The Drop

Merry GRIT-MAS to all who celebrate, it's been good to get some miles with all of you this week. And what a week it was, as Thomas and Taylor and the Dirt Division headed to Western States, while Meg said oui to Paris for the Nike Breaking4 Project. History was made and we were honored to witness it. Watch the Breaking4 recap on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/bivyb7HoeRwSUPPORT OUR SPONSORSLMNTYou already know that LMNT has been getting us through Summer GRIT thanks to its blend of electrolytes and 1000 mg of sodium. It's a summer running necessity...

Thomas chats with Adam Gamble, founder of Nowhere Somewhere, a start-up run apparel brand featuring a range of t-shirts, hats, hoodies, and other apparel.

Check out Nowhere Somewhere: https://www.nowheresomewhere.run/

We recorded this on Monday, but right now Meg is in Paris reliving the excitement of seeing Nike's Breaking4 project with Faith Kipyegon. Thomas and Karl are at Western States, while Robbe is home with George, making margaritas with LMNT mango chili rims. We also recap our fun weekend with Mount to Coast and then talk about Meg's experience in the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5.

Check out all our Western States events: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLPvXYpslu0

Here's the study on hair and wind drag: https://www.theengineer.co...

Thomas sits down with Andrew Dutton, better known online as @ad___sneaks. Dutton is a middle-school teacher in Lehi, Utah, who has earned a devoted following on Instagram through his passion for sneaker photography. Dutton began snapping sneakers during the pandemic and has since evolved into a recognized visual storyteller.

All Thomas wants is a techno song with Gregorian chants, but instead we get Sabrina Carpenter. All Robbe wants is an ultramarathon with tranquilizer darts and Mario Kart red shells, but instead we have the Western States 100. All Meg wants is for all of this nonsense to end. Anyway, we talk about all of that, as well as an in-podcast Between 2 Shoes where we compare the Brooks Hyperion Max 3 and Mizuno Neo Vista 2.

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NEW FLAVOR ALERT! Squeeze the most out of summer with...

Dirt Division leader Taylor, and longtime BITR contributor, Alex, sit down with Adidas Terrex athlete, Dani Moreno. Dani comes by way of Mammoth Lakes, California but grew up in LA where life was much different. They talk about Dani's history with sport, her adventurous hiatus from running, and her aspirations as she comes back from injury which includes trail racing at the highest level of our sport and that hard fought OTQ.

Follow Dani on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dan_yell_a/

Let us all hold hands and gather in a circle as offer up a sacrifice to AI – but before we do, please turn your attention to The Drop, where everything is real and nothing is plagiarized, as evidenced by our conversations on shoes bought on the dark web, trying to figure out Mastercard naming strategies, and the real life questions that come with acquiring a pet dog. Plus, you'll get some authentic shoe talk when we dive into the one-two punch of the Asics Metaspeed Sky and Edge Tokyo.

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SWIFTWICK
The...

Thomas traveled up the Spotify Studio in NYC where he sat down with Brendan Dunne from Complex. They chat about running culture, the crossover between performance and lifestyle shoes and dive into Brendan’s personal running.

Follow Brendan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brendandunne/?hl=en

Read his stories on Complex: https://www.complex.com/author/brendan-dunne

We've returned from our separate corners of the country and assemble to recap our individual weeks, including time spent in Colorado, Thomas's journey to the Spotify studios in NYC, and Meg's Minnesota sojourn. Plus, we talk about the Mount to Coast T1 and the very good update in the Mizuno Neo Vista 2.

Shop The Meg High Pony Hat ➡ https://shop.believeintherun.com/products/the-meg-fractel-x-believe-edition

Shop the Robbe Raccoon Legionnaire ➡ https://shop.believeintherun.com/products/fractel-x-believe-robbe-raccoon-signature-legionnaire

JOIN US ON THE RUN!

Saturday, June 21 @ 8:00 a.m...

If you're listening to this episode, you know that running changes lives. If it's changed anyone's life, it's certainly done so for Terence Gerchberg, who used running to help dig him out of a deep pit of gambling addiction. Eventually, it brought him to where he is today as CEO of Back On My Feet, an organization that works with people experiencing homelessness or addiction, empowering them to achieve economic independence through running and community. We talk about his life from past until present (including his experience on the Amazing Race), how running has transformed his life, and how...

