Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

I am your host, Nicholas, and today on the show is one of the nation’s biggest middle school stars: Mr. Brayden Domont out of Illinois. This dude is nuts. I can’t even believe how fast middle schoolers are running these days.

As an eighth grader, Brayden has run 2:02 for 800m, 2:46 for 1K indoors, 4:27 for 1600m and 12:06 for 4K cross-country. Just reading those times off, puts me to shame… my gosh middle schoolers are fast these days.

He is a back-to-back middle school state champion in Illinois for the 1600m, was 2nd at the New Balance Indoor Nationals MS Mile, 2nd at Junior XC nationals, and won the HOKA Misfits indoor middle school 1000m, and Mile. This guy is unbelievable, and very wise, as you will learn in our conversation today.

Brayden is one of the most analytical and articulate guests on the show and is very disciplined in his approach, talking all about prioritizing the long-term for his career in training, how he has developed race tactics, his mindset and what it has taken for him to become one of the best middle schoolers in the nation. We also talk a bit about trackflation and what he thinks the scene of high school running is going to look like when he is an upperclassman, and so much more.

Please, before we get into this episode, if you haven’t already, then please, wherever you are, in your car, at work, on a run, give this podcast a follow and a five-star review on whatever platform you are listening on. That goes a long way in supporting the growth of The Sunday Shakeout so that I can keeping bringing to you some of the greatest stories in the sport of running and in that process, share love and passion for track and field and distance running.

Without further delay, please enjoy my conversation, with Brayden Domont.