New Conversations About Running, Mental Health, and Everything Else

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I Am Obsessed With Running

Okay, maybe that’s an understatement.

When I am not running consistently, I fantasize about it like an ex-lover who left me for a faster woman.

In fact, it could be useful to talk to a relationship counselor about what is happening in my brain and how to navigate the ups and downs of what can sometimes feel like a complicated relationship with the sport.

But I think at the end of the day, I just want to know that it all means something.

Whether we were runners, are runners, or often find ourselves somewhere in between, I want to know that running matters.

Which brings me to the relaunch of the podcast.

Why I Started the Maybe Running Will Help Podcast

I started the Maybe Running Will Help podcast in December of 2021, honestly on a whim. I was listening to a show that mentioned a free Spotify podcast platform at the time called Anchor, and I thought, why not?

I already had the name Maybe Running Will Help, which I had pulled from my Instagram bio (@1classy_motherunner). It was a bit of a cart-before-the-horse situation, which, if I am being honest, is how I used to operate a lot. While I have learned that impulsiveness can get me into trouble, it has also led me to some pretty interesting opportunities.

This show is one of them.

The Question That Started It

With the name Maybe Running Will Help, ten years of marathons under my belt, and a growing fear of slowing performances, I decided to explore the why of running—the part that has nothing to do with PRs.

Why do we really run? And could answering that question help sustain our love for the sport as we age or slow down?

For years, all I cared about was my race time and getting faster. I needed inspiration from other runners who were motivated by something deeper.

The Early Days of the Show

The first community I spoke with was recovering addicts who use running as a way to stay sober.

The format of the show back then was a little unusual. I asked guests to record answers to questions, which I would later insert into a narrated script. It worked, but editing an episode sometimes took three weeks.

Eventually, I worked up the courage to conduct live interviews. At first, they were audio only. Sometimes awkward. But somehow, they still came together into meaningful episodes. As I gained experience, I started experimenting with sound effects and storytelling. Somewhere along the way, the show developed a quirky charm.

From conversations about eating disorders and mental health to exploring the personal reasons people run, the show has always been open to athletes of all levels and professionals within the sport.

When Life Shifted

In 2023, I started working part-time at Volo Kids Foundation, an organization that uses the power of play to build communities of active, resilient, and confident kids through free youth sports programs. It is a noble mission, but if I am being honest, their charity race teams caught my attention first. It felt like the perfect way to pair my social work degree with my love of running.

After almost a decade at home raising our kids, the shift in my schedule made it harder to maintain the podcast at the same cadence. My running took a hit too. It felt like my priorities had been thrown into a jar and shaken up.

Since then, I have struggled to land somewhere that feels right. I have stopped and started training more times than I can count, and honestly, I am still figuring it out. But the one thing I keep coming back to is running.

Even when I am not racing. Even when I am not consistent. It is the one thing that makes me feel a little less lost. When I run, I know who I am. Everything I am not seems to get absorbed into that identity.

I think some people will really understand that.

Relaunching the Podcast in 2026

As I relaunch the show in Spring 2026, it is different because I am different.

The heart of the podcast is still about the reasons we run and how running helps us. But now I am even more curious about how that relationship changes over time. This time I want to include PRs in the conversation and talk about how performance can evolve as we get older and start chasing different goals.

I want to reconnect with past guests to see where running has taken them since we first spoke. I want to meet new guests and explore how their relationship with running has evolved, or how they imagine it will evolve. I want to know if it scares them sometimes, like it scares me, or if they have found a steadier sense of who they are outside of running.

More Than a Podcast

Maybe Running Will Help is a podcast, but it is also a community for anyone who needs this sport to be a safe place to find, redeem, or return to themselves.

I hope you will join us.

And if you have ever wondered why you run, or if running still means something to you, I hope you will listen along.

Now on with the show.