D3 Glory Days Podcast

We're welcoming Lilah Drafts-Johnson to the D3GD staff and what a better introduction than to know her D3 story. In high school, Lilah started out as a two-miler but shifted toward the 400mH and triple jump. While not completely understanding the recruiting process, Lilah sent in her track marks to boost her application to Oberlin College. The coaches reached out and she quickly realized joining the track team would make for a positive college experience.

Lilah spent a lot of her college career shifting her goals. She wanted to leave college as a sub 60 400m runner. She did that by indoors her freshman year. So, she set the bar higher to become a national champion.

She completed her final goal of becoming a national champion in the 400m Hurdles in her last track race ever. We explore the psychological makeup of shifting goals and what role track and field played in her college experience.

Lilah will be taking deeper dives into D3 Track and Field in her written work on d3glorydays.com

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

For the second episode of the double, we sat down with Marcus Weaver to discuss his record breaking Heptathlon. We won't see him back in the Hep until Nationals but expect a big performance out of him in March.

After Marcus, we spoke to Coach Linh Nguyen from Emory on his transition back into D3. We also discussed ways to better standardize the time conversion that takes place every to reflect where the National meet is held. His idea calls for D3 to use a banked track as the standard so that way no matter where the National meet is held, times won't be converted slower. Let us know what you think.

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

Olympians, they’re just like us! If you need someone to cheer for this Winter Olympics, look no further than St. Olaf graduate, Jake Brown.

As a self proclaimed, ‘typical Minnesota distance athlete' Brown got his start in cross country skiing at a young age. His aerobic background from skiing made for a  natural transition into running world when he got to high school. However, wile at Princeton he was longing to ski in college. He transferred to St. Olaf in 2013 and was an instant impact for their cross country program. St. Olaf was retuning five guys from the previous year’s 14th place team. Adding Jake was the missing piece as they were able to take down North Central College by 2 points to take home the 2013 XC Team Title.

With eligibility left to ski, Brown went to Northern Michigan University for graduate school. He was able to compete on the Nordic ski team and that’s where it began to click for him with skiing. After being scouted at a Biathlon ID camp, Brown made his way to Vermont to train full time as a Biathlon athlete. Since then, he has gone to compete at 3 World Championships and was the 2019 US Biathlon Champ!

Watch Jake at the Olympics

Here is the Schedule for Biathlon at the Olympics

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

“After I ran 2:44, it would have been very easy to pick a reasonable goal time of 2:40 and then completely limit myself from 2:33, so I don't really like to set goal times.”

The Houston Marathon was a historic day for US distance running as the American record in both the marathon and half marathon were broken. As the celebrations began, Christina Welsh crossed the line in 8th place running 2:33:00 in her 6th marathon. A quick TFRRs search will tell you Christina was a 18:25/39:21 5k/10k runner out of Stockton University in New Jersey.

The other staggering fact you’ll find out about Christina is that she made her marathon debut in 3:29 and went into Houston with a 2:44 PB.

Her progression:

6/2019: 3:29:17 - Lake Placid Marathon

11/2019: 3:20:34 - NYC Marathon

11/2020: 3:03:58 - Space Coast Marathon

4/2021: 2:56:09 - Wilmington Marathon

6/2021: 2:44:35 - Grandma’s Marathon

1/2022: 2:33:00 - Houston Marathon

She credits these jumps to her love of running and low intensity/higher mileage training that she wasn’t able to have in college. At Stockton, she was in the training system with everyone else of higher intensity workouts and reduced mileage. As she continued running more mileage for each marathon buildup, her times dramatically fell.

Christina brings a unique perspective to elite marathoning. She isn’t glued to her watch in workouts or races. A race plan stresses her out as races typically don't follow the plan and doesn't account for the variability that can happen. You’ll see she enjoys going with the flow and joins everyone else that is excited to see what she does next because she isn’t even sure!

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

We launched The Double to bring more coverage to D3 Running. The focus of The Double will be on the current season that features conversations with current athletes and coaches.

The D3 Track and Field Season is off to a hot start. In the debut episode of The Double, we sit down with Aidan Ryan, Ella Baran and Henry Pick. Learn more about what's going on in D3 as well as these three.

So far:

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

One of the most decorated middle distance runners in D3 history almost stepped away from the sport. Liz Kujawa (Woodworth) went to UW-Oshkosh with the intentions to run and study Athletic Training. The AT major was demanding and the director of the program told her it would be difficult to run while being in the major. Her successful freshman year made her realize she could become something special in running and sought a major that would better align with her training schedule.

As her success piled up, she always wanted to make sure she was being a positive example for the other women on her team by leading by example. While she may not have been the most talkative on the team, she knew her success would be motivation for the rest of the team.

It was clear throughout her career that the team success meant more to her than her individual success. Winning the DMR title as a sophomore was one of her career highlights as she shared that moment with her teammates. As senior, she agreed to double at the National Championships because it meant giving her a team a chance to win and of course, they won.

What made Liz so good was her love for the sport. When a stress fracture kept her from her junior year cross country season, she realized the worst part of the injury was not running - the same thing she mentioned as her least favorite part of cross country and track. Her love grew overtime and she understood all the benefits running provided.

From this conversation, you’d never expect Liz to have walked away from Oshkosh as:

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or leave a rating Spotify!

We’re launching a live D3 Track Show this Week. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss it.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

"I didn't realize at the time, but the chance Coach Ellingson gave me, it changed the trajectory of my entire life. I realize that more and more every year that I wouldn't be at NYRR today without that opportunity.”

