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Claire Forsyth wasn’t the kid everyone expected to become an ultrarunner. She wasn’t particularly sporty growing up, and when no one else in her class wanted to run the 1500 meters at a school sports day, she volunteered mostly so her class could get the points. She came in last. Running didn’t become a meaningful part of Claire’s life until much later. She ran the Great North Run for charity in 2013, finished feeling completely broken, returned to the race the following year

There’s a saying in ultrarunning: It never always gets worse. It sounds a little ridiculous until you’ve experienced it. Kilian Korth remembers hearing the phrase before his first 100-mile race. At the time, he could understand the idea intellectually. But understanding that a low will eventually pass and actually believing it when your body is falling apart dozens of miles into a race are two very different things. His first 100-miler gave him proof. Kilian ran the first 50

Ashley Paulson, known online as Ashkickin, has bright pink hair, a habit of dancing mid-race, and a resume that includes an outright Badwater 135 win, over 130 marathons, and a world record for the fastest female 100 miler. None of that came from natural talent, and she's the first to say so. She didn't run in high school or college. She started taking the sport seriously in her thirties, after her fourth kid, and the confidence she's known for now took decades to build. She

Rory Linkletter runs marathons for Puma, coaches runners of every level through Let's Tango, and made the 2024 Olympics. But most of what he talked about on this episode has nothing to do with elite talent, and everything to do with mindset shifts that apply just as much to someone training for their first 5K as to someone chasing an Olympic trials qualifier. The biggest one: don't be afraid to fail in a workout. Rory says this is the thing he sees hold people back the most,

Jacob Travis, a physical therapist in Nashville who posts as PT with JT, sees the same pattern over and over: a runner feels something off, tries to fix it themselves for weeks, and finally shows up once it's gotten bad enough that treatment takes twice as long as it would have otherwise. His advice runs counter to the instinct most runners have, which is to wait it out and hope it goes away on its own. Here's what he actually recommends. Don't wait more than a week. If a pai

Brendan Leonard, who most people know as Semi-Rad, started drawing his now-recognizable pie charts almost by accident. He was at a diner in New York with a friend who'd finished fourteen marathons, and after the host asked if they'd prefer a table or a booth, his friend deadpanned that zero percent of people actually prefer a table. Brendan sketched it as a pie chart on a napkin, posted it, and kept going. He calls it "emotional data visualization," borrowed loosely from XKCD

Zach Bitter has been asking himself the same question since 2013, the year he broke the American record for the 100 mile. He briefly turned that into a world record in 2019, and it's held as an American record ever since. His average pace that day was 6:47 per mile, or roughly four consecutive sub-three-hour marathons back to back. "How fast can you run a hundred miles when you tried to optimize for it," he says, describing the question that's kept him locked in on the same f

Chase Price started running the way a lot of people do: half marathons, no plan, no idea what he was doing. Then he read David Goggins' Can't Hurt Me, decided a half marathon wasn't enough, and skipped straight to signing up for a hundred miler. He told no one, but privately set out to win it. He came in second at Blackbeard's Revenge in 2023. It was still enough to convince him he had something. He won his next hundred that fall. By early 2024 he'd strung together a fifty mi

Running enthusiasts and aspiring athletes often seek motivation and relatable experiences to fuel their passion. In this blog post, we delve into the inspiring journey of Nelly, a running influencer who transitioned from playing football to becoming a dedicated runner during the pandemic. In this post, you'll learn about Nelly's competitive spirit, his running streak, and how he overcame challenges along the way. Who is Nelly? Nelly is a running influencer based in Belgium, o

Okay, so I have to tell you how I found Sepideh. I was recording a totally different episode with a psychologist (Dr. Mitch Greene) about mind chatter and how we get in our heads before races, and somehow we landed on the topic of running as therapy. I asked him if we should be careful about using running as a replacement for actual therapy. He told me about a book called Running Is My Therapy, which I ordered before we even hung up, and he mentioned there's real research sho

