I mean, if you just sit back and you think about, like, your day-to-day life, how many things do you really have full control over?
You go through life day in and day out, and you don't have much of a choice in what you can do or how you wanna do it. So running is a complete-- It's completely up to you about how far and how hard you wanna go.
And when you're out there just running, nothing else matters other than the run that you're on. Welcome to For The Long Run.
We explore the why behind what keeps runners running long, strong, and motivated, and how they've been able to achieve sustainable excellence. I'm your host, Jonathan Levitt, and we're so glad you're here.
This episode is brought to you by Precision Fuel and Hydration. Spring race season is here, which means a lot of you are moving from training into race mode.
Precision cuts through the noise with three simple dials: carbs, fluid, and sodium. Their gels and chews have powered thousands of miles for me the last couple of years, and I'd love to hear how it works for you too.
Head to visit.pfandh.com/forthelongrun and take 15% off your order. Make sure to select For The Long Run when they ask about how you heard about them.
This episode is sponsored by Boulderthon, and if you're mapping out your 2026 road race season, this one deserves an early spot on the calendar. Boulderthon is more than a single race.
With a 5K, 10K, half, and full marathon, and kids races, it's an ideal weekend whether you're hunting a PR or toeing the start line for the very first time. Use code FTLR2026 to take $20 off your half or full marathon.
And the fun doesn't stop at the finish line. The whole weekend is a big celebration of running, Colorado, and truly great humans. You won't wanna miss it.
Visit boulderthon.org to register and use code FTLR2026 for $20 off. Huge thanks to Boulderthon for putting together such a fantastic community event. And welcome back.
We have Brendan Morgan joining on For The Long Run today. Brendan and I ran a marathon beginning at 3:00 a.m.
this past Monday, um, and he had such a fun story and fun attitude that I felt we needed to, to, to record a conversation as well.
So Brendan, thanks so much for taking some time to chat and, uh, for sharing some miles, uh, earlier this week. Well, listen, thank you for having me and sharing the miles with me as well.
You ran twice as many on that day. That was pretty wild. [chuckles] The, uh, the first question of this podcast is always a tough one, and that question is, who is Brendan?
Oh, you're-- you wanna deep dive right off the bat, huh? Yeah, yeah. Deep dive right away. [chuckles] Honestly, just, um,
somebody who has been-- has a very hard past and just wants to, you know, give positivity and everything to the running community and just overall life. I don't really...
There's a lot of negative stuff going on in life, especially now, and I feel like the little bit of positivity I can bring, especially when I'm just running in general or out with races with people,
can bring a, you know, a light to somebody's life that I might not know, and just to show people that you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for.
I was impressed with the energy you brought to the group, um, again at 3:00 a.m. on Monday, and you're just-- You said something to the effect of like, "We're doing this because we can. Why would we not?
Why would we not- Yeah... do this?"
And the ability to choose to do hard things so that other things-- Like, I think the reason that so many people love running is because doing hard things makes-- Do-- Choosing to do hard things makes things that are not optional but are hard easier to manage.
So talk to me about the, the mental health component of what running does for you and, and maybe we'll back into some deeper conversations around like how you found running, why you found running.
But how does, how does running interact with your, your day-to-day joy and, and, and happiness? Running overall just makes me a, a happier person. I mean, you're--
Everybody has the struggles in their life, and the fact that running is the one struggle that we can stop whenever you want to, but yet we continuously push ourselves further and further just to show, you know, prove to yourself, but also more importantly to other people who may be sitting there watching you from the sidelines and be like, "Oh my God," like, "I know this person from a year ago, and now look what they're doing a year later just because they decided to do more hard work and push themselves when they..."
Ev- everybody knows it's uncomfortable. And
I mean, at the end of the day, like, it-- When you did the first half of the Double Boston with us, I mean, the 26 miles, you're not gonna run 26 miles and feel, you know, perfectly fine.
Like, you got to the house and you were probably like, "Dang, like my calf is a little sore." And it's like- Right... no matter how seasoned of a runner you are, and,
like, the distance is still gonna, you know, tweak you in some way. And just the, with the mental aspect of it, it's great to see that you can keep pushing yourself further
when two months ago, for example, like you were like, "Oh, there's no way I could go that far." And then you just consistently prove to yourself that you're stronger and that you're capable of a lot more.
Let's wind it back a few years. How did, how did running find you, or how did you find running?
So I started running January of 2023, and I started running because I hated it, and there was nothing more on this planet that I hated more than running. So I was like, "What can I..."
You know, it was that old Mike Twi- Mike Tyson quote where, "Do something you hate every day, but do it like you love it."
And that's kinda why I started to run, and then eventually it became something that I just completely love and I don't hate it anymore. What did that take?
