Another Mother Runner

Sarah and Dimity welcome on Spencer White, the veep of the Saucony Human Performance & Innovation Lab, to talk shoes and stride. After a quick geek-out, the dialog quickly turns advice on how to make running feel joyful and effortless. (Really!) A bit later on, you’ll find yourself standing on one leg and flexing one knee as Spencer talks about the biomechanics of running. (No advanced degree necessary to comprehend.) He goes over the appropriate time to consider changing your running stride, if ever. Finally, Spencer’s shoe-buying tips could save you from a future injury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dimity and Sarah have a digital sit-down with Katie Arnold, an ultramarathoner with two young daughters, to discuss a wide range of topics. Find out why D & S quickly dub this long-time runner, “Katie of the Massive Quads,” and how legendary Dean Karnazes figures into Katie’s journey to tackling—and often winning—ultra-distance races. Katie opens up about how running has brought her through hard times, including the death of her father, and how running allows her to “be wild” in her own world. After reading from her essay in Tales from Another Mother Runner, Katie talks about “free-range parenting,” a topic she often explores in her Outside Online column, Raising Rippers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah and Dimity go guest-less this week to discuss whether it’s easier or tougher to fit exercise into the family summer lifestyle. Early on in this fun, meandering conversation, it’s evident the two mother runners fall on opposite ends of the summer-is-sweet scale. With input from the Another Mother Runner Facebook community sprinkled in, the gals talk about whether longer daylight hours make for more time to work out—or fewer hours of shut-eye, making it tougher to rise and shine for 5:00 a.m. runs. Both gals admit they are more adventurous in their summer... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To commemorate Father’s Day, Dimity and Sarah are joined by Shaun Evans, a dad who is setting off from Seattle on July 4 to run across the country. As if running 3,200 miles in two months isn’t impressive enough (here’s the math: 53-55 miles/day for 60 straight days!), Shaun tells how he’ll be pushing his 8-year-old son, Shamus, who has cerebral palsy, in a deluxe stroller for most of the miles. Shaun shares how the epic journey, dubbed the Power to Push Run Across America, was dreamt up by Shamus after the father-son stroller-duo won (!!) a 6-hour ultramarathon together. Shaun talks about the power to endure and how the Power to Push will be helping other kids, “roll with the wind,” as Shamus sees it. And find out what part baseball plays in this inspirational cross-country trek. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah and Dimity welcome on Laura Swenson to hear her tales of running the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. This mother of three tells how she has run 30+ marathons since her first 26.2-miler in December 2001 (yeah, you do the staggering math on that feat!), as well as how the first time she stepped out of her athletic comfort... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dimity and Sarah are joined by Nicole “Nikki” Knepper, a mother runner of two and the genius behind the website Moms Who Drink and Swear as well as the author of  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Dimity off hosting a Mother Runner party, Sarah’s best running friend, Molly, fills in as guest co-host—but with a twist: Molly interviews Sarah about how she’s faring with her broken ankle. Molly dives in with questions about how Sarah is filling the time off from running, how she’s dealing with being basically housebound, and what she’s learned about her family. Molly even ventures into TMI territory with talk of pooping and sex (two separate topics!). Find out if Sarah’s 2016 Boston Marathon scenario still burns bright, and what would be the title of Sarah’s memoir, if ever the mother runner wrote one. Whether or not you’ve ever been injured, this is a not-to-be-missed episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tish Hamilton, the executive editor of Runner’s World, once again joins Sarah and Dimity for a chat. This mother runner of one opines about the wonders of running friends and how hers got her through an unexpected divorce. After reading an excerpt of her brilliant essay in Tales from Another Mother, Tish and the ladies explore various ways to find a BRF. The gals were all pleased no mice were harmed for the recording of this podcast, which makes sense since Tish tells a tale proving she’s most definitely not a Boston Marathon “squeaker” anymore! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our first bonus episode, Sarah chats with her BRF Molly about her marathon PR (16 minutes!). Molly talks about her hill strategy during race, how much eating a few GU Energy Chews near Mile 24 made her feel like a new woman, and how having the right attitude makes all the difference in the outcome. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special in-studio guest, Katherine Beiers chats with Dimity and Sarah: At age 82, Katherine is the oldest finisher at 2015 Boston Marathon, running 5:53 in wicked-bad weather conditions. Perhaps more amazingly, this mother of three and grandmother of 10 didn’t start running until age 48 yet has since run nearly 50 races 26.2 miles or longer. Katherine tells why she started running—and what keeps her putting in the miles (a typical week for her is 30 or more miles!). