A Coffee Table. A Dog Crate. The Top of the Empire State Building. Jacob Cohen on Quitting Investment Banking to Become the Internet's 5K Guy
About this episode
Jacob Cohen discusses his journey from investment banking to becoming a viral sensation in the running community.
Jacob Cohen has run a 5K in a dog crate, a port-a-potty, and on top of the Empire State Building–-and no, he is not stopping anytime soon. Before he was the internet's favorite 5K guy, Cohen was an investment banker in Atlanta, overweight and grinding through a banking job while his content dream sat on the back burner. Running, however, changed everything. It helped him lose more than 40 pounds, and a run club of full-time creators convinced him to hit record. He posted for a year to 2,000 followers before a joke 5K around his coffee table in October 2025 lit the fuse: it led to 100,000 followers in 50 days and a full-blown escalation of the most absurd run locations imaginable. In this conversation with Dominic, Cohen pulls back the curtain on the videos everyone's friends keep sending them. He addresses the skeptics head-on (yes, he really does the 5Ks; the watch accuracy is another story), reveals his most physically miserable run location, and explains why the World Cup crowd was in on the bit. He also opens up about the deeper mission: rejecting the unattainable, chicken-and-rice version of fitness the internet sold him at his lowest, and proving working out can actually be…
More episodes of THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
- From One Spot Off the Olympic Team to 12:49 5k and a Pre Classic Title: Parker Wolfe on Consistency, Beating Grant Fisher, and His Rookie Pro Year For The Ages
- How He Races Pro Trails on 25 Miles a Week: Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau on Sub-Ultra Racing, Creative Cross-Training, Creative Cross-Training, and the Freedom of Running
- Inside the Penn State 800m System: Handal Roban on the 1:42 Breakthrough, Why He Stopped Chasing Times, and the Mantra Behind Every Race
- How Will Garinger Built a Run Club Spanning 85 Cities and 7 Nations: The Loneliness Epidemic, Identity, and Getting Outside Yourself
- From 3:57 in High School to a 3:48 Pro Debut: Gary Martin on the NCAA's Brutal Depth, Signing with Brooks, and Chasing Josh Kerr in Seattle
- She Almost Hung Up the Spikes. Then Everything Changed. Notre Dame Hurdler Reese Sanders on Comeback, Confidence, and Running for No One but Herself
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST podcast page.