the morning shakeout podcast

“I definitely don’t have any regrets in pursuing sport to the level that I did because I think one of the wonderful things about sport is that it’s a very simply definable thing and mostly it’s a quite healthy thing for a young person to go all-in on. I fully went all-in on sport—at one point, I lived, breathed, I must have bored people around me as a lot of us as athletes probably have done with my obsessive level of interest in it. When you go all-in on something, you gain so much learning from that, the kind of learning that you don’t get when you do anything half-assed. If you just go at it fully, full commitment, you learn and you get so much back.” Andy Blow is a friend of mine from the UK. He’s a sports scientist with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science from the University of Bath and he specializes in sweat, dehydration and cramping. A former elite-level triathlete, Andy won an XTERRA age-group world title and he also has multiple top-10 finishes at Ironman and 70.3 races to his name. He’s worked as a sports scientist and advisor in the world of motorsports, but it was overcoming his own struggles with cramping and hydration as an athlete that led to him specializing in electrolyte replenishment and founding the company Precision Hydration. In this conversation, we talked how dropping out of a cross-country race as a kid had a profound impact on him and helped shape his approach to sport and life, letting his identity get tied up in sport and how he learned to separate the two, why it’s hard for him to be objective and analytical sometimes even though he’s a scientist, where athletes are missing the mark with hydration and how solving his own problems as an athlete led to the founding of his company, battling burnout in his career and strategies for catching yourself before falling into a deep hole, and a lot more. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Tracksmith, which makes classically stylish, cutting-edge apparel for real-world athletes. Visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code Mario15 at checkout to save $15 on your first purchase of $75 or more. It’s also sponsored by WHOOP, a fitness wearable that helps you sleep better, recover faster, and train smarter. Learn more at WHOOP.com and enter “Mario” at checkout to save 15% on a membership. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-117-with-andy-blow/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“While it’s terrible that it took murder for many runners to wake up to the social injustices that we face in America, I’m excited that it ignited a group of people who know what it means to keep momentum going—because that’s what this movement needs, this movement needs momentum, and every single runner knows what that means when I say that. So, I’m excited to see a group of individuals that has grown over the last few months take action to make change, to influence their networks, to diversify our sport, and to not stop until they can put their hands down and say, 'Wooof, OK, I think I did something today.' And then do it again tomorrow. Because that’s what we do too, so that excites me.” Kamilah Journét is a native of Southern California and began running track in junior high school. She told her coach that she wanted to be a 100m runner, eventually found her way into cross country and, well, let’s just say she discovered her happy place to be somewhere in between. Kamilah, who has a personal best of 4:51 in mile, ran collegiately at UC San Diego, she coached high school for a little bit, and has worked in marketing in both the running and outdoor industries. In this episode, Kamilah told me about her introduction to the sport and how her relationship with it has evolved over the years, how her competitiveness manifested itself when she got into running, and how majoring in communications in college has shaped the way she looks at the world and approaches her work. We also talked about what it means to be black in America, what it’s like being a black woman working in the running and outdoor industries, and along those lines, what brands in those spaces can do better when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. Kamilah and I also talk about inclusiveness in running, how we, as runners, can address tough issues like diversity and racism in our communities, and a lot more. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Tracksmith, which makes classically stylish, cutting-edge apparel for real-world athletes. Visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code Mario15 at checkout to save $15 on your first purchase of $75 or more. It’s also sponsored by WHOOP, a fitness wearable that helps you sleep better, recover faster, and train smarter. Learn more at WHOOP.com and enter “Mario” at checkout to save 15% on a membership. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-116-with-kamilah-journet/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“We really bought in—and I really bought in. Like, I really believed that we could be good, I really, truly believed that, and I got them to believe it. In fact, when we hosted our first NE-10 Championship, we had this snow squall come across the field. It was freezing, it was like blowing sidewards, and I bring the women into the sports complex, and I said, ‘Everybody, be quiet.’ I said, ‘Just listen to all the people who are complaining about the weather.’ And they were all listening. I said, ‘You’re going to march out that door and you’re gonna beat every one of those women that has been complaining about the weather because this is our campus.’ And we just like pounded our chests and we walked out there and we won. But I just remember loving it, and believing in it, and I just wanted people to believe in me. And to see it grow like that, it’s like raising a child. It was just so gratifying.” This week’s episode of the podcast is a really special one. I got to have a long conversation with someone who has had a profound impact on my life and has played a major role in shaping the person I am today, my college cross-country and track coach, Karen Boen. Coach has been at Stonehill College in North Easton, Massachusetts since 1997, when, at the age of 40, she took a part-time role to coach a women’s team that was about to be cut as a varsity sport. Twenty-three years later, under her guidance, the Stonehill women’s cross-country team has been to 19-straight NCAA Division II Championships. She took over the men’s cross country program in 2002 when I was a junior—we weren’t very good, but a year later we qualified for the national championship for the first time in school history, and the squad has gone back every year since. Coach was also the director of both the men’s and women’s track and field programs until this past year, stepping down from her role as head coach but remaining on staff to continue working with the distance runners. In her time at Stonehill, Coach has developed over 70 All-Americans, her teams have won 38 conference titles, and she’s been named conference and regional coach of the year more times than I can count. Last December, she was one of six coaches inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In this conversation, Coach talks about growing up in the projects of South Boston with a single-mom and two brothers; being told that she had “perfectionist syndrome” as a kid, and how that’s influenced her approach to life; getting the opportunity to escape Southie and attend college, where the only advice that was given to her was “don’t f* this up.” She recalled how she got into track in college, and eventually distance running in grad school. She talks about accidentally falling into coaching at the age of 40, taking a small team that was on the brink of extinction and developing it into a nationally ranked program, being a full-time female coach at the collegiate level while having a family and maintaining a social life, why she’s always focused on surrounding herself with fantastic people, the importance of setting boundaries, the biggest barriers facing female coaches today, and so, so much more. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Tracksmith, which makes classically stylish, cutting-edge apparel for real-world athletes. Visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code Mario15 at checkout to save $15 on your first purchase of $75 or more. It’s also sponsored by WHOOP, a fitness wearable that helps you sleep better, recover faster, and train smarter. Learn more at WHOOP.com and enter “Mario” at checkout to save 15% on a membership. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-115-with-karen-boen/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“I have a lot of goals in running and I have a lot of dreams in running but I feel like I love to run—period, end of sentence. And if that is kind of all I’m ever going to say about my running career from here on out, I’d maybe be a little bit disappointed, but at the end of the day, I want to run when I’m 80. I want to run with my family, I want to run with my friends, I want to run with my dog, and those miles that I can put in going forward, I hope they lead to really cool things on the track, but if they lead to really cool things through, you know, other opportunities that come forward in the future, that would be just as cool. So maybe looking ahead, I’m not trying to write my future out maybe like I used to, I’m just trying to go a little bit more with the flow and see where the run takes me.” Mary Cain is the youngest American athlete ever to represent the United States at the World Championships, which she did in 2013 as a 17-year-old high school phenom, finishing 10th in the 1500m final. Earlier that year, she broke numerous high school and junior records from 800m through the 5000. She turned professional in the fall of 2013, joining the Nike Oregon Project under coach Alberto Salazar in Portland, Oregon. Then, last November, Mary came forward in The New York Times with a powerful op-ed sharing her story of the emotional and physical abuse she suffered while a member of the Oregon Project, which she left in 2016. The piece exploded online and revealed details about how Mary had suffered from disordered eating while a member of Salazar’s team, missed her period for three years, broke five bones, and suffered from thoughts of suicide. Following that story, several other former Oregon Project athletes backed her claims of similar mistreatment going back at least 10 years. In this conversation, which got emotional at times, we got into the details of her new employment arrangement, talked about the importance of not being