Fast and Slow: Discovering Strength Beyond Speed: A Memoir

The most decorated track and field athlete in history reveals how becoming a mother turned into the fight of her life—and pushed her to find her voice, on and off the track.

I’m really, really fast. But there’s no such thing as “fast” inside a delivery room.

Allyson Felix, one of the fastest women in the world, meticulously planned out her life according to the rigid schedule expected of all top female runners. From a young age she witnessed older teammates wrestle with the decision to have a child. Motherhood, Felix learned, was a high-stakes game that for many women athletes meant the end of everything they worked hard for.

But at thirty-three, the sports icon knew she was ready to become a mother herself. She gave birth to a baby girl, delivered prematurely after Felix was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia. She emerged from the harrowing ordeal forever changed. In the months after, Felix’s contract negotiations with her sponsor Nike stalled when they refused to put language in her agreement that allowed sufficient recovery time postpartum without financial penalty. This, after they had reduced her pay by 70 percent. Felix resolved to fight back. Her brave campaign to create change within Nike reverberated throughout the world of sports, paving the way for real transformation for female athletes. Yet, until now, she has never shared her full truth.

In Fast and Slow, Allyson Felix chronicles with raw honesty her journey as a mother, businesswoman, groundbreaking change agent, and legendary athlete. In the process she shows readers what it looks like to boldly step into your power—one decision, one act, one bold commitment to yourself at a time.