282. Andrea Wagner, 52-Time Marathoner

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Fitness, Running, Sports, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2020

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"I was in a world I could never have imagined — and I completely broke."

Andrea Wagner had a meteoric rise to running success. She first leaned into running to cope with the stress of working at the Pentagon in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001. She ran her first marathon with a one-and-done mindset, finishing in 4:35 and insisting she would never do it again. (Famous last words!) More than a decade later, Andrea was a mom of two in a bad marriage, again turning to running to cope. She ran more marathons — but this time around, she was winning them. In 2014, she won the Rock N Roll New Orleans Marathon, and then went on to finish the Chicago Marathon in 2:41, earning herself an Olympic Trials qualifying time. She signed with Oiselle. She garnered the strength to leave her marriage after 10 years. And then, she lined up at the start of the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials. But after 14 miles, she stopped running. She was done. Done with that race, and done running competitively. On this episode, Andrea, who lives in San Antonio, TX, talks about life after elite running, about finding strength from within, and about discovering your self worth.

What you'll get on this episode:

How Andrea got started on the run, and how the September 11, 2011, terrorist attacks played a role in her running story (5:00)
What has kept Andrea running? (14:00)
Andrea talks about the challenges she faced after becoming a mom (18:30)
What did it take to go from a 4:35 marathon to a 2:41? (24:30)
On the addiction of constant progress, and a breakdown during the 2015 Boston Marathon (33:50)
On external pressure, and what happened during the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials (50:30)

Stuff we mention on this episode:

Running Unbroken

Race Against Time

Follow Andrea:

Instagram @awag227

Follow Ali:

Listen & Subscribe:

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of The Alley on the Run Show is brought to you by Aftershocks.
0:04.2	Go to ontherun.aftershocks.com to save 15% on all wireless headphones.
0:10.4	Welcome to The Alley on the Run Show.
0:16.9	I'm your host Allie Feller and every week I talk with inspiring people who lead interesting
0:22.0	lives on the run and beyond.
0:24.5	And while running is the thing that brings us all together on these episodes, we cover
0:28.7	more than what happens on the run, we learn the wise behind the runs.
0:33.4	The decisions people have made to get where they are today and have getting sweaty has
0:37.5	factored in.
0:39.2	My guest today is Andrea Wagner.
0:41.7	You may know her as Andrea Duke or Dr. Dre as she's also known in her professional circles.
0:48.5	Andrea has a pretty remarkable story and I wanted to have her on The Alley on the Run
0:52.9	Show because hers is the kind of story I don't think we talk about very much.
0:58.0	Andrea had a meteoric rise to running success.
1:02.2	She started running regularly when she began working at the Pentagon just days after the
1:07.0	September 11th attacks in 2001.
1:10.2	Like so many of us can probably relate.
1:12.7	She turned to running to help with the anxiety she was experiencing at the time.
1:17.5	She then ran her first marathon in four hours and 35 minutes.
1:21.9	Then she got married, she had two children and then she ran the Chicago marathon in two
1:26.9	hours and 41 minutes.
1:29.6	She qualified for the 2016 Olympic marathon trials.
	...

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