Bonus Episode! with Kofuzi

Today, I'm talking with Mica Rivera Wood, who recently ran her debut of 2:31:35 at the Marathon Project at the end of 2025. I've been following both Mica and her husband, Adam Wood, on social media, and I've had the pleasure of crossing paths with them in a variety of cities around the world on media trips. In this episode, we talk about Mica's marathon debut, running for Peru, and joining the Eyestone Elite group in Utah. We also go over where her 2:31 performance puts her on my Fastest Known Youtubers list and my Fastest Know Marathon Couples list.

0:00 intro

1:48 kiss marry kill

3:45 joining eyestone elite

6:10 so many recent PRs

10:24 running for peru

14:59 do peruvians love adam

16:52 having an audience that includes younger runners

21:28 mica's high school PRs

26:20 fastest known youtubers

28:59 fastest marathon couples

follow Mica's running on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKv8bGnFm0eaXkoxtxzUWYg

follow Mica on IG:

https://www.instagram.com/micariverawoodfollow the Woods on IG:https://www.instagram.com/thewoodsrun

Zouhair Talbi is a professional marathoner for ASICS who has been a 2:06 guy for the last two years when he first won the Houston Marathon and set the course record. This year, he returned to Houston to set break his own course record and bring home both the win and a shiny new PB of 2:05:45. In this bonus episode, I talk with Zouhair about moving from Morocco to Northwest Kansas, the shoes he's been training and racing in, his also very fast marathoner wife, and where he stands on the Fastest Known YouTubers: Mens Marathon List0:00 intro0:42 from Moroccoa to Northwest Kansas5:20 what did Zouhair eat when he was feeling homesick in the early years7:09 citizenship through service10:56 Zouhair's shoe rotation13:31 race day shoe15:16 wife's OTQ15:42 fastest marathon couples17:26 fastest known youtubers21:49 training in Morocco24:54 what's the plan now?27:56 chasing 2:04?32:35 no gels, only fluidsfollow Zouhair on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@UC81tNdvRP6EqX4jDaA0PLrQ Zouhair on IG: https://www.instagram.com/zouhairathle/Zouhair's wife on IG: https://www.instagram.com/elizabethtalbi/

Adam Woods is an unsponsored marathoner who recently ran a PB of 2:16:58 at CIM. I've known Adam and his wife, Mica, (both runners) as they have a very popular joint IG account theWoodsRun, and I've attended media events with them in their capacity as new media or "influencers" like me.

But I've been following their running journeys even before we met in person, so I was excited to see Adam perform well at CIM, especially considering Adam had a health scare earlier in the year that put his running career in jeopardy.

00:00 INTRO

02:48 Fastest Known YouTubers

05:26 Secret Sauce Training In Utah

07:54 Race Breakdown and Analysis

16:13 Time in Hospital

20:10 The Training

24:52 Let's Talk About Shoes

26:12 Pacing Arizona with Mica and Recording / Content Juggling

33:26 Creating Content

35:03 Let's talk about Mica

Adam on IG

https://www.instagram.com/adammwoodd/

Adam and Mica on IG

https://www.instagram.com/thewoodsrun/

Adam on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@AdamWoodRuns

Joel Reichow is an unsponsored marathoner who's been running with Minnesota Distance Elite for a while now, but he's finally had that breakout year, winning Grandma's Marathon (to go along with his prior Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon at Grandma's win in 2023) and also coming in 6th in New York with a sub 2:10 time. In this Bonus Episode! I talk with Joel about his race day, the shoes he's been training and racing in as a free agent, and I also do a quick check on just how Minnesota Runner this Minnesota native is.

00:00 INTRO

00:51 Interview Start

01:39 Kiss, Marry, Kill

02:37 Result in NYC

05:03 Any time goals?

05:38 Race recap, breakdown

10:52 Race Day Shoes

12:40 What other shoes are you running in?

14:13 Getting ready for New York

15:34 What are you doing with your hair?

18:36 Interaction with Annie

20:13 Inside Minnesota Elite

21:48 How Minnesota Runner Are You?

