Finish Lines and Milestones

Kelby Laughner ran the Olympic Trials Marathon in 2020 while 27 weeks pregnant. Need I say more? Kelby was my first live podcast guest and it was a lot of fun (and also terrifying). Thank you to my coach, Rachel, for the opportunity!

During this episode, sponsored by BITCHSTIX, Previnex, and Cure Hydration, we talk about:

• Intro from my coach, Rachel Sinders, since this interview took place LIVE! During the very first Team RMR Running Retreat
• Running at a D1 school in college at The University of Evansville
• How she started dating her husband during senior year of high school and all through college even though they were 4.5 hours apart
• The fact that she ran 19 miles with a friend during a marathon she wasn’t running
• Why she got into running in the first place
• Highlights of her collegiate career - 5K school record (17:27 - that she went on to beat last year after becoming a mom of two)
• Her first marathon at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in 2015, the year after she graduated and the year she got married
• Finding Coach Matt Ebersole of Personal Best Training (PBT)
• What it’s like to be an Army wife
• Having her first baby during COVID
• Getting the Olympic Trials Qualifying time before the window was open in 2017 and then thankfully doing it again at Grandma’s in 2018
• How she ran the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon while 27 weeks pregnant the week before the world shut down
• Winning the Indianapolis Monumental Mile with her jogging stroller
• Other marathons she’s done: Carmel, Monumental, Grandma’s, Twin Cities, Chicago, Boston (2018)
• Running the Boston Marathon in 2018 the “shitty weather Des year”
• Q&A from Team RMR

This is a ⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠ Podcast.

Link to Indy Mini event on 5/2. Tickets on sale 3/17.

Sponsor Details:

- ⁠Previnex⁠ - ALLY15 for 15% off your first order

- ⁠BITCHSTIX⁠ -ALLYB for 20% off your order

-⁠ Cure Hydration ⁠- ALLYB for 20% off your first order

Christine Anderson and I met because she created my favorite running fuel, Organic Pure Fuel. During this episode, sponsored by Anderson's Maple Syrup, Previnex, BITCHSTIX, and Cure Hydration (pinch me), we talk about:

• Her temperature limit for running outside
• How I found Christine's product, Pure Fuel
• Growing up on a “sugar bush” in rural Wisconsin
• Her family’s syrup business, Anderson’s Maple Syrup and how it’s nearly 100 years old
• How she was an elementary school teacher for 25 years
• The El Fernando Siesta Running Club (an entirely made up club with Christine and two of her college friends)
• Running through McDonald’s (not the drive thru)
• The device she would use to track her mileage in college
• How her best friend, Elyse, got her into marathons
• When that same friend, Elyse, ran the LA Marathon with active leukemia that had just come back after nearly five years
• Life after losing her friend, Elyse, and saying “yes” to adventures she’d been considering like traveling with a band for a year playing the piano
• Her time in Tokyo, Japan and running for mental health
• Signing up for her first marathon with Team in Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at the Twin Cities Marathon
• Why she stays until the last finisher for every marathon
• How her hope and dream before she dies is to run a marathon in all 50 states
• Race stories from her 39 marathons: South Dakota, Alaska
• Joining the family business, Anderson’s Maple Syrup, and launching Organic Pure Fuel, maple syrup in a pouch for athletes
• How she wants to love trail running but she’s a “chicken about falling”
• The best post race experience she’s had at the Houston Marathon
• How her parents are still living at age 96 and 90 and her dad still likes to work

This is a SandyBoy Productions Podcast.