outcome-oriented, the energizing effect of being actively involved in her NYC running community, and how she picked herself back up after leaving Oregon and returning to New York. We also talked about Mary the person vs. Mary the runner and when that flipped for her, what she experienced during her time in Oregon, and being self-critical and feeling helpless when she was told she needed to lose weight to run faster. She also told me when she realized the environment at the Oregon Project was a problem and why it took her so long to realize it and leave, if her training partners and teammates at the time showed any concern for her while she was suffering, how she’s thinking about her running goals in the next few years, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  Tracksmith: Tracksmith is a Boston-based running brand led by a group of life long runners who are dedicated to building superlative quality, classically stylish, and cutting-edge running apparel for real-world athletes. To learn more, visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code Mario15 at checkout to save 15% on your first purchase. WHOOP: WHOOP is fitness wearable for your wrist that provides personalized insights on the performance of your sleep, how recovered your body is, and how much stress you put on your body throughout the day from your workouts and the normal stressors of life. Go to WHOOP.com and enter “Mario” at checkout to save 15%. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-114-with-mary-cain/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“I did not enjoy the recognition. I would literally hide from newspaper reporters after races. But I was competitive and I wanted to win and I wanted to set course records and I always wanted to be the best at everything I did, so I think that was what really drove me was: I was the best, in our school, and then I wanted to be the best in the state, and then looked at being the best in the nation potentially. Even back then I loved the process, I always loved to run fast. I’ve never been someone who has been good at taking easy days and I can trace that all the way back to 7th grade—I just liked to go hard.” Kate Landau is a 43-year-old mom and physician’s assistant who most recently finished 14th at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in 2:34:07. Last year, she ran a personal best of 2:31:56 to finish 13th at the Boston Marathon—and the morning we recorded this episode she ran a 2:34 marathon completely on her own. A five-time All-American at Georgetown who competed in the 1996 Olympic Trials in the 10,000, Kate returned to running in 2013 after a long time away from the sport and found her racing legs again a few years later. This woman is incredibly talented but Kate has an amazing story that extends far beyond her racing accomplishments. In this conversation, we talked about how she got her start in the sport, developing an eating disorder early in high school, something that she battled—along with injuries—well into her adult years. She told me about her desire to be the best and go hard at everything she did from the time she was a young girl. Kate opened up about when she finally allowed herself to feel self-worth outside of running, why she’s enjoying the sport now more than ever in her 40s, what she tells young girls who might be on a similar path to the one she took, as well as how she guides parents and coaches of kids who are struggling with disordered eating and aren’t sure where to turn. She also talks about balancing being a mom with a high-stress job and training at a high level, the importance of setting a good example for her daughter and why that’s a driving force in her life, what it means to know that sharing her story helps others deal with their own struggles, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN. I’ve been using UCAN’s Performance Energy drink mix before my long runs, big workouts and races for the past four years, and it’s a crucial part of my nutrition plan, providing steady energy that’s easy on my gut. Go to ucan.co/shakeout — that’s ucan.co/shakeout — to learn more about UCAN’s one of a kind energy and use code  SHAKEOUT25 to save 25% off your first order. If you’re already a UCAN fan, you can save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-113-with-kate-landau/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“It’s harder to stay as focused and motivated when I haven’t been running up to the standards that I’ve always set so high for myself. I haven’t necessarily been running as fast as I was hoping or winning as many races, so it’s been harder to be there 100% focused all of the time. You find yourself drifting and you’ve got to recalibrate all of the time. If anything, this situation has sort of given me a whole new vigor and excitement. It’s been the jolt of energy that’s needed and especially with the news just coming out it’s almost added accountability to prove that this system can work fine. So yeah, I think actually it’s only going to help because it’s given me that much-needed change of scenery to mix things up and not just be the same cycle I’ve been on the last 15 years.” Nick Willis won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games and was later upgraded to silver after Rashid Ramzi tested positive for using performance-enhancing drugs. He also took bronze