We Run This

My guest this week is Allie Kieffer. Allie is a distance runner, running coach, and advocate for inclusivity in the sport of running. She came out of nowhere to place 5th in the 2017 New York City marathon and placed 7th the following year. She’s also finished in the top 6 at National Championships on five different occasions.

Allie and I discuss her amazing NYC performance, the typical runner’s body, finding runner friends, and even veer off-topic more than a few times to discuss dating other runners, living in different places, and the life of a nomadic runner. 

My guest this week is Jonathan Levitt. Jonathan is a runner, cyclist and hosts his own podcast for runners called "For The Long Run." 

He’s also the Sales and Endurance Team Manager for InsideTracker, a personalized nutrition system that analyzes your blood, DNA, and lifestyle to help you optimize your body and reach your goals.

In this episode, Jonathan and I discuss the stress of moving (he's moving this week) and how that impacted his Boston Marathon performance, the importance of sleep and why people just don't get enough, and the highs and lows of running a 50K.

My guest this week is Andrea Kooiman. She's a wife, mother, coach, and ultra runner. 

She's run Badwater135 three times, Western States two times, LAVS 500K, UTMB, HURT, CJ100, LT100, Mount Gaoligong and she's a part of the Grand Slam Class of 2016. 

In our discussion, Andrea opens up about the emotions involved with running an ultra, why she prefers coaching kids over adults, being ready to run wherever life takes her, and how to spot the perfect pooping bush during an ultramarathon. 

Scheduling issues and guests going into labor means no new episode this week but enjoy this replay of one of our earliest shows - episode #8 - all about the weird rules marathon runners have to follow during races. 

My guest on the show this week is Beatie Deutsch.

Beatie is the Israeli national champion in the marathon and half marathon.

Beatie took up running just four years ago and recently went pro with the goal of qualifying for Tokyo 2020 and representing Israel in the Olympics. 

More than anything else, her journey has empowered her to dream big and keep pushing, a message Beatie is passionate about sharing with other women. 

As a mother of five young kids, she has learned to apply her training to the real marathon of life. 

In this episode, Beatie talks about her path to becoming a runner, juggling being a mom with running, and how her faith helps guide her in life and in training.

Running is often thought of as a young person’s sport, but at the age of 39 Bernd Heinrich won his first marathon, as a complete unknown.  

It was only the third marathon he had ever run and his first in five years. 

Since then, the now 81-year-old has done everything from holding American records in four different distances – and the world records for those same distances in the masters category – at age 45, to outrunning a spitting cobra on the African plains. 

Bernd joined the show to talk about running and his new book - Racing The Clock - an in-depth look at running, aging, and the body, exploring the unresolved relationship between metabolism, diet, exercise, and age.

Our guest this week is ultrarunner, skydiver, and nurse, Rachel Belmont.

Rachel never stops moving. She's run the NYC marathon four times, the Boston Marathon, and a marathon on 4/7 of the continents, in locations such as Ireland, Tunisia, and Jordan. 

Prior to the pandemic, the New Jersey native was training to run the Mount Everest Ultramarathon. Just 24 at the time, Rachel would have been the youngest person to ever run the race. Unfortunately, the race was canceled because of the pandemic, and Rachel was forced to shift her focus to another race.

She's now training for the Volcano UltraMarathon in Iceland at the beginning of September.

In this episode, Rachel discusses her love of challenging herself, training for the Mount Everest Ultramarathon, living with the disappointment that the race wouldn't happen, and setting her sights on Iceland and the Volcano UltraMarathon. 

This week, we're talking to professional long-distance runner and the 2020 USATF Athlete of the Year, Natosha Rogers. 

She was a 2020 Cross Country National Champion, 2012 Olympic Trials Silver Medalist, and former Half Marathon National Champion.

In her recent bid to make the US Olympic team, she placed 7th at the Olympic Trials in the 10k. While not making the Olympic team is a setback, it’s nothing compared to the other obstacles life has put in Natosha’s way over the years.

Just over three years ago, the 30-year-old thought her running career was over. 

After a knee injury came out of nowhere, and surgery left her barely able to walk, she lost her and had to get a job in tech sales to pay the bills. 

