The Running Ground: The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson On Life, Legacy, and the Simplest of Sports

“My view on running is that it’s the simplest sport — but the fact of that simplicity opens up the possibility that if you think about it deeply and use it deeply in your life, it can be a tool to help you understand the really important and complicated stuff.”

By day, Nick Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic shaping the future of journalism. By early morning and often late evening, he's pounding the pavement between his Brooklyn home and Manhattan office, logging miles that many of us would consider as workouts. But somehow at age 49, he's still getting faster.

In 2021, Nick ran a 2:29 marathon. At 45, he broke the American age group record in the 50K. Now he's the author of “The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports.” It's a book that's part memoir, part meditation on how running shapes us, challenges us, and sometimes reveals more than we're ready to face. It's out this fall.

In this conversation, Nick opens up about growing up in the shadow of a gifted but troubled father, about breaking free from a years-long plateau in his running, and how sport has helped him find meaning both on and off the track. For Nick, running has never just been about the finish line or breaking records. It's about understanding who we are and who we want to be, which sometimes we learn in the process.

We recorded this in April, so there may be a few references to the Boston Marathon which Nick was slated to run as part of Puma's Project 3 but had to withdraw from the race due to a family matter.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠

Guest: Nick Thompson | ⁠@nxthompson on Instagram⁠

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠@jasminefehr on Instagram⁠

Mentioned in this episode…

Pre-order: The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports

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