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Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

How Coach James McKirdy is Bringing the Pro Treatment to Everyday Runners

Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running

RunnersConnect: Coaching Community, Running Experts, Inspiring Runners, No Fluff Blog

Run, Sports, Runners, Health, Fitness, Marathons, Training, Running, Health & Fitness, Runningpodcast, Marathon

4.6931 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Coach James McKirdy is bringing the pro treatment to non-professional athletes by offering the McKirdy Micro Race series with services like personal pacing and bottle service. 

We brought James on to tell us all about how he’s helping runners achieve personal bests including:

  • What goes into creating a race designed to go fast
  • Why he believes it’s important for amateur runners to gain access to these type of services
  • How to finally hit a racing goal you might have been chasing for a long time
  • How to train for achieving common marathon goals such as breaking 3 hours or 4 hours in the marathon
  • What it’s like to compete with a group of runners who are all chasing the same goal
  • How to give more opportunities for amateur runners to achieve their own running potential

James is a huge supporter of helping athletes achieve their own potential and we love what he’s doing to make the race conditions for high performance more accessible.

https://mckirdytrained.com/

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

But the idea is to, how do we provide this concept to everybody?

0:06.4

So they get a chance to experience what it means to have personal support, to be able

0:10.6

to be on course, to have cheering sections where their family can be around or their coaches

0:14.8

can be there to support them, where it can be a safe environment where if they don't feel

0:20.0

well, they can step off course

0:21.6

and they're never more than a mile and a half or so away from the finish.

0:26.2

We know most of you listening are an elite athletes, but you work really hard and you deserve to

0:30.5

get the best shot possible at your running goals. My guest today, James McCurdy, really believes

0:36.0

in helping athletes achieve their personal best, and that's why he started the McCurdy, really believes in helping athletes achieve their personal best.

0:38.7

And that's why he started the McCurdy Micro Race Series.

0:41.9

These are small races of no more than 300 people that offer elite-style treatment with personal bottle surface and pacing.

0:48.6

These might sound like small things, but it gives a pretty rare opportunity to make your fueling easier.

0:59.0

No need for carrying around tons of gels or worrying about when the next aid station will be. It's about helping everyday runners to chase their potential.

1:02.0

I think that it's such a cool concept, and I really hope that you enjoy my conversation with James on today's show.

1:22.1

Hello, runners, and welcome to the Run to the Top podcast, where our goal is making you a better runner with each and every episode.

1:24.2

I'm your showrunner, Corey Nagler, and I'm not an elite runner, but together we'll

1:28.5

explore new strategies and topics to take your running to the next level. This podcast is

1:33.4

created and produced by the expert team of coaches at runnersconnect.net, where you can find the

1:37.8

best running information on the internet, as well as training plans to fit every runner and every

1:42.4

budget.

1:49.1

All right, I'm super excited to have with me, James McCurdy, who's put together what I think is a super exciting race series, bringing together the elite treatment to everyday runners.

1:54.5

James, thanks so much for joining me on Run to the Top.

...

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