She Was Once a Runner

“She Was Once a Runner" gives an honest account of a female long distance runner on a Division I college scholarship in America and the resultant pressure cooker in which she lives. Her landscape is bleak and desolate, taking place on the East coast during the aftermath of 9/11. Her narrative is detached yet raw, as though she were a voyeur on her own life. The novel explores the physical and psychological effects of the Female Athlete Triad of anorexia, amenorrhea, and stress fractures on a nineteen year old girl struggling to find her identity amidst a toxic team environment and discouraging parents.