In the fall of 2020, Keira Mansure didn’t think she would enjoy running ever again. After the high school junior was diagnosed with two femoral stress fractures and relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), Mansure felt lost and didn’t know where to find the support she needed.
Then she read a post on Instagram from one of her favorite pro runners, which gave her hope.
In September 2020, Elise Cranny wrote about her experience with RED-S, a condition that implies inadequate energy intake compared to the energy you need, and is defined by a lack of period, low energy availability, and bone loss. The Bowerman Track Club runner provided tips for athletes dealing with RED-S and announced her new role as a mentor with Voice In Sport (VIS)—an online community that connects girls and women in sport through a members-only platform.
In the fall, Mansure registered as an athlete mentee with VIS and started attending virtual one-on-one sessions with Cranny as her mentor. She also utilized the VIS network of more than 70 experts in sports psychology, nutrition, and sports science research. In eight months, Mansure has recovered from her injuries, found a renewed love for the sport, and is now running faster than ever before. On May 22, she ran a huge personal best while finishing second in the 3200 meters at the Burlington County Championships in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
“I never thought that I would be able to have a healthy relationship with food or with the sport again,” Mansure told Runner’s World. “I never thought I would be able to PR in the two-mile by 20 seconds and be standing on podiums and heading to the Meet of Champions. I couldn’t have done that without Elise and mentorships. She has changed my life, and I owe everything I have accomplished within the past few months in the sport and in life to her.”
Cranny is just one elite runner who has changed the life of an up-and-coming athlete, such as Mansure, through mentorship. And many of these elite runners are giving back through Voice In Sport while pursuing their Olympic dreams. In interviews with Runner’s World, Cranny, 400-meter specialist Kendall Ellis, and middle distance star Mary Cain shared how being mentors to the next generation of track athletes has helped them thrive in their pro careers, heal from past trauma, and leave the sport better than how they found it.
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Keeping girls in sports
After spending 14 years as an executive at Nike followed by a stint as the CEO of Rag & Bone, Stef Strack decided to pursue a career that drives lasting change in women’s sports. A former Division 1 soccer player at the University of Montana, Strack wanted to create a platform that addressed the inequities female athletes face, including higher drop-out rates (by age 14, girls drop out of sports at two times the rate of boys, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation).
In 2019, Strack launched the Voice In Sport subscription model, which offers girls and women aged 13-23 athlete-created content, mentorship with pros from all sports, access to experts, and tools for advocacy aimed to bring visibility to female athletes and elevate their voices. In May, VIS expanded the program’s mental health and wellness services with one-on-one and group session offerings, featuring over 80 experts in sports psychology, mental performance coaching, and sports nutrition.
“I hope [VIS mentees] find connection and conversation that inspires them to stay in sport and to not feel so alone because ultimately these girls are suffering in silence through a lot of these problems and not talking about them, and so then they think that they’re alone and in reality, most of these girls are going through very similar issues,” Strack said. “What I hope they get out of the mentoring is that they feel like we’ve created a safe space for them to be open, to be vulnerable, share their stories, and then ultimately feel inspired and supported.”
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Encouraging a long-term approach
Cranny discovered VIS through a former Stanford teammate who encouraged her to become a mentor. At the time, she had just finished her first year of running professionally for her Portland, Oregon-based training group, and she wanted to find a way to give back to the sport outside of competition.
Since receiving the training required to be a VIS mentor, Cranny has hosted five group mentorship sessions, and she meets with three to four individuals twice a month for one-on-one meetings. The group sessions are organized by the mentor who focuses on a topic (goal setting, fueling and recovery, for example), and athletes can sign up for the session they’re interested in. For individual sessions, mentees will often reach out to Cranny to discuss points in their journey, such as how to build confidence for an upcoming race or how to deal with the emotional toll of an injury.
Based on her own experience of navigating injury and losing her period for a time, Cranny hopes to encourage more awareness around RED-S with a focus on overall health and longevity in running. Some of her mentees have also made efforts to raise awareness themselves. With Cranny as an advisor, Mansure submitted a research paper on RED-S for one of her classes. Another mentee, University of Delaware runner Jess Stratton, wrote an open letter to coaches, encouraging them to prioritize the body and mind of female runners.
“I want to help people have a long-term approach to the sport and to do it in a healthy, sustainable manner because I think what someone can gain from the sport in terms of self-confidence, power, and strength and doing things that they didn't think they could do, is so important,” Cranny said.
