The Gift of Good Work with Sara Slattery

Intrinsic Drive®

Sara Slattery learned the importance of hard work from her father, watching him wake up at 4am while running his sign business. She began her athletic career as a swimmer, training twice daily for several hours before and after school. She joined her high school track team, merely as a way to stay in shape for swimming. As a freshman, she was state runner up in both the 800 and 3200 meters. This rising star realized she needed to focus her energy on running, training alongside her high school coach, Sabina Robinson—then 42 years old—a masters champion and Olympic trials marathon qualifier. Sara’s work ethic and talent yielded twelve state high school championships and one national junior championship.

Sara tells us of the challenges she faced after she sustained a serious injury during her senior year at the University of Colorado. Once again, her work ethic - specifically her swimming background and ability to cross-train paid dividends; with very little running base she capped her outstanding, 11-time All-American collegiate running career with a victory in the 2005 NCAA 10k.

Today Sara is the men’s and women’s head distance coach at Grand Canyon University in her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. She wanted to create a similar environment of excellence she experienced under Coach Wetmore at CU. She recently collaborated with fellow elite runner and Olympian Molly Huddle on their new book How She Did It - just released this month, March 2022. Sara’s book is an essential guide for female athletes navigating the world of competitive running.

During her post-collegiate professional running career, Sara posted personal bests of 4:32 in the mile, 15:08 in the 5,000meters, and 31:57 in the 10k. This inspirational athlete was the 2007 Pan American Games 10k Champion, 2008 USA 8k Champion, and an alternate for the 2008 Olympic team.

It was a pleasure to spend a moment in Sara’s busy life, she is the mother of Steve, Cali, and married to former world-class Steeplechaser Steve Slattery. We are honored to welcome Sara to this episode of Intrinsic Drive ®.
Intrinsic Drive ® is produced by Ellen Strickler and Phil Wharton. Special thanks to Andrew Hollingworth, our sound engineer and technical editor. For more information on this and other episodes visit us at www.whartonhealth.com/intrinsicdrive