Completed Event: Cross Country versus USATF U20 Cross Country Championships on December 6, 2025 , , NTS
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Final
Cross Country
vs USATF U20 Cross Country Championships
Allison Sturges Senior Profile
10/20/2015 10:37:00 AM | Cross Country
DURHAM, N.C. -- GoDuke.com recently sat down with Los Altos, Calif., native Allison Sturges to reflect on her four years at Duke.
GoDuke.com: What's next for you when your time at Duke is over?
Allison Sturges: I've been working for a startup company in San Francisco. It's a social networking app called “Blend.” I've been working for them for a year and a half, mostly in the summer, but then part time as a student, too. I'm 99% sure I'm going to end up there after I graduate, which is pretty exciting, just working in a startup and stuff. It's a really cool culture, and I'm really close with the company. It's really small. There are eight of us for the business. That's the plan right now, to go work there. I think in terms of training, I'll definitely keep on training after school. I wouldn't be able to just stop running so maybe I'll train with my old coach from home or join a team or something like that and keep racing. But I'll definitely see how things are going after the track season and see what I'm up for.
GoDuke.com: If you continue to run, what distances would you be running?
AS: I don't know. I definitely want to do marathons at some point. I'd really like to try a triathlon or an Iron Man at some point down the road, a long time from now. I think if I were to start training after I graduate, I'd want to keep doing mid-distance stuff and still try to get in some track races, then I'd also do some 5k or 10k road races.
GoDuke.com: Obviously running is a significant part of your life. How did you get into running?
AS: I guess I started running in fourth grade. My elementary school had a junior Olympics event and there were a ton of different sports they did at the junior Olympics. You could only choose three events that you wanted to sign up for. And my friend said, “I'm going to do the 1320 race,” and I had no idea even what that was but I said, “Oh, I'll do that with you.” I ended up signing up for it. I ended up getting third place and then the following years I kept doing it, and I won those other two years. I started getting really into it and then in junior high, I really got more serious about it. I won most of my races in junior high. Through high school, I was very serious. I played soccer up to freshman year of high school, but then I got injured that year, so I had to make a decision. I couldn't keep doing both, so freshman year was the turning point where I decided to [just run].
GoDuke.com: What does it mean to you to represent Duke when you're at a meet?
AS: It's definitely exciting. I think that Duke has such a cool, unique reputation because it has such a good balance between academics and athletics. It has that really interesting dynamic. And I think even more in the past year or two, I've felt it. When I wear my Duke gear, I feel even more pride for it. So that's pretty cool. When I'm at a race, I'm running for my teammates, but then I also know I'm wearing the Duke jersey, representing Duke. It's cool to be a part of the athletic history and everything that's going on at the school. I'm from the west coast, where Duke is not as big. It's really interesting representing a school that not everyone there knows about. Its been awesome being a part of the Duke community and being an athlete in that community.
GoDuke.com: Do you have any type of pre-race rituals?
AS: I think that in high school, I was a lot more specific about certain things like rituals. I would have the same pair of socks, and I would have right and left socks, where the right sock had to be pink and the left sock had to be blue. Little things like that. Once I came to college, I didn't do the same things. I think part of that was changing my routine in general, like warm up and all of that. So I don't have any weird or quirky pre-race rituals that I can think of.
GoDuke.com: Do you have any memories of running when everything just came together, everything was clicking and you felt really good?
AS: I'd say the race that best defines that was the Duke Twilight Meet last track season. It was an interesting point in my Duke career and that season in particular. Indoor wasn't going super well for me and there was some kind of spark there where I was just waiting for a good race to happen. And the outdoor season goes by so fast. The Duke Twilight is when I got my 1,500-meter personal record, and it was also the deciding factor in who was going to get to go to ACCs. I didn't qualify for time for ACCs, but I still could have gotten the wild card spot so that race was really important to me. It was also only the second meet at the new Duke track, so that was also really exciting. Also, the Twilight meet was at night, and I always race better at night, or even just run better at night. That was one race that I can really look back on and think it was a really cool experience. I ended up making it to ACCs, and probably because of that race, so I think that is where it all came together.
GoDuke.com: What has the sport of cross country or track taught you?
AS: I think there's a lot. Just being a college athlete, there's dedication and motivation, like those kinds of things. Putting in the time and the effort and knowing what you have to do. Everyone says college is the growing time, figuring out who you are, and I think being a part of a sports team has been a really interesting experience for me. There's definitely been a lot of ups and downs. You go through challenges. I think I've definitely learned how to deal with those challenges, how to make the best of them. Running itself is a very difficult sport. You have to be extremely dedicated in all aspects of life. There's a lot to keep up on. We're training every day and running 50 miles a week, all year round. It's definitely a lot of dedication, being focused, knowing what you have to do and reminding yourself of your goals every day or every week which I think is totally applicable to even things you have to do later in life, such as work. I just think all of that stuff is really helpful to help you stay on track and know what you want out of something. It's been a really cool opportunity, and I know I'll keep running after I graduate.
