The gang gets back from Chicago, where we had a ton of fun with On at our Navy Pier shakeout run before spectating the race on Sunday morning. We had some incredible performances from Clayton Young and Vinny Mauri and so many more. Plus, we get some insider info on the whole ultrarunner to OF pipeline. Enjoy!

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!

LAGOON PILLOWS

Sleep is training. Lagoon Pillow is built around your sleep position and preferences — so you wake up recovered and ready to run. We use them every night and you should too. Find your perfect pillow at lagoonsleep.com/believe

PILLAR

Recently, we’ve been taking PILLAR Triple Magnesium, and honestly, it’s been a game-changer for our sleep and recovery. What really sets PILLAR apart from other micronutrition we’ve tried is that the results feel tangible and measurable. For runners who care about the data but also just want to feel better day to day, PILLAR Triple Magnesium has become a really easy win in our routine. If you want to try PILLAR, you can head to pillarperformance.shop or TheFeed.com/pillar and enter code BITR for 15% off first-time purchases

While Alex is out running around the Great Salt Lake, Taylor and Johnny get all nerdy by discussing pretty much every single detail of a running shoe and its importance to performance. They discuss the key differences between trail and road shoe development. Prior to that, they also talk about their weeks and misadventures they experienced.

Charlie Sweeney was the first American across the line at the 2026 Berlin Marathon, running 2:09. Thomas and Meg talk with him about the race, switching coaches after Boston, his race-day fueling and his road from Maryland high school football to CU Boulder. He also works at COROS, so if you've ever DM'd them, you've probably talked to Charlie.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:50 COROS athlete or COROS employee?

3:55 Charlie's dream COROS watch

5:50 Running COROS social media and answering your DMs

10:45 Growing up in Maryland

13:24 From football and basketball to running

20:41 College: Western Colorado and D2 All-American

24:15 Transferring to CU Boulder

26:54 The Boulder running community

31:59 The dream of a big sponsorship

33:54 Is Nike still the top deal?

37:27 Dating a Nike pro (and her prototypes)

41:50 Why the ASICS Metaspeed Sky Tokyo

42:37 How many miles before racing in a super shoe

44:44 The Berlin build: a new coach after Boston

51:19 Race-day fueling: Maurten, SiS and sodium

53:21 Nomio

55:46 Berlin race day

58:34 The pace car playing '90s rock

62:45 Getting caught by Tigst Assefa's pack

68:34 What's next: Houston Half and a spring marathon