There was a time when Michelle Wie West got into running marathons. She wanted to shed the 75 pounds she gained during her second pregnancy. Running a few miles seemed like the perfect choice. But what was supposed to be strength training for her ended up causing more harm.

“I think it was like a mile and a quarter, we made the turn just out of the forum, and we now had just left the big crowds,” West narrated. “I fell in a pothole…which is very on brand for me, I kind of like stumbled. I didn’t fall to the ground, thankfully, but…I kind of hurt my hip a little bit. And I continued running for the majority of the 12 miles that were left. So, yeah, my hip was not great after that,” West told Kiara Dixon, Quiet Please, trying to control her laugh.

It was the Nike After Dark Half Marathon, where Michelle Wie West encountered this “fall.” West has long been a brand ambassador for Nike, signing with the brand at a very young age. Over the years, she has earned more than $20 million, promoting their apparel. So running for them felt like a calling. Moreover, the marathon was dominated by women, who were running at night, trying to take their power back.

“Historically speaking, it’s really dangerous for women to run after dark,” West explained. “It’s when we feel most vulnerable. Obviously, there have been a lot of sad stories that have come from that. So it’s really about taking your power back, and I love the story behind it.”

With so much to offer, West signed up for the marathon with some of her “big runner” friends. The prospect of running gave her a high. “I think playing professional sports, you know, there’s just such a high after you win,” said West. So, she started training for it. Finally, she shows up in Los Angeles for the D-Day. Little did she know the outcome of the marathon would be the last thing she was expecting.

“It was interesting,” West went on, laughing. “And I finished the race literally dead middle…I felt good about it. But, like, all I’m thinking about is I’m this tired… I know people who do ultramarathons. And all I could think about was, like, ‘Wow, I feel this, like, ruined…’ after, like, the shortest probably distance running event there is.”

All of this feels very deja vu. West has built her entire career while navigating injuries. The most devastating of it all came during her teens. At 16, she fractured three bones in her left wrist after falling at a track meet in Stanford. This same injury will go on to plague her career in the future.

Before this fracture, West competed in eight LPGA events without missing a single cut. She recorded six top-10s, with her worst finish being a T26. But after this incident, she missed three of eight cuts, withdrew from two tournaments, and went down in the rankings. Eventually, she developed premature arthritis in the wrist, which forced her to take an early retirement.

But even through her short career, injuries clouded her routines. As she “trained like a man,” she occasionally rotated her neck, back, hips, knees, and whatnot. Injuries indeed became her brand. But all of this changed when she became a mother.

Motherhood shifted Michelle Wie West’s perspective on her body. After the arrival of Makenna, her daughter, she practiced less intensely and focused her energy on Pilates and yoga rather than heavy workouts. Her second pregnancy with son Jagger caused her more emotional chaos, as it was an IVF one. More or less, West’s softening towards her body was the right thing to do.

Yet, the love for athletics has never left her.

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Michelle Wie West and her unfinished love

When Michelle Wie West was 10, she stood tall at 5’7, weighing 165 pounds and hitting golf balls over 275 yards. She was meant to be an athlete. and not an average one for that matter. But an early retirement did not let her complete the dream fully. Still, after walking away from pro golf, West remains committed to her love for sports.

She often runs in half half-marathon. In June 2025, she completed one, her first since the pothole incident at the Nike After Dark race. To her, it felt like a milestone in reconnecting with her body, “after everything, including my pregnancies and postpartum recovery.” She now also enjoys tennis and pickleball, embracing their challenges without them consuming her life.

Importantly, she’s exposing Makenna to the same healthy athletic path. The mother-daughter duo plays soccer, tennis, golf, and anything her 5-year-old wants to try.  And of course, golf remains a significant part of West’s life. She now hosts the Mizuho Americas Open, which, as per her, is her “third child.”

In many ways, Wie West has rediscovered the athlete she was before the world expected her to be a prodigy.