Imperfect Paradise: How one man rebuilt his life, 100 miles at a time

California City

LAist Studios

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4.5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Struggling with addiction and reentry after multiple stints in prison, Cesar Quijano discovers ultrarunning, a hobby that turns into his addiction and salvation. Through Cesar’s story to complete a 100-mile race, Imperfect Paradise host Antonia Cereijido and producer Lucy Copp explore urgent questions around what support people need to successfully transition out of prison and into society.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's just me, Paula Poundstone, and I'm coming to Glendale for a special live
0:04.6	taping co-presented by L.Aist and Martin Media.
0:08.0	It's February 8th at the Alex Theater.
0:10.7	Tickets at LAS.com slash events.
0:14.0	See you there.
0:15.6	I'm Franklin Leonard, host of Nobody Knows Anything, LAIS weekly podcast about Hollywood.
0:23.4	This week, breakthrough film and television stars.
0:24.3	How did they do it?
0:27.0	The answer, spoiler, nobody knows.
0:30.2	Listen to Nobody Knows Anything, presented by FX.
0:34.7	This is Imperfect Paradise, the show about the gap between the dream and reality.
0:36.1	I'm Antonio Cerejido.
0:42.3	It's the middle of the summer, 2024.
0:48.1	Cesar Kejano has been out of prison for two and a half years. He's a former heroin addict.
0:50.5	And he's running the San Diego 100.
0:56.2	The first 20 miles, that was the first chapter, right? Let's call it beginnings.
1:03.0	The second chapter, that when the pain really starts. The third chapter, man, ultra runners call that being inside the pain cave. Ultra runners are people who run races longer than the
1:09.3	length of a marathon.
1:15.6	In Cesar's case, 100 miles in the mountains of East County, San Diego.
1:18.8	It's a course that takes him through narrow hiking trails,
1:21.2	where he might trip over rocks or tree roots,
1:23.7	through weather that dips into the 40s at night and climbs over 90 degrees during the day.
	...

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