I Quit ____ and Started Running

Welcome to Episode 3 of the “MY RACE series”.  Have you ever heard of the World Marathon Challenge? In this race, you get to run 7 marathons in 7 days across all 7 continents. 7 consecutive days, that is. That’s over 183 miles within a 168 hour window. Runners cross 16 timezones and only have time to recover in between races on their flight to the next location. I had not heard about this race that starts in Antarctica and end...

My guest today is one of my best friends, Shannon Rahlves. Sister of Worldcup Skier and Olympian Daron Rahlves, Shannon opted out of a career in ski racing after winning NCAAs and gaining the title of All American Skier at UC Boulder. Illness and injury were factors but neither deterred Shanon to pivot and explore her other athletic talents of which there are many, as I have witnessed myself. Not only is Shannon smart and beautiful...

BethAnn Telford from Fairfax, VA has been an athlete her whole life and started running when she moved to Washington DC for her job. While running the 2004 Marine Corps Marathon, she felt a popping sensation in her head at mile nineteen. The diagnosis was dire; she was told she had a malignant brain tumor, and was forced to take a time out from her normally active lifestyle to undergo surgery. Immediately after the surgery, althoug...

Kevin Maijer from Bunschoten, the Netherlands is 28 years old and earlier this year, he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Damage to areas of the CNS (central nervous system) may produce a variety of neurological symptoms that can vary among people with MS in type and severity. In Kevin’s case, the part of the CNS that was damaged was his optic nerves. Within just a few months, he has lost 88% of this vision. Now, almost blind,...

Kicking off Season 2 is today's guest, Noel Mulkey from Tulsa, OK. If you follow Noel on social media, you know the kind of athlete that he is. In only 5 years doing triathlon, he holds multiple Olympic Distance overall wins and course records in the south Midwest region. He was awarded All American triathlete for the past 3 years in a row and on his very first attempt at a Half Ironman distance, he qualified for the 2019 Ironman 7...

Welcome to episode 1 of my new sub-series titled “MY RACE”. Starting today, August 3 and going forward, every first Monday of the month, we will feature a specific race and my guest’s experience at that race. When David realized that the training required to break the 2:45 marathon time would impact his family and work life, he decided to increase his distance instead and began racing Ultras. His first being the Comrades Marathon i...

How can running be a positive driver for change? It starts with us, our individual mindset and mental disposition. If running can free us from feelings or stress, frustration, anger, fear and sadness, we can make space for feelings of joy, empathy and understanding. Maybe the willingness to understand others, being inquisitive rather than fearful and empathetic rather than defensive could solve some of the issues around ignorance, ...

“Just because I’ve been a smoker for over 10 years, doesn’t mean I cannot also become an athlete. Allow yourself to believe that that’s who you can be. You never know what you’re capable of doing until you try.” Paraphrased, not a direct quote from my conversation with Stephanie Andre, who ran in the Olympic Marathon Trials just this past February only 7 years after quitting smoking. 

If you are a smoker or a future ex-smoker w...