McKale Montgomery

Bio

McKale Montgomery is a Fort Worth-based runner, nutrition professor, and researcher at Texas Christian University (TCU). Originally from a small town in Oklahoma, McKale began running in high school, earning All-State cross country honors and winning the mile and two-mile at the state level in track her sophomore, junior, and senior years. She went on to run collegiately at TCU on a full scholarship from 2003 to 2007, where she became the first runner in program history to win a conference championship at the 10K. She later earned a master's degree and PhD from Oklahoma State University, where she also competed in indoor track. She returned to TCU in December 2024 as a nutrition professor, where her appointment is split between teaching advanced metabolism and running an active research lab focused on nutrient-gene interactions and chronic disease development. As a road runner, McKale ran a 2:48 in her debut at the Chicago Marathon, finished third overall and first American at the White Rock Marathon in 2011, and set the Oklahoma state marathon record in 2022 at the Oklahoma City Marathon. Her official marathon PR is 2:34, set at the Marathon Project in 2020. She won the Cowtown Marathon in 2018 and in 2025 won the Cowtown 50K outright — the first time a woman had won the race overall. In September 2022, McKale lost control of her right leg while running. After three and a half years and numerous medical consultations, she was diagnosed with runner's dystonia, one of only 48 confirmed cases in the United States. She has been managing the condition with experimental medication and continues to train and compete.