oyo.run

In this episode, Steve invites Carl Stones back on the podcast to talk more pragmatically & specifically on the topic of "borrowed truth" that Steve introduced in Episode 7's inagural On the Leash. 

Please listen to The Dojo (Part I) if you haven't already. It will clarify much of what is discussed in this episode. 

After recording the dojo episode, something nagged. Not that anything said was wrong — something was missing. & the missing thing was close to the center of what makes a dojo work. This episode names it: the dojo, equal to its sacredness, is refuge & laboratory. The safe place — not the easy place — to test value, intention, will & risk in a container that matters deeply, but is not ultimate. Part Two of the dojo series.

In This Episode

• Why safety was the missing piece — & why it's not the same as comfort
• Ukemi: the martial art of falling safely, & what the runner's version looks like
• Winnicott's potential space — the container that makes genuine experiment possible
• Refuge & laboratory as the twin faces of the dojo — distinct & inseparable
• What safety adds to each of the six elements from Part One
• Why the code must account for failure, not just for values
• The hardest thing the dojo asks: not effort, but return

The Core Distinction

The dojo is not an arena. In an arena, every test is ultimate — the result is the final word. In a laboratory, the result is information. The experiment reveals something true without destroying the experimenter. The container makes that possible. Without the container, you cannot afford to fail. & if you cannot afford to fail, you cannot genuinely risk. & if you cannot genuinely risk, you are not training — you are performing.

Referenced in This Episode

• Ukemi — the foundational practice of every Japanese martial dojo: learning to fall before learning to fight
• D.W. Winnicott — potential space, from Playing and Reality (1971). The space between inner & outer reality where genuine play & genuine risk become possible
• The dojo anatomy from Part One — six elements: Place & Time, Threshold Ritual, Code, Tools, Lineage & Renewal

For the full resource guide — books & online resources across the dojo tradition — see the show notes for Part One, or download the Resource Guide below.

A Question Worth Sitting With

Before you go out: what is your ukemi? Not the concept — the practice. When the experiment fails, when the training block breaks, when the race reveals something you weren't ready to see — what is your practiced relationship to the ground? The dojo is the place you build that relationship. Not on race day. Now, in the ordinary seasons, when the stakes are real but not ultimate.
That is what the container is for.

From Part One — If You're Just Joining

This episode assumes familiarity with the six-element dojo anatomy introduced in Part One. If you haven't heard it, start there — the anatomy is the foundation this episode builds on. Both the Dojo Anatomy Worksheet & the Resource Guide are linked in Part One's show notes & remain relevant here.

→  Part One — Your Dojo: A Container for the Self-Coached Runner

“On the Leash” is a recurring series within the OYO.RUN podcast that examines control structures, power dynamics, and constraints that shape runners and their training. 

What is a leash? A constraint, a limiter; something that impacts your freedom - of movement, of control, choice. This series will continue to point at this one fundamental insight: “we don’t get to choose whether we have leashes - the question is whether we can see them operating and work with them consciously:’ 

In this episode we explore the idea of borrowed truth. 

You must realize that the journey of self-coaching is one’s unique, idiosyncratic pursuit of your own truth. The truth living in your blood & bones, pumped as air through your lungs, felt as power & fatigue in your relation to ground. 
This is what we do it for, ultimately. 
Sure, we want to get faster. 
But we really want to know: know what we are made of, what we can withstand, what we are here on this planet to experience.  
& what we learn is our truth. It's not borrowed, it's an authentically earned truth. 
Don’t let your truths go unexamined, lest they not hold water. 
If it’s real, it can take the pressure. 
& please remember, what is your truth is not meant for others to experience. 
They have their own truth to explore.

Godspeed. 

In this episode I introduce another consistent co-host of the oyo.run podcast: Carl Stones. We discuss our shared history, Austin running community legacy, our mutual interest in self-coaching & what it means to be in a body. 
Godspeed, my friends, godspeed. 

In this episode, I finally introduce one of my key co-hosts, Katie Watson. We discuss how we met, our ongoing coach/athlete relationship & what she hopes to bring to the oyo.run project in the coming episocdes. You can follow Katie on Instagram where she uses the handle kwatsrun. 
Enjoy!

