Leo Manzano goes in depth with us about what it was like growing up in Granite Shoals in the Texas Hill Country as a poor Mexican American. He tells us how all of the struggle and hard work that came with this gave him a mental edge in running. He started competing in cross country and track at Marble Falls High and then at the University of Texas where he became the most decorated track and field athlete ever. He gives us inside perspective on what real challenges came his way, and how his fortitude helped him to a silver medal in the 2012 olympics.

Evan came to the US from Mongolia as a late teen. After facing a tough divorce his life shifted. He was following a path of partying, self destruction, and hanging out with the "wrong crowd" and he needed a pick me up. He joined Trail Roots and started running more. He decided that he wanted to travel the US and parts of the world now that he had no attachments. He sold most of his stuff and set out for a 6 month road trip in his Toyota 4 Runner. He wanted to see as many National Parks as possible, and what he found was that he fell in love with connecting with new people, hearing their stories, and making new friends along the way just as much as he did seeing the beautiful trails.

Joe Prusaitis started out directing road races, and after awhile realized the trail is where his heart was. He (along with many others) shifted over to trail running in the ultra running boom of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. While he admits to one simple advantage he had in helping his early success (being one of the first trail races to offer online registration), he also talks about how treating people the way he wanted to be treated helped him keep runners coming back. Race directing is no easy task, but Joe has been doing it for over 20 years and shares all about the memorable experiences it brought to his life.

Joe’s Rules - The Art of Trail Race Directing - Check out Joe’s brand new book!

Ahilan was diagnosed with a rare cancer and had to have his stomach removed. After surviving the surgery and being in a recovery hospital for weeks he started realizing he needed to rid his body of some of the toxins from the medications. He had never run in his life. The only exercise he had done was to play an occasional cricket game. He started running though. He set a goal to complete a half marathon. Then he finished his first marathon, then a 50k, and then a 50 miler all within 2 years of his surgery. Now he is training for a 100k and is hoping to raise money and awareness around this particular type of cancer. What is so cool is Ahilan’s perspective. He is upbeat, grateful, and inspiring. Hear more about how he is pushing through these major limits and challenges and how running is giving him space to grow.

Jeff Knight and James Dodds are both old co-workers. We all coached together in a previous life, but have remained friends to this day. Jeff works at Under Armor as a Senior Manager of Exercise and Nutrition, and James works part time as a coach and virtual coach at Rogue Running. Over the past few weeks we have done some video chats on how runners are adapting and what interesting shifts they are seeing. I got them to open up a bit more on what challenges they are seeing across the board with their runners and clients, but also what things are helping. What are the positives we are seeing out of the pandemic? We dive into it all in this episode.

Trail Roots member Erick Ramos shares with us how the military got him running. He was always one of the last guys and struggled to stay motivated. He was stationed at Ft Hood, when life suddenly took a twist. He was on base when Ivan Lopez started opening fire in 2014. He sustained wounds to the face. During recovery he faced other struggles with P TSD. Running helped him back on his feet and he tells us all about this more in detail here. Erick is a leader amongst the Trail Roots community now, and we can’t wait for you to hear more about his journey.