The Atlantic’s Nick Thompson Is The Fastest Runner In Publishing: On Setting Age-Group Records, Beating Cancer, & Why Media Must Survive AI

The Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2025

⏱️ 143 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nick Thompson is CEO of The Atlantic, an elite marathoner, and author of the memoir The Running Ground. This conversation explores how running reveals our deepest inherited patterns. We discuss Nick's journey from getting fired from CBS in under an hour to running The Atlantic, reconciling with his brilliant father's tragic collapse, setting age-group records at 50, and why AI threatens the very nature of reality. We also discuss why the simple act of running becomes a portal for understanding your deepest patterns. Nick offers profound lessons in post-traumatic growth. And he shares them generously. Enjoy! Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today’s Sponsors: Go Brewing: Use the code Rich Roll for 15% OFF👉🏼https://www.gobrewing.com On: High-performance shoes & apparel crafted for comfort and style👉🏼https://www.on.com/richroll AG1: Get a FREE bottle of D3K2, Welcome Kit, and 5 travel packs with your first order👉🏼https://www.drinkAG1.com/richroll Rivian: Electric vehicles that keep the world adventurous forever👉🏼https://www.rivian.com Prolon: Get 15% OFF plus a FREE bonus gift👉🏼https://www.prolonlife.com/richroll The Sprouting Company: Get 10% off and a free copy of “The Sprout Book” with code RICHROLL👉🏼https://www.thesproutingcompany.com/pages/richroll Check out all of the amazing discounts from our Sponsors👉🏼https://www.richroll.com/sponsors Find out more about Voicing Change Media at https://www.voicingchange.media and follow us @voicingchange

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are brought to you today by the wonderful folks at Go Brewing.
0:05.0	A few years ago, there was this guy, his name's Joe Chura, and he called me up out of the blue and asked if I would speak at this event that he was hosting in Illinois called Go, which turned out to be this incredibly memorable weekend for me and for all of the attendees,
0:23.2	because it was all about how to take inspired action.
0:27.2	Joe and I connected, but, you know, life moved on.
0:30.3	That was many years ago.
0:31.9	Then a couple years back when I was at Jesse Isler's Running Man event in Georgia,
0:37.1	I'm walking the grounds when I see Joe.
0:40.0	I was surprised to see him again, of course,
0:42.7	sort of different context,
0:45.1	but also surprised because he had actually taken inspired action.
0:49.5	I shouldn't have been surprised knowing Joe,
0:51.1	but I guess I was in the moment.
0:53.4	What he did was he took this idea
0:55.3	of go and he turned it into the hottest new brand and non-alcoholic beer called, of course,
1:01.9	go brewing. What sets go brewing apart is their refusal to cut corners. Everything is handcrafted
1:07.9	from scratch and small batches. This commitment to quality has propelled go brewing into one of America's fastest growing breweries,
1:16.5	now in over 5,000 locations across 20 states.
1:20.9	Their salty AF chalotta claimed the untapped, number one non-alcoholic logger spot in America.
1:30.0	They're constantly dropping all these bold new flavors, double IPAs, incredible sours, all without added sugars or any artificial
1:36.1	nonsense. A non-alcoholic revolution isn't coming. It's here, people. And I'm really honored to be
1:43.7	championing it with Joe. So get on board by
1:47.3	getting with Go by going to gobrewing.com. We're going to use the code rich roll for 15% off
	...

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