Cole Sprout and Charles Hicks are here: two Stanford running legends in the same place, ready to chop it up at the exact moment their careers diverge.

Cole Sprout is just stepping into the professional ranks, leaving behind a dominant NCAA résumé to test himself on the roads and rethink how far his talent can stretch. Charles Hicks has already taken the leap to the roads, running 2:09:59 in his marathon debut at the New York City Marathon, instantly placing himself among the top American marathoners in history.

Cole made the transition from a decorated career at Stanford to running professionally under Jerry Schumacher. At Stanford he was a five-time All-American. He placed 4th in the 10,000m at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships and 5th in the 5,000m at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships as a Cardinal.

Since turning pro, he has shifted focus toward road racing, where he placed 2nd at the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K in NYC.

For Charles he became the first-ever Stanford runner to win the individual NCAA Division I Cross Country title in 2022. In November 2025, he completed his first-ever marathon in New York City with a remarkable 2:09:59.

If you want to understand what it really takes to move from potential to permanence at the professional level, Cole and Charles are here to give you some of that insight.

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A recent 59:23 half-marathon for American long-distance star Alex Maier wasn’t a case of him catching lightning in a bottle.

It was the culmination of years of quiet dominance: from Oklahoma State to national titles, American records, and a seamless transition to the roads.

And with his stellar race in Houston, he’s now the second-fastest U.S. man of all time at the half-marathon distance.

But this isn’t a random one-off occurrence. In 2025, he won the Düsseldorf Marathon in April with a time of 2:08:33; it was a top-15 all-time mark for a U.S. runner.

He also claimed his first national title in March in Atlanta, running 1:00:48 to secure a spot on Team USA; and then set a 10-mile American record of 45:15 at the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in April.

He was a former standout at Oklahoma State, where he earned multiple First-Team All-America honors, including a 5th-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championships. He also placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3,000m and 5,000m in 2023.

He’s gone from NCAA standout to national champion; from American records at 10 miles on the road to becoming the second-fastest U.S. half marathoner ever.

His trajectory is impossible to ignore. And the most interesting part? It all feels like he’s just getting started.

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Everett Smulders has seen and done a lot in his running and coaching career: he went from running 3:58 for the mile at Ole Miss, to finishing one of the most brutal endurance events on the planet, the Ultraman Florida (a 321-mile, multi-day test of resilience).

That doesn’t even include the dent he’s made as a coach.

Everett competed for the University of Mississippi, where he became an All-American. On January 20, 2020, he became the 565th American to break the 4-minute mile barrier, clocking a time of 3:58.93.

Following his collegiate career, he pivoted to ultra-marathons and triathlons. In 2022, he completed a 100-mile solo ultra-marathon in 18 hours.

Then, In February of 2023, he completed the Ultraman Florida, a 321-mile triathlon consisting of a 6.2-mile swim, 261-mile bike, and 52-mile run– finishing in 29 hours and 52 minutes.

This next phase also brought with it coaching; he is the founder and CEO of WesFly Athletics, a coaching and media company focused on helping runners optimize their training and lifestyle.

He also serves as the head cross country and track coach at his alma mater, The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia.

Everett Smulders’ story isn’t just about distance, it’s about depth, and he’s here to offer a very unique and inspiring perspective that all runners can benefit from.

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In the last 12 months, Andreas Almgren has rewritten European distance running history.

He ran 26:45 for 10,000m (beating his previous European record), 12:44 for 5,000m and 58:41 for the half marathon.That’s three European records in one calendar year.

What makes Andreas’ story so compelling is the winding road that led to these records: he was one of Europe’s most promising middle distance talents a decade ago, winning 800m bronze at the 2014 World Athletics U20 Championships before finishing fourth at the 2015 European Indoor Championships at the age of 19. But a prolonged period of uncertainty and injury forced him to make a pivot to the longer stuff, and boy did he succeed there.

In 2025 he won a bronze medal in the men's 10,000m final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Andreas’ next confirmed major event is the Drammen 10,000m in April, followed by the European Championships in August. He has chosen to skip the indoor season to focus on road races and the main outdoor championships and drop down to the 1500m in a Diamond League meet in June.

From winning 800m medals as a teenager to smashing European records, Andreas is brimming with confidence and poised to make 2026 the best year yet in a storied running career.

