Beyond Running

Michel Rojkind is an artist, world-renowned architect and runner based in Mexico City. He's done projects all over the world and worked with the Mexican government. He's a runner who's well known in the Mexico City crew scene for having dipped under the 3-hour barrier for the marathon in his fifties, running 2:56 most recently at age 51.   We dig Michel's philosophy for bringing energy into his cr...

Our first episode of 2022 features Jason Suarez, sports photographer and athlete with a fascinating creative eye. In this conversation, Jason shares the story behind his career as well as his thoughts on how we can bring more perspectives into the creative world that surrounds athletics. With a trademark sense of humor and a positive spirit, Jason's words serve as a succinct guide to being a bette...

For the end of year, we're doing something different—our first solo episode. It's a time of reflection and Alex looks back on his own story, how he connected with the Beyond Running Podcast, as well as his notes from the year and ambitions for the next one. It's a personal check-in we hope to make a tradition around here. Our roster of upcoming guests is stacked and we can't wait to see you in the...

Michael Versteeg is a professional ultra runner for Satisfy Running, the winner of this year's Cocodona 250, and the holder of many fastest known times—but the focus of this conversation isn't necessarily performance. Versteeg unpacks his relationship with running, which he looks at through a unique lens. Like a climber, mountaineer, or general outdoorsperson, Michael takes an experiential approac...

In this conversation, we explore the roots of yoga and how the tradition has been colonized and mis-appropriated. We touch on the anti-science and white supremacist rhetoric that has plagued the culture of yoga in the West, laid even more bare by the pandemic and social justice movement that's gained momentum in 2020. And, of course, we talk about what we can do about it, what it means to be a dev...

The MindWork Series is a content collaboration with lululemon to explore movement as an entry point to mindfulness.  This second episode features guest Sanchia Legister, a runner, yoga teacher and an energy giver that works to bring diversity to mindful movement practices. We talked about the importance of being present as a tool to look beyond the fast things that make us take life for granted an...

The Mindwork Series is a content collaboration with lululemon to explore movement as an entry point to mindfulness.  This episode features guest Charlie Dark, a pioneer in the running culture through the legendary Run Dem Crew, a yoga teacher and practitioner, and a music explorer and DJ.  Creating spaces for inclusion and running seen in a holistic approach were some of the topics touched in our...

Here, we introduce the new host of the Beyond Running podcast, Alex Dickinson, and sit down with Nils Arend. Nils is a co-founder of the speed project, a lifelong creative, and a rebel runner. Having just completed The Speed Project, Alex digs into the roots of the race, from surf trips around the world to point-to-point journeys in LA. The pair discuss the future of running, mindfulness on the ro...

Through Matt Mikkelsen's work in film and sound he is working to create awareness about what's not there- the emptiness, the silence, and the value it has for us and for the wildlife that depends on it. According to Matt, it's not enough to just preserve silence, we must also learn to listen to it.   

For this month's episode I spoke with Alison Desir, founder of Harlem Run, a NY-based run collective, as well as several other organizations that bring people together around movement and community.    She's passionate about building strong, positive, and diverse communities, simply because her organizations are built by people, and creating a place where they feel safe, accepted, valued, and welc...

This month, I speak with Ron Griswell, he's an explorer, outdoor guide and founder of HBCUs Outside, an organization that helps students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities to get outside and participate in the outdoors, where there has been very little minority representation. The hope is that these students can start to see themselves reflected in these spaces, and share their stor...

Coffey is a runner, father, filmmaker, and activist who started organizing groups of people to run with him in response to recent and historic violence against black people. Coffey realized that his power was his ability to organize and empower people to take action, and his running protests quickly gained momentum and appeal as a way for people of all colors and backgrounds to get together and sp...

Beau Miles is an Award winning filmmaker, poly-jobist, speaker, and writer who takes simple objects and ideas and questions what we know about them through his film projects. We spoke about his films, his experience writing a doctoral thesis, the value of Outdoor Education, as well as how running has contributed to his view of the world, his projects, and himself.

Samantha Gash is a social advocate and runner, and has collected a lot of wisdom throughout her life. We talked to her about the importance of education, surrendering, how her life has changed after becoming a mum and the bright side of being on lockdown.

Sam Bencheghib is one of the co-founders of Make A Change World, an organization dedicated to changing the world's pollution problem. They are founded on the concept that "no idea is crazy enough to change the world." We caught up with Sam following his run across the United States to raise awareness of plastic pollution, to discuss the reasons behind such an adventure and what came of it. instagr...

Episode 6: What running can teach you. Rickey Gates. by airelibre.run

Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel is a Native American rights activist, as well as a talented distance runner. Jordan made headlines in 2019 when she ran the Boston marathon with a red hand painted across her face to bring awareness to Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. Though this is the story she's most well known for, Jordan's activism goes much further. Join us as we discuss th...

Mirna Valerio is hard to describe in a word. She's an ultrarunner, an adventurer, a writer, former educator, mother, trained singer... as soon as you start to speak with her, her laughter and energy fill the space, making her passion for life evident. Join us as we discuss Mirna's experiences with failure, her thoughts on confidence and authenticity, and the way she experiences being a runner.

For this episode of Beyond Running, we sat down with runner and mindfulness ambassador for the L.A. running community, Hakim Tafari, who told us about the different chapters of his journey and how a life of obstacles led him to embrace running, mindfulness and eastern medicine as ways to reconnect to himself and turn his life around. Join us as we discuss everything from running and veganism to bu...

Ben and I sat down recently to discuss some of the latest research into how exercise affects the brain, and specifically, running. While Ben isn't leading any of these studies in his work, he acts as somewhat of a translator in his writing, helping us to understand the cutting edge of brain science. He's spent the past decade and a half in the lab, looking at how the brain grows and works during o...