21: Ellie Pashley, on chasing Olympic qualifiers, postpartum motivation, and running as a team sport

Ellie Pashley is one of Australia’s most popular runners, and it’s easy to see why! The Tokyo Olympian and mum comes on for a candid conversation about her running career, pregnancy and balancing mum life with her athletic pursuits.

This episode is part of a mini-series featuring some of our mighty marathon mums. We talk about some of Ellie’s most memorable races like New York Marathon, where she and Sinead Diver got lost on the course (captured on live TV!), and the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst where Ellie’s family and friends wore t-shirts sporting a giant print of her face.

We dive deep into why Ellie was so determined to get that Olympic qualifying time for Paris 2024, and unpack her attempts to secure it in London, Osaka and Hamburg, with lots of help from her training pals at the Surf Coast Track Club.

Ellie Pashley is a marathon runner who represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where she finished in 23rd place. Ellie started running marathons in 2016, clocking 2:46 in Melbourne on debut. She has since progressed to 2:26, which she ran in Nagoya in 2019. One of her best performances was an 8th place at New York Marathon in 2:27. She also has a 10km PB of 31:18 from the 2019 World Championships in Doha, where she finished 13th. Ellie is also a physiotherapist and co-owner of coaching company, Run Strong, with her coach Julian Spence. She is a mum to Tiggy and Luna (her kelpie).

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Ellie Pashley’s Instagram: @ellieopash

Run With It Instagram: @runwithit.pod

Elise Beacom's Instagram: @elisebeacom

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Intro/outro music by Dan Beacom

Graphic design by Kate Scheer