This is not a running episode. Not even close.

But something so important happened in my life that I had to make an episode about it.

I went on the Kairos retreat with ~90 of my classmates at Seattle Prep.

Kairos is one of those things where if you know... you know.

It was four days of stillness, honesty, and sitting with questions I usually outrun.

I opened up about struggles I tend to keep buried.

About control. Fear. Trust. Surrender.

What I felt most was the power of being known.

The power of community.The power of love.The power of grace.

This episode is raw, real, and unfinished.
Not answers. Just truth.

Shoutout to Marguerite, Miles, Finn, Jenny, Sam, Edward, Thomas, and Hannah.

K71 Trust. Love has won

2026 barely started, and track and field has been turned upside down.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the best middle-distance runner in the world, and he just has surgery. Sam Ruthe is a 16-year-old from New Zealand who just ran faster than any teenager in history. One is trying to protect what he’s built. The other is just beginning to understand what he’s capable of.

Ingebrigtsen opened 2025 with a stretch that almost didn’t make sense. Indoor world records in the 1500m and the mile. Double gold at World Indoors. Then the Achilles issues started. The season unraveled. Now, in 2026: surgery. Real questions are being raised about the future of arguably the greatest of all time.

Meanwhile, Ruthe stepped onto an indoor track for the first time after fifty hours of travel and ran 3:48.88. Youngest ever under 3:50. World U18 record. New Zealand national record. Not chaos. Control.

Jakob is running into the reality that talent doesn’t protect you from time or injury. Sam is running into the reality that belief expands faster than your life can adjust. The future is here.

Buckle up.

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In 2025, Hermiston High’s Leroy Lozano Mejia quietly became someone the Washington distance scene could no longer ignore.

The sophomore entered the fall as a sleeper and left it with authority. Built on patience and aerobic strength, he doesn’t chase attention. He shows up, does the work, and lets races speak for him.

After running 15:36 and finishing 11th at the 3A state meet as a freshman, Leroy took a clear step forward in his sophomore cross-country season. He won the Battle of the 509 Invitational in Spokane against a strong field. He followed that with a fourth-place finish at Nike Hole in the Wall, running 14:55 on one of the most honest courses in the country. By November, the progression was undeniable. At the Washington 3A State Championships, he finished runner-up in 15:10. From 11th to second in one year. Built slowly. Earned daily.

But the story isn’t just about results. On the track, the contrast is still there. A 9:15 3200 shows real strength. A 4:23 mile leaves space to grow. And instead of running from that tension, Leroy leans into it.

In this episode of The Sunday Shakeout, we talk about discipline as a daily choice, not a personality trait. About backing words with actions. And about the strange truth runners don’t always admit — that pain, when chosen, can become addictive.

Tap into the Leroy Lozano Mejia Special.

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In 2025, Lafayette High School’s Xavier Richardson reached a season that had been years in the making.

The Lexington, Kentucky senior didn’t rise quickly or cleanly. His path was marked by races that fell apart, progress that stayed hidden, and belief that came late. By the time this year arrived, Richardson wasn’t chasing a breakout. He was waiting to see if patience would finally pay him back.

The results followed. During his junior track season in the spring of 2025, despite being known primarily as a 1600m and 3200m runner, Richardson stepped down to the 800m at the Kentucky state meet. He won it. His first individual state title.

The breakthrough showed up across the board. PRs of 1:53 in the 800m, 4:09 in the 1600m, and 8:58 in the 3200m.

The fall confirmed the shift. By the time cross country rolled around, he carried that momentum, running 14:44 for the 5K XC in his season debut. He went on to place second individually at the state cross country meet while helping his team secure the championship. Racing for something bigger than himself. Weeks later, Richardson finished runner-up at NXR Southeast, earning his first trip to Nike Cross Nationals. Performing under pressure.

But the season wasn’t built on results alone.

Richardson’s rise was shaped by years where progress felt invisible. By learning to trust the people around him. By staying through losses long enough for them to teach him something. This season didn’t erase the failures. It made them matter.

As he closes his high school career in 2026, and looks ahead to what comes next, Richardson’s stands as proof that patience compounds. Not loudly. But decisively.

Tap into the Xavier Richardson episode of The Sunday Shakeout.

In 2025, Ballard High School’s Cassidy Armstrong turned a season nearly lost to injury into one of the strongest postseason runs in the country.

The Seattle senior, committed to Duke University, entered the fall coming off a hip stress fracture that erased her entire junior track season. Six weeks unable to walk. No running until August. No early-season races to test fitness or confidence.

Armstrong didn’t race until October 31st. She opened with a second-place finish at the SeaKing District Championships. Days later, she repeated the result at the WIAA 3A State Meet, finishing just behind Mercer Island’s Sophia Rodriguez. Then the season stretched. At NXR Northwest in Spokane, Armstrong placed fifth on the new course, earning her first-ever qualification to Nike Cross Nationals.

In December, on the sport’s biggest stage, she delivered again. Armstrong finished 18th at Nike Cross Nationals, securing All-American honors and closing the year ranked 24th nationally by DyeStat — the second-highest of any high school girl on the West Coast.

This season asked for patience. Cassidy trained without proof, raced without momentum, and trusted that the work would show up eventually. When it did, it showed up at the biggest moments.

