How did the holidays come around so quickly? My kids will be off for Thanksgiving next week, and we already celebrated a wonderful Friendsgiving yesterday. My cold unfortunately came back this week. With some big work events at the office, I succumbed to my cold with bad congestion and a sore throat. With great foresight, Instagram is already feeding me content like “how to be a fast runner in your 50s”. The thing many influencers talked about was getting better at rest. It’s something I deeply struggle with. I can blame it on the fact that I’m an immigrant and a woman of color in this country… Or, I can learn to just rest. With great unease, I rested. I missed two easy runs, one workout and one race this week. When my coach texts with all caps, “you NEED to rest”, I listen. I pull out my Calm app and take my Ashwagandha.

This week, I’m delighted to bring the story of an incredibly gifted, joyous and humble runner, Abby Hong. Abby first came on my radar by winning the Manhattan Beach 10k two years in a row. She runs this hometown race with her dad, making her wins very special. In this most recent race, she achieved a personal 10k best of 34:48. I followed my curiosity and got in touch with her. Enjoy her story.

Abby Hong: Chasing Potentials While Having Fun

Racing for the University of Pennsylvania has always been special for Abby Hong. As a senior, Hong won two individual titles and helped Penn women's track and field to their first Ivy title since 1996. This past weekend, however, brings a different meaning for Hong, now an alumni. 

On Nov. 16th, 2024, UPenn hosted an inaugural alumni mile run to celebrate the grand opening of the new indoor track facility, the Jane and David Ott Center. Over 400 Penn alumni and friends showed up to celebrate. Hong lined up for the race with many of her former teammates.

“I always love jumping in a race. This time, it was so fun to reconnect with old teammates and see everyone in their Penn gear racing on the track again. I ended up finishing second in 5:00 to Nia (Akins) who pulled away with ease over the second half to win in 4:49 while in her trainers,” says Hong.

Since graduating from UPenn in 2020, Hong took three years off competitive running to focus on her next chapter. She landed a job at a Silicon Valley startup, making healthcare easier to navigate for patients. She didn’t become a professional athlete, despite having an impressive resume: at the Ivy League Meet during her senior year, Hong won both the 3k and 5k indoor races. She also won the 5k and 10k outdoor League Meet in 2018. She had no ambition to go pro after college like some of her alumni. She didn’t even see herself as a runner until high school. 

A Great Coach Was All Hong Needed to Get Started

“I didn’t do a lot of sports growing up. I did some swimming, but no ball sports. I’m from a family of three kids. My twin brothers were born when I was five. My parents didn’t expect to have twins, and realized all of a sudden, they had a lot on their plates. We didn’t have a lot of after-school activities,” says Hong.

Hong’s family moved to Manhattan Beach, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County, during her middle school. “My parents are not runners. We never quite ran as a family. But when I was in 7th grade, we ran the Manhattan Beach 10k. I had no idea what to expect. I just wanted to finish the race without walking, and I did. The next year, I won my age division,” says Hong.

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Hong joined the high school cross-country team at Mira Costa High School. “I credit Coach Renee William Smith for getting me on this running journey,” says Hong. “She started the women’s cross-country team at my high school. I didn’t know anything about the sport when I joined this big team of nearly 100 girls. I felt very much part of the team, thanks to my coach.”

“Abby was the perfect athlete for a coach. Every year she improved,” says Renee William Smith, who still coaches at Mira Costa High School. “Abby is incredibly consistent in her training. She followed the program precisely. Early on, we knew she was going to be a great runner.”

Coach William Smith saw Hong’s potential during her freshman year. “We have a national-class team at the school, and during her freshman year, she almost made it to the varsity team,” says William Smith. With a special invitation from her coach, Hong joined the varsity team at the state meet as an alternative. “My high school coach has always been intentional about keeping the younger girls along the journey, even when you were not racing. You get to be part of the team. That was a big influence on me,” says Hong.

 The highlight of Hong’s high school running career came when she was invited to the Foot Locker National Championships during her senior year. “It was such a fun experience at Foot Locker Nationals. I remember driving down from Los Angeles to San Diego and staying at the beautiful Del Coronado hotel. It was my first time being around many other elite high school runners. I got a glimpse of what it would be like running in college,” says Hong.

