Human Race
Human Race is a podcast from Runner's World. Hosted by Rachel Swaby, Human Race focuses on long-form storytelling. It brings the depth and reporting you’ve come to expect from ambitious features in the magazine—but with the intimate and immersive aspects only audio can provide. Each week, we share a story about runners and the world of running.
Episodes
September 12, 2017 • 52 mins
For Human Race's final episode, we share several of your stories.
This episode of Human Race is brought to you by Brooks. Sign up for the Brooks Big Endorsement and become a sponsored athlete at www.BrooksAthlete.com/rw.
Credits:
Host: Rachel Swaby
Producers: Rachel Swaby, Brian Dalek, Christine Fennessy
Theme music: Danny Cocke
Human Race is a proud part of Panoply
Special thanks to:
David Willey, Christine Fennessy, Brian Dalek,...
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August 29, 2017 • 31 mins
In his 20s, after running cross country in high school and college, Tim Manzer swore off running completely. Then, in his early 40s, his doctor told him that running would not be a part of his future. “I wasn’t running anyway!” Tim laughed.
In 2010, Tim was trimming some apple trees in a little orchard right next to his front yard, when he backed up into a wasp’s nest. “They're after me. I'm zigzagging across my yard and over in t...
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August 15, 2017 • 36 mins
When Amy Downs thinks about her life, it splits into two distinct sections: before the bombing and after the bombing.
Before the bombing, Amy’s life had fallen into a predictable pattern. She went to work, came home, ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed. After she moved away from her hometown and gotten married a few years earlier, she’d gained weight quickly—100 pounds in one year. “And I was too embarrassed to come home,” says...
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August 8, 2017 • 44 mins
In 2011, at the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run, Noe Castanon Mendez was a pacer in need of a runner. Thomas Wong was a runner in need of a pacer. They were strangers when they met and decided to pair up with more than 30 miles still to go.
But the meeting got off to a tense start. Thomas was in pain and exhausted, close to the cut off time, and uncertain he could finish on his own. Noe, on the other hand, still had fresh le...
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August 1, 2017 • 1 min
I'm taking this week off. But you'll get a new episode of Human Race next Tuesday (8/8). In the mean time, I want to hear from you. Email me stories about why you started running and you could be included in a future episode. You can email me at RWaudio@rodale.com.
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July 18, 2017 • 47 mins
Earlier this year, Human Race asked listeners to send in stories about their run clubs. We got inspiring, motivating, and touching stories from all over the country—exactly what we were hoping for.
But then we got a story so unexpected, so charming, so zany, that we couldn’t possibly pass it up. This week, Human Race goes to Colorado Springs to run with donkeys. That’s right. Donkeys.
And what we found there wasn’t just a novelty ...
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July 4, 2017 • 41 mins
On January 1st, 1997, Karen Queally decided that running every day was something she could do for herself. She had recently given birth to twin girls and she had another daughter, just a few years older. She’d run three miles or 45 minutes, whatever came first. And every January, she’d decide whether she’d like to renew the commitment. That was more than 20 years ago. Karen has kept her streak alive every day since. Now, she knew r...
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June 20, 2017 • 48 mins
Elite runner Brandon Hudgins had the storybook ending to a remarkable comeback at the 2016 Olympic Track Trials. Over eight years, he fought three relapses of a rare form of the autoimmune disease vasculitis to qualify in the 1,500 meters.
When the disease strikes, it attacks the very organs needed to run fast—the blood vessels that transport oxygen to muscles. In a matter of weeks during a relapse, he can go from being able to ru...
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June 7, 2017 • 39 mins
When Judge Craig Mitchell visited the Midnight Mission homeless shelter on Skid Row in Los Angeles in 2012, the organization’s president asked him if he could think of any way to contribute. Judge Mitchell was an avid runner, and he worked nearby. So he offered to start a run club for guys in the shelter. He hoped to get to know the people staying at the Mission better, maybe foster a sense of community. What he didn’t know was ju...
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May 23, 2017 • 47 mins
Run streakers people committed to running at least a mile every day. There are now Facebook groups filled with run streakers and a national organization. But before any of that, Brent Burmaster decided that he would run at least 5k, or 3.1 miles every day for the rest of his life. That was in 1993. More than 8,800 days later, Burmaster is still at it. But in the twenty-four years between then and now, his life took a dramatic turn....