A program tells you what to do. A dojo transforms the doer. In this episode we make the case that what the self-coached runner is missing isn't more structure — it's a container. One that holds the outer & inner work of training together, that makes the practice a practice in the older, deeper sense of that word. We trace the concept of the dojo across traditions, lay out a six-element anatomy for building your own, & walk through one runner's dojo as a working example.

In This Episode

• Why a program is not enough & what a container adds
• The etymology of dojo — place of the Way — & its pre-martial origins
• The cross-traditional anatomy: Greek gymnasium, desert cell, alchemical vessel
• The six elements of a runner's dojo: Place & Time, Threshold Ritual, Code, Tools, Lineage & Renewal
• A personal dojo anatomy read straight through — one runner's example

• Where to start if the worksheet feels like too much: one threshold ritual, nothing more

Downloads

Two documents are referenced in this episode & available free HERE. 

• Dojo Anatomy Worksheet  —  the six-element framework with writing prompts & your example
• Resource Guide  —  books & online resources for going deeper, organized by thread

Your Dojo — Where to Begin

If this episode landed & you want to begin: don't start with the full worksheet. Start with your threshold ritual. One act — the donning of gear, a breath, a few words said quietly before the first step — that marks the crossing into practice. Do it once, with intention. The rest of the dojo will grow from that single act over time.

When you're ready for the full anatomy, the worksheet is there. Return to it at the opening of each training season. Notice what has changed. Notice what holds.

oyo.run

on your own — & never alone.

An introduction to the oyo.run project - framed as The Fool's Journey - where the entire project is laid out for your interest. 
Key topics include: 

• The story around the weird name
• Unpacking the Fool's Journey as opposed to the Hero's Journey
• What to expect from the podcast
• An overview of the Foundations series & the On A Leash series
• What the podcast is NOT
• How you can show appreciation & get the word out
• The planned timing of releases

Thank you for listening.
& godspeed.

Hello, I am Steve Sisson. A runner, coach & dirt-bag philosopher living in Austin, Texas at the bleeding edge of the Anthropocene. 
I am very excited to share a new project with you. 

It's called oyo.run, & the focus is simple: self-coaching. Taking ownership of your running experience — as you should have been doing all along.

I'll be your host, joined by a range of collaborators who'll help me break down the fundamentals of training & racing with as much clarity, precision & honesty as I can muster. We'll move across the full spectrum — physiology to strategy, mental skills to organizational planning — all with one purpose: to make you more invested, more effective, more motivated, & ultimately, to help you derive more meaning from everything you do as a runner.

Think of it as the definitive resource for the self-coached runner.

The name oyo.run carries a legacy & a story — and I'll unpack that in the very first episode, dropping April 1st, 2026. Yes, April Fool's Day. You'll find it wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm bringing to this is fifty years of my own running & racing experience, as well as over thirty years of coaching expertise. My goal with these early episodes is to lay the foundation — the how & why behind the training systems coaches build. For some of you, this will be review. For others, it'll be critical background you've never had access to. Either way, my goal is to provide the foundation to develop your own system, or at minimum, to deeply understand the one you're already in. Eventually, we'll get deeper into the weeds with all manner of topics, guests & breakdowns. Alongside the free podcast, I'll be hosting a private online community resource for deeper exploration & discussion. More on that in the coming weeks. 

Now — you might wonder why a coach would give away the keys for free. That's reasonable, I guess. Let me provide a clear answer: I benefit far more from working with an informed, thoughtful, reflective athlete than I ever could from one who simply follows orders. While my system has been honed through thirty years of hard-earned experience, what makes coaching truly rewarding is having an athlete who can take that knowledge into the arena of their own unique experience. So this isn't a pitch to stop working with a coach. If anything, I view this as a public service for coaches everywhere — including myself.
Think of the difference between a cook who follows a recipe & a chef who understands balance, flavor, technique. I'd rather coach a chef. Someone who can take the fundamentals into the kitchen of their own experience & make something real with them - not just execute instructions they don't understand. &, as I'll argue throughout the entire podcast run, the athlete who knows gains significantly more benefit from any training or racing situation than one who simply follows.
So join us April Fool's Day for episode one. All the information lives at www.oyo.run. 
Deep gratitude & thanks go to Michael Krajicek for the dulcet tones, Katy Voigt for the stunning visuals & Stefan Keehnen for the inspiration. 

I am honored & excited to share this project with you & Godspeed.