From Wake Forest to Full-Time Counselor: Ashley Bastron on Leaving Coaching at Her Peak, the Eating Disorder Crisis in Running, and Putting People Over Results

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST · Aug 8, 2026 · 54m

Ashley Bastron just had the best year of her coaching career. Then she quit, and she's never felt more at peace.

In this episode, Dominic sits down with the former Wake Forest Associate Head Coach who guided the Demon Deacon women to their first NCAA Cross Country Championships since 2006, coached three All-Americans and two ACC champions in 2026, and then announced in July that she was stepping away to become a full-time clinical mental health counselor.

Her reason cuts deep: in an NCAA increasingly built around money and results, she couldn't be everything her athletes needed her to be…