887. Re-Run: The 2019 CIM OTQ Pacers

"We put ourselves on the line to help other people accomplish their dreams, and that was pretty freaking awesome."

It's another Throwback Thursday, and this time we're going back to December 2019 for one of my all-time favorite episodes. At the 2019 California International Marathon (CIM), 72 women ran faster than 2 hours 45 minutes, officially qualifying to run the 2020 Olympic Trials in the marathon. Leading several dozen of those women were Menso de Jong, Chris Stehula, and Ken Rakestraw — the official sub-2:45 pace group leaders. None of them had ever run a 2:45 marathon before. This is their story.

(This is such a lovely, wholesome conversation with three men who took their roles at CIM that year incredibly seriously, and who had the utmost respect for the women in the field chasing their biggest goals. The women who ran with Menso, Chris, and Ken spoke so highly of them after the race, and I was delighted to get to interview all three of them together.)

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Episoder(902)

899. LIVE at lululemon SeaWheeze 2026 with Phily Bowden

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12 Aug 48min

898. Kara Goucher's 2026 City Tri Half Marathon Recap

"That's part of the loss. It isn't how it was. But that doesn't mean it's not worth doing." This past weekend, Kara Goucher ran her first half marathon in seven years, and her first since being diagno...

6 Aug 1h 34min

897. Jay Holder, USATF Chief Content & Communications Officer

"I'm starstruck every time I'm at a track meet and I get to be side by side with some of these incredible athletes. That has not worn off and I don't think it ever will. And I hope it never does." It...

30 Jul 1h 43min

896. Ask Ali!

"I am pro people and I am pro human rights." It's surgery week! I had a prophylactic laparoscopic bilateral salpingo oophorectomy on Monday (I had my ovaries and fallopian tubes removed), and I'm tryi...

23 Jul 1h 43min

895. Molly Seidel's 2026 Western States Recap (With Special Guest Molly Reidy)

"Being able to go into a race where you are a rookie, it opened me up to take chances I wouldn't necessarily take. In the marathon, I felt like I got so scared of failing that I was really hesitant to...

16 Jul 1h 41min

894. Alyssa McElheny, Hyrox World Champion & OTQ Marathoner

"A lot of these things that seem like world-enders at the time can lead to bigger, better, happier things." Alyssa McElheny had a dream: to qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon. When the qualifying...

9 Jul 1h 23min

893. Rachel Entrekin, 2026 Cocodona 250 Champion

"If the winner thinks that everyone's important, then goddamnit I must be right." Rachel Entrekin arrived at the start line of the Cocodona 250 ultramarathon in May having already won the women's race...

2 Jul 1h 22min

892. Emma Coburn & Parker Valby, Training Partners

"We're basically the same person, just 12 years apart." Emma Coburn and Parker Valby are professional runners, Olympians, New Balance athletes — and now, they're training partners. In this conversatio...

25 Jun 1h 11min