January 2023 is when I started, and Easter weekend of 2023Because I remember, 'cause I actually had two days off of work, so I was able to do it. Uh, I did the David Goggins 4x4x48 challenge, and that was what? I mean,
three months into me running, so to do 48 miles in 48 hours, like at that point was kind of nuts. But then I, you know, I did it, and that's why I was like, oh, wow, like this,
this could be, this could be something and it's gonna be a very long, fun ride. We talked briefly about the ability to, to choose running because it's a hard thing that we have optionality around.
You've dealt with things in your life where you didn't have a choice, and you've experienced loss and, and mental health challenges personally and with others.
Talk to me about the empowerment of choosing to put one foot in front of the other and using that as a way not to cope with, but, um, give power to, to, uh, life.
Yeah, I mean, if you, I mean, if you just sit back and you think about like your day-to-day life, how many things do you really have full control over?
I mean, like you go through, you know, hardships with losing family members or, you know, close friends or your job, for example, where you have to be there at a set time and you have to, you know, perform this way.
Like, you go through life day in and day out, and you don't have much of a choice in what you can do or how you wanna do it. So running is a complete-- it's completely up to you about how far and how hard you wanna go.
And when you're out there just running, nothing else matters other than the run that you're on.
And I think that's very-- I, I think that's something that everybody needs in their life to have complete 100% control over because all these other things in life you can't control. Okay.
So, so one of the ways that you interact with running is to, to bring awareness and, and discussion around mental health, and you ran across Pennsylvania 341 miles with the goal of doing that.
Can you talk about that and, and why did you choose that as the vehicle that was how you're, you're bringing awareness?
I mean, I was seeing, you know, on social media and everything of people doing like these long extreme runs, and it brings a lot of attention to whatever cause that people are running for, just because it's something that is so insane and that don't see on a day-to-day basis.
And I thought about doing, you know, like Moab 240 or Cocodono 250 and trying to raise awareness for that.
But at that time, I would've just been another runner in the field, and I wouldn't have been able to kinda get my point across that I wanted to.
So we kinda sat back and we're like, all right, well, we live in Pennsylvania, and
this is strictly just gonna be myself and, you know, my crew, and this will be a way that everyone's like, "Oh my God, this guy's running across the state," and that's kind of the headliner, and then you kinda, you know, read the article and dig deeper and see why he's doing this.
And I thought that was just the best way to grab people's attention to the mental health aspect. One of the things when you do something hard, you really need to have a why behind it.
Otherwise, it's really challenging to fight the urge to quit. How did you develop that why, and, and what is that why for Pennsylvania or Double Boston or like what is, what is pushing you forward every day?
So my why started in 2024 when I did my first ultra-marathon, and it was a 50-mile race up in Pine Creek, uh, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.
And the race was the beginning of September, but I picked up two stress fractures in both shins in the beginning of August just because I was training so much for it. And then that whole month of August, I probably ran
seven miles leading up to that 50-miler, and I just started, like, biking. And, you know, going against all recommendations from my doctor that I shouldn't run the race, I ended up running it anyway.
And that's kinda where the why started because even though my body was broken and I was in a sheer amount of pain just from, you know, start to finish of that race, I completed it in, I think it was like 9 hours and 15 minutes.
And it's just-- I just wanna see how far the human body and mind can go before they actually fully break. I remember you asking that or saying something to that effect at like 4:30 in the morning on Monday.
I, I was probably asking like, "Why are you guys doing a Double Boston? One, one is hard enough."
I think there's so much p- I, I certainly don't wanna like condone doing things while injured or, or whatnot, but I do wanna condone and promote the-- or I do wanna promote the, the thought of exploring boundaries and exploring limits and, and I'm curious to run a 100-mile race because I wanna know like
what happens when you're battered and trashed and, um, you still have 30 miles to go. Like how, how do you show up for yourself and how do you show up for your crew in those moments?
And, and then like what is the takeaway from that? The takeaway is probably like you-- we can do hard things and, and anything that's hard is, is made more manageable by like the fact that we can do hard things, right?
And so the, the Double Boston, the Pennsylvania, the, you know, all these things, for me it- it's just a vehicle for like being-- becoming a better human. Yeah.
And I wanna start out one by s- uh, going by what you said, that I don't condone and I will never condone running while injured.
Um-When I try to help people, you know, train for races, I try to help train them in a logical way. Like, don't, don't look at, like, my Strava or, like, my Instagram and be like, "Oh my God, this is how he's training.
I gotta do it now." Don't, don't do what I do because I just-- I, I run every day no matter what, or I try to. Okay, so one of those runs, um, was facilitated by a wonderful group on Marathon Monday.
So we, we became connected through Mount to Coast and TARC, Trail Animals Running Club, as part of the Double Boston campaign that, that those two groups put together. So Mount to Coast is a shoe brand.
