Heather Maclean

"I’ve tried to take on that mindset for the last few years at these races, of, 'How do I show up as authentically as possible, as the Ali I know I am and want to be, while having fun, while being professional… What does that look like?' And I feel like I kind of nailed it this time around."

There’s nowhere I’d rather be on the third Monday in April than at the Boston Marathon finish line! This year, I was honored to be asked back to perform a variety of roles in Boston. I was one of the announcers at the Boston 5K, I hosted two panels and one live show, I was one of the race announcers at the finish on Marathon Monday, and I was the finish line reporter for the world feed broadcast. It was a fun, rewarding weekend that included quality time with my favorite people, my biggest live event ever, a million finish line hugs, a few too many after-parties, and so much more.

SPONSORS: 

• THE AJC PEACHTREE ROAD RACE: The lottery for this year's most famous Fourth of July 10K is now open. Enter today for your chance to run Atlanta's iconic race.
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In this episode:

• Friday: the press conference, the Emma & Jess live show, the Shokz show, dinner at Saltie Girl (get the lobster roll!), a finish line dance party, and a New Balance party at Sweeney’s (1:50)
• Saturday: the 5K, the New Balance show with Heather MacLean, and the marathon relay at The Track (22:30)
• Sunday: a windy long run, bottle decorating, a Newbury Street stroll, sound check, and a broadcast meeting (41:40)
• Marathon Monday: all the stories from the finish line, including friends’ finishes, pro finishes, Paul Revere, Des’s final Boston, and the after parties (54:20)

Follow Ali:

• Instagram @aliontherun1
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"I'm a Boston girlie through and through."

Welcome to The Track at New Balance during Boston Marathon weekend! This was a 725-person party featuring New Balance Boston athlete and Olympian Heather MacLean, and it was one for the books. Heather had us all laughing with stories about shopping carts, witch family members, tinned fish Tok, and so much more. Thank you to everyone who joined us — here's to the next one!

FOLLOW HEATHER @heather_maclean31

SPONSOR: 

• New Balance: Until April 25, get 20% off Ali's favorite things using code ALIRUN20 at checkout!

Follow Ali:

• Instagram @aliontherun1
• Join the Facebook group
• Support on Patreon
• Subscribe to the newsletter

SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!

Olympic middle-distance star and Massachusetts native Heather MacLean makes her debut on the show, ready to break down her latest success on the track.

Heather, a Tokyo 2021 Olympic runner, started 2025 with a bang–winning the mile race at the Indoor Grand Prix in Boston in February, smashing a 4:23.32 while setting a meet record.

Later that month, Heather ran at the Last Chance National Qualifier at BU, running a dazzling 4:17.01 mile, a new record for her. This makes her the fourth-fastest women indoor mile runner ever. 

Heather followed all of that up with a 1500m appearance at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, where she finished seventh with a time of 4:04.45.

Heather’s resume is sparkling to say the least: she came in third in the 2020 Trials to earn her spot in the 1,500m in Tokyo; she was a 2022 US Indoor 1,500m champion and 1,500m World Finalist; and has PRs of 3:58.3 in the outdoor 1,500m and 1:58.7 in the 800m. 

Heather, who is now a member of the New Balance Boston team run by coach Mark Coogan, grew up in Peabody, Massachusetts and ran for the University of Massachusetts. She holds the 800m, 1,000m, 1,500m women’s records at the school, and became the first woman from UMass to earn NCAA D-1 All-American honors in cross country in 2017.

In today’s conversation, Heather walks me through her recent successful indoor season, how her self-awareness and self-belief have propelled her forward, what she wants to accomplish in the years to come, inside her training, and much more. 

I've looked up to Heather for years, so it was a pleasure to have the chance to speak with her and learn from her! Take the time to listen. 

Tap into the Heather MacLean Special.

  

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The 2025 U.S. Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta delivered fireworks, with PUMA Elite’s Alex Maier and Taylor Roe claiming national titles and locking in their spots for the World Road Running Championships. Roe’s late-race surge past Weini Kelati underscored Oklahoma State’s pipeline of elite talent.

