David Gillaspie started running in 2016; less than three years later, he has his sights on the Oct. 7 Chicago Marathon.
My last in-person interaction with David Gillaspie before today was in 2010. He’s a high school connection who now runs a lot. I started seeing David post about his runs in 2016, and I wanted to know his story. Never known as a runner in high school and having never run with him before, I could tell via social media that he caught the running bug.
We met in Evanston, Illinois, to catch up and chat about his running. He has his sights on the Oct. 7 Chicago Marathon. He’s with the Lurie Children’s Hospital Marathon Team for the race. Read about his fundraising for the hospital at this link: foundation.luriechildrens.org/site/TR/Ev…1509389590. Please donate if you feel inclined!
If you prefer to listen via SoundCloud:
Hooray Run Podcast on Apple Podcasts—Podcasts app on iPhone! Also on Stitcher. Tell a friend, recommend, leave a review, SUBSCRIBE—thanks for listening!
Desiree Linden, 34, en route to her first Boston Marathon victory on April 16, 2018.
Boston 2018 was historic. Cruddy weather didn’t stop 34-year-old American Des Linden from gutting out a victory on the women’s side. Linden became the first American woman to win Boston since 1985. On the men’s side, Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi took top honors. It was the 31-year-old’s fourth marathon of 2018 and his first major victory. James Rogers does a quick solo recap, then health and fitness freelance writer Amanda Loudin (aka Miss Zippy) joins James to give her reactions to this wild day. James and Amanda also discuss the depth of American distance running.
If you prefer to listen via SoundCloud:
Hooray Run Podcast on Apple Podcasts—Podcasts app on iPhone! Also on Stitcher. Tell a friend, recommend, leave a review, SUBSCRIBE—thanks for listening!
Amy Cragg poses after finishing third in the marathon at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London.
If, at the start of 2017, you wished for American marathoners to deliver historic, unforgettable, tear-inducing runs on World Marathon Majors stages throughout the year, then 1) your wish-granted rate ballooned and 2) you should get paid to give wishing advice.
Who woulda thought? An article toward the end of the year ranking several noteworthy American marathon performances from major 26.2-mile races—from the same 365-day span.
TIMEOUT: Wait, what are the World Marathon Majors? Apologies for any confusion caused by “WMM” in the headline. I’ll proceed to give the abbreviated explanation of the WMM: A series of six of the best, most competitive marathons in the world (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York City) scores points to determine a male and female winner of each cycle, with the winner snatching $500,000. NOTE: Olympics and IAAF World Championships have a say, too. For example, this year, the London World Championships marathon counted as a WMM race.
Point allocation for each race:
1st place — 25 points
2nd place — 16 points
3rd place — 9 points
4th place — 4 points
5th place — 1 point
We are in Series XI (they officially use Roman numerals) of the WMM, which consists of the following eight races:
WorldMarathonMajors.com
The current WMM series flows into 2018, but for the sake of this article and the following rankings, I’m scratching series, cycles—whatever you wanna call them—and choosing from solely 2017 WMM-labeled races. I picked the top seven from these 2017 races: Tokyo, Boston, London, IAAF World Championships, Berlin, Chicago, New York City.
TIME IN: Still with me? Good stuff ahead. The depth of American marathoning success made this an unenviable ranking task. As a fan of USA distance running, you should be exuberant about that, almost bewildered.
Arguably the best year ever for American marathoners? As Shalane Flanagan would say, “F–k yes!”
Laura Thweatt finished more than eight minutes behind the leader, but the top two women at London—Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba, respectively—went sub-2:18 (!), with Keitany setting the women’s-only world record (2:17:01). There was plenty of noise at the front, but Thweatt’s 2:25:38 sixth-place finish didn’t wash away in silence.
Noah Droddy ran 2:16:26 on Oct. 8 at the Chicago Marathon—his first-ever attempt at 26.2 miles. He finished 19th overall (eighth-fastest American) amid a strong elite field. You’ll want to hear how the 27-year-old got to this point of his career. An NCAA Division III runner at DePauw University, Noah had no sponsorship offers upon graduation and questioned both his work and running futures. So…how did he become a 61:48 half-marathoner and 28:22 10Ker now fully sponsored by Saucony and training with the Roots Running Project out of Boulder, Colorado?
Noah joins James Rogers in conversation. They discuss Noah’s marathon debut, his progression from DePauw to Roots, his move to Boulder, the All-D3 Professional Running Team, racing in hats and sunglasses, air mattresses, signing with Saucony, life outside of running, much more. Plus: Hooray Run Podcast introduces “Complete the Tweet”—a fun game toward the end of the chat.
If you prefer to listen via SoundCloud:
Hooray Run Podcast on iTunes/Podcasts app on your phone! Also on Stitcher. Tell a friend, recommend, leave a review, SUBSCRIBE—thanks for listening!
Freelance writer and 15-time marathoner Amanda Loudin (aka Miss Zippy) joins James Rogers in conversation. Amanda’s work has appeared in the Washington Post, Runner’s World, Outside and espnW. She makes appearances on Another Mother Runner podcast, and her writing focuses primarily on health and fitness topics.
Based in Maryland, Amanda freelances almost exclusively in a remote role. She does travel frequently, but her ideal writing environment is her home. James and Amanda discuss the writer’s love for the trails, her coaching, the joys of running with her two kids (and without earbuds!), how running acts as medicine to alleviate depression and addiction, how she got her nickname, which runner she would love to interview and more.
Hooray Run 