Sponsor Details:

- Previnex - ALLY15 for 15% off your first order

- Organic Pure Fuel - FUEL20 for 20% off on their website

- BITCHSTIX -ALLYB for 20% off your order

- Cure Hydration - ALLYB for 20% off your first order

Rob Jackson and I met first on Instagram and then in person before the CNO Indianapolis Monumental Marathon last year. This year, he'll be racing his first marathon as an elite athlete at the 2025 Carmel (Indiana) Marathon.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠Pure Fuel⁠ and ⁠Cure Hydration⁠, we talk about:

•  How he trained for the Monumental Marathon last year by doing 2-3.5 hours on the elliptical while he was coming off of an injury and how he still incorporates it into his training 

• And how for his first marathon he did 99% of his training on a treadmill (spoiler alert: he ran a 2:58)

• How he “struck out” having a boy and is the dad of three girls - ages 9, 6 and 4 and how he met his wife, Jordan

• The incredible amount of support Jordan gives him during training and race day 

• His childhood experience with sports and being a little overweight 

• How he came to be coached by Matt Ebersole of Personal Best Training 

• The one triathlon he did in Indianapolis and some other races he’s done  

• Running with an Apple Watch in Boston and running a 3:00:00 flat (his worst race)

• The “med tent” story 

• Thinking about the business side of running and his partner, PYNRS, a black-owned apparel company

• What it’s like to be a Black Unicorn (he’s in the top 55 black men in the US) and why he says more black men don’t run marathons   

• His eating disorder, Orthorexia nervosa

• Losing his mom and the mental side of running 

• SHOES! And how Rob is a sneaker-head 

• Why he went ghost on Strava 

  
  

  This is a ⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠ podcast.

  
  

  Deals: Pure Fuel use FUEL20 for 20% off, Cure Hydration use ALLYB for 20% off your first order

  
  

  Events Mentioned:

  Be a SHEro 5K in Kokomo, IN on 3/8

  Holliday Park Trail Run on 3/14 and 3/15 (FLM10 for 10% off)

  
  

  Previous Guests Mentioned:

  • Matt Ebersole (EP89)

  • Mark Guyer (EP59)

  • Carly Stewart (EP53)

  • Jennifer Conner (EP57)

  • Mark Glover (EP76)

  • Chris Galloway  (EP69)

  
  

Curtis Hargrove is the first Canadian to join the Finish Lines & Milestones podcast. When I saw a video of Curtis running Chicago in heels I knew I had to meet him.

During this episode, sponsored by Pure Fuel and Cure Hydration, we talk about:

• Where Curtis is from in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada (recording during extreme -49°F conditions)
• His work as a derrickhand on a service rig with 12-14 hour shifts
• How he completed the Chicago Marathon in red high heels - not his first time in elevated footwear
• That he'll only run in heels again if using Sneex (Sara Blakely's running shoe heels) for Run DV Out of Town at Chicago 2025
• How he's completed 310 marathons since starting at age 15
• His fundraising of $50K honoring his grandfather and Terry Fox
• Surviving a dangerous party scene period before reclaiming himself by running across Canada in 2012
• Walking 185 miles in 10 days wearing 4-inch heels just two weeks after his Canada journey, raising $15K for YWCA
• Why he's participating in the 2025 Boston Marathon for the Boston Bulldogs Running Club supporting addiction recovery DONATE HERE
• His 2025 plans: 3 marathons across 3 countries within 13 days and 5 of 7 World Major Marathons.. and a 100 miler... and more!
• Attempting a 100-mile race while intoxicated, running 7 hours before DNF'ing, and seeking redemption this October
• What his training and nutrition regimen involves
• When he won $6K playing Guitar Hero

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Lisa Hursthas been running and raising money for Indy's belovedHolliday Park for 25 years.

During this episode, sponsored byBarilla Protein + Pasta andAthlete Bouquets, we talk about:

• The Holliday Park Trail Run (3/15 and 3/15)
• How she started dabbling in running after her favorite workout place closed
• Joining a training group for her first half marathon at the Indy Mini before turning 41
• Her unique experience of completing a trail marathon before ever running a road marathon
• Getting involved in theTransRockies Run and preparing forRun the Rocks in Moab with a women's group
• The family business,N.K. Hurst Beans, and saving a 100-year-old building in downtown Indy
• Meeting her husband of 44 years during college Spring Break
• Sharing a connection through running at Lake Wawasee in Syracuse, IN
• Her role as grandmother "GoGo" and running her granddaughter, Mia's, first half marathon at theMonumental Marathon last year
• Her British heritage and father's running background
• Creating a woman's hiking group at age 40
• Insights from over four decades of marriage
• Her passion for gardening
• The history and significance of Holliday Park's ruins

Register for the Holliday Park Trail Run here.

