The People Run Podcast

He Couldn’t Swim 15 Feet. Now He’s Racing 140.6 Miles | Casey Watson

Born With One Arm. Couldn’t Swim 15 Feet. Now He’s Racing 140.6 Miles.

Casey Watson once jumped into a pool believing his marathon fitness would carry him through a lap. Fifteen feet later, he was standing up, out of breath, and realizing he had no idea how to swim.

That moment became the start of something much bigger.

In this episode, Casey s...

This week on The People Run, I’m joined by Olivia, a former British Army soldier, fitness presenter, runner, and HYROX athlete.

We talk about the rise of run clubs, why HYROX has exploded in popularity, and what so many people are really searching for when they sign up for races, join a community, or take on hard challenges.

Along the way we discuss Olivia’s path from the Army into fitness media, how running became more t...

At 13 years old, Sean Casey was told he may never walk again.

After being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, Sean went from playing football with his friends to spending 94 days in the hospital, learning how to walk, use his hands, and rebuild his life from the ground up. Just as he recovered, he faced another serious illness that put him back in the hospital.

Today, Sean is running marathons, chasing a sub-3, and taking on one ...

Stefanie Corgel is a runner, strength coach, entrepreneur, and founder of Good Pain LA. In this conversation, we discuss her journey from college strength coach to online fitness entrepreneur, what marathon training has taught her about longevity, and why getting faster sometimes means staying healthy rather than pushing harder.

We dive into injuries, marathon majors, Boston and New York, chasing ambitious goals without losing yours...

Malik J, better known as The Running Gamer, found a way to combine two passions that don't often overlap: running and video games.

In this episode, Malik shares how a simple challenge led him into the sport, why he nearly walked away from running after college, and how Detroit's running community helped bring him back. We talk about building a unique identity online, racing two 5Ks in less than 12 hours, traveling to Spain f...

Olympic Trials qualifier.

Elite 15 Hyrox athlete.

Most athletes spend their entire careers chasing excellence in one sport. Alyssa McElheny is doing it in two.

In this episode, Alyssa shares her journey from spending more than a decade chasing an Olympic Trials qualifier to becoming one of the fastest Hyrox athletes in the world. We talk about finding the sport she was built for, balancing elite marathoning and...

In this episode of The People Run Podcast, I sit down with Zach Bitter, one of the fastest 100 mile runners in history, to talk about training, longevity, recovery, and what it really takes to improve over the long term.

We dive into why Zach has incorporated cycling into his training, how he thinks about consistency versus hero workouts, and why many runners may be overemphasizing mileage at the expense of quality. Zach als...

Bailey didn’t plan on building one of the biggest run clubs in America. What started as an idea for a running clothing brand eventually turned into Cooldown a community now spanning 18 cities and helping reshape modern run culture.

In this episode of The People Run Podcast, Bailey shares how Cooldown accidentally exploded, why run clubs became the new social space, and what it actually takes to build community across c...

Kara never planned for running to become her life.

Before coaching runners, building a community, and becoming one of the first women to complete all seven World Marathon Majors, she was pursuing dance and theater in New York City while trying to figure out where life was taking her.

In this episode, Kara shares the leap from corporate life into coaching full time, the relationships and breakups that shaped her running journey, how s...

In this episode of The People Run Podcast, Fitz sits down with Under Armour pro runner Kasey Knevelbaard for a conversation on racing, mindset, gratitude, and what it really means to chase your potential in today’s golden era of running.

From Team Mission Run Dark Sky and life as a professional runner to racing internationally, injury prevention, shoe innovation, and learning how to stay present in competition, this episode go...

Paxton Smith accidentally qualified for the Olympic Trials in his first marathon but the real journey started after that.

In this episode, Paxton shares the long process of chasing a 2:15 marathon while balancing full-time teaching, coaching, high mileage training, and life in Miami after running at the University of Colorado.

Chapters

00:00 Accidental First Marathon OTQ
05:39 Chasing the Dream at Coloarado
08:30 From Bo...

Born in Belarus in the aftermath of Chernobyl, Tanya Khvitsko-Trimb grew up between orphanages, boarding schools, and years of hiding her prosthetic legs from the world. 

In this episode, Tanya shares her journey from Belarus to the United States, getting her first running blades, discovering freedom through running, and eventually chasing big goals like the Boston Marathon. We also talk about identity, motherhood, recovery fro...

In this episode of The People Run Podcast, Fitz sits down with Aycan Kara a civil engineer who started running and lifting in her late 20s and is now preparing for the HYROX World Championships.

Aycan shares her journey from growing up in Turkey to discovering fitness after moving to the United States, how consistency changed her life, and what it’s been like balancing HYROX training with a full-time engineering career.

They ta...

Professional runner Nell Rojas joins The People Run Podcast for an honest conversation about identity, recovery, and rebuilding her relationship with running.

After stepping away from racing while battling Lyme disease and multiple co-infections, Nell opens up about the physical and mental toll of losing the thing that once defined her, learning how to slow down, and finding perspective through it all.

We talk about the road to final...

Keira D’Amato has built one of the most inspiring stories in running.

From stepping away from the sport to coming back and breaking records, she’s become one of the most respected voices in distance running.

But this time… she had to stop.

In this conversation, Keira opens up about what it actually feels like when running the thing that gives you purpose, structure, and community is suddenly taken away. From injury ...

The Boston Marathon means something different to everyone.

For some, it’s chasing a PR.

For others, it’s years of work just to get to the start line.

And for some, it’s something much deeper than the race itself.

In this episode, four runners share their Boston experience from completely different perspectives  from a 2:31 performance, to a pro debut, to a dream years in the making, to a story of resilience and r...

There are hard things… and then there’s choosing to run 100 miles in circles.

Sean Rhodes is getting ready for the Stoney 100, 400 laps around a track, but this isn’t just about distance. It’s about purpose. It’s about pushing into uncomfortable places and seeing what’s on the other side.

We talk about what it actually takes to train for something like this, the mental lows that hit in the middle ...

Anthony Di Paolo has done it all Ironman, ultras, and now over 20+ HYROX races, including competing at Worlds.

In this episode, we break down what actually matters if you’re trying to get better at HYROX and what most people are getting wrong.

From going out too fast on race day, to trying to train everything at once, to the mental side when a race doesn’t go to plan this is a real look at the mistakes, lessons, and adjus...

Scott wasn’t supposed to walk.

Now he’s chasing 100 miles.

This isn’t a clean, polished story. It’s what it actually looked like growing up being told what he couldn’t do, dealing with how people saw him, and figuring it out the hard way.

At one point he stopped going outside. Didn’t want to be seen. Didn’t like what he saw in the mirror.

Now he’s training for distances most people won&rs...