Hillary Allen is an American professional ultrarunner and endurance athlete. She is sponsored by Brooks Running.[1]
Allen began trail running while she was studying for her PhD in science, but shortly after started competing—and winning—races. She quickly went on to become an accomplished high-altitude trail runner.[2]
In 2017, Allen was ranked one of the top runners in the world when she suffered a near-fatal accident while competing in the Hamperroken Skyrace in Tromsø, Norway.[3] The athlete fell 150 feet off a ridge, breaking both arms, two vertebrae, several ribs, and bones in her feet.[4] Allen, nicknamed "Hillygoat," endured a year of physical and mental recovery before returning to the sport to compete in the Broken Arrow Vertical Kilometer race in mid-2018.[5] She has acknowledged that there were times when death seemed easier than recovering.[6]
Two years after her accident, Allen returned to compete in the Hamperroken Skyrace and conquered the course that almost killed her.[7] In 2019, she gave a TedX talk about her recovery titled "You Can Challenge the Impossible."[8] One of Allen's goals is to inspire more women to get into trail running.[9]
She is the author of Out and Back: A Runner's Story of Survival Against All Odds.[10]