Meridia Mondays | Issue 41

ANNIE IS GOING TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!! 🇺🇸 +other racing updates from the squad

Apr 06, 2026

Happy Monday, Meridians!
We missed coming to your inbox last week, but we have some VERY fun updates for you! Today’s newsletter is about the rollercoaster ride that is sports… and life. For most of the squad, racing season is here, and we are going to be traveling all over the world this month. We have the deets on that below as well as a reoccurring segment: What Meridia is reading, watching, and listening to lately.

ANNIE IS GOING TO WORLDS!

ICYMI… the US Half Marathon Championships was on March 1 in Atlanta and it was… drama.

We did a recap of what happened in THIS newsletter, so you can catch up there if you missed it or need a reminder.

A couple of weeks after that, Annie got a call from USATF saying that they had come up with a really creative solution that might just make everybody pretty happy. The first thing they did was pay the 3 athletes who were on track to be on the podium the prize money they would have made if they didn’t get led off course. They also had a double podium and recognized all 6 women involved, which is a bit unorthodox, but absolutely the right thing to do.

But then there was still the question of: “Who gets to go to Worlds?”
To which USATF apparently answered: “Everyone!”

USATF brought the issue to World Athletics (the governing body in charge of World Champs) and proposed that we send all 6 women to Copenhagen. And World Athletics accepted! Wahoo!!

This will be Annie’s first time representing Team USA and she is stoked. This is such a huge moment in an athlete’s career and we are all so proud of and excited for Annie! 🥳

You win some, you lose some

The next story is all about the highs and lows of sport.

On Wed, March 25th Annie got the official word that WA approved the USATF proposal and that she would be going to Worlds. 🇺🇸

On Thur, March 26th Annie, Colleen, and Courtney flew to Southern California for Sound Running’s The TEN, a race that denotes the official start of the outdoor track season, so Annie could race a 10k. ☀️

On Sat, March 28th Annie had to pull out of the 10k due to a strained calf. 😢

🎢 The rollercoaster of sport is absolutely a powerful analog for life.

We all are striving for that perfect balance of hard work and enjoyment, hoping that our efforts result in success, but knowing that we are not perfect and that sometimes factors outside of our control might derail our goals.

Regardless of the race outcome, the gals had an absolute blast in SoCal! We stayed an extra day and didn’t go back to the mountains until Monday evening so we could soak up some extra recovery on the beach. Living at high altitude in Boulder is awesome as a training stimulus, but it’s also so important to drop down sometimes and get some extra recovery at sea level. We were all seeing our metrics from WHOOP/Aura ring reflect the extra oxygen with increased HRV and decreased resting heart rates. ☺️

Photos below were mostly taken by Courtney! She is getting more into photography lately and did an incredible job of documenting the trip. Now we are working on editing a bunch of GoPro content from the weekend that we will turn into an episode for our YouTube.

What is the squad up to in April?

Courtney is heading to CHINA 🇨🇳 for a race that is taking place on the Great Wall of China! These trail runners really do get to have the best adventures!

She will be racing TWICE at this event, with the first race being an uphill only race on the first day (April 25) and then she will double back for a longer race on day two (April 26). This will mark the first trail race of Courtney’s season which will continue through October.

Gracie is headed to Des Moines, IA for the iconic Drake Relays. This will ALSO be a double header for Gracie as she will compete in the US Road Mile National Championships on Tue April 21st and then head to the track for the Drake Relays on Saturday.

The US Road Mile Champs will be the selection race for the World Road Running Championships in the mile. This means that if Gracie finishes in the top 3 at this event, she would be joining Annie in Copenhagen! Let’s gooooo Gracie!!! 🇺🇸

Annie is traveling to France 🇫🇷 today to support her sponsor, Salomon, at the Paris marathon. While marathoning is likely in Annie’s future, for this trip she will be pacing a group of athletes and getting a taste for what that world is like. What a great opportunity to test the waters! This will be her second time in France with Salomon and she has a GoPro with her to document it.

Colleen is holding it down in Colorado this month with a couple of personal travel trips (Grandma Quigley is turning 90!). After dealing with a lot of pain in her left foot for at least 8 years, Colleen recently decided to try an injection of exosomes in the foot and ankle to promote her body’s own healing response. She will be off her foot this month letting the injection do it’s work and will hope to be back running with her besties in May. Send her good healing vibes this month! ❤️‍🩹

What we are reading, watching, and listening to

Reading

Annie is reading Hungerstone by Katt Dunn (have you heard about Annie’s book club she launched with her mom???)
Courtney is reading Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Gracie is not reading anything because she’s too busy working on her first pop up coffee shop (have you signed up for her coffee subscription???)!
Colleen is listening to The Mindful Body by Ellen Langer on Audible… does that count as reading? 🤔

Watching

Annie is watching Love on the Spectrum and Last One Laughing
Courtney is watching Love on the Spectrum
Gracie is watching Love Overboard (seeing a theme here?)
Colleen has been watching old movies- just watched Birdcage and now is watching A Few Good Men

Listening to

Annie is listening to the Adele 31 Album and The Idiot podcast by This American Life
Courtney is listening to oskar med k’s new album
Gracie is listening to Saweetie
Colleen is listening to Bad Bunny and the Wiser Than Me podcast hosted by Julia Luis-Dreyfus

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