Welcome back or welcome to the single track podcast. This is actually a special episode because

it is a guest hosting episode that I did on the run to the top podcast earlier this spring. If you

are looking for more content around training theory and race execution, particularly for road

events, it's a show that I recommend. They also have a lot of additional resources on their

website, runners connect.net. Go check it all out in the show notes of this episode. But I actually,

I reached out to their founder, Jeff Goddette, a few days ago, because I really enjoyed this

conversation just because I think it's important on many levels. And though it's more of a conversation centered in the road scene,

I thought that there were a lot of themes and lessons directly applicable to trail.

So reached out to Jeff and said,

Hey, Jeff, do you mind if we post this on single track as well?

Just for a little bit of background, I read Kara's book, which is called The Longest Race Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team.

I read this back in December of last year.

I probably read it in one sitting.

It was that compelling, but I was immediately eager to connect with Kara after the fact for an in-depth conversation.

For those less familiar with the road running scene, Kara was one of the best American distance runners of the 2000s and the 2010s.

Podium finishes at prestigious events like the Boston and New York City

marathons as well as the 2012 Olympic marathon trials.

I believe in that same year, she claimed victory at the U.S. half marathon champs among

numerous other accolades.

In 2004, she joined the now infamous Nike Oregon Project.

This was led by distance running legend

Alberto Salazar. Behind the scenes, however, Salazar was pushing the boundaries of

...