Nadir Yusuf made his marathon debut at the 2023 Grandma's Marathon, running a time of 2:15:26 that was good for 13th place overall and qualified him for the 2024 US Olympic Trials.

Yusuf, from Willmar, Minn., attended Minnesota State Moorhead, where he competed mostly in middle and long distance track events. He was a multi-time conference champion, a two-time All-American, and he still holds several school records for the Dragons.

In February, though, he'll be running the race of his life. A race he knows can change the course of his career, if he's able to snag one of the available Olympic spots in the men's marathon.

He joins the podcast to talk about why he made the transition to the marathon in the first place and his training for the Trials, which right now he's doing side-by-side with his day job and graduate school.