During a muddy long run in October, after 15 weeks of training for her half marathon debut, Amanda Vestri slipped and pulled her piriformis muscle. The pain was too much to try and run through. (A similar issue forced her to withdraw from the U.S. Cross Country Championships, where she was looking to contend for a spot at the 2024 World Cross Country Championships.)

Despite those two setbacks, 2024 has been the best year of Vestri’s career on the track – she notched personal bests of 15:13.38 for 5000m, 31:10.53 for 10,000m, and a fifth place finish at the U.S. Olympic Track Trials 10,000m final. It was enough to convince Brooks to sign the former Syracuse star to her first contract. She also expressed to the brand her optimism about her potential on the roads with October’s Valencia Half Marathon as a possible debut.

“I was so delusional. I was like, ‘I want to go and run the American record. I can do that.’” Vestri says. “If I am delusional enough to think I can get the American record in the half, maybe I can still run sub-1:07:30. Maybe I can still run something really, really good… Anything can happen. I feel like the half marathon is the sweet spot for me. I don’t think sub-1:07:00 is out of the question for me at some point. Valencia I knew would be the place to run fast so I was bummed.”

Dating back to her days at Syracuse, coach Brian Bell would remark that Vestri’s best event may someday be the marathon. She’s aligned with that long-term vision and vocal that her goal is to make the United States Olympic marathon team for 2028 in Los Angeles.

Before the piriformis injury, her mileage hovered around 100 miles per week. She adds she was crushing workouts and averaging 18- to 19-mile long runs at 6:05-6:10 pace. There was even a moment she considered making a pivot and entering December 1st’s Valencia Marathon to test herself. However, the injury forced her to cross-train on the Elliptigo and Alter-G treadmill (five days a week for about two weeks at 85% body weight) until she could return to the ground in early November.

ZAP Fitness coach Pete Rea and her agent Josh Cox pivoted to her focusing on the Houston Half Marathon on Jan. 19th but while spending some time visiting family and training in St. Augustine, Florida, Vestri proposed the idea of testing herself out in the OUC Orlando Half Marathon on Dec. 7th.

Since Nov. 3, Vestri says she did two long runs – including an hour and 45-minute long run the week of the race – and two moderate workouts. She estimated that a 1:10 performance would be a good day for her.

From the gun, Vestri took off with a 5:18 first mile and then quickly distanced herself from Katie Izzo. Alone with her bike escort, she settled into a 5:12/mile pace.

“I started falling off a little bit at like, mile 10, but it was more so out of boredom than anything because no one was with me and I didn’t have any guys with me either so I was kind of like, ‘I want this to be over. I’m kind of bored,’ Vestri says.

Upon crossing the finish line, Vestri ran right into her father’s arms and was nearly in tears. She said, “Oh my God, dad! Did you see what I just did? That’s crazy.”

1:08:12 puts her at No. 13 on the U.S. women’s all-time half marathon list. Only Weini Kelati’s American record of 1:06:25 from January’s Houston Half Marathon; Annie Frisbie’s 1:07:34 from her win at Grandma’s Half and Dakotah Lindwurm’s 1:08:04 from that same race are faster performances by an American woman in 2024.

This bodes well for Vestri’s hopes of contending for a spot on Team USA for the 2025 World Road Running Championships, which are set to take place in San Diego next September. Vestri also plans to race the 10,000m at Sound Running’s The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, California, on March 29th to chase a personal best and improve her World Ranking.