Johannes Motschmann (or Mojo), shares his journey with running, including his early junior success, representing his country and then travelling to America to study and compete at Iona College, New York. At Iona, he became an NCAA All-American cross country runner and a nationally ranked 3km steeple chaser. After completing an undergrad and master’s degree in Psychology in 2019, he signed a professional running contract with Adidas and Pro Team Berlin. As a professional athlete he made his marathon debut in 2:14:38! At the end of 2020, Mojo decided to not solely focus on running anymore and began a degree in medicine. Listen now to hear how Mojo is balancing his new lifestyle, his passion for animals and veganism, and how it changed his running career!

The title really says it all! Enjoy!

Nicole Montgomery is a Loughborough University student athlete from Colorado. In 2019, Nicole graduated from the University of Kansas as a successful NCAA Division 1 sprinter and middle distance runner. Nicole left Kansas and headed to London to live and work, before beginning her  masters degree in Marketing. In this episode Nicole talks about the difficulty of balancing the student athlete lifestyle, as well as dealing with injuries and pressures from coaches to be a “lean” runner. Tune in to hear our advice for moving across the world for work/academics and how to throw yourself into a new way of life! Check out Keeping Pace with Nicole Montgomery: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=799331760421398

This episode follows along from last week to bring you advice and support for finding your purpose, identity and motivation after competitive sport. Emily Coffman is the fastest growing advocate for athlete wellness in life after sport. Listen to find out about her experience as a coxswain in rowing, at the University of Oklahoma. In this position, she felt pressured to maintain a certain weight, which led to her feeling burnt out from her sport. Emily had to rediscover her purpose and learn how to exercise and fuel her body away from rowing. Emily is also the creator of the top 1% health and fitness podcast, Girls Gone Healthy. As a coach and speaker, she educates and encourages others on how to live their best and healthiest life. Listen now to follow her journey and feel empowered!  Check out Emily's podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2FhPKoubxWixMN1Iy06tnf?si=1JzxQk1gRs2V_PjcQNdVVQ Follow Emily on Instagram: @_emilycoffman 

Thomas Miller is a fellow Sport and Exercise Psychology Masters student at Loughborough University. Thomas competed for England in the decathlon and the 100 metre hurdles. He continued his progress during his undergraduate degree at Loughborough but unfortunately he sustained an injury during his second year. He received surgery and battled with his injury for a few years, before being forced to hang up his spikes in 2020. In this episode, Thomas shares his mental health journey, what it’s like to be an LGBTQ+ member in sport, and how his career-ending injury has affected his body image and identity.

To kick off the next series of Running Minds, my inspiring and brave friend, Hannah Knights is here to share her journey with running and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). Hannah is a Loughborough University graduate, former heptathlete and sprinter, turned distance runner! Hannah completed a masters in Exercise as Medicine in 2020 and since then, her passion and knowledge for fitness and nutrition has grown. Recently she spoke out about her own experience with RED-S via Instagram and through a blog published in the Athlete Place. In this episode, we dive into why she switched sports, her RED-S and Orthorexia journey and how she is promoting healthy lifestyle habits and discussion in sport. Scroll to 15:30 for an overview of RED-S, 18:45 for Hannah's experience with RED-S and 35:00 for her experience with Orthorexia. For Hannah's blog post: https://www.theathleteplace.com/the-honest-truth-my-experience-of-relative-energy-deficiency-in-sport-red-s/ In this episode we discuss the benefits of making intentions versus goals for 2021, inspired by one of Victoria Garrick's Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hi24spjL8k&t=516s  We recommend these other podcasts that cover RED-S related content: - The Female Athlete Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fMn7drvFsRbN3v07v2Gdm?si=4BsDWYhdRCK8BT_O66tGrQ - Female Athlete Nutrition Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6XJHcUjgbWdoRfCO3C4W8i?si=3kRnqzmHSHC99uKZ5J19SQ - The Train Brave Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3KA5TU5ZpvV9DhtbtRGI8c?si=6YOpenm-STGb6Vtyad4HEQ For specific Eating Disorder content, see the Strong Runner Chick Radio episode with Dr Paula Quatronomi, an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Boston University: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6h7xDZB0p5SJHXJSQzcThj?si=nCqXmqaTRhOIFlOWuvCT7g *NOTE: RED-S is a condition which is prevalent in both women and men. This episode focuses on the female perspective.  For more information on RED-S in both genders, check out: http://health4performance.co.uk/updates/ For a helpful guide of where to find support, check out: https://athletesinbalance.com/what-now/resources/

