For The Long Run: Exploring the Why Behind Running

Lindsey Dwyer started running before she could remember choosing it. Her mom ran while pregnant with her, and Lindsey was in a stroller on the course not long after. By seventh grade she'd quietly trained for and finished a half marathon without tellin...

Zach Miller is one of the most recognizable names in trail and ultra running — a nine-year North Face athlete, self-coached competitor, and someone who has lived everywhere from a cruise ship to an off-grid cabin to a bus. He's been competing at the hi...

Tommie Runz is a runner, a dad, and someone who spent years building one of the most authentic presences in running before he ever needed it to pay the bills. He qualified for Boston, ran the six majors, and has now set his sights on Western States — o...

Mark Dowdle is a backyard ultra competitor who found running after college football and lacrosse, not because he loved the sport, but because he needed somewhere to put everything he was carrying. What started as 3:30 a.m. runs to eliminate excuses has...

Mark Dowdle is a backyard ultra competitor who found running after college football and lacrosse, not because he loved the sport, but because he needed somewhere to put everything he was carrying. What started as 3:30 a.m. runs to eliminate excuses has turned into one of the more compelling stories in ultra running right now — a guy who washes windows and umpires youth baseball between races, shares his unfiltered thoughts on social media like he's writing in his journal, and keeps showing up to races specifically to find out who he is when everything is telling him to stop.
This conversation goes deep on suffering, faith, identity, and what it actually means to keep a promise to yourself.
Topics covered:
From football and lacrosse to 3:30 a.m. runs and how David Goggins started it
Working three part-time jobs while chasing a dream that hadn't paid off yet
Why running is what he does, not who he is
How he uses hour 60 of a backyard ultra to find out if he's been keeping his promises
The Nike Boston ad and what it means to actually stand for something
How faith gives him the freedom to explore without the outcome defining him
What his wife said on the drive home from BPN that stopped him cold
Stay connected:
Mark on Instagram: @mark.dowdle
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