As she looks ahead to Duke and the next chapter of her career, this season stands as proof that timing, belief, and resilience can be just as powerful as raw fitness.

Tap into the Cassidy Armstrong Special.

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Some athletes ease into the spotlight. Carter Smith ran straight toward it... faster than almost anyone his age.

The Mifflin County senior from Lewistown, Pennsylvania is still early in his distance-running journey, just three years into the sport, yet his natural ability has forced the running world to pay attention. An 800-mile talent with rare range and feel, Smith pairs raw speed with an instinct for racing that can’t be taught. He didn’t grow up doing this. He learned fast. And then he kept getting better.

The numbers come quick. 1:48.66 for 800 meters. 4:01.2 for the mile. A 15:04 5K in cross country. Five PIAA state titles. A NBNO championship in the mile. Last spring, he delivered the defining performance of his career so far, doubling back to win both the 1600m and 800m at the PIAA state meet. Two races. No margin. Just execution.

But talent doesn’t protect you from doubt. This fall marked only his second season of cross country, raced mostly on slower courses and capped by a fourth-place finish at states after winning the year before. A small change in placement. A sharp internal check. Proof that progress isn’t linear, even when the ceiling is high.

In this episode of The Sunday Shakeout, Carter talks about the power of the mind, how belief shapes performance, and what it means to stay grounded when expectations rise faster than experience. We unpack late development, racing with intent, and the tension between trusting talent and earning it daily as he gears up for a sub-four attempt at the New Balance Grand Prix.

This conversation isn’t about hype. It’s about learning how to handle talent without letting it define you.

Please enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout with Carter Smith.

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Wake up, baby. We're back with the doubleheader weekends.

A formal interview will be dropping later today... one of the biggest talents in high school in 2026.

This episode, however, has a different tone. I open up about my life outside of the sport of running as we enter the new year. I am as transparent and clear-cut as possible about my mental and emotional state after my junior cross-country season and how I am getting right with myself this new year.

This goes far beyond the objective results and the times. This is existential. I explore what true meaning and pursuit looks like, and the hidden cost of obsession. The weight of passion.

I hope someone can relate to my message and what I have to say. Happy New Year to all! I hope you had a lovely holiday season with family and friends and that you are ready to attack 2026.

Texas State Meet. The 3200 meters. One plan. One chance.
Rowan Saacke executed.

The Bridgeland High School senior from Cypress, Texas spent the past year learning how to stay steady when the stakes were highest. Patient in her approach. Grounded in her training. Oriented toward the team more than the spotlight.

Her junior year, the breakthrough came at the Texas state meet. Rowan controlled the 3200m from the start and won the Texas 6A state title. Later that day, she returned for the 1600m and finished 4th. Not a failure. Just a reminder that success doesn’t always arrive cleanly. The momentum carried into late May, where she placed 3rd in the mile at RunningLane and ran 4:45 for 11th at the HOKA Festival of Miles, placing herself firmly among the country’s top high school distance runners.

Cross country added a final layer. In her last season wearing a high school uniform, Rowan helped lead Bridgeland to a Texas 6A state championship, breaking the state meet scoring record with the lowest total in history. Individually, illness complicated the postseason. She finished 5th at state and 19th at NXR South, but helped her team place 2nd and qualify for Nike Cross Nationals.

This episode is about composure. About learning to value execution over outcome, and meaning over medals. Rowan reflects on change, pressure, illness, and what it looks like to choose the team when individual goals don’t go as planned.

If you enjoyed the episode, consider following The Sunday Shakeout on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leaving a five-star review. It’s one of the best ways to support the show.

In South Dakota, distance running rarely comes with a spotlight.

Mikah Peters earned one anyway.

The Brandon Valley senior spent years quietly building belief, never assuming he’d be the best guy on his own team, let alone a national contender. Progress came slowly. Intentionally. Through seasons of patience and an offseason obsession with getting better.

In November, that belief finally crystallized. Peters won the SDHSAA Class AA State Championship in 14:54, breaking Simeon Birnbaum’s long-standing state meet record.

The season didn’t stop there. After falling from glory at NXR Heartland, Mikah earned the Golden Ticket and lined up at the inaugural Brooks Cross Country Nationals in Balboa Park. Against the deepest field of the year, he raced with composure and control, finishing 20th overall to earn All-American honors on the sport’s biggest stage.

The performances mean more in context. One year earlier, Peters passed out while leading the state meet, battling illness and extreme heat. The season ended abruptly. That moment lingered. It reshaped how he thought about trust, execution, and what championship racing actually demands.

As Mikah said: "The desert teaches you more about water than the ocean ever will."

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December doesn’t reward you right away.

No races.No crowds.

No proof that the work is doing anything at all.

In this solo episode, I walk through how I’m approaching winter training — not just the mileage, but the mindset behind it. Why winter is my favorite season. Why PRs are made long before spikes ever hit the track. And why patience, not excitement, is the real competitive advantage.

I break down my winter mileage plan, how I’m building gradually toward 55–60 miles per week, and what I believe actually defines a breakout junior track season. Not just times — but composure, durability, and the ability to show up when discomfort hits.

We talk about being “due” for a breakout without feeling entitled. About trusting inputs when outcomes are still invisible. And about why spring doesn’t create fitness — it reveals it.

This episode is for anyone willing to do the work when no one’s watching.

Because winter always tells the truth.

I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout!

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