"I don't wanna just be someone who qualified for the Olympic Trials once and made a semifinal or whatever. I want to be someone who's name is in contention for teams. And that's my goal these last three years and I'm going to be doing everything I can to get there. But I want to be known as someone who basically made running cool again."Stoked to welcome sub-4:00 miler Brandon Hudgins to the podcast! Not only is Brandon fast—he's also an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 1,500m—but he's got one of the most inspiring, and untold, stories in professional running today, and I'm excited to share it with all of you.While competing collegiately at Winthrop in 2008, Hudgins was diagnosed with Vasculitis, specifically granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks blood vessels in various organs throughout the body, causing debilitating inflammation that requires treatment with chemotherapy and high doses of corticosteroids. Currently in remission—he's had three serious relapses in the past 10 years, the last one in 2016—the now 31-year-old Hudgins, who still receives immunotherapy treatments every six months, is rebuilding momentum with the next Olympic Trials fast approaching two years from now. "I don't know how long my legs are going to last or what my health situation is going to be so I don't want to say I'm making Plan Bs because I hate making Plan Bs," Hudgins told me. "That's just not the type of person I am and it drives people in my family, and my girlfriend, absolutely bonkers—but [I've been] setting things up outside of running, and for my future, getting involved with the [Vasculitis] foundation more and all of that so if this running thing doesn't work out I'm not completely left naked standing in the street with a pair of running shorts on with no real skills."In this episode we dive into Hudgins' story and how he got into running, learn what vasculitis is and how he’s adapted to living with it, speculate on what he thinks he could have run if he weren't dealing with the disease, talk about how he's worked through periods of anxiety and depression related to his illness, discuss who is exciting him in running today (hint: she was a previous guest on this podcast) and what's upsetting him about the sport, and much, much more.This episode of the morning shakeout podcast was edited by John Isaac at BaresRecords.com.Complete show notes here: https://www.themorningshakeout.com/podcast-episode-16-with-brandon-hudgins/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

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