This is aSandyBoy Productionspodcast.

Dena Lewis is an avid endurance athlete despite not lacing up her running shoes until later in life.

**This episode does talk about assault and may be triggering for some.**

During this episode, sponsored by Barilla Protein + Pasta and Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Michael Douglass has been running for decades. After listening to David Goggins on a podcast, he decided to take his running to an entirely different level and sign up for a 100 mile race.

During this episode, sponsored by Barilla Protein+ Pasta and Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:

- The temptation to address him as "Your Honor" throughout our conversation

- His two-decade journey as a recreational runner, primarily focused on personal fitness rather than races

- The unique lunchtime running community he's formed with fellow legal professionals

- Breaking ground as his immediate family's first college graduate and attorney

- Discovering and building relationships with his biological father's relatives later in life

- Taking on the Philadelphia Marathon in 2024 as his first (and only) 26.2

- Finding inspiration in David Goggins' philosophy, which propelled him to register for a 100-miler

- The dedicated support system that rallied around him

- His determination to push through mile 86, declining medical treatment

- What it felt like to cross the finish line

- A glimpse into his musical past, including opening a show for the Foo Fighters

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Joe Hardin is an ultra-marathoner, writer for RunTriBike, fellow podcast host (Beyond the Finish Line) and lives in Indiana.

During this episode, sponsored by Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:

His sobriety birthday and how his family celebrates it more than his actual birthday 

The impact the pandemic had on him as he was newly sober

His upbringing that was divided between his military father and single mom 

When he tried to join the military and follow in his dad’s footsteps but he couldn’t because he has asthma 

His short stint in college after high school and finding a job in trade 

Cassie, the mother of his kids and woman he’s married twice 

The night he put down his last drink 

How he got into woodworking and started his business, HT Hardwood Designs

His weight-loss journey that started the day after his first sobriety birthday 

The first race he ever did at 38 years old, a Thanksgiving 5K, the Gravy Chase

Finding his way to the Prairie on Fire backyard ultra and running his first ultra marathon (link to the John Kuhn film)

The weirdest thing he’s eaten during an ultra marathon

His IT100 miler DNF (did not finish) and PSA to wear bug spray to help avoid getting Lyme disease  

Hallucinating during an ultra and what he thought he saw (it’s so random)

RunTriBike and Joe’s friendship with the founders, Aum Gandhi (EP12) and Jason Bahamundi

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Betsy Mikel and I have known each other for over a decade because of our shared running hobby. But she is way cooler than I am. During this episode, sponsored by Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:

How we met through a mutual running friend (Kim Bowers) that I met through a running friend (Celina Bourgeois)

Her marathon PR at the Philadelphia Marathon and the fact that I was somehow her good luck charm  

The 2024 Chicago Marathon, her 10th marathon and her first postpartum marathon, and the other Chicago marathons she’s run

How her son, Otto, was born on Chicago Marathon weekend, making it an even more special weekend for her

Her experience working with a sports nutritionist, Lydia Nader

Three Run Two, her Chicago running group 

How interesting of a relationship it is to be running buddies with someone

How she got into running marathons in the first place (her first when she was 18)

Fueling for races and using Gatorade patches to measure sweat rate 

Other race stories - St. Louis, Big Cottonwood, Philadelphia, Twin Cities 

How she has no aspirations to run the New York City Marathon 

How she knew she was going to be writer since she was a little girl 

The fact that she grew up in a historic house built by the same architect who designed Chicago’s first skyscraper

The memoir she’s writing and how similar it feels to running a marathon

Her world travels before and after having her son, Otto

How she loves her Asics 

Podcast episode Betsey mentioned - You're Wrong About with Rosie Ruiz

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.

Kallie Bonnell has been a friend of mine for a long time. We got closer during a Ragnar Relay adventure in September 2024. Read my recap here.

During this episode, sponsored by Athlete Bouquets, we talk about:

This is a SandyBoy Productions podcast.