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Mark Dowdle on Backyard Ultras, Keeping Promises to Yourself, and What Hour 60 Reveals

For The Long Run

About this episode

Mark Dowdle is a backyard ultra competitor who found running after college football and lacrosse, not because he loved the sport, but because he needed somewhere to put everything he was carrying. What started as 3:30 a.m. runs to eliminate excuses has turned into one of the more compelling stories in ultra running right now — a guy who washes windows and umpires youth baseball between races, shares his unfiltered thoughts on social media like he's writing in his journal, and keeps showing up to races specifically to find out who he is when everything is telling him to stop.

This conversation goes deep on suffering, faith, identity, and what it actually means to keep a promise to yourself.

Topics covered:

  • From football and lacrosse to 3:30 a.m. runs and how David Goggins started it
  • Working three part-time jobs while chasing a dream that hadn't paid off yet
  • Why running is what he does, not who he is
  • How he uses hour 60 of a backyard ultra to find out if he's been keeping his promises
  • The Nike Boston ad and what it means to actually stand for something
  • How faith gives him the freedom to explore without the outcome defining him
  • What his wife said on the drive home from BPN that stopped him cold

    • Stay connected:

    Mark on Instagram: @mark.dowdle

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