My First Marathon

147: You Can’t Pour From an Empty Cup: Finding Something Just for Me w/ Jess O’Brien

Jess O’Brien became a mom at 18, and for years movement took a back seat to raising her son. Running didn’t stick the first time she tried it, but joining a CrossFit gym

146: Follow Your Curiosity: 30+ Marathons, Ultras, and Chasing Sub-3 w/ Casey Cline

Casey’s running story starts with summer camping trips, where she raced anyone who would line up and tried her hardest to beat the boys. Thirty-plus marathons later, she’

145: Back Where It All Began: Running Sydney, the City That Became Home w/ Sandy Engler

When Sandy moved from Switzerland to Australia in 2020, she was quickly swept into the country's active, early-morning lifestyle, though running wasn't on her radar yet.

144: A Bad Race Doesn't Erase the Training: Unfinished Business w/ Steve Carrier

Steve Carrier spent decades lifting heavy and hated cardio for a long time. When COVID closed the gyms, he started hiking and kayaking with his wife, and after she mentio

143: The Wall That Never Came: Running Her First Marathon on Her 40th Birthday w/ Aimee Jones

Aimee spent over a decade running half marathons, one a year, showing up and enjoying the distance without chasing a specific time. It started with a charity flyer that l

142: "This Is My Tribe": Marathons, History, and The Long Run w/ Martin Dugard

Martin Dugard has been running since the early 1970s, but it all traces back to one moment at eleven years old, watching Frank Shorter win the 1972 Olympic marathon and b

141: I Can Do Hard Things: Running New York in Her Uncle's Honor w/ Jay Wood

Jay spent years playing soccer and dabbled in other sports, but running itself was never her thing until she signed up for a local 5K in her off season as another way to

140: It's Our Duty to Give Back: Ainsley's Angels and Finding Community w/ Hunter Pardue

Hunter didn't set out to become a runner. He joined his high school's cross country team on a whim (mostly because his friends were doing it) and discovered he loved bein

139: A Joyful First Marathon: Running Chicago w/ Sierra Wehrenberg

Sierra grew up in a running family and found her own love for the sport through a middle school team in Georgia. She ran through high school and rediscovered it years lat

31: Survival Guide To Running Your First Marathon (Mini Episode)

This one's for all my fall marathoners who are deep in training right now!! I'm pulling together my full survival guide for running your first marathon, five things I wis

138: "Fail Forward": Finding Strength Through a Marathon Gone Wrong w/ Barry Scruggs

Barry Scruggs came to running with his wife after some health struggles when they decided to make change happen together. It started with a Spartan race , and that single

137: Watching Someone Else's Finish Line: How a Stranger's Marathon Story Became Her Own w/ Abia Mallick

Abia Mallick never planned to run a marathon herself until she volunteered at the finish zone of the New York City Marathon, where a woman stopped by the fence near her t

30: Why I Program Speed Work (Mini Episode)

I get this question all the time from my first-time marathoners: if I don't have a time goal, why do I need to do speed work? In this week's mini episode, I'm breaking do

135: "Anybody Could Do This": The Chicago Marathon, Take One w/ Sara Shimala

Sara played tennis all through high school, but running stayed casual for her, a mile here or there, until 2023, when she signed up for her first 5K and then got sideline

134: "What If I Just Stopped": Hitting the Wall at Mile 12 and Finishing Anyway w/ Julie Satterthwaite

Julie grew up in a sports-obsessed family, her dad a longtime Broad Street runner, her brother a former D1 lacrosse player turned distance runner. She played soccer growi

29: How I'm Approaching Returning To Running (Mini Episodes Are Back!)

I took a two month break from running dealing with personal issues we'll get into in this episode. These personal issues forced me to take 2 full months off of running fo

133: Finding Her People: How BAR Run Club Changed Everything w/ Rachel Howard

Besides the dreaded mile in high school PE class, running was fairly casual for Rachel for a long time until the stress of working front lines at a hospital during COVID

132: The Race She Had to Run Twice: Redemption at the Eugene Marathon w/ Gina Loschiavo

Gina didn't grow up loving running. In fact, she hated it, right up until a spontaneous half marathon at Disneyland in 2017 changed her mind for good. After two kids and

131: Slow and Steady, Keep to the Left: A Late Bloomer's First Marathon w/ Jude Harper

Jude didn't grow up as an athlete. She spent her childhood with a violin in her hands instead of running shoes, and didn't run her first step until she was 38. From there

130: "You Don't Have to Put a Period at the End of the Sentence": From Trauma to Trail Ultras w/ Mikaela Gomez

Mikaela Gomez is a mom of three, a Navy veteran, and somehow, until last July, not a runner at all. She found running through the unlikeliest of doors: a dark romance boo