Trials and Triumph: How Jacob Heslington Overcame the Odds to Finish 21st at the US Olympic Marathon Trials
Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running
RunnersConnect: Coaching Community, Running Experts, Inspiring Runners, No Fluff Blog
4.6 • 931 Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2024
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When Jacob Heslington was sitting in the ICU as a 21 year-old recovering from severe blod clots, he probably didn’t imagine that only 9 years later he would be running in the Olympic Marathon Trials. Qualifying alone would have been an impressive feat. His success didn’t stop there though. In only his 2nd ever marathon, Jacob managed to finish 21st in a time of 2:15 and while competing against a field of over 100 incredibly talented elite and semi-elite runners from across the country.
He’s the ultimate everyman runner, balancing his training with a full-time engineering job and 3 kids. There’s a lot you can learn from the training of elite athletes. What makes Jacob a special role model to runners is that he has achieved such incredible success in the face of adversity countless times. This is a real-life story of an athlete that has overcome the odds to make his running dreams a reality.
He’s joining us on the Run to the Top Podcast so that other runners can find inspiration to achieve their own goals. We’ll cover topics including:
- How Jacob Heslington went from being unable to walk to competing at the Olympic Marathon trials
- How Jacob finds time to train at an elite level while balancing work and a family
- Why Jacob made it his goal to try to compete in running at the highest level
- What is the mindset required to comeback from a life threatening illness
- What advice Jacob has for other athletes going through life struggles
We’re excited for Jacob to share his incredible story with you. His unique insights into the intersection of elite performance with the stressful life of “normal” runners will be sure to inspire you.
Jake’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/heslingtonjake
Personalized coaching from Jake Heslington: customfitrunning.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | coming back from that. |
| 0:02.0 | And doctors were, some were optimistic and some were like telling my parents when they were asking, |
| 0:09.0 | like, is he going to be able to run again? |
| 0:11.0 | They're like, ladies, like, we're trying to keep them alive right now don't like |
| 0:16.0 | don't even bother about is he gonna run again so that's kind of where that was a |
| 0:21.4 | big thing to come back from took a lot of patience but |
| 0:27.2 | in this case I guess all is well that ends well. |
| 0:30.5 | My guest on today's show didn't know if he'd ever run again after dealing with a dual pulmonary |
| 0:34.8 | embolism and blood clodding in his leg at the age of 21. |
| 0:38.2 | But you wouldn't know it because since then, Jake Heslington has won a national cross-country |
| 0:42.3 | title with BYU and recently crushed the Olympic marathon trials, |
| 0:46.0 | finishing 21st in a time of 2.15. He told me that he reached out because he wants his story to inspire others and I'm so grateful that he did. |
| 0:55.1 | Jake is super grounded and down to earth despite being one of the fastest runners in the United States. |
| 1:00.4 | He balances his running with nearly a four-hour daily commute and caring for three young children. |
| 1:06.0 | I couldn't believe it either and made sure to ask how that's even possible during our conversation. |
| 1:11.0 | spoiler alert, it involved a lot of early wake-ups and a little help from his family. |
| 1:16.3 | I won't ramble too much since you'll want to hear this from him, but some of the topics that we |
| 1:20.5 | cover include how Jake overcame his life-threatening health |
| 1:23.4 | struggles to get back to elite running, how we balance his career, family, and |
| 1:27.9 | training, and how a mindset of gratitude has helped him to perform at a high |
| 1:32.0 | level in the marathon and how it can help you too. |
| 1:34.5 | We've finished off by talking about his future goals and I have a feeling that you'll |
... |
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