The moment Jenny Simpson took the lead at the New York City Marathon on Sunday was brief – but it was fitting.

It was around mile eight, and a group of about 20 women ran packed together at the front of the elite race, comfortably churning along. 

Then, just for a few seconds, Simpson found herself at the front, leading the group of women down the streets of Brooklyn. It constituted no real move or surge on Simpson’s part, but rather it was as if she naturally drifted into that position, and the other elite women seemed to step aside and let her have her moment in the sun.

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Those who have been following American distance running for the past two decades are all too familiar with seeing one of the most decorated U.S. distance runners, leading the way in a race. And in what was the final race of her professional career on Sunday, we got to see that yet again, even if only for a handful of seconds.

Simpson crossed the finish line at the New York City Marathon on Sunday, running 2:31:54 for 18th place. Simpson's finish also marked the end of a storied competitive career, one that saw her collect groundbreaking performances on the track from the collegiate to the pro level.

“In the moment, I’m trying to be the best I can, and I did that all the way to the end,” said Simpson in an interview with FloTrack following the NYC Marathon. “Even today, there were different hard moments, and I was just trying to be the best athlete I could.”

And for those who have followed Simpson’s career, they know that she is rarely not at her best, even in the tough times. 

A World Championship gold medal. An Olympic bronze medal. Two World Championship silver medals. 11 U.S. titles. Three NCAA titles. A Diamond League title. 

It’s a list of accolades any young runner would aspire to earn – and it doesn’t even cover them all.

But Simpson wasn’t dreaming of the future as a young girl at Oviedo High School in Florida. Instead, she was focused on being the best at her school, her state and then among the best in the nation.

And that’s exactly what she did. She finished third at the 2003 Foot Locker XC Championships and 10th in 2004. Then Simpson tackled new challenges as a Colorado Buffalo, moving to the 3k steeplechase and not only winning three NCAA titles, but making the Olympic team in the event and a World Championship team to boot.

There’s also Simpson’s legendary 1,500m performance at the 2009 Prefontaine Classic, one where she set a collegiate record of 3:59.90, that still stands 15 years later.

Then she made the move to the pro ranks, Simpson transitioned fully to the 1,500m/mile and became arguably the most successful American female at the distance in history. Not only did Simpson earn Olympic and World medals, but she almost always did so in flawlessly-executed races, making her one of the greatest U.S. tacticians over three-and-a-half laps.

It was that step-by-step mentality – simply always wanting to be the best on any given day –  that Simpson says truly carried her throughout her prestigious career.

“If I knew when I was young how good I could be, I wouldn’t have worked as hard,” said Simpson after the NYC Marathon. “I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much as it came in incremental steps. If you’re young, don’t worry about the future. Just be the best you can be every day and the future will surprise you.”

But for someone as persistent as Simpson, we have a hard time believing she wouldn’t have worked as hard if she knew the success to come.

What happened when she fell to the ground at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships just past the 3k mark after admittedly getting out too hot and leading for the beginning of the race? Simpson picked herself back up and gutted it out to the finish, placing 163rd.  

When Simpson found herself in sixth place going into an all-out sprint over the final 400 meters of the women’s 1,500m final at the 2016 Rio Olympics, did she panic? No – in fact, she was right where she wanted to be. Simpson reeled in four of them to win the bronze medal, marking the first time an American woman had medaled in that distance at the Olympics.

And when Simpson made the shift from the track to the roads in 2022, she didn’t shy away from big goals. She may not have finished the race on a hot day in Orlando at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February, but Simpson didn’t let that stop her from running both Boston (2:31:39, 18th place) and NYC (2:31:54, 18th place) later on in the year.

That’s just Jenny. Simply put. Simpson has a rare tenacity that she would’ve always channeled, whether she knew the medals were to come or not.

And perhaps because of that determination, the journey isn’t completely over for Simpson. Though she has retired from professional competition, Simpson plans to head out on a year-long RV tour of the U.S. with her husband in 2025, looking to explore the running culture in each state. 

She may be hanging up the spikes and the road racing shoes. But that definitely doesn’t mean the end of running for Jenny Simpson.

The New York City Marathon may not have marked the perfect fairy-tale ending to Simpson’s career. Maybe the storybook moment would’ve been watching her unleash a killer close in the final 300 meters of a 1,500m, or performing on the track on yet another world stage.

But that doesn't matter. Jenny’s always going to give her best, and that’s exactly what she gave on Sunday. And for a moment in the streets of Brooklyn, we were all reminded of that one final time.

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