Meanwhile, indoor track is officially in chaos mode. Heather MacLean ran 4:17.01 for the mile, which also unknowingly broke the U.S. indoor 1500m record. Nico Young continued his meteoric rise, clocking 12:51.56 for 5000m—second-fastest by an American ever. Yared Nuguse chased the mile world record but settled for 3:47.22. Also at BU – Graham Blanks broke 7:30 in the 3K and Aidan McCarthy ran a historic 1:45.19 in the 800m.

With NCAA Indoors, World Indoors, and outdoor season approaching fast, the distance scene is more competitive than ever. Tune in as we break it all done.

Bonus: Harry Styles ran 3:24 for the Tokyo Marathon.

Heather MacLean is a returning guest on the show and she was in Raleigh, North Carolina (where I live) for the Sir Walter Mile this week. So we got to record this interview in person, which is always exciting!! Heather runs with Team New Balance Boston. She ran in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 in ... more »

Did you miss us?!

The U.S. Olympic Trials are back and better than ever in the second half of the 8-day program, with incredible drama, upsets, and underdog stories across the board.

The race of the day (and perhaps the week?) was the women’s steeplechase, where a fast early pace and a topsy-turvy final lap ended with a whole slew of personal bests and rewriting of the record books. Tokyo Olympian Val Constien ended up on top thanks to a phenomenal final 400m, running 9:03.22 to PR by 11 seconds and land at #3 on the U.S. all-time list. Constien had ACL surgery last year and after a long road back is better than ever.

We got our first peeks at the 400m hurdles crew, and the main takeaway from the first round is that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Rai Benjamin are looking like world beaters out for an easy jog. McLaughlin-Levrone in particular shut it down entirely over the final two laps and still ran 53.07, the third-fastest performance in the world this year behind her own season’s best and Femke Bol’s world lead.

Speaking of first looks, Erriyon Knighton doesn’t seem to have missed a step as he ran his first 200m in four months, cruising through the first round with a 20.15 just behind Noah Lyles’s 20.10 in an earlier heat. And a stacked final is set for the 5000m, where reigning U.S. champ Abdi Nur takes on two of the three members of Team USA in the 10,000m, the 1500m Trials champ, and two NCAA champs.

The middle-distance rounds will continue to get more and more cutthroat, with the women’s 1500m featuring Elle St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, Cory McGee, Emily MacKay, Elise Cranny, Nikki Hiltz, Sinclaire Johnson, and more heading to the semis and Olympians Bryce Hoppel and Clayton Murphy looking ready to once again do battle in the 800m.

"I feel the most confident I’ve ever been."

Emily Mackay is having a heck of a year on the run! The Team New Balance Boston athlete earned a bronze medal at World Indoor Championships in the 1500m earlier this year, and has kicked off her outdoor season with strong performances including a personal best at the Prefontaine Classic, where she ran 3:59.76. In this conversation, Emily reflects back on her early running days, and shares why she dreamed of going pro with the NB Boston team (including teammates Elle Purrier St. Pierre and Heather MacLean) and coach Mark Coogan. She talks about the confidence it took to make that major move with 400m to go at World Indoor Championships, and about why that race was both a confidence-booster and a big learning experience. And, with the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials looming, Emily — who is absolutely one to watch in the 1500 — talks about the pressure to perform in an Olympic year.

FOLLOW EMILY @emily_mac7

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• Vuori: Click here for 20% off your first Vuori purchase.
• UCAN: Click here to get a FREE UCAN energy bar sample pack (you’ll just pay the cost of shipping), and use code ALI for 20% off your next UCAN order.

What you’ll get on this episode:

• What Emily’s watching right now (3:00)
• What a day in the life of a professional middle-distance runner is like (6:10)
• All about Emily’s 1500m personal best at the Prefontaine Classic (10:30)
• The confidence it took to make a major move at World Indoor Championships with 400m to go (15:00)
• Was that a breakthrough race for Emily? (18:40)
• The pressure to perform in an Olympic year (27:30)
• What it’s like when your teammates are your competitors on race day, and how Emily ended up on Team NB Boston (31:10)
• How — and why — Emily became a runner (39:35)
• What training looks like right now, with the Trials on the horizon (42:05)
• What will it take to make the U.S. women’s 1500m Olympic team? (46:25)

Follow Ali:

• Instagram @aliontherun1
• Join the Facebook group
• Twitter @aliontherun1
• Support on Patreon
• Subscribe to the newsletter

SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!