Follow Minnesota Distance Elite on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@MinnesotaDistanceElite

Follow Joel on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/joelreichow/?hl=en

Dakotah Popehn is a professional marathoner for Puma who just finished 7th overall in Chicago, running a PB of 2:24:20 and finishing as second American. But Dakotah was a bit disappointed overall in her performance. In this bonus episode, we'll go over what her goals were, where things went awry, and whether her choice of the Fast R3 was the best choice (Dakotah once told me that that they'd basically have to fight her if they ever tried to take her away her Deviate Nitro Elite 3, which is another shoe that is made by her sponsor)

00:00: INTRO

00:40: Interview Start

01:23: Kiss, Marry, Kill

02:05: Training leading up to Chicago

04:12: Press Conference

05:30: Do you have a favorite marathon indicator workout?

06:50: Start of the Race

09:24: Mile 9

10:19: Nutrition on course

11:20: Mile 19

13:21: Finish

14:16: Fast R 3 or Deviate Elite?

16:58: Shoe’s worn during training rotation.

18:27: Heat Training, Double Training and Nutrition Training

19:19: Looking Forward, What’s Next?

21:33: What Lagoon animal are you?

21:53: What headphones does Dakotah use?

23:09: Inside Minnesota Distance Elite

Follow Dakotah on IG

https://www.instagram.com/dakotahlindwurm/

Follow Minnesota Distance Elite on YT

https://www.youtube.com/@MinnesotaDistanceElite

I had a chance to speak with Rory Linkletter after the Chicago Marathon where he had been eyeing the Canadian and Area Records for the marathon. The time didn't quite end up where Rory wanted it to be, but it was a PB day for Rory. We talk about his nutrition, his training, and of course, the shoes.

00:00 Intro

00:44 Interview Start

01:11 Was the Chicago Marathon a Success?

02:42 Training For Chicago

04:02 Thoughts inside the race.

05:22 Press Conference Fit

06:43 Inside the Race

09:06 Water bottle Stop Issues

10:03 Nutrition for Chicago

12:42 Mile 17 of Chicago

14:57 Was this race different from Boston or the Olympics?

17:13 Pain Cave Mindset

20:22 After the Race

22:56 Professional Hair Model

22:25 Hair Long or Short? Facial Hair or No Facial Har?

28:42 Training Build for Chicago

29:53 What Changes for Next Race?

31:17 What shoes are you reaching for?

Reed Fischer recently ran in the World Marathon Championships in Tokyo 2025. It was a painfully hot day on the course with about a third of the field DNFing. Reed finished as second American but that only got him 28th place overall. In this interview, we'll discuss Reed's heat training, his race, his plans for a fall marathon, and of course, his favorite shoes.

Reed Fischer on IG

https://www.instagram.com/reedfisch/

I had a chance to sit down with Clayton Young in Tokyo the day after he finished as Top American and 9th overall in the Mens World Championships Marathon Tokyo 2025. We go over the ice hats, the fall, and how he feels about 9th place in his second international race. 0:00 intro0:32 race morning recovery score1:05 altitude camp3:03 return to tokyo5:40 Tokyo crowd support6:56 the hats10:19 aid stations11:27 when did the big pack break12:41 injury list15:23 the fall18:58 race day shoes21:30 how does he feel about 9th25:02 lead car duties25:51 extending japan stay

Earlier this year, I had a chance to speak with multiple ASICS athletes ahead of the Tokyo Speed Race, a 5k and 10k event designed to break records and PBs while debuting the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo and Metaspeed Edge Tokyo. The athletes I had a chance to speak with were

Drew Hunter

Biya Simbassa

Matt Richtman

Emma Grace Hurley

Makenna Myler

Interview date: May 2025

I recently had the chance to visit Brooks HQ in Seattle, and while there, I spoke with the Brooks athlete who will be representing Team USA for the World Championships Marathon in Tokyo. And four of the six Team USA members are Team Brooks! Erika Kemp, CJ Albertson, Susanna Sullivan, and Jess McClain. We talked about how they'll be preparing for Tokyo, which shoes they'll be running and training in, and then we play a little game. 0:00 intro0:53 Erika Kemp14:28 CJ Albertson28:17 Susanna Sullivan38:58 Jess McClainInterview date: June 17, 2025Edited by Brandon Rossi