Kara Goucher in conversation with Lauren Fleshman

Join Lauren Fleshman, author of Good For a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World, and Kara Goucher, author of The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team, to discuss their books, women in running, and more at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon.

Seating for this event will begin at 5:45pm. A $25 book and ticket bundle is required for all attendees. Ticket and event signup available soon. Both authors’ books will be available for purchase. Previously purchased books are welcome for the author signing after the event.

The Longest Race

In “one of the most important athlete memoirs of its generation” (Kate Fagan, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.
Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.
Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach had done. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules and created what Kara experienced as a culture of abuse, the extent of which she reveals in her book for the first time. Meanwhile, Nike stood by Alberto for years and proved itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices.
The Longest Race is an unforgettable story that is “as interesting as it is important” (Molly Huddle, two-time Olympian) and also a crucial call to action. Kara became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level. The Longest Race will leave you “motivated, empowered, and ready to take on the world” (Allyson Felix, Olympic gold medalist) as it reveals how Kara broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running.

Kara Goucher is a three-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympian, winner of the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships in the 10,000 meters, and a podium finisher at the Boston and New York Marathons. She is the running analyst for NBC Sports. She cohosts the hit running commentary podcast Nobody Asked Us with Des & Kara, as well as the Clean Sports Collective podcast, promoting fair play in sports. She lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, Adam, and their son, Colt.

Good For a Girl

Fueled by her years as an elite runner and advocate for women in sports, Lauren Fleshman offers her inspiring personal story and a rallying cry for reform of a sports landscape that is failing young female athletes
Lauren Fleshman has grown up in the world of running. One of the most decorated collegiate athletes of all time and a national champion as a pro, she was a major face of women’s running for Nike before leaving to shake up the industry with feminist running brand Oiselle and now coaches elite young female runners. Every step of the way, she has seen the way that our sports systems—originally designed by men, for men and boys—fail young women and girls as much as empower them. Girls drop out of sports at alarming rates once they hit puberty, and female collegiate athletes routinely fall victim to injury, eating disorders, or mental health struggles as they try to force their way past a natural dip in performance for women of their age.
Part memoir, part manifesto, Good for a Girl is Fleshman’s story of falling in love with running as a girl, being pushed to her limits and succumbing to devastating injuries, and daring to fight for a better way for female athletes. Long gone are the days when women and girls felt lucky just to participate; Fleshman and women everywhere are waking up to the reality that they’re running, playing, and competing in a world that wasn’t made for them. Drawing on not only her own story but also emerging research on the physiology and psychology of young athletes, of any gender, Fleshman gives voice to the often-silent experience of the female athlete and argues that the time has come to rebuild our systems of competitive sport with women at their center.
Written with heart and verve, Good for a Girl is a joyful love letter to the running life, a raw personal narrative of growth and change, and a vital call to reimagine sports for young women.

Lauren Fleshman is one of the most decorated American distance runners of all time, having won five NCAA championships at Stanford University and two national championships as a professional. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and Runner’s World. She is the brand strategy advisor for Oiselle, a fitness apparel company for women, and the cofounder of Picky Bars, a natural food company. She lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, triathlete Jesse Thomas, and their two children.

This event is held at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in the Northwest Crossing neighborhood of Bend, Oregon. Seating will open at 5:45pm.