Millie is a fellow Brit who flew across the pond to study and compete in the NCAA system. Prior to her move, she excelled over the 800m and 1500m on the track and made big improvements in cross country during her years as a senior girl. At Temple University, her best cross country performance came in her final race, with a 22nd place finish at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional championships in 2019. On the outdoor track, she won the American Athletic Conference 1500m, with a time of 4:16 in 2019. On the indoor track, she broke the school’s 1km record twice, with a final time of 2:46.  In February 2020, she ran a fast 4:36 in the mile, which earned her her first ever NCAA championships selection. But devastatingly, her chance to perform on the national stage as the 11th seed, was stopped because of Covid-19. However, Millie has left Temple with a positive attitude. Not only did she excel in running, but she also had one of the highest grade point averages of any athlete in the NCAA! Her Economics degree has helped her secure a place on a masters program this October, in International Business and Strategic Management at York University. In this episode we laugh about being a Brit in America, discuss running in the NCAA vs the UK and Millie tells me about her new food blog, Millseats. We also dive deep into body image, her mental health experience as a collegiate athlete and the pros and cons of social media.

Malcolm Moreno Beningo is a Spaniard taking the Big Apple by storm! He is a recent Finance and International Studies graduate and soccer player from Iona College. In 2019, he captained the Iona Men’s soccer team to their first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship win in program history! Malcolm became one of the team's best ever defenders, winning the MAAC Defender of the Year in 2019 and all conference First Team honours. He was also named in the 2019 United Soccer Coaches' NCAA Division I Men's All-East Region Second Team, which means that he was nationally recognised for his athletic performances. Malcolm opens up about his injuries and how sport has helped his mental health. He encourages athletes and college students to speak up, share their stories and seek help. We talk about his multi-sport youth success and his journey to the USA. As an international athlete, he shares his experience with acclimatising to the cultural differences and developing his American accent! Earlier this year he had to decide between becoming a professional football (soccer) player and working as a Broker on Wall Street. Listen to find out which path he chose!

Malcolm Moreno, Iona College graduate, former Iona Men's Soccer Captain and now a broker on Wall Street, talks about his experience with racism and what the BLM movement means to him. "Love gets you a lot of places. If you decide to give someone kindness, compassion and understanding, they are eventually going to listen. Black people and non-whites, we are just crying to be listened to."

This episode features a good friend of mine and a phenomenal athlete, Lily Taylor! Lily began playing squash at the age of 6 and experienced a lot of success at junior level. Lily has represented England many times and she was the top ranked under 19 player in the country. She continued her junior level success into her time at the University of the West of England from which she graduated with a degree in Business and Accounting last year. During her time at university, she became the World University Championships Women's Singles and team winner in 2018. A few months later she beat the #62 best player in the world to win the British University Championships. Following her graduation in the summer of 2019, Lily began her PSA, Professional Squash Association world tour in October 2019 which got off to a great start with her PSA title win in Norway that November. Earlier this year she reached her highest world senior ranking of 75th in the world and hopes to improve on that in the years to come.  Listen to Lily talk about her journey into this under-appreciated sport, how she wants it to develop and how her family, who lives and breathes squash has helped her into her professional journey. We talk about what it is like having her Dad as her coach, balancing sport and socialising, her battles with injury and overcoming mental health struggles to become the athlete she is today.