“I think about when I was a kid and I would just go out and run hard and not worry about the result or what was the worst thing that could happen. I run my best when I run with the same mindset I had when I was 12.”
Jackie Gaughan qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials in her very first marathon. At 24 years old, she was the 18th-fastest qualifier in the field. (Her PR is a 2:27 from the 2023 Berlin Marathon.) In this conversation, Jackie talks about going from being an anxiety-riddled runner at Notre Dame to a four-time marathoner who finished 25th at the Trials. She talks about how running fits into her life as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, about her oldest daughter tendencies (she’s the oldest of four), and about racing with a Jackie Mindset.
FOLLOW JACKIE @jackie_gaughan
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What you’ll get on this episode:
- All about Jackie’s run today (1:45)
- Jackie’s decision not to run this year’s Boston Marathon (2:45)
- What Jackie’s job entails, and how she fits running in (5:00)
- How it felt going into the Trials as the 18th-fastest qualifier (7:00)
- What it means to run with a Jackie Mindset (8:00)
- How and why Jackie became a runner (9:35)
- On dealing with race-related and running-related anxiety (14:15)
- Why Jackie decided to move up to the marathon after college (16:10)
- What Jackie’s Trials training was like (18:05)
- What it was like in Orlando leading up to the Trials (23:25)
- On making the decision to walk during the race (28:00)
- How Jackie got through the toughest parts of the race, and what the finish line experience was like (34:00)
- What running looks like for Jackie right now (38:00)
- What it means to run the Jackie Gaughan way (41:00)
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