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we relive the Nuun Year: No Limits 5K, 10K and Half-Marathon Challenges via a range of comments from the 500+ participants. Recorded just before Sarah went in for ankle surgery, we talk about her broken joint, throw in a few songs (list below) and banter on about really important topics like Sarah’s dislike of caged birds, what a floating “h” is, and the last time we ate at a Taco Bell. Have a great race, Challengers, and Happy Mother’s Day to all! (And remember: registration for our #FindYourStrong Marathon Challenge opens on Monday the 11th!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Dimity out of town hosting a Mother Runner party, Sarah is the solo host of this show. But she’s not alone: Two mother runners running fall marathons join Sarah to talk about how they’re getting ready to start 26.2 training. Jonna Bass Parr, who’ll be running NYC’s five boroughs on November 1 nearly a decade after her one-and-only marathon, reminds us, “when a mom trains, the whole family trains.” In between laughs with Sarah, Jonna tells of her plans to lose 8 to 10 pounds, one of the reasons she’s slowed her roll on runs.... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah and Dimity welcome back Bethany Meyer, who recorded the show less than 48 hours after completing her first 26.2, the prestigious Boston Marathon, as part of Team Stonyfield. The mother runners agree Bethany delivers the best line ever on an AMR podcast, then she moves on to describing the race section by section. (Or, as she divided it, “GU by GU by GU.” Complete with a Bahston accent, Bethany repeats race advice she got from a seasoned Boston Marathoner. Find out why the race became “magical” after Mile 10 or 11, and why it became, “just a 5-mile jog” after infamous Heartbreak Hill. Along the way, Bethany coins an excellent phrase, “marathon drunk.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dimity and Sarah talk training and racing, giving answers to questions freshly fielded from the Another Mother Runner Facebook page. The veteran racers give tons of tips about building mental toughness and staying positive in a race. During this discussion, Dimity shares an interesting admission about the final miles of a race. The mother runners offer advice for staying loose on a long, post-race roadtrip, then the talk turns to toenails—black ones. When Dimity and Sarah start talking about how to set realistic time goals and how to train while traveling frequently for biz, they start to get a bit punchy. Quips, laughter, and random asides abound, including rifts on Sarah’s well-honed footwear vocabulary. Starting in the intro chitchat, then woven throughout, are details about the marathon Molly, Sarah’s BRF, just completed. (Spoiler: Molly rawked!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah has a literal sit-down with Felicia Hubber, the race director for the famed Hood to Coast Relay. We love that the race deemed “the mother of all relays” is herself a mother runner. Find out how Felicia literally grew up with the race, yet still got her team van lost a few times during one year’s HTC adventure. Felicia shares secrets for success in this 195- to 200-mile odyssey through the beautiful farms and forests of Oregon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah and Dimity chat it up with Terzah Becker, a Boulder, Colorado, contributor to the AMR duo’s month-old book, Tales from Another Mother Runner. This twin mom reveals her tenacity and perseverance as she tells about chasing a Boston Marathon qualifying-time in six (6!) marathons. Terzah talks about the difference hiring a coach made for her and the importance of building mental muscle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dimity and Sarah are joined by Summer Sanders, winner of four Olympic medals in swimming who has been a runner for two decades. A mom of two, Summer shares how she shifted from being a serious athlete to a social one (even though Dim and Sarah think her 3-hours-and-change marathons are plenty serious!). From there, Summer dispenses more excellent running and training advice than pretty much the entire AMR book trilogy —everything from the importance of occasionally skipping a workout to holding back in the first mile of a race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dimity and Sarah welcome author Margaret Webb on the show to talk about her book Older Faster Stronger.  Margaret tells how, at age 50, she morphed from an overweight, middle-of-the-pack runner who occasionally smoked to being as fit as she was as a 20-year-old varsity collegiate athlete. She shares her three secrets of speed, and talks about the importance... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A departure from the usual podcast, this one was recorded live at Powell’s City of Books in Portland. After introducing the AMR duo’s new book, Tales from Another Mother Runner (and having her 9-year-old son inject a witty one-liner from the sidelines), Sarah reads her TAMR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah and Dimity welcome Kristin Armstrong, the well-loved Mile Markers columnist for Runner’s World. This mom of three teens, including girl twins, tells how she was a “nerd child,” not tapping... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices