You Think This Hurts?

A joyful tale of triumph over adversity from an elite runner, who survived homelessness to become the top American female finisher in the 2024 Olympic Marathon.

Dakotah Popehn burst onto the running scene in 2024, when she became just one of three women to compete in the marathon for the United States Olympic team. Dakotah hadn’t raced on a college Division I track team, like other elite competitors. As a senior in high school, she hadn’t even qualified for the state championship. On her first competitive run, she finished last…in a JV meet.

What nobody knew was that her underdog story ran much deeper: all the way back to the sofas, abandoned building, and Walmart parking lot where she and her mother lived when Dakotah was in middle school.

This is not a traditional story of unrelenting effort and ambition. It is the story of how a resilient, resourceful young woman slowly worked her way, step-by-long-shot-step, from trauma to a life of purpose: by (accidently) finding a passion, balancing effort with happiness, developing positive relationships, cherishing honesty, cheering for rivals, and maintaining an irrational belief in herself, even when no one else could say the same.

You Think This Hurts? is about how the pain we choose helps us survive the pain we don’t get to choose. It’s about the precariousness of blue-collar America, and how "getting by" is getting harder for so many. It is about how childhood trauma reproduces in our adult lives—in Dakotah’s case, as a devastating relationship that burdened her for years, until she found the courage to break free. It is the story of a complicated but loving mother-daughter bond. It is about the dedication needed for a solitary sport like elite running, and the power of female friendship, because nobody runs alone. It’s about doing what it takes to become not just a "winner," but the person you want to be.

Today, Dakotah Popehn is one of America’s most popular and accomplished runners, best known for smiling during marathons. Not because she doesn’t hurt—a marathon hurts; life hurts—but because Dakotah is proof that what doesn’t kill you, can make you kind.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press