They make shoes that are great for road ultras and increasingly trail and gravel as well. The H1 is one of my favorite shoes ever. We ran the, the Double Boston in the C1s.
Um, talk to me about the, the opportunity to become involved in a project like this. How did it come about for you?
This goes all the way back to April of 2024 is when Mount to Coast launched the R1, and I bought that immediately from the start because it, it sounded very interesting, and I kinda liked how the shoe looked.
And then the more I kept running in it, I was like, "Oh, this is-- Like, this is definitely gonna be the shoe for me." So, like, that 50-mile race that I did in 2024, I did it in the R1s. And then fast-forward till May,
May of 2025, I did, um, 100 miles around a track, and I reached out to Mount to Coast at that point to kind of, you know, telling them how much I like their shoes and just, you know, trying to network with them.
And when I ran-- When I was getting ready to run across Pennsylvania is when they-- we kinda reached out to each other and kinda built, you know, this relationship, and they helped sponsor me for the run across Pennsylvania.
And then we kinda just stayed in contact from there, and then they found, they found out I was running Boston. And at the time, I was training to PR Boston, which would've-- I was training for a 2:45.
And they were like, "Yeah, we know you have a time goal, but we're putting a team together to run double Boston." And as soon as they s- Like, they couldn't even get the next sentence out of their mouth.
I said, "I'm in." I was like, "I, I don't care about the time goal." Like, but yeah, it's ni- it would be nice to PR Boston just because it's, you know, the most iconic marathon in the world.
But what's also cooler than, you know, running with the shoe brand that supported me from the start of my ultra-running career, running Boston twice and then honestly just meeting everybody that I met on that weekend.
What were you thinking about at 3:15, right before we kicked off from the finish line? So I do most of my runs at 2:30-- anywhere from, like, 2:30 to 3:30 in the morning.
Like, I said, that early start that we did was just a regular day for me. [laughs] Like, I got up at 1:00, and I was like, "Yeah, this isn't really much different than what I do when I'm out."
How early do you normally go to bed? Uh, like 7:30, 8:00. Wow. Which, like, once again, like, don't, don't do what I do.
Like, I-- Sometimes I'll get, like, five to six and a half hours of sleep on the night, depending on how, what time I go to sleep. Like, I'll do that continuously while training, and it... I mean, it works for me.
Obviously, you know, people need a lot more sleep than five to six hours. So don't do what I do, but it works, what I do. And running that early in the morning is-- I like to get it out of the way before I go to work.
But what was going through my head there was-- I mean, I was just so filled with joy, and, like, everybody that was around us, like, that, that first marathon went by-- It didn't feel, feel like we were out there for four hours.
I mean, I blinked and I looked down, and we had run 14 and a half miles. I know. That was the first time I, I was like, "Holy crap. This is, this is wild." We were, um... So that would've been 12 on the reverse course.
That would've been coming into Natick, uh, or coming into, uh, Wellesley. Um, just past Wellesley. [laughs] And I was like- Yeah, like it, I-... "Oh my God, we're so far in." Yeah.
Like, we hit that second, uh, the second stop at that, uh, the- Dunkin' Donuts. Yeah, at 10 and a half... the first, the first Dun- the first Dunkin', and I'm like, "Oh my God."
And it's 'cause everybody was just like, we were having conversations with each other.
Like, there would be like, oh, you and I would have a conversation for five minutes, and, like, we would, like, drift apart and then just end up talking to other people, and it was just-- It was perfect, honestly.
I was 15 miles in. I was like, "Oh my God, I like-- I don't want this to end." [laughs] Like, how do I get a bib for Boston- I know... in the next 11 miles? [laughs] That's where we got lucky. Um, yeah.
Quick update on our Good Ranchers partnership because the deal just got even better. When we launched this, the feedback we heard was that some of you wanted to try it before committing to a subscription.
We took that back to Good Ranchers, and they listened. Code IRON now gets you $40 off a one-time order if you wanna test it out first. Or if you're ready to subscribe, it's $100 off your first three months.
That's over $33 off per month. The pitch is simple. A box shows up at your door, goes straight into the freezer, and you've got high-quality American-sourced beef, chicken, and seafood ready whenever you need it.
Single servings, multiple servings, whatever the week calls for. No store run, no forgetting. For an endurance athlete who knows how much iron and protein matter for performance, it just removes the friction.
Go to goodranchers.com and use code IRON at checkout. Try it once or go all in on the subscription. Either way, you're covered. That's goodranchers.com, code IRON.
After you order, fill out the post-purchase survey and select For The Long Run as how you heard about them. That's how we prove that this audience is worth investing in and grow it into something bigger.
This episode is sponsored by Vacation Races. These aren't your average races.
Vacation Races builds premium, well-organized events in wild, beautiful places, and the experience shows that from start to finish.If you're looking for a 2026 race that doubles as a vacation, check out the Bryce Canyon Ultras on September 19th.