in Rio in 2016, charging down the home straight to put himself on the podium in the final meters. In addition to his two Olympic medals, the 37-year-old New Zealander has five 5th Avenue Mile titles to his name and personal bests of 3:49.83 for the mile and 3:29.66 at 1500 meters. He’s also run a sub-4 minute mile 18 years in a row, tying him with countryman John Walker for the longest streak in history—one he hopes to break in 2021. We covered a lot in this conversation, from Nick’s new job as Athlete Experience Manager at Tracksmith to how he’s thinking about the next few years from both a professional and a competitive standpoint. We talked sponsorship at the highest level of the sport and what he thinks can be down differently. Nick told me about learning not to get caught up in comparing himself to what other athletes are doing, how his training has evolved as he’s gotten older, and what his dual-coaching arrangement looks like with his college coach Ron Warhurst and his wife Sierra. We also got into his thoughts on doping, he gave me a blow-by-blow description of the 2016 Olympic final, and we even talked a little basketball to open this one up. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN. I’ve been using UCAN’s Performance Energy drink mix before my long runs, big workouts and races for the past four years, and it’s a crucial part of my nutrition plan, providing steady energy that’s easy on my gut. Go to ucan.co/shakeout — that’s ucan.co/shakeout — to learn more about UCAN’s one of a kind energy and use code  SHAKEOUT25 to save 25% off your first order. If you’re already a UCAN fan, you can save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-112-with-nick-willis/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“I’m in a position where I cannot be afraid. What I do for a living, my life, my career, I have to get out there and be among the people. And if I’m not comfortable doing that, I can’t expect my runners to be comfortable doing that. But I think it’s going to be a job that every single one of us needs to take on head first and we have to figure out ‘Does this race saying they’re going to have gloves, hand sanitizer, masks, temperature gauges, all these things, does that make me feel safe?’ And if not, anyone who is listening, you have got to speak up and tell us what is going to make you feel safe. Because as a person who is in charge of branding at the New York City Marathon finish line, it’s a really special thing. It is the world’s largest marathon, it’s 51,000 people, and it is a sight. It is a feeling, I get goosebumps talking about. And if that has to go away because we’re afraid of people, that’s going to be a sad day. You know, it just is.” Michelle La Sala is the founder and president of Blistering Pace Race Management, where she puts on races in and around the Bay Area and also serves in various capacities at bigger races around the country. A 15-year running industry veteran, she’s worked for the LA Marathon, New York Road Runners, and Sacramento Running Association, where she was the race director for the California International Marathon in 2013 and 2014. Michelle has been running since the third grade, she competed collegiately at the University of Portland, and has completed 32 marathons with a 2:59 personal best. We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, from how Michelle got her start in the sport, dealing with disordered eating and injuries as a collegiate athlete, and what sparked her competitive resurgence after college. She told me how Bart Yasso and a bizarre chance led to her getting a job at the LA Marathon, kicking off her career in the running industry. We talked about putting on events, why she does it, and the worst day she’s ever had as a race director. And lastly, we discussed her experience putting on a large event the first weekend of March earlier this year just as COVID-19 concerns were starting to escalate, what things look like for her right now with no races and an uncertain future ahead of us, her thoughts on how events might look different moving forward, and what she wants to tell runners who have had their races cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN. I’ve been using UCAN’s Performance Energy drink mix before my long runs, big workouts and races for the past four years, and it’s a crucial part of my nutrition plan, providing steady energy that’s easy on my gut. Go to ucan.co/shakeout — that’s ucan.co/shakeout — to learn more about UCAN’s one of a kind energy and use code  SHAKEOUT25 to save 25% off your first order. If you’re already a UCAN fan, you can save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-111-with-michelle-la-sala/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“Just having a group of people who accepted me unconditionally, who I knew had also been through hard times, who would be there for me, getting connected through a community group every week and making church a priority and just having these things outside of running just were so, so, so vital in giving me an identity and giving me a community and helping me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. So yeah, it definitely definitely played a huge role in helping me feel less alone—through injury and then through other hard things.” Erin Finn is the real deal: She was a 10x All-American at