Run Your Story Podcast · Allison Gaillard

Megan Eckert - "You learn that perseverance, you learn that grit, you learn not to give up when things get tough"

·43 min·2 clips

Megan says running teaches "perseverance," "grit," and "not to give up when things get tough."

1. Run Your Story Podcast features Megan Eckert, a runner whose path runs from a scared 5K signup to Cocodona 250 in May. 2. Allison Gillyard hosts, and Megan Eckert is the guest runner, high school coach, and trail-and-ultra athlete whose story drives the episode. 3. The episode asks how Megan went from not starting a 5K to building a life around racing, coaching, and showing up. 4. Megan says her run story began in the early 2000s when she trained for a 5K and then did not race it because she was afraid. 5. About 10 years later, she registered for a half marathon in San Antonio after dating her future husband, who was already a runner. 6. Megan says the San Antonio race had miserable conditions, music lining the course, and enough energy that she wanted to keep going. 7. She explains that the half marathon pulled her into trail running, volunteering, race expos, and a stronger connection to the running community. 8. Megan says she became a coach because she once needed someone to push her through fear and now does that for high school runners. 9. She describes first-day track and cross-country athletes as unsure of what they can do, then watching them gain confidence over about three months. 10. Megan says her coaching mostly centers on high school athletes, with a few adults in ultra-marathon distances. 11. She says running taught her "perseverance," "grit," and "not to give up when things get tough." 12. Megan says patience matters in training, racing, and daily life because "you're not always where you want to be" on any given day. 13. She says she used a strict calendar of daily miles early in training and checked each workout off to stay committed. 14. Megan says race-day thinking changed when she heard David Roche say that "race day is the party." 15. She describes that mindset as the reason she arrives without stressing the result and treats the race as the celebration. 16. Megan says her recovery often starts with food, showers, and for multi-day events, a sensory deprivation tank within 24 to 48 hours. 17. She says the tank helps after races because it gives her an hour and a half of silence after all the noise, thoughts, and input of an event. 18. The conversation is conversational, detailed, and practical, with Allison asking follow-up questions about shoes, fueling, music, and race routines. 19. Listeners who like trail running, coaching, and resilience stories will likely enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners wanting celebrity drama or fast controversy will probably skip this episode.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Run Your Story Podcast