In today's episode, Jamal Olatunde shares his go-to training and racing mental skills he used at for the Marine Corps Marathon in 2025.

Jamal talks about learning from failures, the importance of having a flexible mindset throughout training, and embracing race day energy. All of which he used to shatter his race.

Jamal grew up playing football, baseball and running shorter distances in track, and I couldn't fathom running anything over 800m. In college, he walked on to the West Point football team but didn't have much of a career there. After graduating, running strength training, and recreational sports became part of staying fit. It took him about eight years before I ran my first race - the Austin Half Marathon in 2019, and from there, he averaged about one race a year before making the leap into a full marathon - the Atlantic City Marathon in 2022.

BIG thank you to Jamal for taking time to share his experience and the mental skills that work for him so we can all shatter our next race!

CONNECT WITH US:

If you'd like to share your own experience using mental skills during a recent marathon or ultra, please reach out to Sierra on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠email: [email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Connect with Sierra on IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ShatteredRunner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Connect with Jamal on IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RunningStateUniversity⁠⁠

Listen to Jamal's podcast The Retired Athlete Mentality Podcast