La Sportiva Athlete John Kelly has speculated that one of his weaknesses is that perhaps he’s uncomfortable being comfortable, and one look at his resume sure suggests as much. After trying his hand at triathlon for a few years, a stint that included a few trips to Kona, John found his way into ultrarunning and quickly began to prod at the limits of an already extreme sport. Since then, he’s become only the 15th person to finish the infamous Barkley Marathons (as well as the last to do so) and he holds several FKTs over 200 miles in length. So we sat down with John to learn more about the mindset required to run for several days straight; his favorite memories from his time spent living and running in the UK; how he recently rebuilt his speed to run a sub-2:30 marathon; who’s winning the Super Bowl; and much more.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- From triathlon to trail running (3:00)
- The story behind his nickname, “Random Forest Runner” (6:19)
- The 2017 Barkley Marathons (8:50)
- Does John still have the legendary orange hat from the race? (13:07)
- UK trail running culture (19:13)
- Training for “shorter, faster stuff” (40:53)
- Plans for 2023 & a potential long trail FKT (45:00)
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