Elite Running

Guests: Jared Ward, Olympic Marathoner; Ed Eyestone, Two-Time Olympian, BYU Track and Field Head Coach, BYU Cross-Country Head Coach. Here are three sets of numbers for you: 2 hours, 13 minutes. 26.2 miles. And 2 and a half.  Two hours and 13 minutes is the time it took BYU graduate Jared Ward to run 26.2 miles in the Los Angeles Marathon on February 13 and qualify for the US Olympic team competing in Rio this summer.  Two and a half is the number of years Jared Ward has been running marathons.  It’s a remarkable rise to elite competition for the 27-year-old father of two. Here’s another interesting thing: Ward has a master’s degree in statistics and teaches BYU classes on the subject. His master’s thesis, by the way, looked at pacing strategies to win a marathon.  Ward and BYU track coach Ed Eyestone discuss with us the mechanics of winning a marathon.