She temporarily gave up on her dream of competing professionally until those setbacks helped Rogers discover an inner-strength that helped pull her through even the darkest times.

In this interview, Natosha talks about her injuries, the power of mantras and manifesting, getting into some dark moments, and her climb back to being a professional runner. 

At 23 years old, comedian Dan LaMorte found himself in a hospital bed suffering from a fatty liver and tipping the scales at over 354 pounds. 

Besides the liver issues, Dan also had gastrointestinal issues. Celiac disease was a possibility, and even though the tests came back inconclusive, the New Jersey native decided to cut gluten from his diet.

Dan saw results quickly and after shedding some pounds decided to take up running. 

With the pandemic shutting comedy clubs across the country, Dan had plenty of time to focus on his running. Eventually his short runs became longer distances, putting in 20 and then 30 miles a week. 

And then one day, Dan ran an ultra marathon. 

In this episode, Dan talks about his early days playing baseball and blowing out his arm, getting into stand-up comedy, putting on and eventually losing 171 pounds and using weed as a pre-workout.

This week, we’re joined by “The Ultramarathon Man” himself, Dean Karnazes.

Stop during any moment of the day today and think to yourself “I wonder if Dean Karnazes is running right now.” The answer is probably yes. We’re not sure Dean Karnazes ever stops running.

One named by TIME magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Dean Karnazes has pushed his body - and mind - to inconceivable limits. 

Probably most well known for running 50 marathons in 50 states for 50 consecutive straight days, Karnazes has logged miles in places people wouldn’t dream of stepping foot. He’s run racing in the hottest, driest, windiest, and coldest places in the world including across Death Valley in the middle of summer, and ran 26.2 at the South Pole.

Karnazes is also a New York Times best-selling author and his latest book - "A Runner’s High: My Life in Motion" - might be his best work yet. 

In this episode, Dean some of the amazing stories in his new book, running and age, the mind of the runner, his diet, endurance and sleep, and how long he plans on running. 

It’s impossible to cover every part of Latoya Shauntay Snell’s life in an hour-long discussion but damn if we didn’t try. 

She’s a chef, podcaster, writer, and a self-proclaimed “accidental activist”, pushing back against body shamers and anonymous keyboard warriors. 

Latoya has done just about everything in life and experienced the joys and sorrows which accompany each new barrier she breaks. 

Latoya followed her early love of cooking to culinary school. After graduating, Latoya worked as a freelance food stylist and photographer and explored the world of corporate dining while working for several different restaurants. 

While her career was reaching new heights, so was her weight, and in October 2012 Latoya found herself in the hospital with disc degeneration, moderate level sciatica, a herniated disc, and a crashing immune system. 

“I was well over 265 pounds thanks to depression and other factors thrown into the picture,” explained Latoya. “My doctor didn't think I'd make it to see 30 years old.” 

So began her weight loss journey, at one point dropping close to 170 pounds, though this isn’t the typical story of “fat person gets skinny” and the world falls in love with the story. 

In this interview, Latoya discusses her early life with her dad and his love of cooking, the backlash she received for dropping so much weight, rising above the online hate that comes her way on a daily basis, the insane story of meeting one of her online bullies in real life, and her ability to remain positive - and funny as hell -  in the face of constant adversity. 

Some athletes would give up after suffering a major health setback. Eric Esposito isn't one of those athletes.

Eric is a triathlete an Iron Man competitor. He is also a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor. In 2017, Eric was hit by a car and thrown off his bike. 

In this episode, Eric discusses his accident, how the TBI has changed him as a person and athlete, getting back to training after the accident, and staying focused during races and training. 

Amanda Brooks wants people to be content with being a “middle-of-the-pack” runner. 

She created her website - Run To The Finish - back in 2007 as a place to support those middle-of-the-pack runners and help them enjoy running regardless of the time on their watches. 

Amanda is a certified running coach, certified personal trainer, and has over 26,000 of running experience herself.

Amanda feels running is about so much more than just pace and PRs. 

She also knows people don’t have the time or energy to keep up on all the latest research on running so she does all of the heavy lifting on her website. She’s written over 200 researched articles on running in the last ten years. 

In this episode, Amanda discusses imposter syndrome and runners, recovery runs, her transition from just a runner to a coach, and the importance of strength training. Amanda also discusses her work with women and training during menstrual cycles. 

