THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Mark Dowdle didn't grow up a runner. 

He was a two-sport college athlete who heard David Goggins on a podcast during a bus ride home from a losing lacrosse trip, and decided to become a different person.

Six years later, he's on Team USA. 

He's won backyard ultras covering 283 miles in 68 straight hours. He ran 135 miles through Northern Minnesota in sub-zero January temps and took first place. He spent an entire year running the day of the month in miles (every single day),  logging 6,400 miles before most people finished their morning coffee. 

He quit his job to go all in. And this October, he will represent the United States at the Big Dog's Backyard Ultra World Championship in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.

This is the kind of athlete that makes you question every excuse you've ever made.

Mark doesn't talk about motivation. He talks about systems. About decisions. About the thousand small choices inside a single race that determine who you actually are when no one is watching and everything hurts.

This conversation will mess with you—in the best way.

Press play.

Tap into the Mark Dowdle Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. 

Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. 

If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

S H O W  N O T E S 

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run  

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

She missed NXN in the fall. By March, she was winning national titles.

Braelyn Combe is a senior at Santiago High School in Corona, California, and the latest athlete to join TRE's Festival of Miles series. Right now she's the most dangerous prep distance runner in the country. Not because she's the fastest out of the gate, because she knows exactly when to move.

At the 2026 Nike Indoor Nationals, Combe ran the first 800 meters of the championship mile slowly, deliberately, and patiently. Then she ran the back half in 2:12.7, closing out Ellery Lincoln and crossing in 4:38.18, the third-fastest mile in NIN history, behind only Jane Hedengren and Katie Rainsberger.

She was a nationally ranked runner who never made Nike Cross Nationals, but she used it as fuel. In February, she broke the 10-minute barrier in the 3,200m. In March, she doubled at The TEN—one of the top professional distance meets in the world—winning the 800m in 2:04.52 and the 1,600m in 4:40.01 in a single night.

In the fall, she heads to Arkansas. She's just getting started.

Tap into the Braelyn Combe Special.

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it.

Comment the word "PODCAST" below and I'll DM you a link to listen.

If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

S H O W N O T E S
The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs
Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run
THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en
Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

Miami doesn't have a running culture by accident. Frankie Ruiz built it.

From 17 Florida high school cross country state championships (9 in a row); to a junior who just finished 4th at Nike Cross Nationals; to a marathon that generates $300 million a year for Miami-Dade County; and a government appointment to make an entire city healthier—he does all of this simultaneously. 

And he's been doing it for over two decades.

Frankie is the co-founder of the Life Time Miami Marathon and serves as Chief Running Officer at Life Time, overseeing one of the largest endurance event platforms in the country. He's the City of Miami's Chief Wellness Officer, where he'sreframing parks and public trails not as amenities, but as preventative healthcare infrastructure. 

And every week, he runs with hundreds of people at the Baptist Health Brickell Run Club, which he founded in 2009 and which has grown into one of the largest free weekly run clubs in the world.

On the coaching side, his Belen Jesuit cross country program just broke its own Florida record with a 17th state title. 

If you've ever wondered what it looks like when a city decides to take running seriously—this is the blueprint.

Tap into the Frankie Ruiz Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. Comment the word“PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. 

If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

S H O W  N O T E S 

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run  

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

He said it was his to lose. Then he went out and made sure of it.

Josh Kerr is back on The Running Effect, and this time he's not limping off a global stage. He's walking out of Toruń with gold, and already calling his next shot.

At the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships, Kerr reclaimed the 3000m title he first won two years ago in Glasgow. He ran a 7:35.56, the second-fastest winning time in World Indoor Championships history. 

February brought his return: a 2-mile against Cole Hocker at Millrose, a second-place finish that felt more like reconnaissance than defeat. He knew what was coming.

Before Toruń, he called the title his to lose. On March 21, he backed it up, settling patiently, surging at the bell, making himself the target, and winning by 0.14 seconds.

Now the next target is on the clock.

Project 222. On July 18 at the London Diamond League, Kerr will attempt to break Hicham El Guerrouj's mile world record of 3:43.13, a mark that has stood since 1999. The goal: 222 seconds flat. A 3:42 mile. His current PB of 3:45.34 is the British record and sixth all-time. Two seconds separates him from history. 

Tap into the Josh Kerr Special.

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. Comment the word“PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. 

If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

S H O W  N O T E S 

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run  

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz

A sub-2-hour marathon was supposed to be impossible. Then Dr. Brad Wilkins built the mathematical model that proved it wasn't, and Nike handed him the keys to make it happen.

In 2017, Kipchoge ran 2:00:25 at Breaking2—25 seconds short. Close enough to prove the science was right. Two years later, the 1:59:40 happened in Vienna. The blueprint Wilkins built made that possible.
Now he's back in a university lab asking an even bigger question: what is the actual ceiling of human performance? Spoiler: he doesn't think there is one.

From the gut bacteria influencing your race day performance, to the hormone data that's about to change how women train forever, to the super shoe numbers the industry doesn't want you to see, Dr. Brad Wilkins is bringing the actual science, not the headlines.

He'll tell you why your wearable is lying to you, why your brain quits long before your body has to, and why most of what you've heard about VO2 max, altitude, and recovery is noise dressed up as wisdom.

Ten years inside Nike's most secretive labs. Forty-plus published manuscripts. One bold claim: humans have no limits.

This is the episode that changes how you train.

Tap into the Dr. Brad Wilkins Special. 

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider following us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and giving us a five-star review! I would also appreciate it if you share it with your friend who you think will benefit from it. Comment the word“PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

Comment the word “PODCAST” below and I’ll DM you a link to listen. 

If this episode blesses you, please share it with a friend!

S H O W  N O T E S 

-The Run Down By The Running Effect (our new newsletter!): https://tinyurl.com/mr36s9rs

-Our Website: https://therunningeffect.run  

-THE PODCAST ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLcLIDAqmJBTHeyWJx_wFQ

-My Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/therunningeffect/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

-Take our podcast survey: https://tinyurl.com/3ua62ffz