She started running in 2022 and gained a large following by sharing online how she balanced lab work and training.

Her rise to fame happened rather quickly for an amateur runner. She improved her best over 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to about 36½ minutes and clocked 1 hour, 22 minutes, 1 second at the New Balance Half Marathon in March. On April 5, she won the women's amateur division over 10 kilometers at the Gunsan Saemangeum Marathon.

In a March interview with YouTube, Yoo said she arrives at the lab at 9 a.m. every day and runs for about two hours starting at 8 p.m., adding that she has been actively chasing personal records since the previous summer.