Have you wondered how the fields at the NYC Marathon and Fifth Avenue Mile are put together? Sam Grotewold and his team are responsible for putting together the world-class of the events you love. It also happens that Sam went to a D3 college and wouldn’t be doing what is he today with the opportunity Coach Keith Ellingson gave him at Simpson College.

Sam chose his path to college without running influencing his decision. He had his mindset on going to Simpson College to study graphic design and journalism. It wasn’t until a meeting at orientation where the athletic director asked the incoming class if they were interested in doing a sport. Sam raised his hand and a few days later, Coach Ellingson called Sam to ask him to join the team.

While Sam didn’t go on to win National Titles or become an All-American, his opportunity to join the Simpson Cross Country team shaped his life and career trajectory.

After Sam graduated, he joined New York Road Runners as a web editor. As NYRR began to have professional races, he transitioned from his web editing role into the Professional Athletes space. Sam explains the process of filling the fields, memorable stories, and fills us in if Kipchoge will run NYC.

The impact of Sam’s D3 experience shaped his life into what it is today. He gives credit to Coach Ellingson for giving him an opportunity when he didn’t have to.

Follow Sam on Twitter

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

“Even when running sucks and I'm not having any fun with it, I keep coming back to it. That keeps paying off because running, more than any other sport, rewards you for showing up every day and continuing to work hard.”

Welcome to 2022! We’re back with recent 2:14 Marathoner and Haverford grad, Dylan Gearinger. Like many runners, Dylan didn’t start out as a runner. He focused on football and baseball but a string of concussions from football forced Dylan to find a new athletic outlet.

He responded well to running as the team environment was friendlier than his football and baseball teams. Dylan began to see his potential in running as he became the top runner for his high school team his senior year.

A mysterious illness consumed Dylan’s life as he was unable to get a proper diagnosis of what was keeping him ill for extended periods. Once at Haverford, he was able to get treatment from UPenn which turned his health and running around. The restored health allowed him to train consistently and stack high mileage weeks together. By his junior year track season, the culmination of mileage paid off with an Indoor 3k National Title.

After a disappointing senior xc season and other personal reasons, Dylan left the team and ran unattached for both indoor and outdoor season. Under the Philly Runner Track Club, he ran 7:59.74, the unofficial #2 time in D3 History.

The high mileage college days made for an easy transition into the marathon. Dylan knew he would be a strong marathoner but never expected to bust out a 2:14 so early in his marathon career. Dylan was a Top 20 Marathoner in the US among all courses and tied for 10th on record eligible courses in 2021. Dylan will be the one to watch for in 2022 as he eyes the Chicago Marathon in the fall.

Dylan's story shows that a running career isn't a linear path and consistency pays off.

Follow Dylan on Instagram

Follow Dylan on Strava

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We launched a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

42 Episodes! Can you believe that? We put out 42 episodes this year. In Today’s episode, Noah and Stu sit down to recap what happened this year on D3 Glory Days, give their top 3 episodes, and give a preview of what is coming to D3 Glory Days in 2022.

This was a such fun year for the D3GD team. We tested the waters of providing up to date coverage this cross country season, began putting out written content, and even made our own rankings! This was a fun year for us and we’re so glad you enjoyed following along.

D3 Glory Days Patreon

We’re launching a Patreon! As we said, we will never go behind a paywall - so any support is greatly appreciated.

This past season was a great undertaking in our labor of love. We enjoy bringing you this content and we realized we could do so much more with a little bit of backing. We want to ensure D3 gets the coverage it deserves and keeping this website paywall free! If you have enjoyed this podcast and the articles we have put, please consider becoming a Patreon of D3 Glory Days. In full disclosure, the money will go directly into the show: equipment, subscriptions we need, and most importantly, money to our writers. If you are able, we would appreciate your support.

Write For D3 Glory Days

We’re also looking for more writers. If you have an idea you’d like to pitch us, email us [email protected]. In addition, we’re looking for non-distance writers as well. Reach out if you’re interested!

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.

Annie Rodenfels returns to D3 Glory Days after running 15:08.80 at BU this weekend - a World Standard! The original goal of the of Saturday was to pace the BYU women to 3k-4k. At 3k, she was feeling good and dropped back into the pack to see where the train would take her. A 30 second last lap propelled her to win the race of her life. She is now 12th All-Time on the US Women’s indoor 5k list. The best stat of all, she is now the fastest Woman to run a 5k out of D3.

Annie recently joined the BAA after training with Greenville Track Club. This is the first time in her life she has female training partners and she is absolutely loving it. As she continues to bet on herself, she is excited to be training with Erika Kemp and Abbey Wheeler who will continue to push her each day.

We go into how the race played out, what her transition to the BAA has been like, and how she is handling this transforming race.

If you want to hear her origin story, go back to Episode 2!

Thank you goodr

A huge thanks to goodr for coming on and partnering with us. I hope you were able to get a pair of sunglasses at the National Meet! If you didn’t get a pair National Meet, go to goodr.com and save 15% by using code GLORYDAYS at checkout.

goodr sunglasses are $25, non slip sunglasses that are stylish and make you run goodr. They provide 100% UV Protection and are 100% Polarized. Not only that they are a 100% carbon neutral company and give back 1% to the Planet. They're our favorite running sunglasses so go get yourself a pair!

How to Support D3 Glory Days

As always, we really appreciate your support of this podcast. If you’d like to help spread the word, share the podcast with a friend, or leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

If you would like to help support the podcast or say thanks to our writers, please consider making a donation on the D3 Glory Days Venmo. This helps offset some costs, hosting services, and help out our new writers.

If you want to rep D3 Glory Days on your next run, head to our Merch Store. And finally, follow us on social media! We’re on Instagram, Twitter and Strava.