" I get overwhelmed, I get stressed, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I have high expectations for myself. But my 'why' is wanting to do my best. My why is wanting to be a good example for Annie. If I’m going to spend any time working and away from my daughter, I want it to be for a good reason. " Welcome to Ask Ali, the series where I answer all of your questions. This time around, I’m flying through 26 listener questions, sent in via Instagram Stories (I’m @aliontherun1 ), about podcast, run...
Oct 14, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 573
"There’s a big period of my life that led me to find long-distance running where I was a shell of myself. I was depressed and suicidal and anxious and unable to leave my house. And I think a lot about, what if my story had ended there? What if there wasn’t this other part of my life where I get to be the person who I am today?" Alison Mariella Désir is a runner, a marathoner, a change-maker, an activist, an advocate, a wife (to Amir!), a mother (to Kouri!), a founder (of Harlem Run and Run 4 All...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 572
"Once we realized it was real… I mean, it’s not like that happens every week. It was really freaking cool!" Emily Oster was first on the Ali on the Run Show last February. At the time, the economist, Brown University professor, and best-selling author talked about how running is the one place in her life where she lets go of all the data and just runs . Fast-forward a few months, and Emily has a running coach ( Kaitlin Goodman !), a training plan, a pair of super shoes, and finisher's medals fro...
Oct 12, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 571
"Someone described me as ‘Olympic-caliber,’ which I think is the nicest, funniest way to say ‘Didn’t make it.’" Kyle Merber is a former professional runner (a 3:52 miler! he won the Millrose Games mile as a high schooler!) who retired in 2020 , and now works full-time for American Express while also managing The Lap Count newsletter and navigating life as a new dad. Now, Kyle is going the distance: the 26.2-mile distance, that is. Kyle is training to make his official marathon debut at the TCS N...
Oct 11, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 570
"I start from zero, too, after having a baby, just like everyone else. So, here goes!" Molly Huddle is one of the greatest American distance runners of our time. In her career, she's held numerous American records and is a two-time Olympian. She's the co-host of the Keeping Track podcast and co-author of the book How She Did It . And in April, Molly added a new title to her bio: mom. Molly gave birth to her daughter, Josephine ("Jojo") earlier this year, so today, Molly returns to the Ali on the...
Oct 07, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 569
"We all get nervous. We all have this energy, whether it feels good or bad. We all get in the race and physically feel good and bad at different points. It’s just important to remember that that’s all normal, no matter what that is. So I just told her, ‘This is how it feels. This is how it’s gonna feel.’ And that was it. Game on." First, he paced Sara Hall at the Marathon Project. Then, he paced Keira D'Amato for her American Record at the Houston Marathon. Now, dad of three and stroller-running...
Oct 06, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 568
"I went through a breakup and went straight for the guitar shop, hoping that would fix everything. Well. I played it once for about 10 minutes." In both 2021 and 2022, Boulder-based professional runner Nell Rojas was the highest-placing American woman at the Boston Marathon. Now, she's ready to tackle the Big Apple: Nell is gearing up to make her TCS New York City Marathon debut next month. Today, she answers questions about how her training is going, why she wants to run NYC, how her boyfriend ...
Oct 04, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 567
"It was an astonishing thing. It was one of those defining moments in your life. Everything else was changed from that moment." It was an honor to be invited to the 20th running of the Akron Marathon , Half Marathon, & Team Relay in Ohio this past weekend, and to get to host a live show at the pre-race expo with running legends Meb Keflezighi (Olympic silver medalist and winner of both the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon), Kathrine Switzer (the first woman to officially run an...
Sep 29, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 566
"Oh god, it was so bad! Oh god. I’m going to bring this up in therapy this week!" She's everyone's favorite funny runner — and today, Laura Green returns to the Ali on the Run Show for the third time to answer a series of 26 questions. (Check out Laura's previous episodes: when she filled in as an Ask Ali guest host , and when she was part of the Motherhood Mondays series .) Whether she's playing the role of an ambitious mom-to-be who plans to start stroller running right out of the hospital, sh...
Sep 27, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 565
"No one can define what success is for you but YOU. Even though the sport of running tries to tell us that the only things that matter are distance and time, that is simply not true. You decide what matters to you." Welcome to Part III (the last part!) of the Marathon Mentality series with Ali on the Run Show favorite Emily Saul ! Emily is a licensed mental health counselor, sport psychology coach, and founder of E Saul Movement . She’s a former Division-1 collegiate rower, she’s a lifelong athl...
