Podcast: Episode 211 with Brendan Leonard

Mario Fraioli | September 5, 2022

“One of my favorite writers, Brian Doyle, has this essay about a friend. I think it’s actually called On Not Beating Cancer—and he himself actually died of brain cancer a few years ago—but there’s a line at the end that I’m gonna butcher but I go back to time and again about, ‘Look, we talk a lot about winning and losing in our society and the real thing is to endure, and to stick around, and to stay in the game.’ And I think about that when it comes to running—that’s my whole jam. I think there’s so much to learn from people who are not winning. Sports journalism or sports coverage, we always focus on the best, and how are the people at the top doing, who’s gonna win this race, and I love to find the lessons people have from the middle of the pack or the back of the pack, or just the beauty of somebody finishing with a few seconds to go in the Western States 100…that’s the jam.”

I am super excited to share this episode with all of you. It’s with Brendan Leonard, an ultrarunner, writer, award-winning filmmaker, speaker, and creator of one of my favorite websites on the internet, Semi-Rad.com. On top of all that, he’s also a new dad, which we talked quite a bit about in this conversation.

Brendan is someone whose work I’ve admired for quite a while now. He’s got an unmatched ability to tell stories, use humor, and share drawings that convey many of the things we all feel and experience as runners, and as human beings in general. In this conversation, we bounced all over the place, covering topics like ultrarunning, creativity, storytelling, self-employment, parenthood, where and how all these things overlap and intersect, and a lot more.

Brendan Leonard: Website | Semi-Rad | Instagram | Strava

the morning shakeout: Instagram | Twitter

Mario Fraioli: Website | Strava

This episode is brought to you by:

— New Balance. The new Fresh Foam X More v4 is a maximum cushion shoe with a responsive ride that I’m really enjoying for recovery runs right now. It’s super plush but also incredible light. It’s available in both men’s and women’s sizes on newbalance.com or at your favorite run specialty retail store.

Music and editing for this episode of the morning shakeout podcast by John Summerford.