Being a mentor has also helped Cranny in her own running pursuits, which have included three personal bests so far this year. Heading into the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, she is ranked No. 1 in the 10,000 meters after earning the No. 3 spot on the U.S. all-time list in February. Working with the younger generation of athletes is what keeps Cranny motivated, knowing that her influence extends far beyond wins and medals.
“[Being a mentor] has given me a ton of purpose,” Cranny said. “Connecting and getting to know [athletes] and forming relationships, has just been so meaningful. … They've been a huge source of inspiration for me. I also feel like they've helped hold me accountable.”
For example, Cranny realized she needed to set a positive example after a recent workout that she was unable to finish. After cooling down, she planned to go extra hard on her cross-training and weight-lifting session to make up for the disappointment. But then she remembered the advice she gave one of her mentees earlier that week.
“[I told her] sometimes if you don't have a good workout, it means that you’re tired and you need to listen to your body and maybe you’re tempted to do more, but you actually need to back off,” Cranny said. She also advised her mentee on the importance of having internal confidence, to not lose confidence after one poor workout. Cranny ultimately decided to listen to her own advice and rest for the remainder of the day.
A few days after her interview with Runner’s World, she won the Portland Track Festival 1500 meters in 4:02, a three-second improvement on her previous personal best.
The ripple effects of vulnerability
As a VIS mentor, Kendall Ellis also enjoys being reminded to follow her own advice while implementing the mental strategies that have helped her compete at a high level. In 2018, the former USC sprinter went viral with her come-from-behind anchor leg to bring the Trojans an NCAA 4x400-meter title. She is also one of only four collegians ever to break the 50-second barrier in the 400 meters.
While experiencing so much success on the track, the Los Angeles, California, resident also manages race-day anxiety by working with a sports psychologist, doing regular visualization practices, and leaning on a support system that builds her up. Through mentorship, Ellis aims to pass on the tools she has learned in therapy to help fellow athletes and show them the importance of giving back at every stage in their life.
“When I’m having these candid conversations with them, [I hope mentees] see she has race-day anxiety and these same fears that I’m having when it comes to competing, but look at where she’s at,” Ellis said. “She still managed to do great things despite the anxiety. Like, ‘if she’s okay, I can be okay too, and I can go on to do great things as well.’”
UCLA runner Paige Carter has participated in Ellis’s group mentorship sessions and appreciates the vulnerability of pros like Ellis, who are sharing their journey and giving advice.
“These women really are committed to bettering sport,” she said. “They're not just in this for themselves.”
Carter is also a VIS creator, an internship where she assists the VIS team on content creation projects. By working with athletes on articles and participating in mentorship sessions, Carter says VIS has provided her with an encouraging community outside of her college team.
“Having these pro athletes and mentors be able to say, ‘I went through something similar when I was your age or you're not alone in feeling that way, or I struggled with that too,’ it shows us that we're all human and nobody is perfect,” Carter said. “We're all kind of going through the same thing and that's empowering.”
‘Love yourself, treat yourself first’
Athletes like Carter also help build Ellis’s confidence and remind her of the reason she is pursuing her goals on the track. On May 23, she won the 400 meters at the Gateshead Diamond League meeting, her first Diamond League win of her career. In 10 days, she’ll chase a spot on the Olympic team in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials scheduled for June 18 through June 27 in Eugene, Oregon.
“In such a high-pressure and stressful season, it's nice to go back to the root of it, why you started and how you got into it—because it was fun and just the pureness of the sport. I think we can forget that,” Ellis said. “Regardless of whether or not you make this team, people look up to you and like what you’re doing … It’s just a nice reminder of who you are beyond the sport.”
For Cain, being a mentor has helped her heal from past traumatic experiences by ensuring the younger generation focuses on finding joy in running. In 2019, the U.S. junior record-holder alleged emotional and physical abuse by her former coach Alberto Salazar, who led the now-dismantled Nike Oregon Project. Salazar is currently serving a four-year ban from the sport for violating the anti-doping code.
Now in her return to running after undergoing hip surgery last summer, Cain is making sure athletes know their value and feel empowered in and outside of athletic performance.
“When I shared my story, in so many ways, the saddest thing was for me to realize how many other people would be going through that and maybe didn’t have the resources or the support team to see them to the other end,” Cain said. “If there’s ever somebody who I can be that person for, even if it's just on a 30-minute call to say, ‘love yourself, treat yourself first, and put your running second,’ then it just feels like I’m doing a service to my younger self too.”
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