Running Shoes - Gear? Runner’s World is trying to help by sharing some editors’ favorite recent episodes.
The Great Podcast Episodes for Runners is on the minds of many, and this week’s podcasts reflect that, offering some thought-provoking discussions on issues of social justice. We also hear from two Olympians, a masters runner who is better than ever, and a coach who is helping change the model for professional running teams in the U.S.
These episodes are accessible via the links below, on the Spotify players on this page, or through podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. (We’ve provided some direct links to those platforms so you can go right to your favorite podcast player.)
Kate Grace on Running On Om (72 minutes)
In this discussion between Kate Grace, a 2016 Olympian in the 800 meters, and host Julia Hanlon, Grace makes it clear that even an Olympian can be a work in progress. She covers a variety of topics: learning to speak up and tell her coach what kind of training and racing she needs to feel prepared and confident, her complicated relationship with social media, what she’s getting out of working with a sports psychologist, and how she learned to fuel her body well as a professional athlete (after some initial missteps). The openness with which Grace speaks, admitting doesn’t have it all figured out, is refreshing.
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Martinus Evans and Latoya Shauntay Snell on 300 Pounds and Running (47 minutes)
This isn’t a light episode by any stretch, but it’s a powerful one. Martinus Evans and Latoya Shauntay Snell (above) share their unfiltered thoughts, with quite a bit of profanity, about Ahmaud Arbery and discuss their experiences as black runners. They talk about daily injustices they see, like attempts to discredit murder victims. “We can’t even mess up in school,” Snell says. “They’ll contact your kindergarten teacher to talk about your reputation when you are killed as a black person in this country.” Of their role in the running world, she says, “We are black influencers. We are black athletes. And whether we want to be activists or not, we kind of got placed in that [role].” This episode might be uncomfortable for some—and that’s the point.
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Nicholas Thompson on Run to the Top (38 minutes)
Nicholas Thompson ran a 2:29 marathon at age 44, which makes him faster than most people. But the topics he discusses in this episode can benefit runners of all abilities. Thompson, the editor-in-chief of WIRED, recently Running Shoes - Gear in a much talked-about magazine story. On the podcast, he talks about the elements that went into his significant improvement in the marathon and ranks their relative importance. He also wonders how good he could have been had he stuck with running more seriously during his college years, but he recognizes that laying off training when he was younger might be contributing to his success now. It’s a question that many runners, taking the sport seriously for the first time later in life, have pondered.
Perdita Felicien on Burn It All Down (36 minutes)
the following episode of BIAD Mother’s Day episode of Burn It All Down, a podcast with the tagline, “The feminist sports podcast you need.” Felicien talks about being a mom and her fertility struggles. She discusses the ways in which her elite athlete mindset is at once helpful and harmful both in parenting and getting through a pandemic. Felicien doesn’t hold back, and that’s what makes this episode so good.
And if you like this one, you’ll appreciate Alison Désir, an activist and founder of Harlem Run, on the following episode of BIAD, talking about Ahmaud Arbery’s murder and how white running is. The rest of the episode is not about running, but Désir comes on at the 21-minute mark and speaks for 23 minutes.
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Ben Rosario on the Clean Sport Collective podcast (56 minutes)
Ben Rosario is the coach of the Northern Arizona Elite team, and he may be best known right now as the coach of U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion Aliphine Tuliamuk. On this episode of the Clean Sport Collectivpodcast, he talks about why he wasn’t surprised, even when others were, that Tuliamuk won the Trials. He discusses the creative work his runners do to make themselves valuable to their sponsor, Hoka. Their job isn’t only to run fast, he says; they need to help sell shoes. Rosario also offers valuable insight into building a strong team culture and says he doesn’t fixate on whether there’s a level playing field in the sport, in terms of shoe technology or performance-enhancing drugs. Whether or not you know the name Ben Rosario, there’s a good chance this episode will make you a fan.
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