In 2016, then-21-year-old Molly Seidel was the top distance runner in the NCAA and seemed destined for a thriving athletic career. But a series of injuries sidelined the Notre Dame student from that year’s Olympic Trials. That summer, she quietly checked into a four-month-long eating disorder treatment program.
“It was the kind of thing where it had to be so secretive, and it was such a shameful thing at the time,” Seidel says now. “Even within my own family, we weren’t going to admit what it was. It was just such a different time.”
She returned to Indiana to wrap up her collegiate career in 2017. Her post-grad years were plagued by more injuries, including one to her hip that required surgery and caused her to miss months of training. All the while, she continued to work on her mental health.
When Seidel joined her friend Julia Hanlon’s podcast Running on Om as a guest in January 2020, she was finally ready to speak publicly about what she had been through.
“I’ve dealt with depression basically since I was 16, and have been on medication on and off,” Seidel said, adding that her symptoms worsened…
