An Interview with Whitney Richman

15 years ago, Whitney Richman watched a friend finish the Chicago Marathon. She thought to herself, hey, I can do that. 

The next year she did. And the running accomplishments have piled up ever since. 

I love this conversation with Whitney. We talk about her recent fastest know time finishes on Richmond's Capital trail - both the 52 miles one way and then a couple of months later the 104 mile both ways run. 

Whitney decided to tackle the capital trail records after training for races that were eventually cancelled because of COVID safety measures. Whitney said: 

“When you invest so much training and time into achieving a goal, time that you spent away from your kids and family, you need to feel like it was worth it.”

In this conversation we talk about Whitney's love for the ultra community, how they have an "it takes a village" mentality about them. 

Whitney gives us some advice on how to manage the self talk that is always trying to talk us out of becoming our best selves. Whitney shares how running can actually become our best form of therapy. 

We talk about how running impacts our ability to make quick and confident decisions. She jokes that her husband is still picking out paint colors while she's moved on to the next project. We all have different decision making processes. We question whether the ultra runners decision making style works for or against us in the long run. 

Whitney previews her upcoming Rim to River 100 mile Ultra on November 7 - I'm fired up to follow her on this journey. You can read more about that race here: Rim to River 100

Read more about Whitney's Capital Trail record runs here: Record Setting Run on the Capital Trail

You can download this episode of the Running4Soles podcast at Podbean, iTunes or listen to it on Spotify.