Through Their Stride

Natalie Lutz is a running coach, mom, full-time employee, and multi-time sub-three-hour marathoner. At the 2023 Chicago Marathon, Natalie ran 3:00:10 — just 10 seconds away from breaking the three-hour barrier. That near miss gave her a glimpse of what was possible, and she went all-in on the pursuit. Over the next 12 months, she raced five marathons before finally breaking through one year later. In this episode, Natalie shares: - What it felt like to miss sub-3 by 10 seconds at Chicago - ...

Chiara Bondi is a sub-3 marathoner, but this conversation is about more than a finish time. In 2025, Chiara ran under three hours at the Eugene Marathon and continues to chase big goals in distance running. Later that year, she received an autism diagnosis — an experience that helped her better understand herself and recognize that she was never broken. For Chiara, running and training have provided an important routine: a way to feel structured, grounded, and regulated throughout daily lif...

Five months ago, a police officer in California decided to lace up a pair of running shoes. Today, that man is a triathlete and cofounder of a triathlon endurance club in California. When Trent Herzog began his hybrid athlete journey, he didn't know how far it would take him. But after finishing in the top 10 in his first-ever 10-mile race, he knew he was on to something. He fell in love with triathlons shortly thereafter and is now training for his first-ever Ironman. But he won't be doing it

In this episode of Through Their Stride, I sit down with Tennessee-based marathoner Laura Pett to talk about her journey from collegiate cross country to chasing a sub-3-hour marathon. Laura made her marathon debut in 2017 at the Atlanta Marathon, tackling a tough course and running 3:40. Since then, she's steadily improved — qualifying for the Boston Marathon multiple times and lowering her PR to a 3:04. We dive into what's helped her make those gains, what it takes to close the gap to sub-3,

In this episode of Through Their Stride, I sat down with Adriana Ducharme (@runningthelife_ on Instagram) to unpack a journey that many runners experience but few talk about openly. Adri shares how a toxic college coaching environment led to burnout and a loss of identity within the sport – and how stepping away from that structure helped rediscover what running could be. Through joining a club cross country team at the University of Georgia, she rebuilt her relationship with competition, commu

It started as a way to become a better version of himself after gaining more weight than he felt comfortable with. Now, he's a 3:28 marathoner pursuing a Boston Qualifier in the near future. As a kid, pursuing fast times in marathons, half marathons (he's a sub 1;28 guy), and 5Ks (he's also an 18:46 guy) wasn't something he ever thought he'd do. But once he started back in 2020 just for health, he soon became quite the fan of the sport. Now, not only is he pushing himself to do hard things, he