Episode 105: Grace Gonzales Angel City Elite

June 3, 2021
Grace Gonzales is one of five runner/founders of the recently announced elite distance running team, Angel City Elite, based in Los Angeles and sponsored by Brooks. ACE’s mission is to bridge the disparity gap of BIPOC representation in the running community, raise awareness, empower, educate, and inspire by creating a supportive platform and establishing partnerships in LA and surrounding communities.

In addition to being an elite runner, Grace is an educator and yoga facilitator. Her family is filled with runners so the sport has been a part of Grace's life from a very young age. She raced in college but after an injury she stopped running competitively as she earned a graduate degree in teaching and pursued a non-running career. She missed training seriously however so picked it back up again about four years later. One of Grace’s career highlights is the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Atlanta, which she ran in 2:47. Her PR is 2:41:52

For Grace, the return to running has been surreal. She never imagined the possibility of racing at this level or being on an elite team created with a goal to diversify running and bringing change to the running world.

Grace continues to find the sweet spot of running, balance in life, and creating her path. She is continuously reminded of her favorite quote through all the journeys of life, …. "There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."  - Jawaharlal Nehru

Book Recommendations:
I recently finished Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley and just loved it. Think trail running, running by feel, high altitude, travel, competition. Although the author is fast, he struggles to keep up with the super fast Ethiopians he’s training with, especially at altitude. As part anthropological study and part journal, the discussion often leads to why he can’t keep up, nature-nuture, which some how felt applicable to my own running as an aging person.
Find that and all our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at hearhersports.com/books.

Grace is reading The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk and We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom by Bettina L. Love. Grace writes, These books “are more on the serious end of continued learning in the other fields that I engage within beyond running. Still enjoyable and highly recommended for those in wellness/healing and education.”
Buying books through our Bookshop page is an easy, significant way to support the podcast. Thank you.

Angel City Elite
It’s More Than a Marathon for Olympic Trials Qualifier Grace Gonzales by Chistine Yu, Women’s Running, 2.20.20
The Team:
Grace Gonzales on IG
Angel City Elite on IG
Sabrina L. De La Cruz on IG
Andrea Guerra on IG
Grace Graham-Zamudio on IG
Valerie Sanches on IG
Brooks
Keeping Track podcast with Molly Huddle, Alysia Montano, and Rosin McGettigan