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If you care about running for the long haul–physically, mentally, and emotionally–this episode is for you. We want to look at what actually moves the needle for runners, and we’re back with Alex Ostberg to recap his recent newsletters from The Rundown to do just that.

We start with a hard truth many athletes learn too late: performance doesn’t fix identity. That idea sets the tone for a broader reflection on what success in running really looks like when the noise fades.

From there, we zoom out. Over the past year, certain lessons kept repeating themselves across training, racing, and life; lessons that hit harder than any single workout or result. And they tend to show up whether you’re chasing a state title, a marathon PR, or just consistency.

We also look back at 2025 as a whole. What trends mattered? What narratives were overblown? And what quietly reshaped the sport in ways most people missed?

That leads into habits nobody talks about enough. Not revolutionary breakthroughs, but small, underrated behaviors that compound over months and years.

Finally, we tackle one of running’s most persistent myths, which is especially relevant in an era of super shoes, carbon plates, and constant gear discourse.

This episode isn’t about hacks or hot takes. It’s about clarity; it’s about cutting through performance culture, training dogma, and external validation to understand what really lasts in this sport.

Tap into the Alex Ostberg Rundown Recap Special.

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Charlie Lawrence isn’t a loud figure, but he’s one of the most dangerous endurance runners in the world.

He is a professional ultramarathon and marathon runner who owns the 50-mile world record, the 100k American record, and he’s an Olympic Trials qualifier.

His 50-mile world record was run in an astonishing 4:48:21 in November of 2023. Most recently he set the American 100k record in December of 2025 at the Desert Solstice Track Invitational with a time of 6:07:10. He then lowered it in August of 2025 with the second-fastest 100k time in history with a 6:03:47 at the Adidas Chasing 100.

He has a marathon PR of 2:16:10 from October of 2023 that qualified him for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon trials. He won the men’s title at the USATF 50k Road Championships in April of 2025, setting a course record with a time of 2:49:01. Charlie grew up in Foley, Minnesota, and was the son of two cross-country coaches; he ran collegiately at the University of Minnesota where he owned PRs of 14:29.11 in the 5,000m indoor, 9:31.88 in the 3,000m Steeplechase, and 30:25.60 in the 10,000m outdoor.

Charlie is a monster and he’s only 30 years old. His times are eye popping, and he’s here to give us some insight into what makes him a budding distance running legend.

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We live in a world that tells us to do more, push harder, and optimize everything.

Even with that, the more we chase success, the more hollow it can feel.

Brad Stulberg has spent his career studying a different question: What does real excellence actually look like, and how do you pursue it without losing yourself in the process?

He is one of the most influential voices in human performance and well-being. He’s advised Olympians, executives, and creatives; he teaches at the University of Michigan; and he’s the bestselling author of Peak Performance, The Passion Paradox, and The Practice of Groundedness.

His new book, The Way of Excellence, challenges hustle culture head-on and offers a clear, grounded path to sustainable mastery in a chaotic world.

And he’s here to break it down and show how it can help you whether you’re running a marathon or simply trying to stay fit in a chaotic world.

What makes Brad so endearing is the breadth of his experience: he writes well-respected books; he blogs for his information-rich site, The Growth Equation; he’s a speaker and coach; and he’s on faculty at the University of Michigan’s graduate school of public health.

His portfolio is as wide-ranging as his impact, and he’s here to break down his newest release that is sure to bless millions.

Tap into the Brad Stulberg Special.

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One of Britain’s fastest rising stars is here and he’s no slouch. His name is George Couttie, and he’s a 3:55 miler who is shaking up U.S. collegiate running.

George competed for Great Britain English Schools in high school and was the cross-country champion during his time there. He was a U20 National 1500m champion. He currently owns personal bests of 3:36.40 in the 1500m, 13:58.32 in the 5000m, 7:36.74 in the 3000m, 3:55.44 in the mile, and 1:51 in the 800m.

In 2024, he was the runner-up in the U20 race at the 2024 European Cross Country Championships, while also finishing 14th at the NCAA XC Championships. Prior to that, he spent a year at the Division 2 level at the University of Charleston, before making the move to train under the guidance of Ben Thomas, the well-known coach of Cole Hocker.

In 2025, he finished 10th in the NCAA Division 1 XC Championships with an impressive time of 28:47 in the 10,000m. In December, he ran 7:36.74 in the indoor 3000m at BU.

From rapid PBs to elite competition, George’s story is just heating up. Trust us, you’ll want to follow what comes next.

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