For stretches of her four long years in running purgatory, the poster child for a drug-fighting system in sports that nobody truly understands was as likely to be seen driving her ‘71 VW minibus across the country as working out on the track. America’s reigning 5,000-meter champion, Shelby Houlihan, used what is now known, infamously, as her “Burrito Ban” to scratch some things off her bucket list. She bought the burgundy bus — sight unseen — and logged an estimated 6,000 miles on a tour of America that wasn’t possible when she was training. “I thought, I didn’t have running to hold me back,” Houlihan said.
“I’ve got to go do some fun things.” Now that her ban is expired, “fun” means rediscovering the purpose for all those miles she’s piled up — not in the minibus, but over four years of running just to run. Houlihan was entered in the 5,000 meters at world championships in Japan’s National Stadium, the place she was denied a chance to compete four years ago in the wake of a polarizing doping ban that took away not one, but two Olympics. This will be her first major outdoor track meet since she finished fourth in the 1,500 in Doha at the 2019 worlds.
