Episode 652: Dying to Run
Oct 24, 2026 · 1 hr 15 min · 12 segments
After struggling with severe long COVID and losing years of running, Matt Fitzgerald signed up for the Javelina Jundred (100k) despite not being able to currently train.
Oct 24, 2026 · 1 hr 15 min · 12 segments
After struggling with severe long COVID and losing years of running, Matt Fitzgerald signed up for the Javelina Jundred (100k) despite not being able to currently train.
Matt FitzgeraldGuestKirk DeWindtHostBracken CrockerHost
You know, if I, if this had happened when I was 32, it would just feel like just much more catastrophic.
And so what I'll just do is, you know, when I, when I know I have to take an extended break from running, I'll just forget about it and just focus on other stuff, like other types of exercise, non-exercise.
And so I just kind of push it out of my mind and then I don't, I'm just no longer really in, in a rush.
I always feel, um, like I'm about to take a couple of week break to go bow hunting and do other things than running.
I always feel a little bit like a poser in the sense, like you were like the running writer guy, right? but then you're not running.
Do you ever wrestle with that? Because like, I have this emotional detachment in the fall from my running.
I still do it, but I feel like I'm kind of putting on a front, but I'm like a running coach and I'm a running guy, but I'm not, I don't care about that thing as much right now.
No, I wrestled with it, um, big time with, with long COVID, you know, so I, you know, I, I didn't run for more than three years.
Um, And until that time, I didn't really appreciate just how much I depended on my continuing to be a competitive athlete to just feel, yeah, like credible as a coach and as an author authority.
It's like, oh, I'm presenting myself as an expert of a sport I don't do anymore.
You know, if I, if this had happened when I was 32, it would just feel like just much more catastrophic.
And so what I'll just do is, you know, when I, when I know I have to take an extended break from running, I'll just forget about it and just focus on other stuff, like other types of exercise, non-exercise.
And so I just kind of push it out of my mind and then I don't, I'm just no longer really in, in a rush.
I always feel, um, like I'm about to take a couple of week break to go bow hunting and do other things than running.
I always feel a little bit like a poser in the sense, like you were like the running writer guy, right? but then you're not running.
Do you ever wrestle with that? Because like, I have this emotional detachment in the fall from my running.
I still do it, but I feel like I'm kind of putting on a front, but I'm like a running coach and I'm a running guy, but I'm not, I don't care about that thing as much right now.
No, I wrestled with it, um, big time with, with long COVID, you know, so I, you know, I, I didn't run for more than three years.
Um, And until that time, I didn't really appreciate just how much I depended on my continuing to be a competitive athlete to just feel, yeah, like credible as a coach and as an author authority.
It's like, oh, I'm presenting myself as an expert of a sport I don't do anymore.
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