Allie Ostrander, a 2015 graduate of Kenai Central, made what she described on her YouTube channel as a “pretty low key” return to racing by winning the Freihofer’s Run for Women 5K on Saturday in Albany, New York.
Ostrander, 25, finished in 15 minutes, 48 seconds, to top runner-up Allie Kieffer of Austin, Texas, by 27 seconds. Ostrander, now living in Seattle, won $3,000 for winning the race, which had over 1,900 finishers.
The race was as low key as it gets for Ostrander, who was already accumulating national fame while running for Kenai Central. In 2014, Ostrander became the first Alaskan to win Nike Cross Nationals.
At Boise State University, Ostrander won the NCAA Division I steeplechase three times before turning pro in the summer of 2019.
In June 2021, Ostrander announced in a video online that she was undergoing treatment for an eating disorder. She added that treatment was her priority over the Olympic trials, which took place later that month. At the trials, she ran a personal best in the steeplechase to finish eighth, but that was not enough to make the Olympics.
In December 2021, Ostrander announced on Instagram she had decided to end her contract with Brooks Running and take a step back from professional running. She did not race again until Saturday.
After the victory, Ostrander told the Albany Times Union she had been training for about three months. She posts regular videos about her training on her YouTube channel, which has almost 17,000 subscribers.