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May 9, 2017 • 48 mins
On Rosie Swale Pope’s 70th birthday, she jumped out of an airplane. But on Rosie’s list of nutty accomplishments, skydiving doesn’t even place. Pope has sailed solo across the Atlantic, run 27 marathons in 27 days, and ridden 3000 miles on horseback in South America. Her story is one of love and loss, a trip around the world and across America. She did both of those things, too. Unsupported and on foot.
Human Race caught up with h...
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April 25, 2017 • 51 mins
On May 6, 1967 in a suburb of Toronto, Canada, a 13-year-old girl named Maureen Wilton accomplished something extraordinary. In a marathon of 30 people, she set the women's world record, running 26.2 miles in 3:15:23.
Nicknamed “Little Mo” by her track teammates, Wilton’s accomplishment should have gone down as a defining moment in running history. It was, after all, just two weeks after the famous Kathrine Switzer completed the Bo...
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April 17, 2017 • 25 mins
Runner’s World goes to Boston every year for the marathon. We always hear so many great stories while we're there. In this special Marathon Monday bonus episode, our hope is that we can share a few of those stories with you.
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April 11, 2017 • 48 mins
Shortly after mile seven in the 2015 Chicago Marathon, Richard Sikorski had a sudden cardiac arrest. His heart stopped beating and he collapsed in the middle of the road.
He wasn’t supposed to run the marathon. He was feeling under-trained and a little tired. But the energy at the race expo changed his mind. He called his wife. Told her, “It’s pasta for dinner.” He’d rather be around other runners and suffer through 26.2 than stay...
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February 14, 2017 • 2 mins
Rachel is back from maternity leave, and Human Race will be back with season 3 on April 11th.
In the meantime, we want to hear from you!
Tell Human Race about your running club—and what makes it truly unique and special! Why? Because we—Human Race in collaboration with our sibling podcast The Runner’s World Show—want to do a story about you and the group of people you run with. Rachel wants to come to your favorite trail, local t...
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January 31, 2017 • 61 mins
Two years ago, at the 2015 Fifth Avenue Mile, Witold Bialokur ran a seven minute time. He did it at 80 years-old. The second place finisher in his group came in a minute and twenty seconds later.
Witold is what most of us can only dream of becoming at his age. He’s fit, not frail, and he runs faster that most Americans can run at any age.
But greatness like this comes at a price.
We’ll visit Witold Bialokur, a Polish immigrant b...
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January 17, 2017 • 36 mins
When Keith Giroux decided to run the Boston Marathon he had a number of logistical hurdles to overcome. For starters, he hadn't run a qualifying race. In fact he'd never run any formal race ever. Then there was the issue of gear. He didn't own a pair of running shoes or running shorts. And he only had ten days to solve all these problems. Also he was in jail.
This episode of Human Race is brought to you by Brooks. Sign up for the B...
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January 3, 2017 • 39 mins
We've got two stories this week. The first is about why we run, not just as runners but as human beings. In the 1980s a biologist named Dave Carrier came up with a controversial theory about human evolution. He called it the "Running Hypothesis" and it was based on the idea that humans became elite long distance runners so that we could hunt large game by chasing it on foot until the animal collapsed from exhaustion. So Carrier and...
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December 20, 2016 • 43 mins
Sylvia Weiner is a prolific runner. She’s 85 years old, and she estimates that, during the course of her running career, she’s completed nearly 2,000 races—and she’s got an extensive collection of race medals and trophies to prove it. In 1975, Sylvia even claimed a very special spot in Boston Marathon history.
But her most significant legacy has nothing to do with race accolades. When Sylvia runs, she shows others what’s possible. ...
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December 6, 2016 • 41 mins
A story about a man who lost his heart. And what he gained in its place. On this episode, we meet Randy Shepherd, one very unlikely runner. Randy is 42 now, and never enjoyed running very much. He was more of a team sports guy. But beyond that, he had a rock-solid excuse for staying on the couch. Back when he was in his 30s, Shepherd’s already compromised heart rapidly began to fail. There was no time to match him with a transplant...
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