Steve Magness never imagined he’d be a writer —let alone caught in the eye of one of most controversial competitive athletic storms entangled with running brand behemoth Nike, in what could be the biggest scandal since Lance Armstrong. As a track and field athlete in high school, he dreamed of one day being a running coach, or an Olympic athlete. As it happens for so many, life took him on a different path. He is now the author and co-author of many bestselling books including, The Science of Running, The Passion Paradox, Peak Performance and his latest, Do Hard Things http://www.stevemagness.com/do-hard-things 

“I wanted to go to the Olympics and be a professional athlete, and that was all I cared about,” he tells me. “I went to school because it was an expectation. I went to college because it allowed me to continue to compete and run. Beyond that, honestly I didn’t have a ton of interests.”

He’s not a competitive runner anymore but today, as I sit down with him to discuss his new book, Do Hard Things, we can’t help but shoot the breeze about running and how it’s really a metaphor for life. 

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