Taping nipples. Knowing where to find all the best public bathrooms. Wearing medals. 

Runners do have some quirks but can any of this behavior be classified as “weird”? 

In this special episode, Chris and Gina review a recent list published on Runner’s World listing the 30 weird things runners do as compared to other athletes and just regular people. 

Chris and Gina review the list and discuss which behaviors, quirks, ticks, and superstitions seem weird and which sound completely normal, even to just casual runners. 

The hosts even admit to their own weird running quirks and habits on rest days, during training, and on race days. 

**This episode is supported by Manscaped. Go to Manscaped.com and use the promo code WERUNTHIS20 to get 20% OFF and Free Shipping on your order.** 

Recovery is important for athletes of all skill levels and abilities but in recent years the actual science behind how our body recovers has gotten a little confusing. 

People are bombarded with ads for “cutting edge” recovery products and services: from drinks and recovery shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, smartwatches, sleep trackers, and cryotherapy.  

Christie Aschwanden is here to set the record straight about which the real ways to recovery and all of the unnecessary - and expensive - recovery products and promises to avoid. 

Christie is the author of “Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery” and the former lead science writer at FiveThirtyEight. She’s also a frequent contributor to The New York Times and a former columnist for the Washington Post.

A lifetime athlete, Christie has raced in Europe and North America on the Team Rossignol Nordic ski racing squad and enjoys trail running, bicycling, skiing when she’s not investigating or debunking the newest recovery fad. 

In our talk, Christie talks about the true science of recovery and discusses some of the findings in her book like whether drinking Gatorade really helps or hinders performance, how long a person should wait to get back into training after injury, the honest truth about ice baths, and much more. 

**This episode is supported by Manscaped. Go to Manscaped.com and use the promo code WERUNTHIS20 to get 20% OFF and Free Shipping on your order.**

Christine D’Ercole has lived many lives. After her original dream of becoming a ballerina was crushed because her legs and thighs were labeled “too big” she turned her focus towards acting. Unfortunately, her legs were again taking center stage. 

She attended a performing arts high school and then Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Christine accidentally stumbled upon a personal file that included paragraphs of positive notes but at the bottom of the page was the comment “a little heavy in the thigh.” 

Christine refused to let her body type stop her from pursuing her dream so she continued auditioning after college and worked as a bike messenger. It was during this time that Christine that her legs and thighs were an attribute as she regularly outraced her co-workers and took big hills with little effort.

A few of her colleagues were also racing cyclists who introduced Christine to the sport. Before long, she was racing competitively, had sponsorship deals, and traveled across the US racing against Olympians and world champions. 

A decorated competitive track cyclist, Masters World Champion and five-time National Champion, Christine is now a Senior Instructor at Peloton, and her classes are grounded in the science of cycling and the power of words. 

In this episode, Christine discusses her early setbacks with body image, finding her passion for cycling, the nerve-racking anxiety that comes with riding a bike through the streets of a major city, becoming a Masters World Champion, and returning to the sport after a long hiatus.

**This episode is supported by Manscaped. Go to Manscaped.com and use  the promo code WERUNTHIS20 to get 20% OFF and Free Shipping on your  order.**

Michelle Baxter started training to run a mile at the age of 10 and her love of running has never wavered. 

Born in Moorhead, Minnesota, fate and family moved her to Anchorage, Alaska to run through some of the most treacherous running conditions on a daily basis. Some runners won’t step foot outside to run in the cold weather but Michelle really has no choice. 

When Baxter isn’t coaching others on running or working in her local running store, she’s putting in the miles on Alaskan roads, sometimes in the pitch dark. 

“We can sometimes lose up to 30 minutes of daylight just in one week,” Baxter told us during the interview.  These long battles with the darkness don’t just make running more difficult but the constantly gloomy condition takes a toll on a person’s demeanor. 

Michelle’s love of running and running gear led her to launch a website and IG account - both called The Runner’s Plate - where she chronicles her life as a cold-weather runner, coach, and mom. 

In this episode, Michelle talks to us about life in “The Last Frontier”, running while pregnant, her quest for the sub-3 hour marathon, battling the elements and the darkness, and the fun of buying new running gear.  