Fresh off Memorial Day weekend and all of its misadventures, we accept the impossible mission of talking about running during a running podcast. But first – Summer GRIT is almost sold out, so get in if you still can. We also recap our past week of running, which included lost keys and trail runs in the Mount to Coast T1. Eventually, we talk about the Skechers Aero Spark, a really great trainer coming in at a $130 price point. This message will self destruct in five seconds.

INDEX:

0:00 Intro

4:14 - Pickleball 

6...

Thomas chats with Zach Litoff, a San Francisco based artist and designer with a love of athletics who as done work for clients like Hoka, Nike, Endorphins Running, and more.
Follow Zach on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/litoffstudios

We know everyone was concerned, but yes, we did in fact live through the 2025 Baltimore Tornado (though sadly many of the trees in our favorite little park did not). In other news, Summer GRIT registration opens on Monday at 9 a.m. ET! You know the drill, so make sure you get in before it sells out. We also try and figure out how a brand new pair of Jordans are the same price as an entry level running shoe. Speaking of running shoes, we also go more in-depth on the New Balance FuelCell Rebel v5.

Learn more...

Thomas sits town with Taesun Kim, footwear designer at Puma, to chat all about running shoes and his background.

Baltimore is on the rebound and we're doing our best to keep the ball bouncing. Speaking of bouncing, we pinball around from organ donation to Skechers stock, to Meg's very desirable Beanie Babies collection. We also talk about the Brooks Ghost Max 3 and Brooks Ghost 17, since this is a shoe review channel, after all.
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LA SPORTIVA
Introducing the Prodigio Pro Running Shoe from La Sportiva—crafted for ultrarunners, trail addicts, or anyone chasing their next big effort. With XFlow Speed, a dual-super critical nitrogen-infused EVA and TPU midsole technology, AND an ultralight Power Wi...

Bimma Williams is a Collab Marketing Educator recognized by HYPEBEAST as The Voice of Collabs. With over a decade of experience, he has helped brands like Nike, Yeezy, adidas, and Saucony generate $1.5 billion+ in revenue through strategic collaborations.

His insights have been featured in Forbes, Complex, Business Insider, HYPEBEAST, UPROXX, and VIBE. His viral Instagram series, Collab Lab, has reached 15 million views in 12 months, breaking down what makes brand partnerships successful.

Follow Bimma on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bimmawilliams

Back to Baltimore, which means more running and more package thieves coming after the summer 2025 Saucony collection. We recap our saga of tracking down shoes, while running in some sizzling heaters for the summer, including the Brooks Hyperion Max 3, Nike Streakfly 2, and Adidas Adios Pro Evo 2. Karl also wraps up his London experience.

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LA SPORTIVA

Introducing the Prodigio Pro running shoe from La Sportiva—crafted for ultrarunners, trail addicts, or anyone chasing their next big effort. With XFlow Speed, a dual-super critical nitrogen-infused EVA and TPU midsole technology, AN...

Robbe chats with Henry Abbott, basketball expert and former ESPN journalist, about his new book "Ballistic: The New Science of Injury-Free Athletic Performance," which explores groundbreaking new approaches to athletic training, injury prevention, and enhancing performance using “ballistic” movements. The book reveals a surprising takeaway: The explosive moves and ground impacts we often avoid in everyday workouts might provide the secret to an injury-free athletic life. As you can imagine, we talk about injury, prevention, and what it looks like to reimagine how we assess injury.

Pick up "Ballistic: The New Science of Injury-Free Athletic Performance": https://www...

Spring marathon season comes to a close, as Thomas and Meaghan run the London Marathon and barely make it back across the Atlantic alive as you'll see in this episode. It's been a real limp to the finish, but we're back and we're ready to relax ...oh wait, Meg heads out on the Move Her Mind tour with ASICS next week and Summer GRIT registration is just around the corner (Memorial Day). Anyway, buckle up and strap on the oxygen mask, you're gonna need it.

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SWIFTWICK

We love Swiftwick socks...

Thomas met Toby Tanser while on his recent trip to Kenya and immediately knew he had to have him on the podcast. Shoe4Africa originated 30 years ago from Toby's vision of harnessing the power of sports to create positive change for African children. Initially focused on collecting and distributing athletic shoes to aspiring young runners in Kenya their efforts expanded to address broader issues, including healthcare and education. Currently operating with only one paid staff member, Shoe4Africa has built East and Central Africa’s first public children’s hospital, which has treated over 1.2 million children. Beyond healthcare, they’ve est...

