Ken Rideout on Extreme Running, Mindset Hacks, Beer Miles, and Confidence

Ken Rideout on Extreme Running, Mindset Hacks, Beer Miles, and Confidence

From The Strength Running Podcast by Jason Fitzgerald

March 12, 2026 · 1h 3m

About this episode

Ken Rideout shares his journey from addiction to becoming one of the fastest 50+ runners, discussing mindset, extreme events, and confidence building.

Ken Rideout is one of the fastest 50+ runners in the world, clocking 2:28 at age 50. A former addict, he turned his focus to running and became unstoppable, winning the 155-mile Gobi Desert March and the 2021 NYC Marathon Master's Division. His new book, Everything You Want is on the Other Side of Hard: A Memoir , is now available. Ken's on the podcast today to discuss: His extraordinary mindset skills and how he stays driven What draws him to extreme events (and how that can help you) His experience at a "Celebrity Beer Mile" How he's built confidence as a runner and his tips for you Follow Ken on Instagram for even more inspiration. Thank you Lever! Lever is back as a sponsor and they're giving away a FREE Lever system! Enter today at this link (the giveaway runs through the end of March) and for a bonus entry, follow Lever and Jason on Instagram. Lever attaches to any treadmill and you hook into it like a harness. It effectively makes you lighter, enabling you to run more volume than you normally could with reduced injury risk, or helping you return to running after an injury. Lever allows you to do more running with less risk. So maybe you want to build more mileage, or run…

People in this episode

Host: Jason Fitzgerald

Guest: Ken Rideout

Topics covered

  • extreme running
  • mindset
  • confidence
  • beer mile
  • marathon
  • addiction recovery

Keywords

  • running
  • mindset hacks
  • Gobi Desert March
  • NYC Marathon
  • beer mile
  • confidence
  • addiction recovery

Sponsors

Lever

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Everything You Want is on the Other Side of Hard: A Memoir

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