Every fitness journey starts with a life-changing moment. For Brendan Carpenter, his life-changing moment happened at an unexpected place - an amusement park. 

During a high school class trip to Canada’s Wonderland amusement park, Brendan was escorted off a ride because the safety bar wouldn’t fit over his 350-pound frame. 

Almost a decade later, Carpenter is down over 160 pounds, completed numerous half and full marathons, and is now a Saucony Canada running team member. 

Not bad for a guy who initially hated running. 

In this episode, Brendan tells us about his journey to dropping all the weight, the awful eating habits that led to him ballooning up to 350 pounds, falling in love with running, running for 100 straight days during Covid lockdown, listening to differing approaches on how to run a race. 

And of course, we discuss Brendan’s recent TikTok video about running - and farting - that went insanely viral and led to his new online nickname, "Turdbo." 

Bethany Davis is a busy mom of five, a business owner, competitive marathon runner, and online fitness coach. 

As a kid, she pursued a career in equestrian vaulting. For those unfamiliar, the simplest way to explain the sport is “gymnastics while riding a horse.” 

After retiring from the sport and starting a family, Bethany still looked for ways to stay in shape and remain competitive, but when her oldest son developed a case of social anxiety every time the new mom dropped him off at the daycare inside the gym, the California native needed to find a new way to exercise. 

In this episode, we talk to Bethany about her transition from horses to helping others, her marathon training and CrossFit routines, her husband’s on-and-off love of exercise, being a busy mom of five, and running the most grueling marathon of her life.

Avery Collins and Sabrina Stanley are the power couple of ultra running for a reason - and not just because the name is catchy and helpful when promoting their coaching business - Power Couple Coaching. 

Their accomplishments in ultra running are legit. 

Since his rookie season in 2012, Avery has dedicated his life to being the top runner in his sport. In 2017, he won every race he entered, including the Georgia Death Race, Quest for the Crest 50k, Hahn's Peak Hill Climb, Continental Divide Trail Run 50k, and Grindstone 100 Miler and finished 6th at Western States. In 2019, Avery set a course record at Quest for the Crest 50k, he won the Fatdog 120-miler, and finished 3rd at Trail de Bourbon as the highest placing American male ever). 

Ultrarunner Magazine named Sabrina the 8th best American Female in 2018 and ranked her 5th in 2019. She's finished first female at the last 11-ultras she's entered.  In 2018, Sabrina won Hardrock 100. The following year, she won HURT 100 and recently became the first American (male or female) to win Diagonal Des Fous. It will become obvious early in this interview that Sabrina won't be happy until she's ranked number 1, and we don't doubt her for a second. 

In this episode, we talk to Sabrina and Avery about their goals to be the top ultra runners in the world. The couple recalls the horrific car crash that left Avery unable to race for six months, his painful rehab and struggle with the possibility that he might never run again. Sabrina shares her mental approach to the sport and striving to be the best and the ultra running community frowning upon runners who outwardly express a desire to win every time they step foot on a trail. 

And finally, we talk about weed. I mean, there's a reason Avery's Instagram handle is @runninghigh. Avery shares his thoughts on cannabis and its use for running, training, and recovery.  

Alex Jade is a classic example of what happens when you judge a book by its cover. A quick scroll through her popular Instagram feed - @bikinifitclub - and it’s easy to make the assumption that the Newport Beach, California native is just another attractive millennial living in - and working out in - the California sunshine. 

While it’s true that Alex is a SoCal beach babe at heart - she’ll even admit it - she’s more than just another pretty face on social media. Alex grew up participating in endurance sports; swimming and running. She lettered in track, cross-country, and swimming in high school and participated in several triathlons.  In her Junior year of high school, Alex won the Pacific Coast Triathlon. 

After a photo shoot for Seventeen magazine, she talked about her amazing experience with her dad. Bikini Fit Club was born. Alex wanted to create a California surfer girl brand centered on fitness, wellness, beauty, and female empowerment. 

Alex is now a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach and HIIT instructor. 

In this interview, Alex discusses her life growing up as a two-sport athlete, her willingness to try new things, finding inspiration and motivation in her DMs, being comfortable with your body, and getting comfortable with doing the uncomfortable. 