GoDuke.com: What's next for you when your time at Duke is over?
Allison Sturges: I've been working for a startup company in San Francisco. It's a social networking app called “Blend.” I've been working for them for a year and a half, mostly in the summer, but then part time as a student, too. I'm 99% sure I'm going to end up there after I graduate, which is pretty exciting, just working in a startup and stuff. It's a really cool culture, and I'm really close with the company. It's really small. There are eight of us for the business. That's the plan right now, to go work there. I think in terms of training, I'll definitely keep on training after school. I wouldn't be able to just stop running so maybe I'll train with my old coach from home or join a team or something like that and keep racing. But I'll definitely see how things are going after the track season and see what I'm up for.
GoDuke.com: If you continue to run, what distances would you be running?
AS: I don't know. I definitely want to do marathons at some point. I'd really like to try a triathlon or an Iron Man at some point down the road, a long time from now. I think if I were to start training after I graduate, I'd want to keep doing mid-distance stuff and still try to get in some track races, then I'd also do some 5k or 10k road races.
GoDuke.com: Obviously running is a significant part of your life. How did you get into running?
AS: I guess I started running in fourth grade. My elementary school had a junior Olympics event and there were a ton of different sports they did at the junior Olympics. You could only choose three events that you wanted to sign up for. And my friend said, “I'm going to do the 1320 race,” and I had no idea even what that was but I said, “Oh, I'll do that with you.” I ended up signing up for it. I ended up getting third place and then the following years I kept doing it, and I won those other two years. I started getting really into it and then in junior high, I really got more serious about it. I won most of my races in junior high. Through high school, I was very serious. I played soccer up to freshman year of high school, but then I got injured that year, so I had to make a decision. I couldn't keep doing both, so freshman year was the turning point where I decided to [just run].
GoDuke.com: What does it mean to you to represent Duke when you're at a meet?
AS: It's definitely exciting. I think that Duke has such a cool, unique reputation because it has such a good balance between academics and athletics. It has that really interesting dynamic. And I think even more in the past year or two, I've felt it. When I wear my Duke gear, I feel even more pride for it. So that's pretty cool. When I'm at a race, I'm running for my teammates, but then I also know I'm wearing the Duke jersey, representing Duke. It's cool to be a part of the athletic history and everything that's going on at the school. I'm from the west coast, where Duke is not as big. It's really interesting representing a school that not everyone there knows about. Its been awesome being a part of the Duke community and being an athlete in that community.
GoDuke.com: Do you have any type of pre-race rituals?
AS: I think that in high school, I was a lot more specific about certain things like rituals. I would have the same pair of socks, and I would have right and left socks, where the right sock had to be pink and the left sock had to be blue. Little things like that. Once I came to college, I didn't do the same things. I think part of that was changing my routine in general, like warm up and all of that. So I don't have any weird or quirky pre-race rituals that I can think of.
GoDuke.com: Do you have any memories of running when everything just came together, everything was clicking and you felt really good?
AS: I'd say the race that best defines that was the Duke Twilight Meet last track season. It was an interesting point in my Duke career and that season in particular. Indoor wasn't going super well for me and there was some kind of spark there where I was just waiting for a good race to happen. And the outdoor season goes by so fast. The Duke Twilight is when I got my 1,500-meter personal record, and it was also the deciding factor in who was going to get to go to ACCs. I didn't qualify for time for ACCs, but I still could have gotten the wild card spot so that race was really important to me. It was also only the second meet at the new Duke track, so that was also really exciting. Also, the Twilight meet was at night, and I always race better at night, or even just run better at night. That was one race that I can really look back on and think it was a really cool experience. I ended up making it to ACCs, and probably because of that race, so I think that is where it all came together.
GoDuke.com: What has the sport of cross country or track taught you?
AS: I think there's a lot. Just being a college athlete, there's dedication and motivation, like those kinds of things. Putting in the time and the effort and knowing what you have to do. Everyone says college is the growing time, figuring out who you are, and I think being a part of a sports team has been a really interesting experience for me. There's definitely been a lot of ups and downs. You go through challenges. I think I've definitely learned how to deal with those challenges, how to make the best of them. Running itself is a very difficult sport. You have to be extremely dedicated in all aspects of life. There's a lot to keep up on. We're training every day and running 50 miles a week, all year round. It's definitely a lot of dedication, being focused, knowing what you have to do and reminding yourself of your goals every day or every week which I think is totally applicable to even things you have to do later in life, such as work. I just think all of that stuff is really helpful to help you stay on track and know what you want out of something. It's been a really cool opportunity, and I know I'll keep running after I graduate.
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
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