Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness

by Suzy Favor Hamilton

Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The former middle distance Olympic runner and high-end escort speaks out for the first time about her battle with mental illness, and how mania controlled and compelled her in competition, but also in life. This is a heartbreakingly honest yet hopeful memoir reminiscent of Manic, Electroboy, and An Unquiet Mind.

During the 1990s, three-time Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton was the darling of American track and field. An outstanding runner, a major sports apparel spokesperson, and a happily married wife, she was the model for an active, healthy, and wholesome life. But her perfect facade masked a dark truth: manic depression and bipolar disorder that drove her obsession to perform and win. For years after leaving the track, Suzy wrestled with her condition, as well as the loss of a close friend, conflicted feelings about motherhood and her marriage, and lingering shame about her athletic career. After a misdiagnosis and a recommendation for medication that only exacerbated her mania and made her hypersexual, Suzy embarked on a new path, and assumed a new identity. Fueled by a newfound confidence, a feeling of strength and independence and a desire she couldn’t tamp down, she became a high-priced escort in Las Vegas, working as “Kelly.”

But Suzy could not keep her double life a secret forever. When it was eventually exposed, it sent her into a reckless suicidal period where the only option seemed out. Finally, with the help of her devoted husband, Suzy finally got the proper medical help she needed. In this startling frank memoir, she recounts the journey to outrun her demons, revealing how a woman used to physically controlling her body learned to come to terms with her unstable mind. It is the story of a how a supreme competitor scored her most important victory of all—reclaiming her life from the ravages of an untreated mental illness. Today, thanks to diagnosis, therapy, Kelly has stepped into the shadows, but Suzy is building a better life, one day at a time. Sharing her story, Suzy is determined to raise awareness, provide understanding, and offer inspiration to others coping with their own challenges.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062346209
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	360,077
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Suzy Favor Hamilton is a three-time Olympian for women's middle distance running. She is a sought-after public speaker—addressing eating disorders, mental illness, and the struggles that young athletes face—as well as a yoga instructor. Favor Hamilton lives in California and Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Manic 1

Chapter 1 A Feeling Like Flying 7

Chapter 2 Perfect 23

Chapter 3 Go Badgers 39

Chapter 4 I'm Going to Marry Him 51

Chapter 5 Chasing Gold 65

Chapter 6 Real Life 93

Chapter 7 A Diagnosis 113

Chapter 8 What Happens in Vegas 129

Chapter 9 Exploration 147

Chapter 10 A Wake-Up Call 163

Chapter 11 Double Life 175

Chapter 12 ATF 187

Chapter 13 Becoming Kelly 201

Chapter 14 I Know Who You Are 215

Chapter 15 Extreme 223

Chapter 16 Marriage of Convenience 233

Chapter 17 Numb 241

Chapter 18 Marry Me 247

Chapter 19 Who I Really Am 261

Chapter 20 The Smoking Gun 273

Chapter 21 Exposure 283

Epilogue: A Work in Progress 289

Acknowledgments 293

Editorial Reviews

...rich clients, secret identities and the Olympics: Suzy Favor Hamilton’s memoir [FAST GIRL] has it all.

Hollywood Life

Hamilton is telling the story her way, with her new memoir, Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, in which she details with disarming frankness her spiral from “America’s sweetheart” to suicidal sufferer of bipolar disorder.

Refinery 29

Favor Hamilton’s story has captured attention because of her work as an escort, but “Fast Girl” is ultimately more interesting for what it says about the psychological demands of high-level sports.

New Yorker

In her memoir Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, Favor Hamilton...take[s] ownership of her story and uses it promote awareness of the destructive mental illness that...encouraged her double life.

Cosmopolitan

Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness...[is] detailed and vibrant.

New York Post

Favor Hamilton’s story has captured attention because of her work as an escort, but “Fast Girl” is ultimately more interesting for what it says about the psychological demands of high-level sports.” — New Yorker

“In [FAST GIRL], [Suzy Favor Hamilton]...dishes in detail.” — New York Post

“...rich clients, secret identities and the Olympics: Suzy Favor Hamilton’s memoir [FAST GIRL] has it all.” — Hollywood Life

“In her memoir Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, Favor Hamilton...take[s] ownership of her story and uses it promote awareness of the destructive mental illness that...encouraged her double life.” — Cosmopolitan

“Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running from Madness...[is] detailed and vibrant.” — New York Post

“Hamilton is telling the story her way, with her new memoir, Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, in which she details with disarming frankness her spiral from “America’s sweetheart” to suicidal sufferer of bipolar disorder.” — Refinery 29

From the Publisher

In her memoir Fast Girl: A Life Spent Running From Madness, Favor Hamilton...take[s] ownership of her story and uses it promote awareness of the destructive mental illness that...encouraged her double life.

Cosmopolitan

Favor Hamilton’s story has captured attention because of her work as an escort, but “Fast Girl” is ultimately more interesting for what it says about the psychological demands of high-level sports.

New Yorker

In [FAST GIRL], [Suzy Favor Hamilton]...dishes in detail.

New York Post

01/01/2015
A former three-time Olympic runner, Favor Hamilton was a happy wife and mother until misdiagnosed with manic depression and bipolar disorder, exacerbated by the wrong medication, which led to out-of-control sexual urges and a gig as a high-priced escort in Las Vegas. Here she seeks to educate others about mental illness. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Library Journal