Libby Bigelow, her husband Ryan, and pup Canyon are fond of outdoor adventures and enjoy taking road trips and camping overnight in their Subaru. Could this be the secret to her CRUSHING a 2:43 at Grandma’s Marathon and punching her OTQ ticket to Atlanta for the Women’s Marathon Trials?

Think driving 17 hours to ATL might tire you out before the biggest race of your life?

No chance.

Libby came in seeded 299th and placed 134th, rocking a 2:45 on a super tough course with crazy winds, in front of family and friends who traveled to cheer her on!

We discussed:

-Growing up fully immersed in musical theater, Science Olympiad, soccer, French Horn—just to name a few of her interests

-The impact her high school cross country coach, Kathy Hector, and college coach, Karen Lutzke, had on her development

-How she would bike with her dad on his runs and the spark was lit

-Running her first sub-3 with Ryan, together in Seattle, and how he encouraged her to go for an OTQ

-Calling her college coach, Karen Lutzke, from an airplane and received message back saying, "I hope you’re calling to map out an OTQ plan"

-A Family Affair—her Grandma’s Marathon experience

-ATLANTA—We deep-dive on the race and the rock star weekend experience

-Her training approach—fueling, mantras, and more

-Community, coaching cross country, and paying it forward

Libby warned me she liked to ramble, but her stories were so FUN, and packed with inspiration and lessons learned, so I had to allow her as much runway as possible. Queue this up for a long run, or two, because so much will resonate, inspire, and make you smile. I hope you all enjoy this convo as much as we did!

If you enjoy the episode, it would mean the world to me if you would rate the podcast or write a review and share feedback wherever you get your podcast groove on.

Connect With Libby:

Instagram: @libby_bigelow_

Connect With Ron:

Personal Instagram: @ronrunsnyc

Podcast Instagram: @runchats_with_ronrunsnyc

Facebook: https://fb.me/runchats

Website: https://ronrunsnyc.com

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Produced by: David Margittai | In Post Media

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© 2021 Ron Romano