the University of Michigan and a 4x runner-up at the NCAA Championships. She holds four school records for the Wolverines and has personal bests of 15:23 for 5000m and 31:51 for 10,000m. But those numbers don’t even begin to tell her story. Now in her mid-20s, Erin is a first-year medical student at the University of Michigan. She’s still running, putting in 80 miles a week around her studies and other commitments, and she has her eye on moving up to the marathon in the next couple years. We recently had a great conversation talking about her relationship to the sport and how it’s evolved since she first got started as a young kid. Erin told me why she’s inspired by people who go about running differently—and along those lines, why she chose med school over pursuing a professional running career. We talked about her tendency toward perfectionism and how it can be both a blessing and a curse, getting caught in a cycle of overtraining and under-eating toward the end of her collegiate career and how she pulled herself out of it, where her competitive streak comes from and why she actively has to try and suppress it, the importance of family, faith, and community in her life, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN. I’ve been using UCAN’s Performance Energy drink mix before my long runs, big workouts and races for the past four years, and it’s a crucial part of my nutrition plan, providing steady energy that’s easy on my gut. Go to ucan.co/shakeout — that’s ucan.co/shakeout — to learn more about UCAN’s one of a kind energy and use code  SHAKEOUT25 to save 25% off your first order. If you’re already a UCAN fan, you can save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-110-with-erin-finn/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“When I look at an athlete, the way I see an athlete, how they see themselves, how they feel about themselves, where they are in their lives, that’s going to show up on the track way more than the training, right? The training is only going to be in line with the athlete when those other places are in check. You can maybe fake it and get by for a little while but ultimately those things are going to reveal themselves more than the workouts, and the mile(age), whatever, any of that stuff. So, how people are feeling is, to me, the first part that you have to tackle as an athlete, then you can nerd out on workouts. But to get that order wrong, I think, you’re going to be dumbfounded at the lack of results.” Mike Smith is the director of cross-country and track and field at Northern Arizona University, where his men’s cross team country team won three-straight national titles from 2016 through 2018, and last fall, they finished runner-up to BYU; his women’s squad qualified for nationals last fall for the first time since 2008, finishing 14th. Prior to his time at NAU, Mike coached at Georgetown, and in his coaching career he’s guided numerous athletes to all-conference honors, All-American awards, and national titles. He also coaches a handful of pros and still leads the Team Run Flagstaff group workouts on Tuesday nights in town. I’ve been following Mike’s career since the mid-1990s when we were both running as high schoolers in small-town Central Massachusetts. This is a conversation about the path Mike’s followed to get where he is today, and who and what have influenced him along the way. It’s also a conversation about his approach to coaching, running, competition, and life that I personally took a lot away from and I know you will too. This episode is brought to you by:  SOAR Running: SOAR is giving all listeners the chance to win a spring kit bundle, comprised of your choice of any top, bottom and accessory from SOAR’s range of products. All you have to do is head over to soarrunning.com/themorningshakeout and enter. That’s it. The winner will be selected at random and entries close at midnight on Sunday, May 3. Also, SOAR is offering FREE global shipping to morning shakeout listeners throughout April. When you check out at soarrunning.com, enter the code SHAKEOUT in the promotion box and they won’t charge you for shipping, no matter where you live in the world. The Feed: The Feed is a one-stop-shop for athletes and their online store offers a selection of over 200 different sport nutrition products, supplements and recovery devices. Whether you are looking to stock up on healthy snacks or improve your training or recovery, visit thefeed.com/morningshakeout to save 12% off your next order. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-109-with-mike-smith/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“I honestly was hobbling in and with each mile that went by I’m like, ‘I’m still in the top-10. That’s Uta Pippig who’s cheering on the side of the road over there. I just passed a hobbled Abdi Abdirahman—he’s a 2:08 marathoner. And that guy up in front of me is Meb Keflezighi.' I remember catching Meb with 800 meters to go and Meb went right back by me, and I had a moment of ‘Oh, the dream was too much.’ And then I said, ‘No, you’re gonna hobble back by him because this is the home stretch of the Olympic Trials and he’s the reigning Olympic silver medalist and that’s the sort of thing you pray for when you’re a kid—to go back and forth with the Olympic silver medalist in the home stretch of the Olympic Trials, what more could you want?' So I think that was a big part of it, is just that perspective.” This week’s episode is a special one for me. I sat down and had a long conversation with my college rival, Nate Jenkins, one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever known and someone I raced against regularly in the early 2000s when I was at Stonehill College and he was running for UMass Lowell. Nate was not a big star in college—he was never an All-American or anything like that—but after school he went on to do some pretty amazing things in the sport, like finishing an incredible 7th place at the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in the fall of 2007, running a personal best of 2:14:56 in that race, and then representing the U.S. in the marathon at the World Championships in 2009. I loved this conversation and I hope you will too. In it, Nate recounts a few epic stories, including the NCAA regional cross-country championship in 2003, where he beat me by two seconds in one of the most exciting races either of us has ever run. He told me how he knew he wanted competitive running to be a lifelong pursuit all the way back when he was in junior high. Nate explained why he’s a tough athlete to coach and a tough human being to be around in general. He talked about self-experimenting with training after college and what led to his big breakthroughs. We got into Nate’s personality and how it changes when he steps to the starting line on race day. Nate also recounts his experience at the Olympic Trials back in the fall of 2007 where he finished 7th “limping as hard as I could” the last 4 miles. Along that line, Nate talks about runners dystonia, the injury that ended his professional career; we also got into what his relationship with running, training, and competition looks like right now; Nate even turned the tables on me and asked a couple questions he’s been holding onto for a while, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  SOAR Running: SOAR is giving all listeners the chance to win a spring kit bundle, comprised of your choice of any top, bottom and accessory from SOAR’s range of products. All you have to do is head over to soarrunning.com/themorningshakeout and enter. That’s it. The winner will be selected at random and entries close at midnight on Sunday, May 3. Also, SOAR is offering FREE global shipping to morning shakeout listeners throughout April. When you check out at soarrunning.com, enter the code SHAKEOUT in the promotion box and they won’t charge you for shipping, no matter where you live in the world. The Feed: The Feed is a one-stop-shop for athletes and their online store offers a selection of over 200 different sport nutrition products, supplements and recovery devices. Whether you are looking to stock up on healthy snacks or improve your training or recovery, visit thefeed.com/morningshakeout to save 12% off your next order. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/episode-108-nate-jenkins/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“Patience is such a tough thing to have in life, the world, in running, but it is such an important thing to have. I mean, it’s just that stacking on stacking on stacking of mileage and now in this venture, for me, it’s words. Not to say that I really love going back and looking at some of my early stories—and I think I did a good job at them—but now I’m excited about what’s coming next and some of the ways I’m going to tell these kinds of stories, even the ones I don’t know about yet.” Liam Boylan-Pett is the founder of Lope Magazine, an online publication that releases one longform feature story each month from the track, road, or trail. Liam has a Masters degree in journalism from Georgetown and his work has appeared in Bleacher Report, SB Nation, NBCOlympics.com, Runner's World, and other publications. Liam is also a hell of a runner: he ran collegiately at both Columbia and Georgetown, and then ran professionally for a few years, posting personal bests of 1:46.66 for 800m, 3:37.05 for 1500m, and 3:57.75 for the mile. In this episode, we talked about when the idea for Lope Magazine first sparked and what’s behind the unique name, the importance of patience in writing and running, his thoughts on the current state of the running media, what athletes can do to better tell their stories, reach more fans, and create interest in the sport, why his relationship with running now is healthier than it was when he was competing at a high level, and a lot more. This was a great conversation. Liam is someone I’ve admired as both an athlete and a writer for a long time and it was super fun to spend an hour talking to him for the podcast. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed taking part of it. This episode is brought to you by:  SOAR Running: SOAR is giving all listeners the chance to win a spring kit bundle, comprised of your choice of any top, bottom and accessory from SOAR’s range of products. All you have to do is head over to soarrunning.com/themorningshakeout and enter the prize draw. That’s it. The winner will be selected at random and entries close at midnight on Sunday, May 3. Also, SOAR is offering FREE global shipping to morning shakeout listeners throughout April. When you check out at soarrunning.com, enter the code SHAKEOUT in the promote box and they won’t charge you for shipping, no matter where you live in the world. The Feed: The Feed is a one-stop-shop for athletes to fuel their training, stay healthy and recover quicker. Their online store offers a selection of over 200 different sport nutrition products, supplements and recovery devices. Whether you are looking to stock up on healthy snacks or improve your training or recovery, visit thefeed.com/morningshakeout to save 12% off your next order with The Feed. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/episode-107-liam-boylan-pett/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“Every time I line up I don’t get as anxious anymore, I don’t feel like I’m gonna barf. It’s just, ’See what you can do. You have two healthy legs. You get to do this.’ Like, the sky is the limit. And if you don’t reach what you think you might be able to do, that’s OK too. Because I’m having fun. I’m more in the moment now, not thinking about the end goal of ‘Oh, I might not do as well’ or ‘I might suck.’ That’s fine.” Bria Wetsch finished 27th at the recent U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta, running 2:37:58, less than a minute off of her personal best. The 31-year-old lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado, where she also works as an accountant. Bria ran collegiately at the University of Oregon and prior to that, she was a national 2-mile champion, top-10 Footlocker finisher, and five-time state champion as a high schooler in her native Minnesota. We covered A LOT in this conversation and I really appreciate how vulnerable and brave Bria was in sharing her story with me. She told me about getting her start in the sport at the age of 11, being hospitalized for an eating disorder not long after that, resulting injuries, and how she was able to get through that period in her life. We discussed experiencing success at a young age and how she struggled to separate her identity and self-worth from her running results. Bria recounts her experience recovering from double achilles surgery in 2017 and coming back to run a marathon PR 13 months later. She explained why she’s stuck with the sport despite various struggles over the past 20 years. Bria opened up about her fear of failure and battling perfectionism—but also how she learned to let go a few years ago and what that did for her relationship with running and competition, and much more. This episode is brought to you by:  Tracksmith: Tracksmith is a Boston-based running brand led by a group of life long runners who are dedicated to building superlative quality, classically stylish, and cutting-edge running apparel for real-world athletes. If you're looking for inspiration to stay motivated and get out the door these days, be sure to check out their Journal at journal.tracksmith.com and follow them on Instagram (@TracksmithRunning), where they've been sharing and creating content from around the running world. To learn more, visit tracksmith.com/mario and use code Mario15 at checkout to save 15% on your first purchase. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-106-with-bria-wetsch/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“Both disciplines attract that type of person, who can chase down specific goals, who is competitive, not necessarily with other people, but with themselves. I think that’s a big thing you see in dance and it’s a big thing you see in running—yeah, you’re competing for the top spot, you’re competing for the spot in the company, you’re competing for the lead role on Broadway, if you’re in high school, you’re literally at dance competitions that you want to win. In running, yeah, if you’re at the front of the pack, it’s the same: you’re competing to break the tape. But I think inherently what I see a lot of in both is this idea of wanting to be your best self in your discipline, and seeing what that brings out in you as a person.” Ali Feller is the host of the super popular Ali on The Run Show podcast, where every week she talks to inspiring people who lead interesting lives on the run and beyond. I’m a longtime listener of her show, she has a great range of guests from top pros to average age-groupers and all sorts of other folks who are doing unique things in and around running. Plus, Ali is an incredible interviewer who just really knows how to keep a conversation flowing. But in this episode, she’s my guest and we hit on a lot of different topics, from dealing with imposter syndrome and learning how to push it to the side, to attending the Olympic Trials Marathon in Atlanta and what she took away from that experience, why she’s way more passionate about other people’s running than her own (and when that flipped for her), starting her podcast and how it’s evolved over the course of 200+ episodes, battling Crohn’s disease since the age of 7 and how that’s impacted her running and her life, the strategies she uses to manage stress and anxiety, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN: Learn more about UCAN's one-of-a-kind energy at generationucan.com/shakeout and save 25% on your first order with code SHAKEOUT25—that’s SHAKEOUT 2-5. If you’re already a UCAN fan, save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. AJC Peachtree Road Race: July 4 is on a Saturday, which means you can’t miss the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia! More information is available at ajc.com/peachtree. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-105-with-ali-feller/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“For me, I actually like being in the corner with my back up against the wall because it forces me to figure a way out. And I’m not feeling that just yet, or at least to a degree where I feel like I’m in trouble, but if I do, I’m going to figure a way out out of it. I don’t know what that is right now but you get creative with it.” We are back with the first Ask Mario Anything episode of 2020, featuring yours truly taking a wide range of reader and listener questions from John Summerford, producer of the morning shakeout podcast, who will tell you more about who he is, how we got connected, what he is working on, and how his relationship with running has evolved in the first part of the show. After that, I respond to a number of questions about how to adjust goals and training when your race gets cancelled or postponed, the Olympic Trials Marathon, my shoe rotation, coaching resources I recommend, how my wife and I met, and a lot more. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions and apologies for all the ones I wasn't able to answer in this episode. Got a question for the next Ask Mario Episode? Send it my way by dropping me a line on Twitter. This episode is brought to you by:  UCAN: Learn more about UCAN's one-of-a-kind energy at generationucan.com/shakeout and save 25% on your first order with code SHAKEOUT25—that’s SHAKEOUT 2-5. If you’re already a UCAN fan, save 15% with code SHAKEOUT. AJC Peachtree Road Race: July 4 is on a Saturday, which means you can’t miss the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia! It’s the largest 10K in the world and the largest road race in the country. Lottery registration is open until March 30 so mark your calendars today. With 60,000 runners and walkers, 200,000 spectators, costumes, music, and the coveted finisher shirt, this is one-bucket list race you can’t miss. More information is available at ajc.com/peachtree. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-104-ask-mario-anything-3 Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout

“I’m obsessed with everything I pick. Whatever it is, I don’t really question it. Most of the time, my obsessions, I don’t know what’s happening when they start. I just tug on a thread a little bit and then just full on yank on it and connect it to a bus and drive it out of town...The idea of exploring and learning and my mind just exploded at university. Exposed to psychology for the first time, like Psych 101 just changed everything. It was like, ‘Wait, this is how we work?’ I know more about myself now than I ever did and I think that was the productive push to this idea of pulling on a thread that was good, and it was really sports photography that was that first passion that turned into something, rather than just a passive interest. I mean, when I was a teenager in high school I started building the internet and playing with HTML and CSS and thought it was neat that you could make stuff move on a screen, and I had my own little website for cars that I was building. So yeah, I guess I’ve always been obsessed. I totally forgot. I’ve always been this obsessive, 100 percent.” Jody Bailey is one of the top photographers in the running game today and I’ve been a big fan of his work for the past couple years. He calls himself a “visual ethnographer of running” and his photos and stories have appeared in media outlets such as Tempo Journal, InnerVoice, and Like the Wind magazine, in campaigns for brands like Brooks, ASICS, Saucony and others, and in various other places. We recorded this conversation the morning after the recent U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon, which, in addition to being an awesome event on its own, served as Jody’s unofficial 4-year anniversary of his introduction to running and photographing the sport. We talked the spark that ignited his interest in running and desire to document its culture, how he got his start in sports photography, being self-taught as a photographer, web designer, and computer programmer, how curiosity and competitiveness fit into different areas of his life, the importance of community, the current landscape of running photography, and a lot more. This episode is brought to you by:  New Balance: Use the promo code SHAKEOUT when you check out at newbalance.com to save 20% off your purchase of $100 or more. *Some restrictions do apply but this code should cover you for most products on their website. AJC Peachtree Road Race: July 4 is on a Saturday, which means you can’t miss the AJC Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia! It’s the largest 10K in the world and the largest road race in the country. Lottery registration closes on March 31 so enter today! With 60,000 runners and walkers, 200,000 spectators, costumes, music, and the coveted finisher shirt, this is one-bucket list race you can’t miss. More information is available at ajc.com/peachtree. Complete show notes: https://themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-103-with-jody-bailey/ Sign up here to get the morning shakeout email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning: www.themorningshakeout.com/subscribe/ Support the morning shakeout on Patreon: www.patreon.com/themorningshakeout