Run Your Story Podcast · Allison Gaillard

Josh Coleman - "The race is never over"

·1 hr 1 min·4 clips

Josh wrote the book to keep Erin's legacy alive for people who never met her.

1. Run Your Story Podcast centers on Josh Coleman and his book Moving Forward, Running With Grief. 2. Allison Gillyard hosts the interview and names Josh as an ultra-marathoner and author because his story connects running, grief, and community. 3. The episode asks how Josh keeps moving forward after Erin's death while honoring her legacy in his life and in the book. 4. Allison says she read the book ahead of time and cried because it is about grief, family, and how people respond when someone is hurting. 5. Josh says he wrote the book because he wanted to "capture her in the pages" so people who never met Erin could know who she was. 6. He describes being with Erin for "almost 20 years" and says her death felt like a "gut punch" during a period when they had just bought a house in Florida. 7. Josh says he did not want to "run from the grief" and instead chose to "move forward with the grief" because it stays with him. 8. He explains that writing the book helped him process his own grief, share pages of the story, and offer something useful to other people. 9. Allison points out Erin's love of Broadway and theater, and Josh says she introduced him to that world after he barely knew titles like "Cats" and "Fame." 10. He says they moved to New York partly so Erin could be closer to Broadway and see the shows she loved. 11. Josh says Erin was an introvert offstage but had strong stage presence when performing and often worked as an assistant director behind the scenes. 12. He says their relationship worked because she had her theater life and he had running, and each became the other's biggest fan. 13. Josh traces his running back to childhood, when he loved to run, won the mile in sixth grade, and later did track and cross country. 14. He says he drifted away from running during his party years, then returned in his late twenties and later ran marathons in Kansas City and New Jersey. 15. He describes qualifying for Boston with a 3:09 at the 2018 New Jersey Marathon and then missing the cutoff after a 2019 attempt with a foot injury. 16. Josh says COVID and the move to Florida pushed him into daily running, then trails, then ultras, with his first 50K being Sweat, Swat and Swear in May 2023. 17. He says patience came from Erin, and that lesson shows up in ultrarunning where "the race is never over" and long races allow rest, recovery, and another push. 18. Josh describes Big Horn 100, Tahoe 200, Bigfoot, Leadville, and Moab 240 as examples of grinding through sickness, cutoffs, weather, and DNF decisions. 19. The interview is conversational and emotional, with Allison often affirming his points and connecting them back to Run Your Story's emphasis on showing up for people. 20. People who love endurance sports, grief stories, and practical support ideas will get the most from it, while listeners avoiding emotional memoir and race detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A reflective running conversation about grief, showing up for people, and keeping forward motion alive.

Allison Gillyard opens with real energy and keeps Josh Coleman, author of Moving Forward, Running With Grief, at the center of a conversation about grief, running, and what it means to show up for other people.

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Why you'd press play

For a run-side conversation about grief, ultras, and showing up for your people.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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