The Runner’s Paradox Podcast

Mile 17: The Upper Body 

Everyone talks about cadence, footstrike, stride length. No one talks about your shoulders. Or your jaw. Or the way your chest collapses when you’re tired, dragging your breath and form down with it. 

This episode is about what happens above the waist. 

We’re unpacking Chapter 17 of The Runner’s Paradox: a conversation about structure, not style. Because posture isn’t just about how you look when you run. 

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Mile 16: On The Road

Most runners think strength is built in the gym. But what if true strength has less to do with lifting heavy, and more to do with how well your body holds itself together when everything else starts falling apart?

In this episode, we unpack Chapter 16 of The Runner’s Paradox and challenge the conventional wisdom around strength. This isn’t about the quads or glutes. It’s about systems: how your nervous system f...

Mile 15: Off The Road

We often think injuries come from mileage, poor form, or bad shoes—but what if they begin before the run even starts?

In this episode, we explore Chapter 15 of The Runner’s Paradox, where the real culprit behind dysfunctional gait might be your “Off The Road” habits. From how you sit at your desk, to how you carry your bag, to how your body compensates after a sprain ten years ago—this chapter reframes running...

Mile 14: Calibrating a Smooth Running Experience Some runs feel effortless: fluid, rhythmic, even meditative. But what if that smoothness isn’t a sign of good form… just a well-rehearsed inefficiency?

In this episode, we unpack Chapter 14 of The Runner’s Paradox, where comfort isn’t always your friend and familiar doesn’t always mean functional. We explore how running that feels right can quietly carry the seeds of injury, fatigue...

Mile 13: Relearning to Run You have run marathons. You have logged the miles. Trusted the form your body settled into years ago. But what if that form isn’t fixed? What if it’s just… familiar?

This episode opens Part 4 of The Runner’s Paradox with a quiet provocation: maybe you’re not running wrong, but maybe you’re not running as well as you could. We explore the idea that the body isn’t a machine to fine tune, but a living sys...

 

Mile 12: Hitting the Wall — and Breaking Through It

You are not only an agent of your body—but subject to your body.

This episode explores the paradox of pushing limits: when striving makes us stronger, and when it quietly breaks us. We unpack Chapter 12 of The Runner’s Paradox, where “hitting the wall” isn’t merely the loss of speed or strength — it’s the moment when everything you thought you could control begins to slip. An...

Mile 11: The Pursuit of Excellence

What does excellence mean when your best days are behind you—or just beginning?

In this episode, we unpack chapter 11 of The Runner’s Paradox, where excellence is less about crossing a finish line, and more about learning how to keep showing up. 

This episode discusses how long-distance running shapes, challenges, and ultimately matures our idea of what it means to pursue something deeply, year af...

Mile 10: Running As Empowerment

Not all power is loud. Sometimes, it shows up mid-run—somewhere between fatigue and clarity.

In this episode, we explore the kind of empowerment that doesn’t come from pace or podiums. Chapter 10 of The Runner’s Paradox looks at how running can quietly rebuild a person—from the inside out. 

We reflect on how long-distance running teaches emotional regulation, sharpens identity, and offers something r...

Mile 9: The Need to Run

What if your most disciplined habit was also your quietest dependency?

In this episode, we unpack Chapter 9 of The Runner’s Paradox: an exploration of addiction not as drama, but as routine. We ask what happens when running becomes your only method of emotional regulation, your only story of success, your only form of control. 

Drawing beyond the book’s research, exploring newer developments from 2023–2025, ...

Chapter 8: Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner

Part 3 of The Runner’s Paradox quietly dims the spotlight: this time we’re not chasing paces, we’re chasing presence. 

In a conversation that’s equal parts wit and wonder, we invite you into the lonely miles where silence becomes your most honest running partner.

We explore the “missing witness” that haunts every long-distance runner, unpacking how thousands of Strava likes can stil...

Mile 7: Racing – When Winning Isn’t the Point What if the race wasn’t about proving something—but about remembering who you are? In this episode, we unpack the paradoxes of performance: where full effort doesn’t guarantee outcome, where control dissolves on race day, and where identity can become entangled with a single finish time. Backed by fresh research (2023–2025) on athlete identity foreclosure, pre-race neurobiology, bu...

What if the ground beneath you wasn’t passive, but perceptive?   In this episode, we discuss mile 6 of The Runner’s Paradox. We explore how terrain doesn’t just shape your run, it shapes you. Uneven surfaces subconsciously recalibrate stride. Sand quietly recruits more muscle than pavement ever could. Soft or unstable ground teaches balance, proprioception, and control — all without a coach.   Drawing from recent studies in human...

Mile 5 – Phenomenology of Training

What if training wasn’t just about building a faster, stronger body—but about sculpting a deeper, more attuned self? 

In this episode, we step into the lived world of training as more than physical sweat or mental grit. We unpack how intentional, disciplined effort—whether alone or with a partner—becomes a phenomenological practice of being fully alive.

From the solitary runner negotiating every b...

Mile 4: The Act of Running

What happens when running stops being about performance and becomes a way of being?  What if running was not simply an act of moving forward but a laboratory for consciousness itself? 

In this episode, we step into Mile 4, the moment where running ceases to feel mechanical and begins to reveal itself as a deeply embodied practice. We explore how attention transforms pain into flow, how the nervous system...

Mile 3: The Greatest Sucky Thing 

What if pain isn’t the enemy but the teacher? What if “sucky things” aren’t obstacles but doorways? 

In this episode, we dive deep into the strange logic of running: where suffering births joy, stiffness hides in cushioning, and smooth flow demands awkwardness first. From biomechanics to philosophy, we unpack seven paradoxes that will change how you think about effort, rest, and resilience. Expect ...

We were born to run — Or were we? In this episode, The Runner’s Paradox Podcast uncovers the science, psychology, and philosophy behind our evolutionary design for endurance. From our ancestors’ persistence hunts to the challenges of modern sedentary life, we explore how running connects body and mind, and why it remains such a powerful, primal act today.

The book’s insights are paired with the latest research breakthroughs, incl...