The Rambling Runner Podcast

When Natalie finished with college soccer she needed something to stay active and provide a competitive outlet. On a whim, she ran a local 5k mud run and placed 2nd female overall.  From there, she was hooked.  Natalie PR’d every marathon she ran over a four year period (with a best time of 3:11) before the 2019 Boston Marathon. On that day, however, her dream race became a nightmare. In this episode she details how she dealt with that disappointment, how she overcame an eating disorder that exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition causing her to have heart surgery, and how she uses her own experiences to help influence others as an active club soccer coach in Southern California. You can learn more about Natalie at www.runnergirlnatalie.com.

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Hayley Carruthers was launched into the consciousness of most running fans when she collapsed at the finish line of the 2019 London Marathon with 2:33 on the clock. While that was an indelible moment, it does not define this remarkable woman. Hayley works full-time as a cancer research radiographer while also training full-time. She is now competing with the best runners in the world, which is an amazing feat for anyone - especially someone who ran for the first time (since grade school) in May, 2016. In this episode, Hayley breaks down the entire journey with her customary insight, candor, and humor.

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Have you ever met one of those people who seem to have endless energy and optimism? Tanya Carrier is one of those people. She has run 39 half marathons (PR-1:32), 14 marathons (PR-3:11), teaches first grade, and is a mom and wife.  We had a great conversation about how she has improved as a runner and maintained such an energetic and positive outlook. Tanya also revealed some of the struggles that she endured as a child that led her to being there for so many others. You can learn more about Tanya at www.instagram.com/track.tanya.run. 

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Often times running around on a track can serve as a metaphor for our own training. At first it may seem novel and result in fitness gains, but it can also become tiringly monotonous. Beyond that, we can also fall into a repetitive rut that finds us craving PR‘s while disengaging from the beauty of our pursuits.  This is exactly what happened to Jenny Donnelly after four years of running in college and a few more working hard for new records while working 80 hour work weeks. At the prodding of her boyfriend, she set out on a new adventure that changed everything. Running 155 miles in five days over 30,000 feet of elevation gain in New Zealand, Jenny rediscovered her love running through a paradigm shifting experience.

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When Greg Macken began running he was close to 250 pounds. He started that run by saying to himself, “Just jog to the stop sign, once you get there you can walk.” Later that year, Greg finally made the decision to get sober and, in doing so, reversed the trajectory of his life which was headed towards “prison, a psych ward, or death.” Since then, he has completed countless road races including 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and a handful of marathons. Greg recently set a new marathon PR with a smoking 3:00:50! In this episode, Greg takes a deep dive into the depths of his life and how he got himself out, all with the help of running. 

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When runners get injured we often hear that we should cross train to maintain fitness. Sarah Bishop, an Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon, took it to the extreme. After racing nearly every weekend in the fall she was sidelined with leg injuries. True to her personality, she dove into cross training with both feet. Not long after, she signed up for her first triathlon - IRONMAN Chattanooga 70.3. Sarah proceeded to finish second overall and earn her pro card. In this episode we talk about how somebody with little to no biking and swimming experience achieved such a remarkable result. 

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Lauren Floris is an elite whose love of the sport was first sparked watching the start of the Boston Marathon every spring in her hometown of Hopkinton, MA. 

Lauren ran four years of Division I Cross Country & Track for Pepperdine University. During her time as a Wave, Lauren set 5 school records in the 1500m, 3000, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and DMR - all 5 records still stand today. Since college, Lauren has shifted her focus to the roads, but she still makes appearances on the track every once in a while.

She currently runs for rabbitELITE and holds personal bests of 16:50 5k, 35:16 10k, 1:18:39 half marathon, and 2:44:16 in the marathon, which qualified her for the USA Olympic Marathon Trials, which she will be running in February 2020. 

Lauren lives in Southern California with her husband and two daughters Lavinia and Marigold (born January, 2019). Lauren is a full-time coach with Lift, Run, Perform (www.liftrunperform.com) and has a Masters in Kinesiology. 

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It was an honor and a privilege to speak with Katie Arnold, one of the best writers and runners in the country, for this episode. Her new book Running Home: A Memoir had an immediate and profound effect on me in many ways. 

An elite ultra runner, Katie is the 2018 women's champion of Leadville Trail 100 Run, where she finished 11th overall in field of more than 700 runners. She won the 2018 Jemez Mountains 50 Mile, 2014 TransRockies 3-Day Trail Run, Jemez Mountains 50K, the Mount Taylor 50K. She is two-time overall champion and course record holder at the  Angel Fire 100K. Katie is a sponsored athlete for GU Energy Labs and Balega Socks. 

Katie is a contributing editor and former managing editor at Outside Magazine, where she worked on staff for 12 years. She created and launched the popular Raising Rippers column, about bringing up adventurous kids, which appears monthly on Outside Online and has grown to become one of the site’s most popular blogs. Her 2014 story "Don't Let Youth Sports Hijack Your Life" was one of the most-read posts on Outside Online. Her 2018 essay in Outside Magazine, “Want a Strong Kid? Encourage Play, Not Competition,” was nominated for a National Magazine Award in service journalism.

In addition to Outside, her stories have appeared in The New York Times, Men’s Journal, ESPN the Magazine, Marie Claire, Runner’s World, Elle, and Sunset, among others. Her essays have been anthologized in Woman’s Best Friend, Another Mother Runner, and P.S. What I Didn’t Tell you. 

You can learn more about Katie at https://katiearnold.net. 

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Ron Romano may be the happiest guy in running. Not only that, he’s worked hard to become one heck of a runner. He’s run 42 marathons (with a PR of 2:40) and is a veritable wealth of knowledge on all things running. After taking a nine year break from racing he roared back with abandon and is now one of the best runners in the country for his age (58). You can learn more about Ron at www.instagram.com/ronrunsnyc. 

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When it comes to comeback stories, there aren't many better than Alys DiMercurio's. From 2011-15 Alys lived a life consumed by drug and alcohol addiction with trips to the ER, mental hospital, and jail. After all of that Alys transformed her life. Now, instead of being the patient she has focused her life on being a healer. She works as a medical assistant while studying to be a physician assistant and is also a trained EMT. She is also a newly dedicated marathoner who set a new PR of 3:45 at the Eugene Marathon a mere 13 days after running the Boston Marathon. Here about this amazing journey, and much more, in this episode. You can learn more about Alys at www.runwithalys.com. 

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