"I feel the most confident I’ve ever been." Emily Mackay is having a heck of a year on the run! The Team New Balance Boston athlete earned a bronze medal at World Indoor Championships in the 1500m earlier this year, and has kicked off her outdoor season with strong performances including a personal best at the Prefontaine Classic, where she ran 3:59.76. In this conversation, Emily reflects back on her early running days, and shares why she dreamed of going pro with the NB Boston team (including ...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 723
"I am scared of outer space, submarines, and remote research laboratories." We're live with Emma Coburn for the fourth time, making this her eighth appearance on the Ali on the Run Show ! In this conversation, recorded in front of a live audience at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn, NY, the day before the RBC Brooklyn Half, we cover Emma's ick factors, her season-ending injury and her outlook about being sidelined during an Olympic year, and her "Team Boss Superlatives." SPONSOR: New Balance: Click here...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 722
"I feel like life should be back to normal. And it’s not!" Welcome to the 2024 RBC Brooklyn Half finish line! I was delighted to be one of the guests for a live recording of the Set the Pace podcast with host Becs Gentry . In this episode, I reflect a bit on my history with the Brooklyn Half, including why I wasn't able to run this year's race (more on that here ), and then share the recording from the show with Becs and Release Recovery Foundation's Zac Clark . SPONSORS: UCAN: Click here to get...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 721
"I remember being acutely aware that it was the worst day of my life up to that point, and the world was still going. People were out for runs in Central Park. People were going to the office. People were picking their kids up from school. It felt like everyone else’s world kept turning and I was in purgatory." It's been one year since I was diagnosed with stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma with DCIS. Breast cancer. A diagnosis that rocked my world and changed my life. In this solo episode, I'm r...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 720
"It’s processing all of these emotions that you have with things that you’re anticipating you are not going to be able to see. Like my daughter is a year and a half at this point. Am I going to see her go to elementary school? And then of course you’re Googling the results. It is awful." One year after giving birth to her daughter, Anne Keane decided it was time to get back into a workout routine. On her quest to get active again, she felt a tightness in her sternum. What she hoped was nothing s...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 719
"One of my favorite things to do when it gets hard is I ask myself the question, 'Is this the story you want to tell today?' I like that question because you can’t hide from that question. You can finish a run and tell your friends, 'Oh my stomach was upset,' or, 'The weather or whatever.' But you can’t lie to yourself. You know who you’re choosing to be in those moments. And I like asking myself, 'Who do you want to be in those moments?' And I find that usually I want to be someone who pushes t...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 718
"To have Long Live playing while I was standing on this stage feeling really proud of a show I had just done, and hugging so many of you, and feeling like we’re in this together… Those moments are really magical to me, and they are the memories that I hope I have forever." There’s nowhere I’d rather be on the third Monday in April than at the Boston Marathon finish line! This year, I was honored to be asked back to perform a variety of roles in Boston. I was one of the start and finish line anno...
Apr 25, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Season 1Ep. 717
"Whatever you need, I hope you got at least a little of it here today." What an honor and a treat it was to get to host a live show the day before the 2024 Boston Marathon with 2014 champion Meb Keflezighi. In this conversation — recorded live at the New Balance headquarters — Meb talked about how he was feeling the day before running the race again, 10 years after his historic win the year after the bombings. He talked about officially becoming a New Balance athlete (!!!), about his hopes to ru...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 716
"It was dark there for a while!" What a treat to get to sit down with Emma Bates and Jenny Simpson three days before the 2024 Boston Marathon. Emma talked about coming back from injury and lining up in Boston with the same confidence she had in 2023 (where she finished fifth), and Jenny talked about making another attempt at a marathon debut after having to drop out of the Olympic Marathon Trials. (Spoiler: Jenny Simpson is officially a marathoner now!) Plus: getting to know each other, discussi...
