THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Two-time Olympian  Elise Cranny  has long been a model of precision, patience, and perseverance in American distance running.  A Stanford All-American turned professional with Nike, Cranny owns a résumé that blends range and record-setting speed, most notably the  American records  for both the indoor 5,000m (14:33.17) and outdoor 3,000m (8:25.10).  Now 29 and training under NAU coach Jarred Cornf...

Yaseen Abdalla’s story is one of adaptation and ambition. He’s a runner who has thrived across programs, distances, and continents, representing Sudan on the international stage while redefining what a new-generation distance athlete can be. At the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Abdalla placed 21st in the marathon (2:13:32), continuing a remarkable ascent that began a year after his Olympic de...

He's one of the NCAA's brightest young stars, and his recent sophomore season proved why. Kole Mathison, the 2022 Champs Sports Cross Country national champion, and now a rising junior steeplechaser for the University of Colorado, joins  the show  fresh off a breakout year on the track and a strong start to the 2025 cross country season.  Just weeks ago, Mathison placed 10th at the Nuttyco...

In 2025, Herriman High’s Jackson Spencer became the name every prep distance fan had to know. The Utah standout, who is headed to BYU next year, opened his season with a victory at the Simplot Games 3200m (8:56.03), then surged into spring with a breakthrough 8:51.26 at the Arcadia Invitational.  His momentum carried into June, where he unleashed a 4:02.56 mile and 3:46.22 1500m at the HOKA Festiv...

Final Surge: https://www.finalsurge.com (RUNNINGEFFECT20)  He built a dynasty in Flagstaff, and now, Mike Smith is bringing that same fire to Nike’s Swoosh Track Club. After nearly a decade at the helm of Northern Arizona University, where he built a dynasty that captured  five NCAA men’s cross country titles  and earned him  41 Big Sky Coach of the Year honors , Smith made headlines in 2025 when...

Sacrifice, grit, burnout, and the fight to be great: this month’s  Rundown Recap  dives into four stories that every driven person needs to hear. The fellas kick things off with  “Sacrifice Isn’t Sustainable,”  a raw look at how constantly grinding and giving everything can start to take more than it gives. What happens when the thing you love starts burning you out? Then, in  “The Art of Champion...

Claire Manley went from chasing PRs on the track to building a storytelling engine for athletes and running brands. She is the co-founder of Meet @ 7 Studios, a women-led social media and personal branding agency designed for professional runners and endurance athletes. Her work focuses on giving athletes Fortune 500-level strategy and visibility while helping them own their stories and reach new...

Jess McClain has become the new face of American women’s marathoning: a symbol of resilience, balance, and belief in one’s own path. A former collegiate standout at Stanford, she stepped into the pro ranks with Brooks, only to face years of injury, transition, and even stepping away from full-time running to build a life outside the sport.  Jess never left the track mentally. In 2024, working full...

Kristen Holmes has worn every hat in the world of performance, including athlete, coach, scientist, and innovator. Today, she’s setting the standard at WHOOP. At the University of Iowa, she was a two-time First-Team All-American, the 1996 Big Ten MVP, and even pulled double duty on the women’s basketball team. From there, she rose to the U.S. National Field Hockey Team, earning a spot as an Olympi...

Few athletes have risen as fast—or raced as fearlessly—as Gary Martin. Now a senior at the University of Virginia, he has evolved into a consistent national contender with personal bests that rank among the fastest in collegiate history. His 3:32.03 1500m at the 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships placed him sixth against the nation’s best, while his 3:48.82 indoor mile at the Millrose Games stunned...

The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!):  https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs Progress in running is rarely smooth, often unpredictable, and sometimes shaped most by the days we’d rather forget. Alex Ostberg is back again to discuss ideas that every runner will recognize but few stop to articulate. The Run Down recap is here and full of gold once again. From the unseen pitfalls that quie...

Dathan Ritzenhein has lived two lives in running: first as one of America's most decorated distance runners, and now as the head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC).  As a coach, Ritzenhein has been at the center of some of the sport's biggest moments in recent years. Under his leadership, Yared Nuguse set the indoor mile world record on Feb 8, 2025 (3:46.63) before it was lowered five da...

Fleet Feet CEO Joey Pointer has made a career of combining community-driven retail with cutting-edge data insights. His journey into running retail wasn't a straight line. Raised on a North Carolina farm, he began his professional life in accounting at Ernst & Young before joining Fleet Feet in 2004 as a financial manager.  Over the next decade, he rose through the ranks: Director of Opera...

