Running On Purpose

Hello, it's Steve Sisson, recording this in March of 2026.  As you've probably guessed, this podcast has been retired — but I'm excited to share what's coming next. It's called oyo.run , & the focus is simple: self-coaching. Taking ownership of your running experience — as you should have been doing all along. I'll be your host, joined by a range of collaborators who'll help me break down the...

The continuing dialogues between Steve & Kobe around running & what we call the spiritual. In this episode we unpack & examine the differences between personal growth & spiritual growth: how they are different, the ways they feed forward & backward into each other & share some deeply personal ways in which we both have "struggled well" in relationship to growth - however it...

The beginning of the end of the Running on Purpose podcast is the new beginning of the RunGnosis project. This episode covers the reasons for the transition & introduces the general message & intent of RunGnosis. After this intro, Steve covers the reasons why every runner should be focused on their inner experience of running as much as their goals, results & data.  Godspeed. 

This is the final episode in our “apophatic” series, where we tackle the topic of No Lies. An overarching theme is my personal experience around the toxicity of modern Western culture & how it creates many challenges for runners. 

In he fourth episode in our "apophatic" series, we cover no assumptions. Godspeed, my friends, godspeed. 

In the 6th installment of the "Kobe & Steve Show", which I call The Innerwork Dialogues, we start in a more contemplative mood & take our time in getting around to our planned discussion topic of No Assumptions. In fact, we realized about an hour in that we'd really not specifically addressed the topic but instead spent our time reflecting on the initial two topics, while at the same time...

Back finally with another solo episode. As I mentioned recently, I have been working on a new series for this podcast that I’ll be announcing very soon. This series will fold in with the Innerwork Dialogues I have been doing with Kobe over at In The Zone & continued posts around the Endorphin Book Club - more on that below - & continued reflections around training the body mind & soul...

The second episode in our series on the running's apophatic path: no expectations. 

In a another of our Innnerwork Dialogues, Kobe & I unpack a key concept from an early In The Zone episode more fully. We discuss the hazards of judgement. Please join us 

Happy Vernal Equinox 2024. Last night at 10pm we shifted seasons. This marks the scientific & mythic transition from winter into spring. It’s associated with Easter & the death burial & resurrection of Christ & the temporary return of Persphone, goddess of Spring,  from her enslavement in the underworld with Hades for the rejuvenation of the crops & cycle of agriculture.  For m...

I am back with Kobe of the In The Zone podcast, where we are primarily focused on the inner game of running. What are the varieties of inner experience, that some may call spiritual, & how to they impact our training & racing. In this specific episode we explore the concept of "goallessness" or framing one's running experience without the typical overriding focus on goals & outcomes. U...

Where I announce the Endorphin Book Club, a community for runners who read or readers who run. If you are interested in joining us please reach out to me directly via email at sisson at telosrunning dot com. 

In this essential episode, I walk through the single most important protocol one can implement this year & in the future for vastly improving their performance in training & racing. There is a ton of very important information here. It can be distilled as follows:  The Mission Protocol.  The Brief is the Vision. The intention is the Seed. Training is the water/ground/conditions.  Rest &amp...

“The bad news is that you are falling through the air, there is nothing to hang onto, and you have no parachute.  The good news is that there is no ground.”  ~Chögyam Trungpa We are back in conversation with Kobe Blondeel from In The Zone podcast for another of what we are calling The Innerwork Dialogues. Our goal with these discussions is to begin to attempt to sketch the outline & form of a...

If you are anything like me, you probably listen to a lot of podcasts. I mean, here you are, listening to this one now. & it can be challenging to process the content in a long, deep episode & come away with concrete, actionable takeaways. I'll be listening to an episode & have a note file started on my phone so I can jot down key insights or inspiring ideas I want to develop later. If...

This episode is filled with gold. While the recording quality was abysmal - totally a fault of my using a recording system I was unaccustomed to - the discussion is phenomenal. I as mentioned in the last RoP episode, sometime getting more context & discussion around the heady, meta foundation of worldview can be challenging. This discussion has many takeaways & practical applications that...

Because something is happening here but you don't know what it is Do you, Mr. Jones? -Bob Dyan, Ballad of a Thin Man This intro is from Cat Power's recently released live album Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert. I highly recommend this album & of course the various originals Dylan himself released.  This episode takes this quote as inspiration for exploring worldviews a...

In this Thanksgiving special episode, I interview Bill Corrigan an athlete I have worked with for over four years who was diagnosed almost two years ago with ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. What follows is an inspiring & moving conversation around how this disease has changed Bill's life & how much we all have to be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving & godspeed, my friends.  At the end of t...

In this solo episode, I develop my thesis that running is best understood & experienced as a movement practice. Here I unpack various arguments & points of view where the focus of most runners on training & racing is missing a huge opportunity & is a fundamental misunderstanding of what we are doing as runners. While this might seem a bit dry or meta, I sincerely hope you'll consid...

This episode is the first in a series of readings I am calling the Endorphin Book Club. The EBC - which really should be called the Endocannabinoid Book Club to honor recent scientific discovery but we'll keep it simpler & nostalgic - scratches an itch that I have always wanted to scratch: classic texts in running history read in audiobook style to relive & honor great running history &amp...

I am very excited to introduce a new series & co-host to the RoP podcast. Over the summer I found a podcast created by a Belgian runner & coach, Kobe Blondeel, that addressed topics that I felt resonated the essential shift in consciousness that was undergoing around running as a spiritual practice. Kobe hosts In The Zone & his early episodes were a mix of solo discussions around his e...

As I was putting the finishing touches on the episode I planned to release today, I realized it might be helpful to discuss what I see purpose meaning now - in the fall of 2023 - vs how I framed it three years ago. This episode is a revisioning of what I mean by "running on purpose" & how I am doubling down on the concept, if in a slightly modified version. A meandering meditation, free-form &...

Wherein your host, Steve Sisson, marks the return of the podcast from a three year hiatus. This episode reintroduces the new reboot of the Running on Purpose with a Who, What Where, When & Why for this return. It's been a long time coin', but Sisson is BAAAA-AAACCCKKKK!

Show Notes Full Video of this Episode ( YouTube ) Deena's Essential "Instructional" Memoir at Amazon Full video of 2003 London Marathon ( PART I ) ( PART II ) Footage of the 2001 World Championships 10,000m Race ( YouTube ) Deena book recommendations - Big Potential by Shawn Acor at Amazon - A Practice of Mountains by Andrea Mead Lawnrece at Amazon ($$$!) - The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin at...

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK Only 18 months after making the decision to train seriously, Dick Beardsley drives the best marathoner in world beyond his limits in the world's best marathon. How does an upstart develop so quickly in such little time? Listen to this interview & you'll find out.  After our inaugural episode of Legends, covering the 1982 Boston Marathon & the iconic Duel in the Sun, we h...