Use code FTLR for 15% off all half marathons, ultras, and trail fests, all taking place just outside of national parks. That code is good through the end of 2026. Head to vacationraces.com with code FTLR.
[upbeat music] Okay, so, so we're moving, we're moving along uphill. As that morning went on, did you start thinking about the back half of, of the day? Like, how were-- How did you break up the, the, that elephant?
So at the time, I was running with Justin, and I just kept say-- I, I kept saying to him, I was like, "Yo, the only thing that I just keep thinking about is that the second one can't be worse than this one."
Because Boston is a net downhill course originally. So when we were running it backwards, now it's a net uphill course.
So like every time we're hitting these hills, especially that last 5K of the first one, I was like, yo, like, um, the actual marathon can't be worse than what we're doing now.
So that's kind of what kept pushing me through it, and I, I was so wrong. [laughing] I was- Okay, I wanna g- I wanna get to that. Um, let's talk about the last mile. There was some serious energy in that last mile.
What were you feeling mile 25 of the first marathon? Uh, just extremely grateful.
Like, I was talking with Lynn, and when we, like, when we were running up and we're saying good morning to, you know, everybody getting ready, and thank you to, you know, all the police officers and the National Guard that were there, and all the volunteers that, you know, were getting everything set up for the race.
It was just a very emotional thing because Lynn was getting emotional because- Yeah...
and it made, it made me feel great because, like, him and the Mount to Coast team in Hong Kong, like, everybody put this together and we all did our part to uphold how-- like, his vision for what he wanted Dub- Double Boston to be.
And then I was getting emotional because I was seeing how happy he was getting, and it just made that last mile because now everybody's starting to, you know, pick each other up even more because we have one mile to go, and then it's like, okay, now we're gonna be at the actual start line of the Boston Marathon.
And I can't speak for Dave, but I know me and Dave, um, this was our first ever Boston, so, like, when I hit that start line, it was just, you know, a rollercoaster of emotions where...
I mean, you saw that picture of me and Lynn hugging at-- Like, I was just-- Once I seen the actual start line to Boston, it was just one of the happiest moments I think I've ha- I've had in my life.
Seeing Lynn's, like, pure enthusiasm at that mile 25, I happened to capture it on video, and it's, it's found its way into a video that I'm releasing later today, which I'll link in the show notes here for people to check out.
But it was just like I could hear him, you know, two feet behind me, just, like, radiating energy. And I was like, "This is it. This is the best fucking thing I've seen in, in weeks, months."
And it's just like he was so happy, and I've gotta ask him more about that specific moment. But I can imagine that he spent weeks and months putting this thing together, and it was, it was coming, coming to fruition.
And [chuckles] then you, you have, like, four hours of, of endorphins on top of that.
So you have, like, pride in, in, like, a work thing that you've done, but then you've also just, like, run a freaking marathon, and the, the energy that you get from, you know, nearly being done with the thing, and you, you hit those two boats together and it just exploded into, like, the most incredible enthusiasm.
Okay, so we f- we finished the race, or we finished the, the, the reverse.
One of the funniest moments of the whole morning was the broken brain of the lady that was so confused as to how we got on that side of the fence. [chuckles] Were, were you there? Do you remember that- I don't think so.
[chuckles] The woman that was, that was swiping-- That was, like, searching people's bags and, and tagging them to allow them into the corral was like, "Wait, why are you on this side of the fence?
I haven't, I haven't scanned you in yet." And we're like, "We ran here." [laughing] And she was like, "What?" And it, it broke her brain for, for a minute there. It was hilarious. So we exited there.
We walked to the house.
Uh, what was going through your head in, in the couple of hours in between those marathons when [chuckles] Lynn's making ramen, and we're eating burritos, and people are, people are talking about how, how badly they've chafed, myself included?
Um- You might, you might have been the only one that chafed. [laughing] Well, I live in Colorado. I'm not used to humidity, and so, like, I sweat a ton. Um, and I normally don't sweat. So anyway, yeah, glad it was me.
I'm happy to, happy to bear that cross, um, so that you guys didn't have to do it for, you know, seven, eight, nine hours. But what's going through your head as you're, as you're sitting, sitting in that house?
Well, the first thought, um, do-- So you saw the Mount to Coast video, like, when everybody walked out of the garage. Yep. And everybody's in a white T-shirt but me.
I forgot my white T-shirt at the Airbnb that Mount to Coast had at the actual finish line of Boston. So they were like-- I was looking in my bag and I was like, "Oh, no."
And then L- like, we were going through it 'cause he was the photographer, was like, "Yo, we gotta get everybody in their race day gear." Like, we were all supposed to wear the same thing.
And I was like, "Yo, I don't have my white shirt." And Lynn goes, "Well, I'll give you mine." He goes, "It's a little wet and sweaty."
