Set the Pace

New York Road Runners’ Gordon Bakoulis joins Set the Pace this week to talk with Rob about her legendary career as both an elite athlete and NYRR’s editorial director. Gordon qualified for the Olympic marathon trials in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 and was a finalist in the 1992 U.S. Olympic 10,000m trials. As she looks ahead to retirement after nearly 24 years at New York Road Runners, she reflects on the organization’s continued commitment to innovation and inclusion and why she believes those values will continue to shape its future. Gordon also shares her remarkable running journey—from discovering the sport as a teenager during the running boom of the late 1970s to joining the Atalanta NYC run club and competing at the highest level. She discusses her experience as a running coach and explains how helping others pursue their goals continues to inspire her.
Tickets are now on sale for the 2026 Toyota USATF Outdoor & Para National Championships! NYRR members Get a 10% off discount code. Find your discount code on your Haku dashboard.

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Join Ali Feller from Ali on the Run and Aisha Praught Leer from Citius Mag as Set the Pace, Presented by Peloton Reruns the MastercardNew York Mini 10k. Whether you ran the race or have FOMO for not being there, this episode is for you! Tune in for post-race interviews with the Mastercard New York City Mini 10K champions, to hear what it took to break the tape at this iconic race. Following in their footsteps, thousands of runners also crossed the finish line with goals of their own. Three of those runners share their stories of strength, grit, and resilience.

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SUPPORT: Support the Set the Pace podcast! If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and throughout the month we’ve been sharing stories about running and mental well-being. We also celebrated Mother’s Day, and for many members of our community, running, mental health, and motherhood are deeply intertwined. In this week’s episode, Rob and Becs speak with Peloton instructor Selena Samuela, who opens up about raising identical twin girls, Stella and Frankie, and the mental and physical challenges of returning to movement postpartum. Selena reflects on body image, motherhood, rebuilding fitness slowly, and her powerful mantra: acceptance is not the same as complacency. Now, 24 weeks after giving birth, she’s back teaching live at Peloton and rebuilding her running day by day.
NOTE: This episode explores one runner’s journey with fertility, pregnancy, and childbirth

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This week, Rob turns the mic on Becs to talk about her next adventure. Becs opens up about the highs and lows she’s experienced with running since completing the Great World Race over a year ago. She shares how she stepped away from road racing, rediscovered her love of the sport through trail and ultra running, and embraced a less pressure-filled approach to training and competition. After years away from the trails, Becs returned to the sport by taking on the Napa Valley Trail Marathon in March, followed by the Canyons 50K in April. Check out this episode to hear about her journey into the ultrarunning world, how she’s adapting her Peloton classes to reflect the challenging elevation of trail racing, and her next challenge.

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Joining Rob live from the RBC Brooklyn Half After-Party at Maimonides Park is special guest Camila Ramón, a Peloton instructor and recording artist who was one of the thousands of runners crossing the finish line on Coney Island. Born in Buenos Aires, Camila moved to Miami when she was seven. She teaches cycling, treadmill, and strength training in English and Spanish as Peloton's first bilingual instructor. Also joining the show is HSS physical therapist Carrie Whitelam, an orthopedic clinical specialist and certified athletic trainer who works closely with runners on the importance of recovering after races. Plus, hear from other runners as they share their race-day stories of grit and heart.

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SUPPORT: Support the Set the Pace podcast! If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

DISCLAIMER

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.