Justin True is just wired differently than the rest of us. 

He's an extreme athlete - though we think the term savage is much more appropriate - who feeds off people telling him he can't do something. 

Back in 2019, the Bend, Oregon, native set out to pull a truck strapped to his back for 26.2 miles - and that's not even the craziest part of his story. 

In this episode, Justin explains where he comes up with his insane feats of strength, determination, and will, his growing up in Oregon, all of the mistakes he made training for the truck pull, his diet, and fitness regimen, and the mental toughness necessary to even attempt these deranged tests of mettle.

Our guest on the show this week is Shelby LeDuff.

A former Division I volleyball player, LeDuff tore her ACL, MCL, and meniscus three different times during college, and was forced to choose between pursuing her dream or being able to walk at age 40.  

“My entire life goal up to that point was to be a professional volleyball player and model. And then plan B had to happen,” recalls LeDuff. 

She tried coaching volleyball for a bit but found that teaching the sport brought a sense of sadness for not being able to do the thing she loved. 

After giving up coaching volleyball, and mourning the loss of her dream, the California native embarked on a career in personal and group fitness. After going through a bad breakup, Shelby gravitated towards spin and became an instructor. 

Shelby’s now teaches spin and other fitness classes while serving up daily fitness, beauty, health & wellness tips on Instagram.

In this interview, Shelby talks about the transition from athlete to fitness instructor, how she mentally focuses on exercise even on her worst days, how to maintain a healthy eating lifestyle even when the options aren’t so great, finding healthy alternatives when eating, the reason she doesn’t believe in cheat days, and why runners need to add spin classes to their training. 

My guest on the show today is fitness trainer, father, and husband, Jamaal Sanderson.

Jamaal likes to call himself “Fit Mr. Mom,” in fact, that’s even his Instagram handle. 

Jamaal's fitness journey started as a track star. He admits to being “115 pounds, soaking wet,” which isn’t much meat for his 5’10” frame. Jamaal naturally gravitated towards running. Jamaal thinks he still holds the record for the fastest mile in his high school at 4:15 but hasn’t checked in a while.

A fractured pelvic bone before college caused Jamaal to lose his scholarship and he lost his spot on the team. 

In this episode, Jamaal discusses his kids fighting about taking his classes, his transition from an athlete to a fitness “performer”, the reason he fell in love with spin, the importance of exercise and escape and the filthy playlist the moms in his class blast alone in the car. 

CJ Albertson loves to just wake up and give himself wild challenges. In the middle of the pandemic last year, with all races shut down, the 27-year-old Brooks runner decided to try and break the 50K world record. It took 125 laps in soaking-wet shoes, but he set the record in his first official attempt.

About a week later, CJ ran a 2:09 marathon on the treadmill- also a world record.

This makes complete sense for a guy who claims his favorite quote is “running is easy.” 

In this episode, CJ discusses his world record attempts - both on the track and the treadmill - and his ability to just wake up and set his mind to breaking records. 

Our guest on the show this week is New Zealand middle-distance runner, Nick Willis. 

Willis is the only two-time Olympic medalist for New Zealand in the 1500 meters. Willis won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The 37-year-old Kiwi also holds another amazing record. He’s run a sub-4:00 mile every year for the last 19 years. 

Willis talks to us about breaking the record, when the record came on his radar, when he started running, competing in the Olympics, and his occasional love of packing on pounds. 

Plus, Nick and Chris make an announcement at the end of the show that every listener will want to hear. 

This week on the show, we're joined by middle-distance runner, Nike Oregon Project member, and all-around character, Craig Engels.

Engels' natural running ability might not even be in the top ten most interesting things about the 25-year-old Ole Miss grad.

Engels missed the cut for the Olympic roster by one spot in the 800m and two spots in the 1500m but he's much more comfortable discussing the time he quit college and bought an RV to take across the country or one of his many boat-flipping projects. 

In this interview, the charismatic Engels discusses finding a passion for running track - after getting kicked off the high school soccer team for mooning a coach - committing to Ole Miss on the day of his visit and never leaving campus, people assuming he's not taking the sport seriously because he's having so much fun, and his next passion project - converting a double-decker bus into a party bus.