We've returned from the Super Bowl of running – the 129th Boston Marathon – but first, we made a couple detours to the emergency room and the Cheesecake Factory. for a dose of pain pills and fine dining, respectively. Then it was a slew of events, including an incredible opening night with Adidas, running the B.A.A. 5K, a fun and festive marathon track relay with New Balance, the always epic shakeout with Asics, then front row seats to the best World Major of them all. Thanks to everyone who came out to one or more of the events or said h...

We sat down with Charlotte and Ben from the Adidas team while in Boston for marathon weekend to chat all about the new Boston 13. We had a few audio issues but we hope you enjoy this fun chat!

A few days out from Boston and one week out from London, so of course the taper crazies are coming on strong, as well as a well-timed viral infection. Meg lays low while Thomas and Robbe take the reins in recounting a trip abroad, the comeback of the receding hairline (thanks White Lotus), the joys of driving a manual car, and more. We also cover the Puma Fast-R 3, the first shoe since the Nike Vaporfly to show independent lab studies of 3% performance gains when compared against competitors. Wild times.

Come see us at the...

We sit down with Dr. Desmond Wilson, Eternal's Chief Medical Officer. He's a doctor, avid trail runner and talks to us about aging as an athlete. Eternal is new healthcare service tailored to performance for athletes, which just launched in San Francisco and New York. Eternal provides a proactive, science-backed approach to help athletes better understand their changing bodies, optimize peak performance, and continue excelling as they age.

The boys are back in town, except now Robbe has ventured off to Spain. But that's okay, as Karl joins Thomas and Meg in front of the camera this week to recap their adventure in Kenya with Kiprun to unveil their new race shoe, the KD900X LAB - a 5K/10K racer which seems pretty promising. Plus, Meg recaps her time in D.C. for the start of the Asics Move Her Mind Event Series as well as racing the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. This episode is a pretty long one, so hopefully you're running enough miles out there...

We got Erin Azar back on the show, even though she’s officially too cool for us. This time, she’s talking casual convos with NFL players, her marathon training for London (using the Galloway method), and her very chill philosophy on doing less. Erin is down-to-earth and effortlessly funny and we hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

Thomas and Karl are off galavanting in Kenya, so we recorded this on a Friday, which is always questionable. We cover the usual nonsense, talk about the Nike Vaporfly, and petition some brand, somewhere, to take us up on our offer to have a real life unicorn in Boston. Robbe also gives us his review of the King of Moab, a trail running documentary that– spoiler alert– is pretty great. There’s also a lot of shoe talk at the end, so go listen wherever you enjoy your favorite podcasts.

SAYSKYExperience the premium quality and unique design of the S...

Thomas spoke with Kyle Awtry, founder of Sauri Running—a niche running brand based out of LA. 

If you've ever looked a Canadian goose in the eye, well, you know you've seen pure evil. Today on the podcast, we talk about encounters with geese, jury duty in Baltimore, shark cages, and Karl's latest emo hit titled "Heartbreak Hill." We also talk about a few other shoes, including more experiences in the Tracksmith Eliot Racer and the Veja Condor 3 Advanced.

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SAYSKY X PUMA

Experience the premium quality and unique design of the PUMA x SAYSKY collection. Check it out now at saysky...

One of the most fascinating athletes in the marathon scene right now, CJ Albertson is doing it his way and succeeding at every step of the way. From racking up ultra high mileage weeks to dropping it down to almost nothing in between cycles, to juggling running and a full-time job as a professor, coach and dad, all while managing to come out with top-10 finishes at the Olympic Trials, NYC Marathon, Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, and CIM. And that was just in 2024. This was such a great look inside the training and accomplishments of one of the best...

Spring means one thing– the reemergence of snot slugs on the faces of marathoners. Just like this podcast, running ain't pretty, but we're good about putting lipstick on a pig, so we try to do it here by throwing in some talk about the LA Marathon and NYC Half Marathon. Also, let's say it for the record: don't take NSAIDs before or during a race. But DO take Zbiotics* afterwards.

*Does not consitute as medical advice, consult your doctor before and after listening to The Drop or celebrating St. Paddy's with Karl

...