Apr 18, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 715
"If I have to wash and return your Tupperware, I am now super stressed. I am so worried about the Tupperware." Let the Boston Marathon episodes begin! First up: a panel I moderated at the Oofos pop-up on Boylston Street called "Project Pink: Recover with Purpose." This panel was about running, about cancer, about hard stuff, and about resilience. We heard from Anne Keane, who is living with metastatic breast cancer, and was about to run her third Boston Marathon as part of the Dana-Farber Marath...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 714
"The best way to relax at the starting line is to take a deep breath, and say, 'This is fun as hell.' Doesn’t mean it’s not scary! Doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy! It’s just fun as hell. And then go have some fun!" Everyone's favorite "Ted Lasso of Running" returns to the Ali on the Run Show today for a pre-race pep talk! Coach Chris Bennett is Nike Running's Global Head Coach, and he's here to give it to you straight. He has advice on dealing with a bad race, tips for staying sane during the fi...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 713
"We’re leading alongside our community. The three of us made this happen, but there is so much wisdom, so much leadership, so much brilliance within our community. And so we always want to make it known that we want to continue to uplift that and really just show up and show out." Abeo Powder has a magnetic energy. She's one of those people you'll meet and just want to be around every day. Abeo is the co-founder of the TrailblazHers Run Co. , an all-female run crew in Boston, with a mission to e...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 712
"Use all of your resources. If people are willing to help, let them help." What's it like when you're one of the best coaches in the NCAA, and your daughter joins the team? And what's it like to be a high school senior vetting potential college running programs — and to have to decide whether or not to be a part of the program your mom is leading? In this Motherhood Mondays conversation, we're hearing all about the mom-daughter-coach-athlete dynamic, courtesy of NC State Head Women's Cross-Count...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 711
"I really, truly, in the bottom of my heart want to keep doing this. But I need to figure out what my 'why' is in a more sustainable way rather than just ‘I want to win another medal because everyone tells me I need to win another medal.’" In 2020, Molly Seidel ran her debut marathon at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon, finished second, and earned a spot on Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics. In 2021, she became an Olympic Bronze Medalist. The next few years included some highs — like running ...
Apr 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 710
"Right on Hereford, left on Boylston. It is the place to be. It’s special every time." We are less than two weeks away from the 128th running of the world’s oldest marathon. This year’s Boston Marathon takes place, as always, on the third Monday of April — this year, that’s April 15. In this mega-episode, I (along with a team of experts and insiders) am attempting to answer all of your questions about all things Boston. Katie Hawkes and Lauren Proshan from the Boston Athletic Association are her...
Apr 04, 2024•2 hr 56 min•Season 1Ep. 709
"It’s OK to prioritize time for happiness. Hard times will come. It’s really important to know what happiness feels like to you so that when you’re in those dark times, you know that happiness is real, you have hope for the future, and you can hold onto that — that you’ll be happy again." Her story captivated the nation: Elizabeth Smart was 14 years old when she was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City and held captive for nine months. During that time, she was repeatedly raped and abused by...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 708
"I will always show up and do my best, and try to maintain my integrity in the process. I don’t always get it right. But I always try." I ran the New York City Half. I had the best time. And today, I'm here to talk all about running my first 13.1-mile race since my breast cancer diagnosis in May 2023. Plus, answering listener questions about running, podcasting, and more. SPONSORS: UCAN: Click here to get a FREE UCAN energy bar sample pack (you’ll just pay the cost of shipping), and use code ALI...
Mar 21, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 707
"Des is the coolest one out of all of us, and she organized it. So of course if Des organizes a dog party, we're going to go to it... And I think if you went to the dog party, you had a good race." She's the American Record Holder in the marathon, she just made her second Olympic team, and this weekend, she was in New York City for a live show all about doggy play dates, missing dogs, the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon, potential Olympic tattoo spots, being Emily in Paris, and so much mo...
Mar 19, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 706
"I have yet to meet a marg that is too spicy for me." Emma Coburn is an Olympic bronze medalist, a World Champion, a world silver medalist, a 10-time U.S. champion, and a three-time Olympian. The New Balance-sponsored professional athlete returns to the Ali on the Run Show for the seventh time today to catch us up on how life has been since tearing her hamstring at World Championships last summer. (Spoiler: She's fit!) FOLLOW EMMA @emmacoburn SPONSORS: Lagoon: Click here to take Lagoon’s 2-minut...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 705
"I hope I can normalize not hitting goals and being OK." We took our finest feathers and poppiest pink outfits to Richmond, VA. Welcome to Ali on the Run Show LIVE with Keira D'Amato! We played games — Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare Jenga, and the classic Skeirragories — we laughed, we squatted, we chugged water, and we had an honest conversation about Keira's experience at the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials. Come for the community. Stay for the Meat Thing clip. (OK, maybe don't stay for the Mea...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 41 min•Season 1Ep. 704
" Records are always going to be broken, but medals are forever. " Nikki Hiltz returns to the Ali on the Run Show for the seventh time — and for the first time as a world championship medalist! Last weekend, Nikki took home the silver medal in the 1500m at World Indoor Championships, and today, we get to hear all about it. Plus a very special (and oh so wholesome) guest to kick off the episode. FOLLOW NIKKI @nikkihiltz SPONSORS: New Balance. Click here to shop New Balance’s latest releases for t...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 703
"I think about when I was a kid and I would just go out and run hard and not worry about the result or what was the worst thing that could happen. I run my best when I run with the same mindset I had when I was 12." Jackie Gaughan qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials in her very first marathon. At 24 years old, she was the 18th-fastest qualifier in the field. (Her PR is a 2:27 from the 2023 Berlin Marathon.) In this conversation, Jackie talks about going from being an anxiety-riddled runner...
