Claire Maxted: The Give and Take of Adventures and Business as a New Mom

Claire Maxted is the woman behind Wild Ginger Running, a UK based running platform that helps trail and ultra runners get advice and inspiration via weekly films and podcasts. She is also the author of “The Ultimate Trail Running Handbook,” and the host of an annual training camp in the Peak District of England.

We talked about the challenges of running your own business as a mother and sharing parenting duties, and her experience staying adventurous with a baby in some ways, and having to drastically alter her life in other ways.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me!

Learn more about the book, my running and mindset coaching, and The Runner's Mastermind here.

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Makenna Myler: Who Do I Want To Be When I'm Struggling?

Makenna Myler is a professional distance runner for Asics who has lived all over the world, now trains in Utah, and she qualified for her first Olympic Trials after becoming a mother. We talk about being coachable, having tough conversations with teammates to create a healthy competitive culture, your circle of control, training in tune with your hormones, and our shared love of ridiculous holiday cards.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me!

Learn more about the book, my running and mindset coaching, and The Runner's Mastermind here.

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Alisa Harvey: It's All Just An Experiment

Alisa Harvey's accolades in the running world are as unique as they are impressive. She was the 24th American woman to break 4:30 in the mile, she holds multiple WORLD in various masters age divisions for the 800m and the mile, she's been inducted into the National Black Distance Running Hall of Fame, and this may be her coolest accomplishment - she is the only runner to run in the US Olympic Trials in both the 800m and the Marathon. So yeah, she's a boss. She is 56 now and we talk here about her running career, experience as a mother, and how she views her races like one big science experiment.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me! Learn more about the book, my running and mindset coaching, and The Runner's Mastermind at mindovermilespod.com.

Photo by PhotoRun for USATF.

Original music by Joseba Brit.

What My Favorite TikTok Star Taught Me About Running

“The theme of today’s run is survival. Survival ... of the not so fittest.” 

Erin Azar is running down a hot, busy street, filming herself on her long run, and to say the least, she is not feeling great.   

This is not an uncommon theme in Erin’s videos: Running. Not Feeling Great. And somehow, she’s the most inspiring runner on TikTok. And for sure, the funniest.  
Erin started running a few years ago when she realized she was losing her mind raising three children and working from home. She had tried and hated running in the past, but she was so freaking desperate to do something for herself. She filmed this first run, and she’s been filming every step, cry, dance move, and goofball hilarity since. 

Here’s one of the best things Erin has taught me about running: When she has a bad run, she puts it in her “bad run bag.” When the run is over, she can’t think about it. It’s in the bad run bag. There is no wallowing, no self doubt, no anxious anticipation of the next run. The only time she is allowed to open up the bad run bag is on her next bad run, to put that new bad run in, and to remind herself, “Hey you idiot! Remember you did it last time, so no matter how bad it is this time, you can do it.” 

The more I run, the more I realize how frequently I feel just terrible out there. Especially now that I actually enjoy walking as its own activity, I spend vast periods of my time running just wishing I was walking. But that would mean getting home in 3 hours instead of 1, so I keep running (with walk breaks sprinkled in). I’ve decided this is totally fine, and probably 50% of my time running will feel really hard. This isn’t because there’s something wrong with me, it’s because running is hard. 

Running will always be hard, and that’s what bad run bags are for. 

P.S. Listen to my interview with Erin on the Mind Over Miles podcast here!

Pic by Erin Azar

Erin Azar: TikTok Comedian or The Running Buddha?

Erin Azar, aka Mrs. Space Cadet, is either the funniest or the wisest runner on Tiktok... or maybe both. She describes herself as an Expert Struggle Runner and Struggle Lifer. She makes the struggle parts of running hilarious and in talking with her I realized she also is like a running Buddha because her humor encompasses the lessons I need to hear every day. We talk about committing to your own progress, the mental load of being a new runner, and what's in her "bad running bag."

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me! Learn more at mindovermilespod.com.

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Neely Gracey: Less Time = Less Doubt, Running by Effort, and Phases of Life

Neely Spence Gracey is a professional marathoner for Adidas, a business owner and coach (Get Running Coaching), the author of the new book Breakthrough Women’s Running, and a mom of two. We talk about how having less time has been surprisingly helpful for her running, how training by effort has relieved her race anxiety, how she appreciates each phase of life as it comes, and how you don't need the ideal conditions for success.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me!

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Gwen Jorgensen: Being the Best and the Worst, Bold Desires, and Loving Feedback

Gwen Jorgensen is an Olympic Gold Medalist (!!). She won gold in the triathlon at the 2016 Rio Olympics, and in the year after that she had her son Stanley and switched from professional triathlete to professional runner. Since then she's been working towards her goal of winning an Olympic gold medal in the marathon.

Gwen is so wise and has been working on her mindset and mental skills as an athlete since high school. We talk about how she's able to not care what other people think, why she sets super big goals, how she's able to be happy for her competitors, her life as a pro runner and mother, and more.

Gwen has a really fun and interesting youtube channel where you can get the best behind the scenes look into a professional runner's life, so after you hear this conversation, go check her out!

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me! Learn more at mindovermilespod.com.

Original music by Joseba Brit.
Photo by @talbotcox

Ali Feller: Business, Choices, and The Love Camel

Ali Feller is the host of the Ali on the Run podcast. She is also a freelance writer, a race announcer, mother to 4 year old Annie, a former dancer, and a huge fan of Peanut M&Ms. We talk about how she runs her business, making decisions as a parent, seeing the choice in everything, and how hard it is to be helped.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me! Learn more at mindovermilespod.com.

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Quanera Hayes: Mind Over Miles Episode 1

Quanera Hayes:

Forgiveness, Faith, and Motherhood

Quanera Hayes is an Olympic 400m runner, World Champion medal holder, and mother to 3 year old Demetrius. She talks about making her first Olympic team, mistakes and forgiveness at the Olympics, her faith, her mental training, and how she raises her son in community.

This interview was done as research for the book I’m writing about the mental lessons learned and practiced in running and motherhood. I’m sharing these recordings so you can come along in this book writing process with me!

Original music by Joseba Brit.

Mind Over Miles Podcast Trailer

People always say running is a mental sport, but we so rarely talk about the mental struggles and emotional skills that are so central to running. Mind Over Miles is a podcast where we connect the mental lessons that play out in life and running. 

In season one, I’m taking you behind the scenes of the book I’m writing about the mindsets and mental skills used in both motherhood and running. I’ve been interviewing professional, elite, and recreational runners who are also moms, and these are the recordings of those conversations. I ask them questions like: how did becoming a mom change who you are as a runner? How does running make you the mother that you are? What mental strategies do you use in both parenting and running? What’s a challenge you’re in the middle of? 

This podcast is for you if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like being an Olympic athlete and a mother, or if you’re struggling to find balance in your identity as a mother and runner, or if you’ve always wondered what it looks like for a book like this to come together.   

All the women I’ve talked with have been so generous and thoughtful, so big thanks to all of them! I hope you’ll enjoy these conversations and that you’ll find some new favorite runners to get out there and cheer for.