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Run Your Story Podcast

Run Your Story Podcast

Written by: Allison Gaillard
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Where Every Story Needs to be Heard! Runners and walkers are interviewed to tell their run/walk stories, share fun memories, and provide great advice for those interested in this sport!

© 2026 Run Your Story Podcast Hygiene & Healthy Living Running & Jogging Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Jim Toledo - "People are watching"

    Jim Toledo - "People are watching"
    Nov 11 2026

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    Jim Toledo has been an athlete his whole life - soccer, basketball, football, and baseball as a kid. Sprints and jumps on his high school track team, and played softball, basketball, and indoor soccer leagues all through his 20s and 30s.

    When the people he played with got busy with lives and kids, he went looking for an individual sport.

    Running had never stuck - shin splints, and "wow, running sucks" - until a friend talked him into a 5K he was having trouble filling.

    That 5K turned into a 10K, then a half marathon, then a bike, learning to swim, and a triathlon. Fifteen years later, he has four full Ironman finishes and more than ten 70.3s.

    He came up lifting weights in the heyday of pre-workouts, but nothing on the market fit an endurance workout - a target heart rate, zone two, no tingly face - so he mixed his own from five, six, seven different tubs.

    With a friend from the supplement industry, he put it all in one: Starting Block, by Zone 2 Endurance, now celebrating its first year.

    He talks about six months of manufacturers and taste tests, research-backed doses, about 120 milligrams of instant caffeine and 67 of time-release, the name that came from his track days, and what it has done for his summer runs in the heat and humidity.

    Then the races: Ironman Florida in 2021 - five friends in an Airbnb, an epic swim where 400 people were pulled from the water, and his Ironman PR - and Ironman Wisconsin in 2022, the race that broke him: 50 degrees and rain all day, a pulled hip flexor at mile 16, and a second lap through the University of Wisconsin football stadium with nobody else in it.

    Plus a bagel with peanut butter and a package of ramen noodles on race morning, the double cheeseburger, fries and Sprite he craves after an Ironman, his watch and his data, the ASICS Megablast and Novablast in his rotation, Honey Stinger waffles and gels, a training run that ended with a sprint home to the backyard hose, his running buddy Rob and his 14-year run streak, cupping his own IT band, and lifting heavy at 48.

    His advice to new runners: find your people - every city has a running group for every pace - and just don't quit.

    For the first time in a long time, he's signed up for nothing, and running with no goal is wonderful.

    His mantra, for his girls and his wife, who were out there in the cold rain too: "People are watching." Show your kids you can do hard things - and that you don't have to stop playing.

    And his last word: have fun with it. Take the workout seriously, but don't take it too seriously.


    Jim Toledo - https://www.instagram.com/jamestoledo78/
    Zone 2 Endurance - Starting Block Endurance Preworkout - https://www.zone2endurance.com

    Races Mentioned
    Ironman Florida
    Ironman Wisconsin
    Ironman Coeur d'Alene
    Ironman 70.3 Dallas-Little Elm
    Ironman 70.3 Rockford
    Marine Corps Marathon

    Shout Outs
    Kristen Rather
    Rob
    Nick Barre

    Support the show

    For more details on Run Your Story happenings, visit https://runyourstory.com/

    For web development, app development, or tech services, visit https://gaillardts.com/

    Go Run Your Story and take a piece of this story with you! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news on upcoming episodes. Support us on Patreon!
    Can't wait to hear Your Run Story!!

    Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters!
    Kristen Rather
    Mary Trufant
    Suzanne Crist
    Suzanne Clark
    Dave McDonald
    Karla McInnis
    James Contratto
    Jordan DuBose
    Keith & Cristy Evans
    Sharonda Shula
    Meredith Nations
    Allyson Lamey
    Chris Strayhorn
    Karen Saldivar
    Stefan Clayton
    Rachael McRae
    Scott Thornhill
    Skye Guy
    Andrew Williams
    Kellie Landrum

    Download our new app on Apple or Android!!!
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    33 mins
  • Families of the Fallen (Jailbreak 5k) - "Every Mile Every Step"

    Families of the Fallen (Jailbreak 5k) - "Every Mile Every Step"
    Nov 4 2026
    Like the episode? Let us know with a quick text!It started with a hug on a cold Mardi Gras night in 2018.Tina Zanca was riding the parade route with the Mobile Police Department's barricade team when she stopped to see Valerie Green and her son Trey - the family of Officer Steven Green, who was killed in the line of duty on the first day of Mardi Gras in 2012 - and told them they ought to jump in the truck and stay warm.That night Valerie messaged her: Trey had not stopped asking why they didn't get to ride.Major Rose walked Tina down the hallway to Chief Battiste, who didn't hesitate.Two vehicles were loaded with throws, the mayor met the family at the start of the route, and Valerie and Trey rode the parade as VIPs with the chief.Watching Valerie watch Trey, Tina asked, "Why aren't we doing this for all the families?" Family of the Fallen grew out of that question.Tina, Micah and Nate talk about the Mardi Gras float that now carries families of officers killed or seriously injured in the line of duty - from all over Alabama and three hours east and west - in the Joe Cain parade: an eleven-by-fourteen photo of each officer placed right in front of the family, a breakfast the morning of the parade that everyone calls their favorite part, the Mystics, who built their first float - three stories tall - and lent them a battleship float the next year, and families who met on the float and ended up living next door to each other.Then there's the Jailbreak 5K, now in its second year - born from a member's picture of hundreds of runners in orange shirts running right past the jail.Corrections officers in orange jumpsuits handed out water last year (some runners weren't sure they should take it), there's a mugshot photo booth, a finisher medal or a challenge coin with the float - and Trey Green - on the back, a one-mile fun run, and two stretches of silence along the course where officers were lost: one right after mile one, one near the finish.Where the money goes: hotel rooms and breakfast for families who travel to ride, the float and its throws, flowers, cards and a presence at services - and, they hope starting in 2027, scholarships for officers' children. There's no deadline on that support: the wall at the Mobile Police Academy goes back to the 1800s, Tina tells of a widow who had heard from no one in forty years, and of a family member from north Alabama who wouldn't leave her house, finally came the third year, and left the float asking to be invited back.Nate on what the job carries home - "once it gets quiet, it's loud" - and why it's the families who pick up the pieces.Their message to anyone thinking about the race: you don't have to run. You just have to be willing to show up - run, walk, volunteer on race day, cheer for the families on the float, or join the organization. And Tina's closing words: "Every mile, every step, it's an opportunity to remember that life, to honor their sacrifice."Tina Zanca, Micah Slack, and Nate Slack - Family of the Fallen - https://www.facebook.com/familyofthefallenJailbreak 5K - Saturday, November 14, 2026, 8 AM, Mardi Gras Park, Mobile - https://runsignup.com/Race/AL/Mobile/FOTFJailbreak5KRaces MentionedJailbreak 5KMPD Crime Prevention 5K Run/WalkSalute Red, White, and BlueMiles for Heroes 5KShout OutsValerie and Trey GreenOfficer Steven GreenChief BattisteMajor RoseMarkThe MysticsMobile Police DepartmentMobile County Sheriff's OfficeSupport the showFor more details on Run Your Story happenings, visit https://runyourstory.com/For web development, app development, or tech services, visit https://gaillardts.com/Go Run Your Story and take a piece of this story with you! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news on upcoming episodes. Support us on Patreon!Can't wait to hear Your Run Story!! Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters!Kristen RatherMary TrufantSuzanne CristSuzanne ClarkDave McDonaldKarla McInnisJames ContrattoJordan DuBoseKeith & Cristy EvansSharonda ShulaMeredith NationsAllyson LameyChris StrayhornKaren SaldivarStefan ClaytonRachael McRaeScott ThornhillSkye GuyAndrew WilliamsKellie LandrumDownload our new app on Apple or Android!!!
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Cherinna Coulter - "Slow and steady holds the pace"

