me all that because it sobered me into the seriousness of the situation That running wasn t guaranteed and in order to make it happen again I needed to be fully committed and so serious about my recovery and so intentional purposeful and tenacious in my physical therapy Skyrunner Hillary Allen shows a scar on her leg while posing for a portrait at Chautauqua Park in Boulder on Thursday Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Allen couldn t get out of her hospital bed for nearly a week In the initial stage of her recovery her longtime physical therapist Matthew Smith recalled deep dark moments throughout that process that were pretty visible She started to question why the accident happened in the first place and look back more than forward Smith revealed In about half our sessions early on there d be tears there d be bargaining She was going through the whole measures of loss I remember her lying on her belly with her leg off the side of the table lifting her leg so it was equal to the rest of her body and she would get the shakes she would start to sweat It was really basic phase-one post-operative work and she would be full-on exhausted from the effort it took to produce a couple reps of one simple action But Allen stacked small victories like those on top of each other all the way to winning her first European event just months after her fall Allen set a discipline record in the mastery and sent a postcard to her doubtful professional afterward It served as further proof that the best way to motivate Hillygoat is to dare her she can t We were ecstatic at that point recalled Adam St Pierre Allen s coach from to Recovery had gone about as well as recovery can go We were looking ahead starting to make big plans then a few more setbacks happened There were more surgeries more adversity She was feeling a lot of self-doubt wondering if her body was broken and if it was meant for this There was surgery in to remove broken screws in her foot put there as part of her initial recovery She broke her right ankle in after slipping on ice In she broke her left foot in an injury related to the fall and she required another ankle surgery in that kept her off the trail for nearly a year During that period Allen picked up gravel cycling and mountain biking She s since competed five times in the Unbound Gravel -mile one of the top gravel bike races in the world finishing as high as th In three of those races she competed while injured She also wrote a book about her journey Out and Back A Runner s Story of Survival Against All Odds published in She s just continued to show up for herself Smith mentioned In her sport that s hard to do It seems like there s a lot of people who come and go and there s a lot of stars for a couple weeks and then people fade But she just won t expletive quit It s all a reflection of Allen s mantra Your best days are ahead of you Competing at the elite level is a finite period of time but sport is for forever Allen stated It s a lifestyle I believe you can constantly continue to PR no matter how old you are it s just a relative PR Skyrunner Hillary Allen poses for a portrait at Chautauqua Park in Boulder on Thursday Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Going forward Allen believes she still has more in the tank while also continuing to diversify her interests She started a coaching business She s gone back to school to get another master s degree this time in applied sports psychology She s become a speaker and delivered the keynote address at this year s Sportswomen of Colorado gala And she s getting more invested in intertwining her career with the area including hosting her first running camp in September Related Articles Keeler Rockies even had Denver youth league coaches shaking their heads Saturday Cherry Creek baseball on doorstep of th state title after thumping rival Grandview in Class A semifinal Rockies Adael Amador Glove slipped off when jumping to field line drive by Yankees Paul Goldschmidt Rockies implode during -run fifth inning routed by Yankees to fall to - Not done yet Broomfield baseball wins comeback thriller over Arvada West in A state tourney In March the Brooks-sponsored runner took third at the Run Through Time trail marathon in Salida a race won by renowned ultrarunner and Colorado resident Courtney Dauwalter Earlier this month Allen won the Tiger Claw K in Washington state And upcoming this summer she has a full slate of races ahead of her including the Broken Arrow Skyrace in California the Restonica Trail K in France and the Squamish in Canada with specific bike races to follow in the fall In each of those skyraces a healthy Allen will be grateful to toe the starting line But she s also still got the engine to win In ultrarunning and especially with women we re seeing women perform better and better as they age observed Karley Rempel a runner who trains with Allen in Boulder It used to be if you weren t in your s the thought was you couldn t be a pro runner But women like Hillary are extending the boundaries of the age you can be elite at And Hillary has the relentless positivity and love of the sport to keep pushing the envelope of what she can achieve Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams