Ep. 11: Nikki Hiltz & Getting Back to Who Was There From the Start

Welcome back after a break! This week's guest is Nikki Hiltz (they/them). Nikki is a professional runner and major advocate for the greater LGBTQ+ community. Fun fact: Nikki and host of the show, Adam, knew each other when each were in their respective closets and chat a bit about this on the show. Nikki goes on to share about their experience of growing up, navigating the limiting box of society’s gender and sexuality expectations, the experience of pushing away thought of their gender and sexual identity and using their success as an athlete as a place to focus their energy instead, and then what their own process of coming out and back to their true self has looked like; first embracing their sexual and romantic identity and then embracing their gender identity, and how they have used their platform to be a voice to increase representation, visibility, and inclusion of trans and queer people both in sport and in the world.

About the guest:
Nikki Hiltz is a professional track and field athlete from Aptos, California who specializes in the 1500m. In high school, they were the 2012 California State Champion. In college, they were a 6 time All American while competing for the University of Oregon and University of Arkansas. As a professional runner, Hiltz has become a Pan American Champion, US road mile champion, and a World Championship Finalist. Hiltz is also the founder and race director of the Pride 5k and an avid advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. They are trans nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.

For more from Nikki, follow them on Instagram @NikkiHiltz

For more about Second Adolescence, visit www.secondadolescencepod.com or @secondadolescencepod.

Download episode transcript here.