    Cherinna Coulter - "Slow and steady holds the pace"
    Oct 28 2026
    Like the episode? Let us know with a quick text!Cherinna Coulter was the girl who hid in the locker room during P.E. to get out of running the mile.Nobody in her family ran, and running was nowhere in her history.Walking her baby son down the dirt road past her parents' house in the mountains of Washington, she told her mom that one day she'd run to the end of that road without stopping, and when a doctor suggested she get outside for thirty minutes a day, she took it as her chance to start running.She talks about mapping routes by car and hanging them on the fridge, a first half marathon run under wildfire smoke with her daughter Brooke running her into the finish, the hydration vest she was sure was made for a kid, and the library copy of Dean Karnazes' Ultramarathon Man that sent her into the ultra world.A comment on a Facebook post grew into a friendship with Ryan and his daughter Kala - Team Steiner - and Ryan became her friend and trainer: through her first 25K on the Hiawatha Trail and its long, dark, freezing tunnel, a 22-mile loop along the Columbia River that told her she could run a 50K, her first 50K at the Cascade Super Ultra, and 400 miles in ten and a half weeks in Ornery Mule Racing's winter challenge.Then came 2022, the year that almost broke her - including her best friend's breast cancer diagnosis and her dad's prostate cancer diagnosis - and she stopped running.A move across the country to Alabama helped her find her smile again, and with Coach Loretta she went from basically couch to the Hennepin 50-miler in under ten months, with Brenda beside her the entire race.On the way home, she finally met Ryan and Kala in person; two days later Kala passed away, and now Kala runs with her, laminated and pinned to her bib, at every Ainsley's Angels race.She shares how Ainsley's Angels and Bras Across the CAUSEway became her community on the Gulf Coast ("I'm a show-upper and a doer"), why she deferred a 100K to run the Publix Battleship 12K with her Ainsley's Angels team, the nutrition shakes, mashed potatoes and homemade gels that fuel her long runs, the fifteen-hour playlist a friend made for her 50-miler, and the Diadoras she has run in since 2021 without a single foot issue.Her advice to new runners: start slow, give your body time to adjust, get a coach if you can, and it's okay to walk. Her mantra: "Slow and steady holds the pace." And her last word: find a cause and get involved.Cherinna Coulter - https://www.facebook.com/cherinna.coulterRaces MentionedHiawatha Trail RunCascade Super UltraFreeze Your Ass Off (Ornery Mule Racing)Hennepin 50-milerBras Across the CAUSEway 5KPublix Battleship 12KBallin' on BellroseShout OutsCoach FoxRyan and Kala (Team Steiner)Coach Loretta Tobolske-HornOrnery Mule RacingDanaMichele HartwigBrendaDawnShirleyAinsley's AngelsBras Across the CAUSEwayKathy SmithCourtneyJodyManci's Run ClubJanine and Jessica (Pinnacle Cardiovascular)JenReneeDean KarnazesScott JurekPam ReedAsher's Medical ClosetThe Dirt PodcastFleet FeetBethany MadsonSkye GuySupport the showFor more details on Run Your Story happenings, visit https://runyourstory.com/For web development, app development, or tech services, visit https://gaillardts.com/Go Run Your Story and take a piece of this story with you! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news on upcoming episodes. Support us on Patreon!Can't wait to hear Your Run Story!! Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters!Kristen RatherMary TrufantSuzanne CristSuzanne ClarkDave McDonaldKarla McInnisJames ContrattoJordan DuBoseKeith & Cristy EvansSharonda ShulaMeredith NationsAllyson LameyChris StrayhornKaren SaldivarStefan ClaytonRachael McRaeScott ThornhillSkye GuyAndrew WilliamsKellie LandrumDownload our new app on Apple or Android!!!
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    1 hr and 44 mins
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