682. Emily Oster, 3:17 Marathoner

"Whenever we do something that we really invest in and that's hard — and that we're not sure we can do — it's a reminder of the 'we can do hard things' aspect. And I'll always get to say that I did this."

Emily Oster is an economist, a professor at Brown University, and a best-selling author of books including Expecting Better, Cribsheet, and The Family Firm. And she just made her marathon debut at the California International Marathon (CIM), where she finished in 3 hours 17 minutes and 39 seconds. In this conversation, Emily talks about her decision to run 26.2 miles (which she twice swore she would never do, during her first and second appearances on the Ali on the Run Show), about working with coach Kaitlin Goodman and sports dietitian Meghann Featherstun, and about her race-day experience.

FOLLOW EMILY: @ProfEmilyOster

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What you'll get on this episode:

• Emily's evolution as a runner, and why she made the decision to run a marathon this year (2:00)
• Why Emily decided to start working with coach Kaitlin Goodman, and why they chose the California International Marathon (4:40)
• On choosing a "fast" race course (18:00)
• What Emily learned from working with sports dietitian Meghann Featherstun (21:10)
• What Emily's CIM training was like (25:40)
• On pre-race nervous, training stressors, and race goals (37:30)
• The road to the start line (45:00)
• Emily's highs and lows from CIM 2023 (48:45)
• What it was like becoming a marathoner for the first time (1:01:05)

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