Aug 17, 2026 · 58 min · 12 segments
Barry Scruggs came to running with his wife after some health struggles when they decided to make change happen together. It started with a Spartan race , and that single decision opened the door to a…
Barry ScruggsGuestTaylorHostHello, and welcome back to the My First Marathon podcast, where we interview runners in all stages of their running careers about their first marathon experiences to prove to you that anyone can run a marathon.
My name is Taylor, and today's runner's journey started during a hard season with his wife as they worked through infertility and decided it was time to get healthy.
True to form for the two of them, they didn't ease into anything.
In fact, they jumped straight into a Spartan race, and running became a staple in their life from there.
Along the way, they fell into Charlotte's trail running community, and the idea of running the Charlotte Marathon started to manifest.
He jumped into training, and between long runs by feel, a backyard ultra that taught him the hard way about nutrition, and life with a new kindergartner at home, Barry finally signed up for the Charlotte Marathon, ready to check off the milestone he'd been chasing for years.
Then race week hit, and everything he'd trained for got tested in a way he never saw coming.
What followed was blurry vision, a fading phone battery, a wife chasing him down on foot through the streets of Charlotte, and a finish line that almost wasn't there at all, all colliding into one of the hardest days of his life.
What happened between that starting corral and the finish is a story about grit, about the people who show up when things fall apart, and about what it really means to keep moving your body forward when everything is telling you to stop.
It's a story with some real lessons that you're gonna wanna hear.
So without further ado, let's jump into the episode.
Please welcome Barry.
[upbeat music] All right.
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Hello, and welcome back to the My First Marathon podcast, where we interview runners in all stages of their running careers about their first marathon experiences to prove to you that anyone can run a marathon.
My name is Taylor, and today's runner's journey started during a hard season with his wife as they worked through infertility and decided it was time to get healthy.
True to form for the two of them, they didn't ease into anything.
In fact, they jumped straight into a Spartan race, and running became a staple in their life from there.
Along the way, they fell into Charlotte's trail running community, and the idea of running the Charlotte Marathon started to manifest.
He jumped into training, and between long runs by feel, a backyard ultra that taught him the hard way about nutrition, and life with a new kindergartner at home, Barry finally signed up for the Charlotte Marathon, ready to check off the milestone he'd been chasing for years.
Then race week hit, and everything he'd trained for got tested in a way he never saw coming.
What followed was blurry vision, a fading phone battery, a wife chasing him down on foot through the streets of Charlotte, and a finish line that almost wasn't there at all, all colliding into one of the hardest days of his life.
What happened between that starting corral and the finish is a story about grit, about the people who show up when things fall apart, and about what it really means to keep moving your body forward when everything is telling you to stop.
It's a story with some real lessons that you're gonna wanna hear.
So without further ado, let's jump into the episode.
Please welcome Barry.
[upbeat music] All right.