[chuckles] And the, the guy who, I guess, uh, the Airbnb that was, he goes, "Oh, there's a washer and dryer in the ba- in the bathroom." So then Lynn just throws one shirt into the washer.
He goes, "I'll get it washed and dried for you by the time you have to start." [chuckles] And
I mean, afterward it was just-- Like, after we got, kinda got that figured out, because, like, I really didn't wanna run Boston in a long-sleeve shirt. I mean, I would've had to ifThat wasn't an option.
But after that, it was kind of just more so eating and drinking as much as I can
within, like, an hour timeframe because I wanted to give my stomach, like, an hour to an hour and 15 minutes to h- digest the food, so I didn't wanna, like, eat 20 minutes before we left.
And then just, you know, recovery. I saw those boots and I was like, "Ah, I might as well try them." Lay on the bed and do nothing for 20 minutes.
Yeah, it was a fun little, uh, aid station that Lynn and the team put together. Uh, just like a fant- a fantastic experience there.
[chuckles] So I thought it was great, like, w- 'cause, you know, I mean, we were all confused. We were walking up and we're looking in this garage and I'm like, "What is going on? Like, where are we going?"
And then I seen the staircase, and I was like, "Ah, that makes sense." Yeah. And then, you know, they had a shower and everything. I was like, "Oh, yeah, count me in.
Let's get all nice and fresh to go run another marathon." It was awesome.
Um, okay, so we, we finished the first marathon at, like, 7:30 in the morning, and your, your next, your next marathon began at, I don't know, 10:40.
So 10:40 rolls around, and you guys are standing on the start line getting ready to, to go. How does that first 5K feel in the reverse direction? Well, originally it was-- we were gonna do,
um, me, Dave, Justin, and John, 'cause we were already in wave one, and then we were gonna start-- Like, we were all gonna fall back to one, you know, corral and start together.
But then Bill got his cr- uh, wave moved up to wave two, so all of us decided, "Hey, instead of starting at 10:00, let's start at 10:15 with Bill, and then all, like, five of us are gonna start together."
And our plan, you know, was to stay-- We had a plan of three people in the front and two people in the back to kinda create, like, a little, like, you know, group of us where nobody could really pass between us and, like, we would all stay together.
Yeah, that first 5K, that, that went out the window. [laughs] Like, we had a plan of, like, "Hey, we're gonna..."
We were all aiming for a sub 3:30, kinda like stay around 3:30 was the plan for actual Boston, so that's like an eight, an eight-minute pace, I think. Something like that. Eight, eight, eight, 8:15, yeah.
And at first, like, we were like, "Yo, we're..." You know, we moved back to wave two because we didn't wanna get in other runners' way in wave one that were gonna, you know, run fast- Go faster, yeah... in the first 5K.
So, like, we moved back 'cause we were like, "Hey, we know we're gonna run slower because, you know, we're already fatigued and we're kinda trying to play the long game." Yeah, that went out the window.
As soon as we started the race, I mean, we're dropping, like, a 6:50 minute pace for the first 5K. [laughs] Yeah, we didn't listen to our s- our own strategy, so... I would say by mile,
by mile three to four, like, we were all split up. It's like a culture shock, right? You go from a 3:00 start, it's dark. There, there were a lot of people out there between the bikes, the police, the- Yeah...
the f- people making fences, all that stuff. We had, like, a cop that was leapfrogging us down Beacon Street. Um, eh, but it's, like, relatively silent,
whereas the marathon, you're running with [chuckles] 30,000 people and, and h- you know, hundreds of thousands of spectators along the way.
What wa- what was that juxtaposition like, the comparison between the silence and the, and the thunder? I think they're, they're both great in their own ways.
Like, the silence, you kinda really get to run and kinda focus on, like, you know, the whole point of this podcast, like, your why.
And you kinda get to more, do more, like, an internal, you know, check in with yourself and...
But when, then when you have, like, the crowds and, you know, just the runners that are next to you, it just gives you that extra little bit of motivation when you're feeling tired because, like, you now, now you know
you're not alone because there's, you know,
30,000 other runners with you, and then you have the probably millions of spectators on the course that are cheering you on, and, you know, they don't know, they don't know any of you.
But it's just, you know, giving you that little bit of extra energy when you definitely need it the most. I saw a handful of you guys at mile 24. What was it like to be [chuckles] that close but that far away?
S- so the crazy thing is we didn't even see you at 24. So, like, w- Justin looked at me and he goes, "Yo, I need to take, like, a 30-second break here to drink some Gatorade." And I was like, "All right, cool."
So, you know, we stop, and then all of a sudden we see you- [laughs]... and I'm like, I look at Justin and I'm like, "Dude, [laughs] what is the- One of those things. [laughs]...
what is the, like, perfect timing of us stopping there because Justin wanted to get some Gatorade and you just happened to be standing there?" And,
but to answer your question, uh, the thing that was, you know, driving me up the wall was that Citgo sign is a lot further than you think it is. Yeah.
Like, I seen it and I was like, "Oh, you know, all the videos say once you see that sign, you have one mile to go." And I keep running, I'm like, "This sign is not getting closer."
[laughs] Like- You can see it from, like, mile 23, yeah. I know. I, I- And it's at mile 25, yeah. And I've seen it and I was like, "Oh, cool, we only have one mile to go," and I look down at my watch, I'm like, "Oh, no."
[laughs] 51. And also, an underrated part of that course that, uh, I don't think really gets talked about is that underground tunnel.
It's not really underground, but, like, the bridge kinda goes over it, the final- Below the r- below Mass Ave, yeah, mile- Yeah, like-... like 25 and a half. Yeah. That is awful
'cause, like, you have that, it, you have the picture in your mind of getting to, you know, Hereford and then going onto Boylston, but then you have that one last little, like, climb, and it was just...
Once I, I, guys, seen that we were running down it, I was like, "Oh my God, I am so tired of these hills."A friend, Alex Predom, wrote an article, I think it was for The Globe, and he was like, "The most, uh, the hardest hill on the course is the one nobody talks about," which is exactly what you're, what you're referring to.
Yeah. Yeah, and then Kara Goucher calls Hereford Mount Hereford because at mile 26, uh, that, that does feel like a mountain right before you make that left turn onto, onto Boylston.
I mean, at that point, once, once I got onto, like, you know, Hereford, like, I didn't even, I don't even remember if that street has a hill or not because, like, it was, like, all I had in my mind was, you know, turning left onto Boylston.
And I was just actually looking at the photos from, like, the actual Boston photos, and I can't wait to share some of them because, like, as soon as I turn onto Boylston and the cameras start catching that, you can literally see the tears starting to build in my eyes 'cause, like, I was picturing that for 51 miles, that just, that one, that one left-hand turn.
That was it. That was all I was picturing because as soon as I rounded that turn and I seen the finish line, you know, the crowd and everything, I knew it was over.
So the crazy thing about that turn, you still have, like, 600 meters to go. Yeah.
[laughs] So it-- like, the first year I ran Boston, I kicked at the turn, and then I just, like, totally ran out of gas far too early 'cause it, like, you c- you simply can't sprint that whole distance at, at 26 miles in unless you're a professional athlete.
Talk to me about that memory of, of going down Boylston Street. So that--
I mean, it, I couldn't, like, you couldn't have make it more of a perfect kind of ending even if, you know, in like a, even if you wrote a book about it.
'Cause I knew my wife and my mom were probably, I would say, 100 feet up from, like, the bend of Boylston. So they were probably 500 meters away from the finish line, and I knew I wasn't gonna be able to see her.
But, um, if anybody ever meets my wife, she's very loud, and you can hear her, and I knew I was gonna hear her, and I intentionally stayed to the right side of the road because I knew she was gonna be there.
And just the fact that Justin and I were able to, you know, run the last, I believe it was 20 miles of the actual Boston together, and then him and I finished together crossing the line, and it was just, I couldn't ask for a better ending to that day.
This episode is brought to you by Mount to Coast. So the Boston Double just happened, and it was unlike anything I've done before. I ran the course in reverse, 3:00 a.m.
start at Boylston Street, all 26.2 miles back to Hopkinton in the dark. No crowds, no fanfare, just headlamps and the quiet version of one of the most iconic courses in the world.
Mount to Coast put the whole activation together, and while I ran one way, seven people ran both ways. The full reverse overnight, then turned around and ran the official Boston Marathon, 52.4 miles.
These are the people Mount to Coast was built for. They launched a few years ago with a simple mission: make shoes for runners who go the distance.
Road and trail models, sponsorship at Badwater 135 and the Vermont 100, and now a double Boston. That's their crowd. I ran in their shoes, and they held up for every mile of it.
Go check them out at mounttocoast.com and use code FTLR for 10% off your first pair or your second pair.
My favorite shoe is the H1, their road to trail option, and the C1, which is their non-plated super trainer, and the shoe I ran the reverse Boston in. Mount to Coast, transcend distance.
You're 10K in to the, to the Boston Marathon. You're 32 miles in on the morning. That's, like, a pretty cruxy spot to be, um, and thinking you're gonna need to run, walk [chuckles] 20 more miles.
How do you move forward in that moment for that quarter mile where you didn't, you didn't know Justin was right around the corner?
Sheer, I guess, willpower, you would say, but also the fact that I've been in that situation before. Like, I've had a lot of runs where it's like, oh my God, this is...
Like, when I ran across Pennsylvania and I was on mile 15 out of 60, and I was like, "I have another 35-- no, yeah, 45 miles to go until I'm done for the day."
