Angelica McMurtray started running at 38 to shed baby weight. At 52 she has run about 36 half marathons, back-to-back Berlin and Chicago, and once toured as a singer in a pop a cappella group.

Rose Scovel spent her childhood dodging field day. After a type 2 diabetes diagnosis at 32, she became an Ironman, swam 8.2 miles around Mackinac Island, and has run 92 half marathons.

Todd Oliver has run a marathon in all 50 states, and he tells me how he did it.

In 2023 Ashley Haynes ran every distance from 10K to 100 miles, won a 100K, and qualified for Boston two weeks after her first 100-miler. She doesn't follow a plan. She just runs.

Michael Hartnagel took over his dad's run streak when cancer stopped him from running. Two days after his dad passed, he ran 157 miles across Indiana in three days to honor him.

Tracie Hunter ran her first Chicago Marathon in 1998 in a cotton T-shirt with almost no training. Twenty-five years later she ran Berlin, Chicago and New York in six weeks, all within five minutes.

Monique White has run races in 50 countries on six continents, and it all started with watching sprinters at the Olympics the summer after college.

After a fractured tibia, a foot arthritis flare, COVID, and a black-flagged race, Sara Oltvedt ran her first Chicago Marathon anyway, side by side with her friend Molly.

Doctors didn't know if Jennifer Nei would run again after a four-wheeler accident at 14. Decades later, she has set PRs at every distance after 45.

At 19, Lindsay Holt went from a bullied, self-doubting kid to a Peloton apparel model and New York City Marathon finisher, and she dedicated her last mile to her younger self.

Trena Roudebush walked and jogged her first Indy Mini on two weeks of training. Twenty years later she has 73 marathons, 115 half marathons and a Boston qualifier.

Sarah Farny trained for Chicago while her 10-year-old son went through cancer treatment, ran her first sub-4 the week he rang the bell, and later dropped 20 minutes to qualify for Boston.

Cindy Smith ran the Chicago Marathon nine months after having her son, Archer, and ran a 33-minute PR. We talk tech, immigrant parents, entrepreneur moms, and building Pen and Paces.

Betsy Rogers and her boyfriend Josh rollerbladed the Berlin Marathon in 2:09 to earn entry to run it the next year, even though Josh had never worn skates before training.

I met Himanshu Varandani on a plane full of runners headed to the Fargo Marathon. Twelve years after colleagues talked him into a lunchtime run, he's a 2:46 marathoner who paces and volunteers to give back.

Triathlon coach and mom of four Brandy Ramirez beat stage 3 breast cancer, then built She Strong and the Monarch Triathlon so other women know their diagnosis isn't who they are.

Lindsey Welty is a nurse practitioner, a three-time Full Mo 50K finisher, and a few weeks out from her first 100-mile race. She says she's exactly 50% terrified and 50% excited.

Tara Sabo hated the mile test in gym class. Power walking intervals turned her into a runner with more than 20 half marathons, one Chicago Marathon and one very memorable DNF.

Jay Eiteljorge has run at least a mile outside every single day for almost 10 years. We talk about how he keeps the streak alive through subzero windchills, plantar fasciitis and everything in between.

Jamicka Edwards used to hide in her car to skip Army PT runs. Now she's a marathoner who ran 42 miles on her 42nd birthday and is chasing the World Majors.