The Human Potential Running Series Podcast · John Lacroix

HPRS Podcast - Episode 56: Jenna Carosio

·1 hr 31 min·5 clips

Jenna says losing her mother forced her to question “what’s the point of life?” and reshape her career goals.

John LaCroix opens by framing the show as a place for the HPRS community and the broader trail and ultra running world. He says he wants more interviews like this one to happen on a regular basis. Jenna is the guest for episode 56. The conversation stays close to her story and the way it has shifted over time. Jenna talks about a world travel trip that was as much about exploring cultures as it was about figuring out what was happening in her own head. She was carrying a heavy question about the meaning of life, and it took her a long time to feel like she had any answer at all. A loved one going through illness sits in the emotional background. That person beat it a couple of times, and then it came back. That experience made the question of what really matters feel sharper. Jenna also talks about being the straight-A kid. She carried that mindset through high school, through college, and into her career. The pattern helped her in some ways. It also pushed her toward checking boxes instead of actually enjoying what she was doing. She talks about trying to climb the ladder and move up in her job. The trip helped her see that progress was not the same thing as a life well lived. She gets blunt about how little of her career she was enjoying at the time. The conversation settles into the tension between ambition and meaning. She came close to not going back to the engineering and construction job when she returned. Money made that choice less optional than ideal. By the end, the episode keeps circling back to the same stubborn question about where the time to enjoy life is supposed to come from.

As heard by us

A loose, honest conversation about ambition, grief, and what a good life looks like.

Episode 56 is a straightforward conversation between John LaCroix and a guest from the Human Potential Running Series trail and ultra running scene.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a trail-world conversation that asks bigger questions without posing.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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