In-studio guests are always the best, and since Speedland is always doing their best to be the best, it only made sense that they'd come to Baltimore to hang out. Robbe talks with founders Dave Dombrow and Kevin Fallon about upcoming 2025 models, including the RX:FPY, the brand's first-ever road shoe (now available for pre-order). This is a great episode for all you industry folks and shoe nerds, to see what goes into getting a small footwear brand off the ground.
Check out Speedland: https://www.runspeedland.com/
Follow Speedland on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/runspeedland/<...

Southwest is basically Spirit Plus now, which makes this podcast Spirit Minus, but don’t worry– we’ll never charge you for all that baggage you’re carrying around. Zero guarantees this plane stays on course, because right after liftoff we veer right into King Richard III, Baltimore ice cream trucks, and our favorite variations of the Mandela Effect. Also, a couple of us signed up for the JFK 50 Miler, for better or for worse. Finally, we talk about the Tracksmith Eliot Racer, a surprisingly capable race day shoe with a super bouncy, dual layer ATPU and PEBAX midsole.

A good collab is a great thing, and the all-new Puma x Saysky footwear and apparel collection hits all the right spots. We head up to Puma HQ in Boston to check out the collection and sit down for a podcast discussion with Saysky founder Lars C. Pedersen, as well as Puma designers and product line managers. Get the background on how it all came together, what went into the designs, and how much teamwork it takes to get a collaboration off the ground and into your hands.
The Puma x Saysky collection features three key footwear silhouettes...

It's a sign of the times that we ended up talking about the Tokyo Marathon, but first– we cover all the food topics we can with cockroach milk, Wendy's Thin Mint Frostys, Hop Water, and maybe some watermelon sugar (sounds like a great flavor of LMNT). Then we tie it all together with the Puma ForeverRun Nitro 2, a very comfortable and bouncy stability shoe, with just the right amount of support.

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LMNT
The LMNT Sample Pack includes 8 of our drink mix flavors. This is the perfect offer for anyone wh...

We've made a huge mistake and gave Karl a dedicated microphone. Robbe's taken aback by his golden voice, but the show goes on with a recap of our visit to Puma headquarters, overview on the Hoka Clifton 10, first thoughts on the Norda 005, and Thomas's recap of a raucous weekend with Taylor, head of the BITR Dirt Division.

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Stop being tired, get better sleep with Lagoon Pillows. We use them every night, you should too. Use discount code BELIEVE for 15% off your first...

So many things happening in running right now, and not enough time to talk about them all. So we'll make sure to cover the rest. From Barcelona to BU to Blue from Old School, we keep you on the front lines of all the things you need to know, including Severance recaps and Starbucks rebrands. We also talk about the Diadora Gara Carbon 2, which we're pretty sure is just the Diadora Gara Carbon 1, but hey– it's still a great shoe.
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SOAR
We've partnered with SOAR to offer one lucky listener a SOAR Race Ves...

Some of our favorite episodes are the conversations with the people behind the shoes. Richard Kuchinsky is a running shoe designer and founder of the Directive Collective Design Studios. He's worked with a number of brands over the years, seeking to combine aesthetics with performance in the best way possible. Hope you enjoy this conversation with Thomas about shoe design, trends, and everything behind what you wear on your feet.
Follow Richard: https://www.instagram.com/rkuchinsky/
Follow Directive Collective: https://www.instagram.com/directivecollective/

Always fun when you have to re-record an entire episode. That's what we had to do this week (after recording one of our best episodes over). We tried to replicate it the best we could by recapping the Super Bowl and the Millrose Games, marveling at Skechers audacity and insistence on ripping off On, and reminsicing about smoky dive bars and 8-bit video games. We also talk about the On Cloudsurfer 2, a daily trainer and first shoe of the On "SOFT WINS" campaign.
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SOAR
We've partnered with SOAR to offer one lucky listener...

Live from the beautiful and warm waters of Miami, Florida, the Believe in the Run duo of Thomas and Meaghan chat with Val Weilert (Senior Designer Manager of Performance Road Footwear) and Rebekah Broh (Senior Director of Product) of Hoka about all things Bondi 9 and Cielo X1 2.0. Get a look behind the scenes of what goes into footwear design and development at Hoka.

Read the review of the Hoka Cielo X1 2.0 ➡ https://believeintherun.com/shoe-reviews/hoka-cielo-x1-2-0-review/

Read the review of the Hoka Bondi 9 ➡ https://believeintherun.com/shoe...