ust get me to that finish line. This is horrible. I'm dying.

That's Steve Froeschle in the middle of the 2026 Hennepin 50K. He went out at 5:30 pace, leaving the door open to breaking three hours, and won it anyway in 3:06:00 to take first overall.

My previous guest, Alyssa Farrell, was first woman and second overall in the same race in 3:33:16. This conversation picks up right there.

Steve is from Davenport and owns Nonstop Race Management. In the full interview he talks about his 2:20:48 marathon PR and maybe lining up Chicago next year.

Full conversation coming soon on Why not you with John OBrien. Alyssa's episode: rss.com/podcasts/taking-chances-why-not-you

#WhyNotYou #Hennepin50K #Ultrarunning #50K #QuadCities #Davenport #IowaRunning #NonstopRaceManagement #Marathon #ChicagoMarathon

Pinned comment: Steve won the 2026 Hennepin 50K in 3:06:00, and Alyssa Farrell was first woman and second overall in 3:33:16. What should he run next: another ultra, or a shot at beating 2:20:48?

Other hooks: "It was like 3:06 flat. I'll take it." / "I was way too excited. Got out way too fast." / "She finished second to him at Hennepin."

There's a crazy concentration of Leadville 100 finishers in the Quad Cities area.

Six of them are in this cut: John DeDoncker (10 official finishes), John Byrne (5), Curt Johnston, Evan Kilstrom, Travis Swanson of Cambridge, Illinois, and me. I finished in 2016 in 28:42:08.

From 2010 to 2026, 30 Iowans have finished the Leadville 100. 19 of them are from Davenport, Bettendorf, or Le Claire.

You'll hear what pulled them to the race, the DNFs and Hope Pass, the finishes, and why they keep going. Full conversations are on Why not you with John OBrien.

#WhyNotYou #Leadville100 #Ultrarunning #QuadCities #Bettendorf #Iowa #HopePass

If you or a veteran you know is in crisis, call or text 988 and press 1, or visit veteranscrisisline.net.

Jonathan Milkovich was airborne infantry. His job, he says, was to fight a war. He never got to do that.

He didn't deploy. But he still lost his buddies. He still blew out his knee, messed up his back and hit his head on every jump.

About six or eight months before he got out, he lost one of his guys to mental health. Panic attacks and spirals followed. His wife stood by him, then told him she loved him, but if he kept going down that road it wasn't going to work out. Her answer was to get him back to running.

Later, talking about how much race entries cost, they came up with Operation Warrior Fit. They pay race entries for veterans, first responders, active duty and National Guard, whether it's a 5K, an ultra, a triathlon or anything else that gets people moving.

His message to every veteran and first responder: one really bad night doesn't define you. Your story is not over.

This Veterans Day, listen to the full conversation on Why not you with John OBrien.

#VeteransDay #WhyNotYou #JonathanMilkovich #OperationWarriorFit #Army #Veterans #YourStoryIsNotOver

I talk about the results of my MRI, share the 6-findings. I share what I'm doing about it in terms of rehab, gadgets I use daily and my journey back to running.

On her last night in Iraq, Traci Kristine O'Brien was packed and ready to go home. Then the sirens started. Mortars came in. Machine-gun fire went out, and came back in. She put on her flak vest and Kevlar and lay on the floor, praying she'd make it through the night.

She was a Department of the Army civilian, not a soldier. Her first base, in Balad, was nicknamed Mortaritaville because it was mortared so often. It was targeted daily. For the first 30-plus days she had to wear her vest and helmet anytime she stepped outside. One bomb landed about a hundred yards from the building she worked in.

In 2019 she went a third time, to Bagram, Afghanistan, as the head civilian of a military unit. In December the base was breached. A car bomb exploded at a hospital just outside an exit. Helicopters were firing over the airfield. They were under lockdown for more than 12 hours.

Listen to the full conversation on Why not you with John OBrien.

#WhyNotYou #TraciKristineOBrien #ArmyCivilian #Iraq #Afghanistan #MilitaryStories #WomenWhoServe

At 62, John DeDoncker finished his TENTH Leadville Trail 100. But before that finish, he nearly decided nine was enough. On Hope Pass, quitting sounded pretty reasonable. By the next day? “You can’t throw away nine.” This conversation happened before number ten. Now we know how that next chapter ended: 100 miles in 29:34:58. You don’t have to run ultras to recognize that voice telling you to stop. John’s story is about deciding whether to believe it.Listen to the full conversation on Why not you with John OBrien.#WhyNotYou #Leadville100 #UltraRunning #RunningMotivation NeverTooOld

They told Michael Wardian he wasn't fast enough for the local running team.

Three weeks later he was training with them. Then he stacked marathons when "nobody does that," showed up to his first 50 thinking he'd win… and got his butt kicked. Years later: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days — twice — and he won both times.

147+ UltraSignup finishes. 39 wins. Multiple USATF national ultra titles. Full episode of Why Not You with John OBrien — link in bio.

#WhyNotYou #MichaelWardian #UltraRunning #WorldMarathonChallenge #RunningMotivation #NeverStopRunning #7Continents

Alyssa Farrell took a spare entry a week after pacing a marathon and turned it into a win. At The Hennepin Hundred 50K on October 3, 2026, in her first ultra, she ran 3:33:16: first female and second overall out of 118 finishers. The next woman finished 55 minutes later. Alyssa tells John how the free entry happened, why running is the one time her ADHD brain "shuts the heck up," and how she sped up to 6:34 miles after dark because going faster felt better. Full episode next week.

Alyssa Farrell #WhyNotYou #UltraRunning #Hennepin50K #FirstUltra #TrailRunning