So, like, it's just, you know, as, you know, I'm pretty sure you heard, like, as David Goggins says, you kind of just have, like, that memory book up there, and you can kind of extract from previous experiences, and that's pretty much what I rely on when I know times are gonna get tough in a race.
So you were able to work through that problem. You guys find each other. You run 20 miles together. You cross the finish line. You've heard your wife screaming. You put your hands on your, on your legs. You're done.
What's going through your head? Just sheer excitement.
Like, I'm, I'm, I'm, I was-- I don't know if any of the finish line video is gonna show it or if any pictures have it, but I was crying and Justin had his arm around me just for the just pure excitement of, one, completing Boston, which was my goal three years ago when I ran, when I started running.
I was like, "You know, that race seems really cool and it seems really hard to get into and I wanna do it." And then just the f- adding on top of the fact of everything that happened the previous eight hours
before that finish line was just, everything came full circle. What does it unlock for you? What are you able to do because you did that? Honestly, pretty much, you know, the sky's the limit. I mean,
I would say, you know, we ran 52.4 miles at a relatively, you know, very fast, consistent pace. I mean, if you were to slow down that pace, how much further can you go? You know what I mean?
Like, it kind of just opens up.
Like, if we didn't do a nine-minute pace for the first marathon and, like, an 820 pace for the second marathon, if we just stayed around 10 to 11 minutes, how much further can we go?While preserving the legs Do you wanna go further?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have, I have some, you know, races on the horizon that, like I said, obviously the 341 miles didn't break me physically and mentally, so I have to find something longer and harder.
How long did that take you doing 60 miles a day? Uh, five days, 15 hours. Wow. And so you've got a couple of backyard ultras on the calendar for the rest of this year.
What, what intrigues you about that, where it's simply, you know, run four-ish miles an hour for as long as you possibly can? It's completely up to you how far you... Uh, it's- Mostly...
80 per- it, it's 80% up to you how far you go. You have to have somebody else willing to, you know, go as long as you are. But it's a, like, it's a format where you, you are very...
I mean, if, say somebody's there and they're like, they're gonna run for five days, for example. Like, you have the ability to run for five days as well.
It's not like, you know, you do a 100-mile race or a 200-mile race where you complete the distance and it's done. You have-- It's in complete control of like, hey,
if I just keep pushing forward, I can keep going on in this race. What is the uncertainty of, like, when the thing ends? What does that introduce for you? Uh, anxiety just because of, you know, my personal life and,
you know, uh, I don't-- 'cause I don't want my entire, like, I, I don't want my crew to be down there for, you know, say like four days and completely give up on their life. Like, I, I'm cool with like, you know what?
Yeah, I'll go down, you know, and just run for the four days. But then, like, I have some people coming out to help me, and my wife is obviously gonna be down there to help me.
And it's like, yeah, I'm kinda, you know, just being a, a leech on your guys' life and you're just spending all day, every day out here just making sure I'm good.
But do you, do you really think that that's how they feel? Or do you think that they're stoked to see what you can do and be a part of it? No. I know that's not how they feel- [laughs]...
but that's, that's, that's kind of what-- That's how I feel. Like, even,
even when I ran across Pennsylvania, like, I looked at my one, uh, crew member, Cole, at the time, 'cause he was getting ready to run Arrowhead 135 in January.
But he was crewing and pacing me to run across Pennsylvania, and there was this one time, like, I walked for probably three miles straight, and I look at him with tears in my eyes. I'm like, "Dude, I'm sorry."
He's like, "What are you sorry for?" I said, "Because I know you're trying to train for your race, and, like, you're out here walking with me. Like, your walking isn't gonna make you do good at Arrowhead."
He was like, "Dude, you're 200 miles in. Shut up." [laughs] I was like...
But, like, I'm looking out for them because, like, I don't, like, you know, they're taking time out of their day to come out and help me with, you know, a stupid adventure that I have, and I just feel bad when, you know, I don't perform to an expectation that they might have or that I hold myself to because I feel bad having them come out there, like, uh, just to watch somebody walk.
Yeah, even if you're, even if you're walking, if you're doing it for three days- [laughs]... five days, it's like, uh, that's not who Nike was writing the, writing the ads about. No. I'll tell you that much. [laughs] No.
[laughs] I wanna go back to the mental health piece. It's something that, uh, I saw a therapist when I was a kid. I was a little unhappy third grader, and biochemical problems, and medication, quote unquote, "solved it."
Like, I felt better when the, when the brain chemistry was, was changed.
In my 20s, I started seeing a therapist again, and, and once I started having people following me on the internet, um, I started talking about mental health, and I c- started getting notes. This is probably 2015.
Started getting notes from, from mostly dudes saying like, "Thanks for talking about this. I, you know, I have-- I deal with these challenges also."