Having Fun Competing at the Ivy League Conference Meets

Hong intended to follow her parents’ footsteps by attending UC Berkeley, but one visit to UPenn changed her mind. “I visited UPenn late in the recruiting cycle, but fell in love with the team culture and even with the snow. I decided that was where I wanted to go at the end of the trip,” says Hong.

At UPenn, Hong majored in biology. She surrounded herself with teammates who not only supported each other in running but also in academics. “We spent 12 hours on the track and then some more studying together. It was such a great team,” says Hong.

She particularly enjoyed the tough-but-not-cut-throat environment at UPenn. “Unlike D1 schools where a certain number of scholarships are given, Ivy Leagues don’t give out athletic scholarships. People ran because they wanted to be there. This performance-focused, yet not-you-against-me culture makes a friendlier environment,” says Hong.

Hong credits her college coach Steve Dolan for deepening her love of running. “Coach Dolan’s favorite saying was to have fun chasing your potential, which I thought was a great way to frame a positive and empowering mindset towards running,” says Hong. 

This relaxed and joyful attitude towards running culminated in a major win for Hong during her senior year. She won her first Ivy League conference title at the indoor 3000m race at Dartmouth College in 2018. This was also when UPenn’s women’s track team won their first team title since 1996. Notable was not only her individual accomplishments, but her contribution to the team. UPenn was in the bottom half of the Ivy League for many years. As an upperclassman on the team, Hong was the #5 runner on Penn’s first-ever women’s cross country team to qualify for NCAAs in 2016. As a senior team captain, the women’s track team won the Ivy League indoor and outdoor track championships in 2018.

Getting Faster and Paying It Forward

Like many post-collegiate runners, Hong took three years off running. She started working at a healthcare tech company based in San Francisco. “I wanted to take a step back from competitive running, though I did miss the team environment,” says Hong. 

At the end of the pandemic, Hong moved back from San Francisco to her hometown of Manhattan Beach. That’s when she came back to running. “It was hard and rewarding at the same time,” says Hong. “My original goal was to enjoy the run, and I built from there.” Hong started building up weekly mileage. She also reconnected with Coach William Smith and joined her and a small group of runners.

Hong surprised herself with how quickly her fitness came back. “I was definitely surprised how fast I returned to competition shape,” says Hong. After a couple of months of consistent training, Hong started to race at some local track meets. In April, at the Bryan Clay Invite at Azusa Pacific University, Hong achieved a 5k personal record of 15:56. In September at the Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon, she finished at 1:15:50.

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Angel City Elite (ACE), an elite post-collegiate running group based in Los Angeles, reached out. Hong joined the team in January and finally felt she got her team back.

“The team aspect was the one thing I really missed since college. I’m so happy to have joined Angel City Elite,” says Hong. “Even though we are scattered across LA, we meet up whenever we can through our community runs and other events.” A group chat also helps the group of fast women stay connected.

“Abby is one of the most humble human beings I know,” says Sabrina de la Cruz, the founder of ACE. “We’ve been her fans before she joined the team, and now we’re much stronger with her on the team.”

ACE’s mission is to “bridge the disparity gap of BIPOC representation in the running community”. Since joining ACE, Hong has attended many ACE-organized community events. She also paced the Malibu Moves half marathon in October.

In addition to her contribution to local races and events, Hong also reaches back out to her high school. “Abby comes to our high school training camp in Mammoth every year,” says Coach William Smith. “My high school runners follow her on Strava and see her dedication and commitment. This past year, she also joined our training camp in the summer. It was amazing to see an alum come back and do that for younger girls. She’s been such a great mentor.”

Looking forward, Hong doesn’t have a specific time goal or race to train for yet. “My biggest strength as a runner is the fact that I love training so much,” says Hong. “I’ve been lucky to stay injury free, and I’ve been increasing my weekly mileage by 10 miles each year.” The marathon distance is tempting, though not an immediate goal. “Right now I really enjoy jumping into races to have fun. However, that’s probably something I can work on too – I don’t have a laser focus.”

As a runner who enjoys the day-to-day work, Hong doesn’t want to say no to the possibility of chasing an Olympics-trials-qualifying (OTQ) time. “I think if I want to OTQ in the marathon, I’ll have to seriously focus on my training. But that’s not any time soon,” says Hong. For now, she’s having so much fun chasing her own potential and giving back to others.

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