"There's this sense of all these people, they came out to watch you do this weird, crazy thing. And you're running toward the thing you've been working toward for many months, and all of these people are behind you, and people beside you trying to do the same thing. It's very special."
First, Emily Oster started running. Then she started running fast. Then she ran a marathon: the California International Marathon in 2023, where she finished in a Boston Qualifying time of 3:17:39. Now, Emily is officially a Boston Marathoner, having completed this year's race in a personal best time of 3:14:53. In this episode, the economist and best-selling author breaks it all down, including what her training was like this time around, what the energy in the city felt like for a first-time Boston Marathoner, and why she briefly considered calling it quits at mile 23.
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In this episode:
- Emily's snapshot moment from the 2025 Boston Marathon (3:30)
- How Emily has been feeling since Boston (5:00)
- Emily's road to the Boston Marathon, via CIM (6:00)
- Emily's impression of Boston (10:15)
- On hard work, genetics, and human limits (12:30)
- Emily's experience training through an icy New England winter, and how this training cycle was different from CIM 2023 (17:30)
- Emily's relationship with coach Kaitlin Goodman (20:20)
- The race plan (23:45)
- Emily's Boston Marathon weekend plans (24:25)
- How Emily was feeling on race morning, and the journey to the start line (35:20)
- The start line energy (38:35)
- Emily's "very specific chunking plan" (40:55)
- What it was like starting to run the Boston Marathon (44:00)
- Emily's take on the Newton hills (50:20)
- "That was the moment where I was like, I am not feeling good, I can't believe there are more miles" (53:00)
- Right on Hereford, left on Boylston (56:25)
- Now what? (1:00:45)
- What's dominating Emily's inbox these days? (1:04:55)
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