Back then, it was stigmatized, and it was embarrassing to talk about for some people. And it's 2026 now, and I feel like it's normalized to, to talk about it.
And people are not only talking about, like, going to see a therapist, but they're talking about, like, going to see a couples therapist.
So it's like it's come so far in, in being normalized that, like, it's okay to not be okay, and it's okay to ask for help. I don't know how much you do or don't wanna share about your background or, or history.
I've done some reading on, on kinda why you, why you care about this, um, and what it, what it really means for you, at least what I can find [chuckles] on the internet about it. Um, but for you,
why is it important to be a dude who's vocal about feelings and things that matter beyond running? I mean, for everything you just said about the, the stigma behind it, and,
uh, you're, you're right in a sense that it kinda is more normalized now. But I-- It's a, it's a kind of like a right and wrong thing because there's definitely still certain communities that don't embrace- Sure...
that men can have feelings too, and that just because, you know, you show your feelings or you show that you're vulnerable doesn't mean you're any less of a person.
And I kinda wanna show people where it's like I don't hold back on any of the content that I, you know, share or whatever.
Like, if there's a video of me crying on the side of the road, I'm gonna post it, because at the end of the day, um, you know, people are gonna judge me for whatever I do, and if you judge me for crying, then, you know, that's on you.
That says more about you than me. But there might be somebody out there that, you know, sees it because it gets re-shared or somebody puts it on their story and they're like,
"Oh my God," like, this guy-- I-- You look at this guy from, like, the outside where it's like, oh, he has all these ultras under his belt. You know, he ran across Pennsylvania.
You know, he has-- You know, he just did Double Boston and looked like he wasn't even hurtingBut then you see the opposite side of it where, okay, this guy has his whole resume of that, but now he's comfortable being vulnerable on the internet for millions of people to see.
Maybe that gives them a little bit of hope and courage to reach out to other people or, you know, to get themselves the help that they may need that they're scared to ask for.
Yeah, I think it's important to show all the sides of it and, and to your point, like, yes, it's normalized in some, in some arenas and others it's probably, probably not.
Um, and so there's more work to be done all over and it's been cool to see pro athletes talking about it, um, particularly, uh, the NHL has, has done a lot of work, um, on that front, uh- Yeah...
which has been great, right?
Those dudes are hard and- Listen, the, the NBA has, the NBA has done it, too, and even, you know, back when it first started, I believe it was, I wanna say maybe two, three years ago with like Kevin Love and like DeMar DeRozan, oh my God, they got ripped apart.
Like you see it on social media, they got ripped apart where they're like, "Oh, these guys are millionaires and they get to play a sport, you know, for a living and they don't really have anything else to worry about."
And you know, that's just, once again, like people who, that says more about them than it does, you know, the other people where just because somebody has a million dollars and they get to play basketball, it doesn't mean that they're mentally, you know, okay and happy.
Yeah. I think my last question for you is you're talking to someone who wants to do more physically. What do you say to that person? Oh. [laughs] So you started out with a hard one and you end it with a hard one.
I don't wanna ask easy questions. [laughs] I mean, hon- I really just, you know, I don't know if I would say anything. I think it's just more of a smile.
And like you can ask my wife all the time where I'll tell her where she might be having a rough day at work and I'm like, "Just smile." The more you smile during, you know, hard efforts,
just the more subconsciously you're gonna be happy. Like I know at the podcast that you guys had on Sunday where Joe was saying, uh- This is awesome... yeah, this is awesome.
But like I, you don't even have to say anything. Just like when you see, know you're getting, starting to get into that rut or you're starting to struggle, just smile.
Like y- you're, you, it's hard to be upset and mad when you have a smile on your face and you're intentionally trying to do it. I love it.
I mean, that's why probably I would, you probably saw it throughout that first marathon where it was just like I probably had a smile on my face all the time. Like it's just, just smile. Yeah, I love it.
Brendan, this has been a blast. I hope we get to share some miles, uh, together again in the future, but, uh, till then, appreciate all the, all the work you do and all the, all the sharing of, of your story. Of course.
Thank you, and I definitely plan on getting out there to Colorado and the West Coast for some races very, very soon, so- Awesome... hopefully I see you there. Cool. Love it.
Where can we, uh, where can we follow along with your adventures on social? My Instagram, runswithb, all one word. Awesome. Brendan, this has been a blast. Appreciate the chat. All right. Thank you, man. Have a good one.
That's it for today's episode. Like many long runs with friends, it's sad when it has to end. Join us next time as we continue to share inspiring stories from the running community.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or training partner who you think would like it, too.
This podcast was produced by Emma Benner of Sandy Boy Productions with musical composition by Brian Walters of Single Track Sound. Thank you for your support and we'll see you out there. [outro music]