On this week's episode of "We Run This," we're talking to adventure runner and climber, Jason Hardrath. 

In 2015, while in the best shape of his life and the middle of training for an Ironman, Hardrath had his professional, athletic, and personal life "reset to zero." Hardrath was in a horrific car accident and statistically should be dead. 

In this talk, Hardrath explains how he went from a feeling of invincibility to a hard reset of everything he'd done in his life up to that point. 

The adventure runner also discusses his mindset during the incredibly heartbreaking setback, how a doctor told him in the days after his injury that he'll never compete at the same level again, taking what the doctor told him personally and his current quest to 100 "Fastest Known Times" in running.

Our guest on the show this week is Gabrielle Bolin. 

In 2015, Gabrielle left a competitive career in show business in order to use her love of health & fitness to foster self-love and confidence in others.

Since that time, Gab has run 7 marathons, 3 ultramarathons, 1 triathlon, and took first place in her age group Fall & Spring Cedar Creek Duathlon in 2018 and 2019. 

In this episode, Gabrielle discusses how she transitioned from the toxic world of acting and never feeling thin enough to becoming a sought-after fitness instructor, nutritionist, runner, and motivational trainer. 

Natalie Johnston fell in love with running at a young age and her competitive nature as an athlete began at the age of 3. 

Natalie competed in a wide array of sports as a kid including horseback riding, competitive swimming, and dance. 

Natalie ran competitively for both Division I and Division II colleges in cross country and track. During her college running career, she battled numerous injuries due to pushing herself too hard in training. 

Those frustrations and personal life events lead Natalie down a destructive path of abusing drugs and alcohol. She believes running saved her life in many ways. 

“I can say if it weren’t for running, and sports, most likely I’d probably be dead,” Natalie admits in our interview. 

Through many ups and downs in her life, running was the one place for her to let go, meditate, release, and grow as a person.  

In this episode, Natalie shares her troubled past, how she found running and used it as a form of mediation, pushing the body but listening to its warning signs, the best way to warm-up before a run, and the dangers of running too much in 2021. 

Jeffrey Stern is a jack-of-all-trades in the world of endurance sports. He's a runner, biker, coach, consultant, and writer, with over a decade of experience in each.

After years of competitive mountain biking, Stern won his second ever ultra race. This was a completely different outcome than his first ultra race attempt where he spent 20 minutes running in circles after getting lost. 

In this episode, Stern talks about avoiding runner's burnout, the transition from biking to running, staying competitive even when the world shuts down, and the growing popularity of cross country running with high school kids and clears up the rumors about how he's not the murder-for-hire guy.

Our guest today is ultrarunner, Dylan Bowman. 

With no running background, Bowman stunned the field and finished in third place at the Leadville 100 back in 2010 and the Nevada-native quickly established himself as one of the top contenders in American ultrarunning. 

In this episode, Bowman talks about his journey to running, the thousands of miles he’s covered over the last decade, what would make people want to run so far for so long, a time when he battled through injury and losing his love of running, and why every runner should attempt an ultra run.

Kolt Codner’s son, Andrew, has been a patient at Akron Children’s Hospital for the last five months. The 4-year-old boy is battling B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

When Codner found out the Akron Marathon benefiting the Akron Children’s Hospital was changed to a virtual event due to COVID-19 - and not many runners signed up - dad decided to take fundraising into his own hands.

Our guest on the show today is Brandon Westover. Brandon is a fitness coach, endurance athlete, and 41-year-old father of two from Orlando who recently broke the world record for the most Murph workouts in 24 hours. 

Brandon talks about his out-of-body experience completing the Murphs, how he trained, his strategy for completing the running portion of the workout, and how the medical staff wanted him to stop immediately. 

In this episode of We Run This, we’re talking to actor and athlete, Aaron Schwartz. 

Aaron Schwartz probably looks familiar to people of a certain age because, at one point in the 1990s, Aaron made a career out of playing the lovable, chubby kid in blockbuster movies like The Mighty Ducks and Heavyweights, and on TV shows like The Adventures of Pete & Pete.

Schwartz continues to act but has undergone quite the transformation, going from fat to fit over the course of his adolescent and adult years. Aaron is now using his personal experiences to help motivate others who might struggle with some of the issues he did as a kid.