Sep 23, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 564
"To go out on top — there are so few athletes that can say that, and that really wasn’t my plan! I just wanted to know when it would be over so that I could put everything that I had into each throw." Kara Winger had long planned for 2022 to be her final javelin season. And what a final season it was! The four-time Olympian capped off her 18-year international career by winning her first global medal (silver, at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, OR), and becoming the first U.S. woman ...
Sep 22, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 563
"I have to enjoy this race. I really just need this one to be uplifting." Deena Kastor has run (and won!) many marathons during her career. She's the 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalist in the marathon, she has won both the Chicago and London Marathons and the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and until this past January, she was the American Record Holder in the marathon ( Keira D'Amato holds that title now). And this weekend, Deena will race the Berlin Marathon! Here, she explains why this race is so spe...
Sep 20, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 562
"I’ve worked really hard and I’ve put a lot out there, and it’s been really good to the point that it terrifies me." Welcome to Ask Ali, a twice-a-month series where I answer all of your questions. This time around, I’m flying through 29 listener questions, sent in via Instagram Stories (I’m @aliontherun1 ), about my current goals and dreams, the New York City Marathon (lots of questions about the New York City Marathon!), the song that always makes me cry (and I cry just talking about it!), the...
Sep 16, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 561
"I struggle every day. I am just committed to not letting those little moments take me out of the game." As the founder and CEO of Thrive Causemetics, Karissa Bodnar has been included on Forbes 's 30 Under 30 list, was named as one of Marie Claire 's Most Powerful Women, and she was on Inc .'s Badass Female Founders list. But what matters most to Karissa, she swears, isn't the accolades: It's the people. In this conversation, we get to know the woman behind one of the most game-changing brands i...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 560
"I’m very excited to see where I’m at and to test myself. And I’m really having fun so far with this!" OK, right off the bat: You're getting more than 26 questions. Welcome to this new series on the Ali on the Run Show , where I sit down with some of my favorite people to ask a series of running- and non-running-related questions. Think Vogue 's "73 Questions," but for runners — all of whom are currently gearing up for fall marathons. And what better way to kick things off than with Olympian and...
Sep 13, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 559
"Don’t just celebrate the final finish line. One of the ways to get through a training plan successfully is to make sure you’re stopping along the way and celebrating." Chris Bennett is on a mission: He wants runners to have more fun! (There's a reason he's been called "the real-life Ted Lasso." ) The Nike Running Global Head Coach — known by hundreds of thousands of runners as simply "Coach" — takes a no-BS approach to running. He might dish out some tough love, but he always has a plan and a r...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 558
“I’m in this whole new world of what they call marathon training. I don’t know. I’m still in denial!” Emily Durgin is having one heck of a year on the run. The adidas-sponsored professional runner lives and trains in Flagstaff, AZ (though, she says, "Maine will always be home home"), and 2022 has been good to her. She kicked off the year at the Houston Half Marathon, where she ran a personal best (67:54), and became the sixth-fastest American woman ever in the half marathon. And then, the person...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 557
"I saw a lot of people, especially on social media, saying, ‘She’s not gonna make it.’ And in my mind, I wanted to prove them wrong. And I think, honestly, that might have been my biggest downfall — trying to do more too soon, to prove to people that I could do this." It would be putting it lightly to say that the past two years have been a whirlwind for professional runner Aliphine Tuliamuk. At the beginning of 2020, she won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon, earning herself a spot on Team ...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 556
"That’s such a good question, and one that I absolutely refuse to answer!" Welcome to Ask Ali, a twice-a-month series where I answer all of your questions. This time around, I’m flying through 39 listener questions, sent in via Instagram Stories (I’m @aliontherun1 ), about my upcoming race announcing plans, how I'm feeling about moving (again!), what's most fulfilling to me right now, my take on introspection and talking about my feelings, and so much more. SPONSOR: goodr. Click here and use cod...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 555
"I was in New York, and I went out and I had this experience of watching people run this marathon, and I broke down. I was like, 'Holy shit, this is the most powerful thing I’ve ever seen.'" To legions of adoring fans, Zac Clark is known as the winner of Season 16 of The Bachelorette , who got engaged to Tayshia Adams. But today, we are getting to know Zac, beyond the Bachelorette . We meet the young Zac who grew up in New Jersey, and the Zac who discovered he had a brain tumor at 23 years old, ...
