In the fairly niche sport of track and field, there aren’t a lot of traditional media outlets providing coverage for fans. I mean, it’s hard enough to find events on Peacock or Flotrack even when they are televised. Luckily for us, there are podcasts, newsletters, and websites working to fill that gap.
Podcasts
The running podcast scene has a lot of range, from training-focused pods to chatty interviews. My go-tos for following the professional running world are Ali on the Run and Nobody Asked Us with Des & Kara.
Ali Feller, of Ali on the Run, is 700+ episodes deep and has been going for years. Hers is
primarily an interview format show, with the occasional episode giving show/life updates or answering listener questions. While there are other shows in this vein (e.g., C Tolle Run, I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein), Ali’s show is set apart by her honest curiosity and ability to ask questions that get athletes to talk about, say, the Olympic Trials, in such a way that you really feel how the experience must have felt. She doesn’t skim the surface, she digs deep in the nicest and most friendly way. She interviews professional runners and everyday athletes, and has also done a number of shows with Peloton instructors, if that’s your thing. A lot of the interview style shows have the same round of runners on (e.g., the top 3 finishers at the Trials) around the same time, but I always start (and often end) with Ali’s interviews because they are the most thorough and the most entertaining.
Nobody Asked Us features pro runner Des Linden and former pro runner Kara Goucher in a
conversational style format. While Ali’s background is in journalism, Des and Kara have more of an insider’s view and both have been in the sport for a long time. The pod started as a way for them to share some of their thinking based on this long experience, and they’ve kept it rolling in a very fun and not overly serious way. There’s a bit more sass here! I really enjoy the banter on this podcast for my long runs, and am excited to see where they take this over time.
Newsletters
For fans of women’s running, accept no substitutes for the Fast Women newsletter. Delivered weekly, the newsletter provides a round up of women’s running events across the globe, with one or two longer pieces, other news and links, a highlight of results, a list of new podcast episodes worth listening to, and upcoming events. If you want to be in the know, this should be on your required reading list.
The Lap Count, by Kyle Merber, is also worth a weekly read. It covers both men’s and women’s running, and often has some interesting viewpoints and discussions on topics like what we should do with the 10k, for instance. While I read Fast Women word for word, The Lap Count is sometimes more of a skim read for me.
Websites
Honestly, Runner’s World doesn’t really do it for me. Their articles are often so basic as to be unhelpful. Once in a while they’ll have a good article from Taylor Dutch or Sarah Lorge Butler worth reading, such as Dutch’s recent profile of Marathon Trials third place finisher Dakotah Lindwurm, but they’re far and few between.
Outside Online recently revamped their website and coverage, and have put together some decent professional coverage, heavily interspersed with training and gear recommendations. They also have a newsletter, but it seems to mostly just promote articles already on the site.
LetsRun.com is a mixed bag - the message boards are a disaster, but they do have interesting and in-depth coverage of major events. They cover things I don’t see elsewhere, like updates on prize money and the track stadium for the Olympics, and do a great job getting interview athletes at events like World Championships. Read this with a grain of salt.
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