
Wemby tops Duncan with 35 in Spurs playoff debut
Victor Wembanyama shines with 35 points in Spurs playoff debut, leading to a win over the Trail Blazers!
Addi Dorenkamp, a record-holding track star from Iowa, discusses her injuries and college journey in a recent podcast interview. After starting at Alabama, she transferred to Colorado, where she has faced significant challenges due to injuries.
Mentioned in this story
Register blogger Lance Bergeson interviewed Iowa girls all-time 1,500-meter and 3,000 leader Addi Dorenkamp on his podcast, The Run Around Iowa, on April 15. Addi was a track and field star at Valley High before starting her college career at Alabama in the fall of 2024 before transferring to Colorado a year ago. Addi has been injured for nearly her entire career in Boulder and talks about those injuries and much more in this Q&A.
Q: It's been just a real, real tough grind for you injury-wise. What's been happening here?
A: When I was a freshman at Alabama during indoor track season, so this was like February, I found out I had a stress reaction in my femur. So that was kind of the first one that I guess started this whole thing. And then (I) took some time off and rehabbed it, tried to get back into running, and during this time I made the decision to transfer and leave Alabama. So I transferred to Colorado, I did that like at the beginning of May. And then …
Q: You entered the portal in April?
A: Yeah, It was like end of April. … Then, during the summer while I was, you know, trying to build back and stuff, I ended up finding out I had another stress fracture. It was a grade four in my tibia. So obviously that was really frustrating and kind of a shock, to get two so close together like that. So then I did the same thing, took I think it ended up being like two and a a half months off and slowly started to get back into things with running. And then about three months later, I found out I had a third stress fracture in my femur. So this was like end of December, in my other femur. And now I'm kind of in the process of getting back from that one. Yeah, that's kind of been what my year has looked like. It's been a lot of cross training and time off, which has been a little frustrating, but I'm … hoping that this one's the last one and I can finally get through this.
Q: Are you hating biking right now and swimming?
A: Yeah, there's been a lot of hours on the bike and elliptical, which is never fun.
Q: Oh, my word, this sounds just really, just terrible. I completely sympathize with you. Was it just a case of you just trying to come back too soon? Because I know you are a driven young lady, very motivated.
A: Yeah, I think it was a combination of things. I think maybe the first two times it was just increasing mileage and maybe I wasn't necessarily ready for it. And yeah, I think that was probably the reason for the first two and also just trying to come back a little too fast. I am the type of person where when I start to feel good with running I maybe get a little too excited. … And I think just pushing myself a little more than I guess my body can handle. I probably made a pretty significant, not super big jump in mileage, but enough to whereI think that could be the reason behind it.
Addi Dorenkamp has dealt with a stress reaction in her femur, which began her injury struggles during her freshman year at Alabama.
Addi Dorenkamp transferred from Alabama to Colorado to continue her track career after facing injuries and challenges at Alabama.
Addi Dorenkamp is the all-time leader in the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter events for Iowa girls.
Addi Dorenkamp began her college track career at Alabama in the fall of 2024 before transferring to Colorado.

Victor Wembanyama shines with 35 points in Spurs playoff debut, leading to a win over the Trail Blazers!
Real Madrid offers a one-year extension to key defender Antonio Rudiger.
Alessandro Bastoni, Barcelona's top defensive target, won't move to Liverpool and prefers two other clubs.

Urizar Azpitarte: Negreira engañó al Barcelona en pagos controvertidos
Chelsea targets Sunderland's Noah Sadiki, likely to pay over €35m.
Red Sox's Garrett Crochet admits to slump after rough outing vs. Tigers
See every story in Sports — including breaking news and analysis.
Q: How close are you to actually getting back to lacing up the running shoes?
A: I am on my third week of ground running this week. Yeah, slowly getting back into it.
Q: Is there any possibility you would be hitting a meet here, or are you just looking ahead to cross country?
A: I think now … my coaches and I have all kind of decided that cross country this fall is kind of the goal, which I feel like is the best-case scenario for me because it just allows me more time to get back into it and get in a spot where I feel like I can be competitive and race versus trying to rush back to it. Cause obviously I want to race right now (laughs). It does suck to like (laughs) … not be able to race. Yeah, I think it'll be better for me to just wait until the fall where I'll be in a better spot to run well.
Q: How hard has that been for you mentally to get over the injuries?
A: It's definitely really hard, especially when you're coming into a new program injured and … being in a new team environment injured so you're not really at practice all the time, like getting to know people. … Like you just feel like you're on your own, I guess. But then also like the running side of it, it is really hard when I did have a lot of success in high school and it's kind of like a hard pill to swallow (laughs). Like, I've been out for so long. I haven't raced in so long. And that is really hard, you do kind of go crazy a little bit. And it can be hard to watch other people competing. … What I am trying to say is just very isolating.
Q: How are we doing outside of the running? How is everything else blending in?
A: I definitely am, having a lot of fun here. I think just being in Boulder is so cool. And obviously being in the mountains is cool. … Boulder is a very, there's a big running community here. It's really fun. I'm like a finance major. So I'm in the business school and I like the business school here more than I did at Alabama. It feels more like academic I guess. My classes are a little harder, which I like (laughs).
Q: What really motivated you during those low times when you had to overcome yet another injury?
A: I think just remembering how great that time of my life was and how, just fulfilling it felt to break records and win state titles and …. get to run at nationals for cross country. I think remembering the feeling of how like great it felt has really helped me get through it because I want to get to that place again where I can put this work in that I'm doing something and get results from it. Just remembering all those things is what really helps me get through it.
Q: (In high school), you're a big star. You're getting 18,000 people cheering for you at the Drake Relays and state meet. Does that just blow your mind, thinking about that time where you've got this crowd in the palm of your hand, basically.
A: I mean that's something I love about the state of Iowa. The state track meet just brings so many people. It's just really cool because I feel like even when there's like other classes' races going on … everyone gets excited and is cheering. So I think that's just such a cool environment to be in. … It helped - not feel like easier - but it just gets your adrenaline pumping a little bit more and you're like, OK, wow, there's this big crowd, that everyone's watching me. Everyone's cheering. So now I'm going to run really fast.
Listen to the full interview here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2qD8BhgezrrhQ5zuGqg8Cn
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Q&A with Addi Dorenkamp, Valley state record holder now at Colorado