Nicholas Thompson, "The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports" (Random House, 2025)

About this episode

Nicholas Thompson and professors discuss the deeper meanings of running and its impact on memory and relationships.

In this episode, Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, and University of Puerto Rico professors Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera and Maritza Stanchich, discuss something deceptively simple: putting one foot in front of the other—and how that act can reshape the way we perceive the world. Seizing an idea from Steve Prefontaine—that running can be an act of creation—this episode considers how running can extend beyond the physical and extend into memory, relationships, and inheritance. They discuss how running can be a way of thinking, a way of loving, and, at times, a way of understanding who we are. The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports (Harper/Random House, 2025). Nuevos Horizontes is the podcast of the Instituto Nuevos Horizontes at the Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. Quotes, organizations, books, athletes and scholars mentioned in this conversation: Tony Ruiz, Central Park Track Club “There’s a lot you can get from Tony Ruiz’s life that you can’t get through mine.” -Nicholas Thompson “The dignity of enduring the complexity of my father.…she plays a major role in shaping me.” -Nicholas Thompson, about his mother “It’s really hard when people are still alive…

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guests: Nicholas Thompson, Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, Maritza Stanchich

Topics covered

• running
• father-son relationships
• memory
• inheritance
• self-discovery
• sports culture

Keywords

• running
• father-son
• memory
• inheritance
• sports
• self-discovery
• The Atlantic

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Atlantic, Instituto Nuevos Horizontes, University of Puerto Rico

Books & works: The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports

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