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Ali on the Run Show

795. Jinger Gottschall, New Balance Director of Sports Research

Ali on the Run Show

Ali Feller

Run, Health & Fitness, Women, Inspiration, Runner, Entrepreneur, Sports, Fitness, Health, Running

4.9 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine you're a real-life woman in STEM. Someone who loves numbers, data, hypotheses, constants, and thoroughly researched experiments with scientifically-backed outcomes. Imagine you're also an athlete. A triathlete, specifically. So, what's the dream job? Triathlete in STEM Jinger Gottschall found it: Director of Sports Research at New Balance. In her role, Jinger oversees a team whose job it is to create, research, test, and design shoes and apparel that maximize performance and minimize injury. In this conversation — recorded in the Sports Research Lab at The TRACK at New Balance — Jinger talks about what her job entails, why she wanted this job, where work still needs to be done when testing products for men vs. women, and just how many pairs of shoes are in her closet.

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In this episode:

  • What it’s like working at the New Balance Sports Research Lab (2:40)
  • How Jinger describes her job (3:45)
  • What it’s like when the pros come into the lab (6:30)
  • How Jinger has learned about all the sports New Balance covers (11:45)
  • How Jinger got the job she has today (14:30)
  • On testing competitors’ shoes (24:30)
  • The lab, by the numbers (33:00)
  • Jinger’s take on testing for women’s products (35:45)
  • What a day in the life is like at New Balance (43:45)
  • Jinger’s favorite feature in the sports research lab, her favorite shoes, and more (48:20)

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the Allie on the Run show. I'm your host, Allie Feller, and this is where I talk with people who are doing exciting things on the run and beyond.

0:12.7

From professional athletes and celebrity runners to the everyday, amateur, and back of the pack runner, we are here to celebrate everyone and anyone who enjoys a life

0:22.4

on the run. Whether you are running towards something big or away from something that has been

0:27.3

holding you back, I am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace. My guest today is

0:33.3

Ginger Gotchall, a true woman in STEM. Ginger is New Balance's director of sports research.

0:41.1

Her office is the lab at New Balance. It's where she and her team dream up and perform every

0:46.9

test imaginable to make sure New Balance's shoes and apparel are the best products possible.

0:51.8

Obviously, I am biased because I work with New Balance, as I'm sure

0:55.4

you know. And I'm usually pretty happy to just take things at face value. If the shoes feel good

1:01.3

on my feet and on the run, I am not asking too many questions. Then I met Ginger. And now all I want

1:07.7

to do is learn how my favorite shoes are designed and researched and tested

1:11.8

and made.

1:13.0

I see all of these shoe tubers out there doing their thing and that's never really been my jam.

1:17.9

I'm not going to pretend that that's ever been my passion.

1:21.8

Then.

1:22.9

Ginger and I got to record this in person at the track at New Balance, which is where she gets to work every

1:28.2

day, and while I was there, she gave me a tour of the sports research lab. I got to see the

1:33.4

smash lab. I got to see the most high-tech treadmill I've ever seen. I saw the prototype room,

1:38.6

the room where they keep the molds of fancy people's feet like Cocoa Gough. I held Coco's

1:43.7

footmolds.

1:44.9

It was a really awesome and really special day and really cool experience for me,

1:49.2

and I hope this conversation brings at least a touch of that to life for all of you.

...

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