Running New Mexico Podcast

This week I had the pleasure to talk to Lionel Ortega. He is a former UNM Athlete and Professional Runner. He covers a lot about his career in this conversation. We go from how he got into running, into some highlights, and into his work for Nike and Adidas. It was great to hear him look back on his career and express that running is a part of his life, not his life. He talked about the three word...

This week I had the pleasure to talk with Lindsey Herman . She is an Ultra runner and coach. She graduated from Albuquerque Academy and then Western Colorado University, where she is still located and coaching. Lindsey has had a different path to running than a lot of people. Even though she was part of an active family, with running and skiing, and even though she ran a marathon in high school, s...

This week I had the pleasure to talk with Sophia Torres. She is a Pojoaque graduate, UNM graduate, trail runner, and artist. Her dad is Senovio Torres, a great ultra runner in his own right, and an influence for Sophia's running. We talk about the pressures of running from external sources and when she made running her own. She talked about being put in kid races and 5k races as a child and how it...

This week I had the opportunity to talk with Matt Gonzales . He ran for St. Michael's and Santa Fe High and then UNM, with 7 NCAA All-American honors to his name at UNM. He also ran professionally for Nike and competed at 2 US Olympic Trials. Matt talks about his influences, including his dad and coaches, as well as the relationships he built. He talks about his time running and the challenges he...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Kellie Nickerson. She's a PE teacher and after school coach at Cottonwood School in Corrales. She is also a member of the Sole Sisters, a local running group.  Kellie ran at Sandia High School and followed that up with a year running for UNM. She learned to train on her own and continued her running through the Runfit races. Her biggest goal is to keep ru...

This week I had the opportunity to talk with Keith Gerrard. He is a middle school teacher, volunteer coach at Rio Rancho High School, private coach, a graduate and All-American for UNM, and a former Great Britain athlete competing at the European Championships and World XC Championships. He has had quite the career and we dig a little into that, but really we talk about his journey to where he is...

This week I had the opportunity to speak with Andy Murray. Although doesn't doesn't consider himself to be a good runner, he is a fantastic coach. We don't cover it in the episode, but he has done a lot for the kids that he coaches, as most good coaches do. He started out his own running as an extension of rugby and soccer. When it was rainy in London, they would send them out on runs to save the...

This week I had the honor to speak with Gail Leedy. She's a Trail/Ultra runner, a retired professor, search and rescue volunteer, and grandmother. You can hear her passion for all of these endeavors throughout the podcast. From her beginnings as a collegiate runner to where she is now, Gail has led an interesting life. She picked up running to fill a roster spot, then slowly got back into running...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Dani Aragon . She's a professional runner for Empire Elite Track Club and Oiselle Volée , a Notre Dame graduate, and made the finals at the US Olympic Trials in the 1500. We talk about her family, following in the footsteps of her older sister and her dad (NM great Chuck Aragon ). She talked about her sister being there to pull her along in high school an...

This week I had the opportunity to talk with Shelia Burrell. She's a Rio Grande High School graduate, UCLA alumni, 2x Olympian in the Heptathlon, and current Head Cross Country and Track Coach at San Diego State University. We talked about her start in running and the heptathlon, and the journey she had in the gap between college and getting endorsed. She's had an incredible journey that I loved l...

This week I had the pleasure to talk to my colleague, Kyle Fast Wolf. He's a La Cueva graduate, UNM graduate and runner, and current head cross country coach at La Cueva. It was great to catch up with him on the eve of our first official cross country meet of 2021. We were able to see each a week ago, as he hosted a scrimmage meet for us, but being able to talk about what rebuilding is looking lik...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Valerie Denton. She is a runner who likes to do all the things. We talk a lot about balance in running and life. She has found what works for her and what she is willing give up and when. We talk about parent guilt (mom guilt) and really so much more. Currently she is training for a half triathlon, but will be competing in two trail races prior, including...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Sam Sanchez. He is a graduate of Robertson High School in Las Vegas and New Mexico Highlands University. He competed in track through high school and cross country in both high school and in college. We were teammates in high school and it was great to catch up with him. Sam's journey took him from joining track with a friend to now running marathons. He...