Mar 05, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 702
"Hands down, the most courageous thing I’ve ever done is walk into trying to get pregnant and walking through pregnancy after loss." Rachel Schneider Smith just might be the most-loved woman in the professional running world. Everyone adores her — and in this episode, it's easy to see why. Rachel is a HOKA-sponsored professional runner who competes in everything from the 1500m on the track to the half marathon on the roads. (Girl's got range!) She lives in Flagstaff, AZ, where she is coached by ...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 701
"I had the time of my life out there. I soaked it all in." So often, the fourth-place finisher at any given Olympic Trials is the most devastated of the day. The person who came closest to the podium, and was the first not to make the team. But at this year's U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon, Jess McClain changed the narrative. The self-coached, unsponsored, agent-less runner shocked fans with her fourth-place finish and four-minute personal best, finishing in 2:25:46. In this conversation, Jes...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 700
"This was the happy ending to it all, to all the struggle. But that’s life, right? It wasn’t how the story ended. But believing it was kept me in it." Sara Hall just competed at her eighth Olympic Trials event. She went all-in for this one, hoping to make her first Olympic team. At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Orlando, FL, Sara ultimately finished fifth — two spots short of earning a spot on Team USA. Her 2:26:06 finish broke the American Masters Marathon Record, and as she proc...
Feb 20, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 699
"Going into this race, I was like, 'Top 10, that sounds like a really good goal. I can do that. Top 10.' And then when that race started, I was like, 'Holy crap, Top 10 is going to be so hard. This is the most talented group of women I have ever been surrounded by.' Everywhere I looked, I was like, 'You’re amazing, you’re amazing, you’re incredible…' I felt honored to be among those women. I just look up to all these women around me." "Have kids and dreams." It's Makenna Myler 's mantra (surely ...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 698
"For all the speculators out there, there was no splitting the prize money, no talk about that beforehand, no 'You go first, I go second.' No 'Conner let me win in New Haven, so I have to let him win at the Trials.' It really just happened. I want to make that 100 percent clear. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was pure, raw emotion of enjoying the moment." It was the marathon finish we all couldn't stop talking about. At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon, former Brigham Young Unive...
Feb 13, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 697
" Seeing how many people flew down to Florida on a random weekend in February to cheer for total strangers… How cool is that?! " I had the best weekend in Orlando at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon — running around Lake Eola with friends, attending the elite athlete press conference, hosting a Best Running Friends meetup, going on shakeout runs, and, of course, cheering for all of the runners during Saturday's race. This is my recap from the weekend. SPONSOR: UCAN: Click here to get a FREE...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 696
"I knew months ago that was going to be my caption for that post!" Let the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Marathon recaps begin! First up: Dakotah Lindwurm ! The 28-year-old Puma-sponsored athlete who trains with Minnesota Distance Elite finished third at the Trials, running 2:25:31 and fulfilling a lifelong dream of earning a spot on Team USA. In this conversation, recorded just two days after the race (while on vacation in the Dominican Republic!), Dakotah talks about her 130-mile training weeks lea...
Feb 06, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 695
"As runners, we all deserve to be at the start line — and at the finish line, winning races." Last month, Weini Kelati broke the American record in the half marathon, running 1:06:25 in Houston in her debut at the distance. Just a few days later, she ran — and won — the USATF cross-country championships. Weini's plan was never to be a record-breaking runner, though. Growing up in Eritrea, Weini was accustomed to walking — sometimes running — two hours to get to school each day, six days a week. ...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 694