Andreas Almgren returns to the show, this time fresh off a bronze in the 10,000 meters at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. This marked Sweden’s first World Championships medal in a long-distance track event—and the nation’s first ever in the 10,000m. For Almgren, it was the culmination of a journey from middle-distance prodigy to one of Europe’s most versatile runners. He burst onto the scen...

Amid a pro reset in Eugene and a new flag next to his name, Charles Hicks is aiming his firepower at the marathon. Stanford’s first NCAA individual cross-country champion turned Nike pro joins the show amidst a change. He’s shifting his firepower to the roads and is making his marathon debut at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 2, 2025. He trains in Eugene with Nike’s Swoosh TC (launched ...

Final Surge:  https://www.finalsurge.com  (RUNNINGEFFECT20) Few coaches have reshaped a running program the way Laurie Henes has. For more than three decades, she’s been at the heart of NC State running, first as a competitor, then as a builder of champions. As an athlete, Laurie was an eight-time All-American, the 1991 NCAA 5,000-meter champion, and later competed for the U.S. at the 1995 World C...

Cordell Tinch just struck gold in Tokyo, and he’s back on the show to tell us how it happened. This isn’t just about a gold medal. Cordell’s career is about resilience, reinvention, and the razor-thin line between heartbreak and glory. Just a year ago, he missed making the U.S. Olympic team by one place after undergoing mid-season surgery. Fast forward to 2025, and he’s running 12.99 to capture th...

At just 18, Sadie Engelhardt has lived the kind of running career most athletes dream about: national records, Olympic Trials, and head-to-head battles with pros. Now, she’s back on the show as her next challenge looms: the grind of NCAA competition at NC State. Sadie’s remarkable journey from rewriting the record books to embracing the challenges of collegiate running are sure to be primetime vie...

Final Surge: https://www.finalsurge.com (RUNNINGEFFECT20) Tim Surface’s path runs straight through the heart of the sport of running. Tim is a University of Tulsa Academic All-American who kept competing after college, carving out a 2:24:39 marathon at Chicago and logging PRs of 1:09:12 for the half and 30:35 for 10,000m, before channeling that discipline into coaching and product building.  Today...

If you smash together courtroom precision with marathon coaching, you get Jeff Cunningham. Jeff is a licensed Texas attorney turned creator of Austin’s Bat City Track Club, and he is here to open up the playbook behind one of America’s most quietly effective pro-development groups. From Haftu Knight’s 2:09:38 breakthrough to Lindsey Bradley’s Indy Monumental course record, Bat City’s 2024–25 resul...

Most runners think their biggest limiter is training volume, paces, or genetics.  Cortney Berling says it’s something much simpler: you’re not eating enough. Fresh off a 2:52:49 finish at the 2025 Eugene Marathon and armed with her credentials as a Registered Dietitian (MPH, RD, CDE), Cortney sits down to unpack RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport): what it is, why it matters, and how to fi...

Mitch Ammons is living proof that small, steady habits can transform a life. Just a few years removed from barely jogging half a mile after rehab, the Austin realtor has run 2:16:01 in the marathon, joined Bat City Track Club, won his hometown half in 1:08:32, and even stood on the start line in Boston’s Professional Open Men’s Field–all without ever running in college. What’s his secret? Nothing...

As the Toledo Marathon looms just six days away, Dominic hits record for a rare solo jam session on grit, growth, and chasing what matters most. From winging his first marathon off just two weeks of training to preparing for Toledo with modest mileage and plenty of gym sessions, he’s here to share the highs, doubts, and lessons running continues to teach him.  Along the way, he opens up about why...

We’re going full scientist mode today, because Jonah Rosner is back on the show. If you don’t know Jonah, he’s the applied sport scientist who went from the Houston Texans to the streets of Brooklyn, translating lab data into PRs for everyday runners. He’s walked the talk—he ran  2:57:22  at the Chicago Marathon on  October 13, 2024 —and he’s been on a tear since on social media. He has unpacked w...

Nico Felich is the kind of guy who’ll jog up to the mic fresh from a shakeout run, then drop a line that makes you want to sprint out the door and chase your life. In his first-ever podcast sit-down, Nico shares how a quiet college kid making dorm-life vlogs turned into a full-time creator inspiring tens of thousands to run. He’s here to talk about walking away from the 9–5 grind, keeping your pas...