This week I had the honor to speak with Melani Buchanan-Farmer. She is a former teacher, she's worked in Language and Cultural Equity at Albuquerque Public Schools, and is currently a professor at New Mexico Highlands University. Through all of this she has created Running 505, a non-competitive wellness group for kids in 5th through 8th grade. Running 505 collaborates with the community to encour...

This week I had a great time talking with Dorota Gruca . She is an Olympian, making the Polish team in 2008 for the marathon. She's held Polish national records in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. She's a coach for Bolton Endurance and helped found the Las Cruces Running Club . We cover all the highlights in this conversation. We talk about her journey into running, leaving home at 14 to train,...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with George Young. He's a four time Olympian, three times in the Steeplechase, and once each in the Marathon and 5k. He's an inductee in the NM Sports Hall of Fame, has a bronze medal from the 1968 games in Mexico City, graduated from the University of Arizona, taught, coached, and was an athletic director at Casa Grande. George talks about some training, his...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Stephen Pino Founder of Runfit , a local race management organization built out of a desire to curb childhood obesity by creating a community based approach to goal setting and racing for elementary students. As a non-profit organization, many of their runs directly benefit either students or other organizations, like the Barrett House. Stephen is a forme...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Adriana Tatum , Sandia High School Grad and soon to be  Arizona State University Sun Devil . During her time at Sandia , Adriana has racked up multiple school and state records, in open events and relays. As a 100 and 200 meter specialist, she has been the fastest girl in the state for four years. We talk about her time at Sandia, the struggles with missi...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Doug Dorame, recently retired Athletic Director, Girls Basketball Coach, and Girls Track Coach from Albuquerque High School . It was a fantastic conversation, and if you want to hear more, go back and listen to his daughter, Dineé, interview him on her podcast, Grounded with Dineé Dorame , Episode 15 . We start off talking about his running, traveling to...

This week I was able to speak with Laurynn Sisneros , Eldorado High School graduate and West Point recruit. She recently won the shortened 2020/2021 Cross Country season championship and the day before the release of the podcast, won the 3200 at the 5A state track championships. She was also the 2021 Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the year for New Mexico. We talked about missing out on her Junio...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Traci Kinney . She is currently training for her first marathon, the virtual Boston Marathon. We talk about about that training, the positives and pitfalls of running social media, and she talks about her running journey. As a new runner, she feels she still has a lot to learn and we talk about the feeling of not being a runner. She talks about trying to...

This week I has the pleasure to speak with Josh Kerr of Brooks Beasts . He's a Scottish runner and former Lobo , just coming off a great 1500 at the Stumptown Twilight Meet on June 3rd. His 3:31.55 makes him the fastest at that distance ever on American soil. Of course we talk about that halfway through the conversation, but we start off discussing his podcast, the Sit & Kick Podcast , with his co...

This week I had the pleasure to talk to Curtis Beach . He is a former Pro Decathlete and current Volunteer coach at Duke University . He has held world decathlete records from juniors to world, including the second fastest 1500m in a decathlon and the fastest in the NCAA. In this episode, we talk about his journey to running and multi events. Curtis talks about his love of running at an early age...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Mikaela Osler . She is the Woman's self supported FKT for the Collegiate East Colorado Trail. Beating the previous record by nearly 5 days, she talks about her time on the trail, seeing every sunrise and sunset, and pushing herself through the tough times. We also talk about her high school time at the United World College in Montezuma, NM (just outside o...

This week I had the pleasure to speak with Charlotte Prouse , Canadian National running for the University of New Mexico Track and Field . She is an Olympic hopeful focusing on running well at the NCAA Regional Track and Field Meet and then Nationals. Charlotte talked about getting involved in track and field, steeplechase, and an interesting way that she learned to be ready for the barriers in an...