Dying to Run, by Matt Fitzgerald

In this episode, Alan and Liz welcome back frequent-flyer guest Matt Fitzgerald to talk about his rawest and most personal book yet: Dying to Run: An Athlete's Quest for One More Finish. This is Matt like you've never read him. After long COVID took away not just running but his ability to move, work, and feel like himself, he made the reckless, wonderful decision to attempt a 100-kilometer ultramarathon in record-breaking desert heat. We dig into what long COVID actually is and why it can turn exercise into something close to poison, the brutal post-exertional malaise scale Matt created for a medical case study, and why he signed up for the Javelina Jundred giving himself just a 10 percent chance of even reaching the start line. We also get into the Stoic mindset that carried him through, the art of controlling the controllables when the desert hits 99 degrees, the surprising power of simply having something to anticipate again, one very relatable wardrobe malfunction five minutes before the gun, and why he believes it does not really matter how the story ends. It is a conversation about endurance in the truest sense of the word, and about what it means to keep going when your body betrays you.

About the Book Dying to Run is Matt Fitzgerald's most personal book to date, part memoir and part meditation on survival and self-acceptance. When long COVID struck, running became a distant memory, doctors had no answers, and every day blurred into fatigue and mental fog. With no promise of recovery, Matt set his sights on an audacious gamble: finishing the Javelina Jundred, a 100-kilometer ultramarathon across Arizona's Sonoran Desert, during a record-breaking heat wave.

• The Gamble: With his body refusing to cooperate and no medical fix in sight, Matt bets everything on one more finish, chasing closure and, just maybe, redemption in the scorching desert.
• The Mindset: Drawing on Stoic philosophy, modern psychology, and hard-won experience, he learns to separate what he can control from what he cannot, and to be as wise as he is tough.
• The Bigger Question: More than a race report, this is an honest reckoning with how we find meaning, and keep moving, when our bodies fail us.

Dying to Run is published by 80/20 Publishing and distributed by Simon & Schuster, arriving in print, digital, and audio in September.

About the Author Matt Fitzgerald is an acclaimed endurance sports journalist, certified sports nutritionist, and bestselling author of nearly 40 books on running, nutrition, and mental toughness. Titles we have covered on the podcast include Running the Dream, 80/20 Coaching, The Comeback Quotient, How to Run Your Perfect Race, and Run Like a Pro (Even If You're Slow). He is the co-founder of 80/20 Endurance and head coach of Dream Run Camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, which he opened during his illness as a way to pivot into serving fellow runners.

A lifelong runner who has raced since age 11, Matt faced his hardest challenge yet when long COVID upended his life, the story he tells in Dying to Run. He lives in Flagstaff with his wife, Nataki, and their dog, Clementine.

Have you read Dying to Run, or fought your own way back from illness or injury? We would love to hear what kept you going. Reach out and let us know!

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