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 554
"The whole idea of getting comfortable being uncomfortable is actually about building a psychological endurance. In the same way we build a physical endurance for running more miles, we can build a kind of psychological endurance or tolerance for this stuff that is uncomfortable, but in the context of running, it’s actually normal." Welcome to Part II of this summer's Marathon Mentality series with Ali on the Run Show favorite Emily Saul ! Emily is a licensed mental health counselor, sport psych...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 553
"It shows, in the past two years, how much we’ve both improved because we’ve had each other to push each other the whole way." Meet Roisin Willis and Juliette Whittaker: the fastest high schoolers in American history. Not only have Roisin and Juliette spent their respective senior years breaking records and taking home world championships medals, but they've formed a very special long-distance friendship along the way — though it won't be long-distance for much longer. Both Roisin (from Stevens ...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 552
"It’s really special when your friend becomes family." Some friendships build, grow, and develop over time. Others are instant. For Peloton instructors Jess Sims and Kirsten Ferguson , the best friendship was immediate. In the final episode of Friendship Fest Season 2, Jess and Kirsten talk about how they met (through Peloton, naturally), why they hit it off right away, and what it's like when a friend becomes family. Plus, "the Starbucks story" that Jess is still mad about, what it's like being...
Aug 16, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 551
"There was a part of me that was like, 'What if I hate it? What if I hate this job, what if I hate this role? Because I might! I’m not a media operations person! What if I hate it?' And so before the trip even started, I had kind of told myself, 'Hey, if you don’t love this, that is not a measure of success, and that does not make you a failure. You fail at this if you don’t try, if you don’t show up for your team, if you do a bad job, if you make a lot of mistakes. That would be a failure. But ...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 550
"When you think about what you hope to leave on the sport or model for my daughters through the sport, I hope that’s what people see: resiliency, and how to pick yourself up, and not let discouragement get you down." First we heard from Keira D'Amato . Then Emma Bates . And now, we complete the World Athletics Championships Team USA women's marathon trifecta on the Ali on the Run Show with fifth-place finisher Sara Hall. Not only did Sara — a 39-year-old mom of four — run a season's best time of...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 549
"These people are out on the track, by themselves, just with their own body and their own mind. It’s really cool to watch. It’s cool to watch humans push themselves like that. And I want everyone else to be as excited about it as I am." Michelle Wolf is a stand-up comic, an ultra runner, and a massive fan of track and field. So it makes perfect sense that she was at World Athletics Championships in Eugene, OR, last month! In this conversation, Michelle talks about how she ended up in Eugene, wor...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 548
"That’s what I want — that’s the only thing that drives me as much as it does. I just want to inspire the next generation. And I feel like we did that. You would’ve sworn we won the entire race. You would’ve sworn we swept the podium! But, you know, fifth, seventh, eighth, and for people to be that proud and excited for us? It doesn’t get any better than that." The World Athletics Championships conversations continue! Last week, we heard from Team USA's Keira D'Amato , and today, fellow Team USA...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 547
"I feel that every time I step on the line — like I have nothing to lose. And I get that question a lot: 'Do you feel a lot of pressure now that you’re the American record holder?' No. I feel no pressure. No one thought I was going to get the American record, and no one thinks I’m probably going to go any further. I just feel a lot of support. So yeah, I kind of just felt like I’m playing with house money. " Keira D'Amato is the fastest — and funniest — marathoner in the country. And three weeks...
Jul 28, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 546
"Listen, there are eight heats. Seven of them were all men. We are one-eighth of the media. We need to get that number up. But hell yeah to being the one-eighth." Jay Holder and I are back today, talking all things World Athletics Championships! We spent more than two weeks in Eugene, OR, working on the media experience team — him as the mixed zone supervisor, me as the press conference moderator — and in the third installment of our World Champs recaps, we're picking up where we left off last t...
Jul 26, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 545
"I love being in the trenches with a good team." Welcome to Ask Ali, a twice-a-month series where I answer all of your questions. This time around, I’m joined by guest host Jay Holder to answer all of your World Athletics Championships-related questions, sent in via Instagram Stories (I’m @aliontherun1 ). For more about this experience so far in Eugene, OR, check out yesterday's episode . SPONSOR: goodr. Click here and use code ONTHERUN15 for 15% off your entire goodr order! Follow Ali: Instagra...
Jul 22, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 544
