In Lane 9 with Hollie Sick, aka Fueledbylolz
Running blogger and laughter enthusiast
Hollie Sick, known online as FueledByLolz (
), is a runner and blogger. She shares honest race recaps, training updates, and gear reviews, offering a relatable and unfiltered look into the running world. Hollie brings humor and authenticity to everything she does.How did you find running and what keeps you around?
I grew up as a swimmer and swam competitively through most of college. My junior year of college, I got pretty burnt out of swimming. It became miserable to me and I wanted a change. I was never a runner growing up, in fact, like many I made every excuse to get out of running the mile in gym class.
For some reason, in spring of 2010, I decided to run my college's 5k. I shocked myself with my pace. That spring, I ran off and on about 10 miles a week. For some reason, I decided to walk onto my D3 cross country team in the fall. I had no idea running would become such a big part of my life.
What made me stick with it was how it made me feel. I loved the structure, the challenge, and the views! After swimming and staring at the bottom of the pool for years, it was fun to work out where I could see things. The community and the personal connection to the sport have kept me around for over a decade now. I've met so many people through running including my spouse, close friends, and more.
The community and the personal connection to the sport have kept me around for over a decade now.
What is the biggest lesson running has taught you?
Running has taught me that consistency will always beat perfection. I tell everyone "C"s get degrees and what I mean by that is, imperfect workouts are still going to make you fit.
Life throws curveballs: whether that’s injury, burnout, or just bad races and it’s easy to get caught up in one bad day. But when you zoom out, those individual moments don’t define your journey. What matters is showing up, over and over again. That lesson has carried over into a lot of areas in my life, not just training. Be prepared for your goals but don't fret if you miss a few days here and there.
Running has taught me
that consistency will
always beat perfection.
What is your favorite mile on a long run? What about least?
The last miles are usually my favorite. I'm somewhat of a slow burner so it takes me a while to warm up.
My least favorite miles are usually towards the middle or in a half marathon mile 11. It feels like you're almost done, but not quite there. In a marathon, usually miles 16-20 because you still have a long way to go.
How do you keep running fun and avoid getting caught up in metrics?
Most of my PRs are behind me so while I like the sense the accomplishing goals, I'm not totally a metric person and really I've never been super reliant on a watch. You won't catch me staring at a watch during workouts or races. Your body either feels good or it doesn't and pushing yourself on days your body says no will probably just cause injury or take longer to recover. I go mostly by effort.
I try to keep running fun by rotating routes, running in new places when I travel, and trying new things. I take a season (during the summer) to work on shorter stuff and honestly it's usually my favorite time of year. I'm heading into that in June.
It’s easy to spiral into data for the sake of data, but if I’m not enjoying the process, the numbers don’t matter.
I also started running in an era where we didn't even have GPS watches (why does 2010 feel so long ago?). So obsessing over data and miles isn't something I grew up in the sport doing.
Can you tell us about your most difficult run/race? How did you overcome that?
I've had a few.
Race wise: The 2019 New York City Marathon. I just didn't feel good from the start (because I likely overdid it with activations the days leading up) and it's really hard to grind it out for 26.2 miles. I remember going over the George Washington Bridge around mile 16 and almost being in tears wondering how I was going to finish. I did and it wasn't pretty but I'm proud of myself. It was my slowest marathon, but any marathon you come out uninjured is a good one.
2022 Wineshine Half Marathon: I actually was going through an illness at the time and it was really hard to run paces I was used too just a few months prior. At the time, I didn't realize I had "the long flu" (who knew that was actually a thing) and it took me months to recover and feel good aerobically. I had to take breaks walking up stairs. Looking back, I should have taken it even easier then I did. The Half was 4 months after I got the flu, but I also didn't know/think I was dealing with side effects of it. I just thought I was out of shape!
Training runs: Living in the Mojave Desert now, I can tell you I've had all of my hardest training runs here. It gets to be about 120 in the summertime. We have some reprieve in the morning, but the summer is brutal. It took me about 2 years of acclimating to feel okay during the summer but I had a couple of runs that I was not prepared for when we first moved here and it involved walking 5 miles home. Now I bring hydration all of the time. 1 mile run? Hydration.
You've been part of the running influencer space for a while and have recently spoken out about some troubling trends. How do you view an influencer's responsibility when it comes to sharing content that’s both responsible and well-informed?
I think influencers, whether they like the term or not, have a responsibility to be honest and thoughtful in what they share. That doesn’t mean we all need to be experts (and most really aren't), but it does mean we need to be clear when we’re giving opinions versus facts.
There’s a lot of quiet competitiveness and fake positivity in the running space and it’s easy for people to feel like they have to keep up with something that might not even be real. I try to speak out about that because I don’t think we talk enough about how performative this space can be. Many people, myself included (although I made the choice to step back more the last 1-2 years) have monetized this space. With that, I believe comes the responsibility to share quality content, not just content that will perform the best and get the most views.
There’s a lot of quiet competitiveness and fake positivity in the running space and it’s easy for people to feel like they have to keep up with something that might not even be real.
I try to speak out about that
because I don’t think we talk enough
about how performative this space can be.
With having followers (any amount), you never know how someone may try to replicate your training and it's important to be transparent. I just had this conversation with a friend, when I say "I haven't run lately", I personally mean I have run zero miles. There are people that say that and mean they aren't running what they usually do and that could still mean running 40 miles a week. Being transparent is essential.
You’ve experienced a series of ups and downs with illness in the past 6 months or so. How have you navigated that and gotten back to a place where running feels good again?
The past six months have been a rollercoaster with getting sick multiple times and feeling like every time I gained momentum, I lost it again. I had to completely reset my expectations and be okay with progress that didn’t look linear. I had back to back stomach flu and flu which likely impacted my running of the Los Angeles Marathon. I frequently tell myself there is always another race.
What excites you most right now in the running space?
I’m really excited about seeing more niche and specific gear hit the market: shoes designed for certain terrains, apparel that actually works for desert heat, things like that. I’m also interested in seeing more athletes and creators pushing for transparency and honesty, whether that’s around brand deals, training, or even burnout. The more real the conversation gets, the better the space becomes.
In my own space, I am excited for fast girl summer (this means training for short races). There is a certain push towards long races and marathons, but 5Ks are fun too. I spend the summer racing shorter distances and honestly they are some of my favorite months.
Where can readers follow along for all of your running adventures?
You can follow me at fueledbylolz.com for race recaps, shoe reviews, and blog posts, or on Instagram fueledbylolz for a mix of running, sarcasm, and whatever random tangent I’m on that week. I put out a newsletter once a week on whatever topic that has resonated with me, as well.
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