Intuitive eating is a popular approach that encourages listening to your body's hunger cues rather than following strict diet rules. However, for runners, this method might not always align with their nutritional needs. Here's why intuitive eating may fall short for runners and what strategies can better support their performance and health. The Challenges of Intuitive Eating for Runners 1. Increased Energy Demands Runners have higher energy requirements due to their intense

Dust off your trucker hats and buy a hydration vest because in this episode of Maybe Running Will Help, I sat down with ultrarunning legend Jeff Browning aka Bronco Billy to answer one very important question: How can I be more like an ultrarunner? As a road runner, my race strategy has always been to carry as little as humanly possible and hope for the best. Trail runners? They're carrying water, calories, electrolytes, emergency gear, layers, whistles...and yes, a poop kit.

This episode is definitely a little different from our usual conversations, but it's one that's personal to me and one I thought might be helpful for some of you. One of the things nobody tells you about marathon training is that somewhere between all the miles, your boobs might disappear. If you've ever watched your sports bras get emptier as your mileage went up, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're one of us—the ones whose cup size went down as our mileage we

I've known Jeff Cunningham for years. He's one of my favorite people to talk to because I never know if I'm about to get a coaching lesson, a life lesson, or a story involving Thanksgiving dinner and overcooked turkey. It's all in the podcast, trust me - there's a turkey and running analogy. After years of saying, "We should work together someday," that day has finally arrived. Jeff is officially coaching me as I attempt what feels like a marathon comeback. And by comeback,

Katie Kiliszewski and I set out to talk about running, but what unfolded felt more like sitting across from a friend and discovering how many of our experiences, though different, carried the same emotions underneath. We talked about eating disorders, addiction, anxiety, perfectionism, motherhood, and what it feels like to live with a mind that rarely stops moving. We laughed about terrible hairstyles, favorite books, sleep habits, and all the quirky things that make us who w

I spent part of a recent podcast conversation asking coach John Ferry a question I couldn't stop thinking about: Do marathon runners take running too seriously? The question came from listening to ultrarunners. I hear stories of athletes running a marathon one weekend and a 50-miler the next. They seem relaxed. Playful. Curious. Meanwhile, many marathoners (myself included) build our entire year around two races—a spring marathon and a fall marathon. Everything revolves aroun

Running has a funny way of revealing what's underneath the surface. For Claire Boyce, host of the Kind of Fast Podcast and part of the team behind Upward Running, the lessons didn't come from personal records or podium finishes. They came from the moments she struggled, failed, and had to figure out who she was when the results weren't what she hoped for. Claire has been running since childhood. In fact, her mom originally signed her up for a running club as punishment for ta

Okayyyyy Phil! Phil Zuniga is the Back on My Feet Alumni joining us for this week's conversation. Man. I love a an inspo story and he sure has got a good one! I also love people who love people. Like Nathan Watt - the CEO of Back on My Feet who also joins us for this episode. All around this was a feel good hour! And one of my favorite interviews. Both because I just adore this organization, and because I rarely get to challenge myself by organizing all my thoughts and TWO ot

Photo Credit: Mike Trimpe Talking to Harvey Lewis made me realize, once again, that some runners are just a different species. I think I know what “hard” is until I hear someone casually talk about running for days through mud, sleep deprivation, hallucinations, freezing rain, and exhaustion like it’s just another weekend adventure. Meanwhile, I’m having a personal crisis because it’s raining again and I don’t want to get wet walking to my car. Harvey has this calm, grounded

One of the ways I’ve gotten myself into trouble over the past few years is by signing up for everything that interests me. Yoga, embroidery, part-time jobs, races I definitely wasn’t prepare to train for, you get the idea. And I don’t try things out; I go in 100% until I don’t. (For example, not just taking a yoga class, but becoming a teacher.) And while my “don’t think, just do” attitude has led me to some pretty cool places, it has also earned me several confidence-kicking