Heather MacLean shoots her shot at a Dunkin sponsorship and shares the email she wrote to the Dunkin marketing team. She also shares how she celebrated making her first Olympic team and World Indoor team. This is the fifth installment in our 'Best of 2022' mini series, highlighting the top stories and most listened to moments of 2022.

Don't miss out on our huge holiday giveaway! To enter the giveaway, sauce us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and DM proof to @the_beer_mile or email us at podcast@beermile.com

-- Listen to the full episode with Heather MacLean: Beer Mile Podcast Ep76 with Heather MacLean

-- Cop yourself the Beer Mile Beanie

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Topics

• 0:00 Introducing Heather MacLean
• 3:59 Big Holiday Giveaway
• 4:48 Heather MacLean
• 24:23 Outro presented by MANSCAPED and KNOCKAROUND

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Chris Chavez and Kyle Merber hosted a live show with athletes from Pints and PRs Night at the NYRR RunCenter ft. The New Balance Run Hub. It was a night of free drinks, food and New Balance swag for those in attendance. We had the chance to kick it with some of the stars of Team NB. Watch on YouTube or listen to our night of fun interviews and pre-race banter.

Special guests for this live show: Emma Coburn, Cory McGee, Heather MacLean, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot and Adel Mechaal.

Special thanks to New Balance Running and New York Road Runners!

Pro races will be on Sunday from 12-1 p.m. EST. You will be able to watch the live on NBC.

On Sunday night, we will be going live sometime after 7 p.m. EST on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel for some end-of-season interviews with the athletes. Subscribe to the channel and don’t miss out.

Read our full race preview here: https://citiusmag.substack.com/p/2022-fifth-avenue-mile-preview

Julie-Anne moved to Boston from Canada to go all-in on professional running with Team New Balance Boston this past year. She holds a 14:57 5000m personal best and competed at the Tokyo Olympics, representing Canada. She reflects on her move to the US and discusses what it likes to train with the powerhouse NB women's group, which includes Elle Purrier St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, Millie Paladino, Sarah McDonald, Katrina Coogan, and Síofra Cléirigh Büttner.

Julie-Anne is coming off a stress reaction in her tibia, which she got at the most inopportune time before World Champs this year. We talk about her return to training a bunch of other topics, including halloween costumes, living a minimalist lifestyle, her taste in guys, Jack Harlow, the NB Boston facility, US vs Canada culture differences, cooking, piano, and more. 

Get uncut/uncensored and bonus content, plus show your support for the show by joining us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/beermile

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Help us grow the show:

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"It shows, in the past two years, how much we’ve both improved because we’ve had each other to push each other the whole way."

Meet Roisin Willis and Juliette Whittaker: the fastest high schoolers in American history. Not only have Roisin and Juliette spent their respective senior years breaking records and taking home world championships medals, but they've formed a very special long-distance friendship along the way — though it won't be long-distance for much longer. Both Roisin (from Stevens Point, WI) and Juliette (from Laurel, MD) are headed to Stanford University this fall. In this conversation, we get to know the 800m runners whose running resumes are already extensive. They both competed at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials last summer, as high school juniors. In April, Roisin was part of the distance medley relay world record-breaking team alongside Olympians Elle Purrier St. Pierre, Heather MacLean, and Kendall Ellis. In May, Juliette won the 800m race at Trials of Miles Track Night NYC, not only breaking the tape, but breaking 2:00 for the first time. Weeks later, she broke the 800m high school national record at USATF U20 Outdoor Championships. To cap off an exciting year and a very long track season, Roisin and Juliette got to represent Team USA at World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, where they both competed in the 800 — and became world gold and bronze medalists, respectively, in the process. Now, they're resting up, reflecting, and getting ready to head to college — together.

SPONSORS:

• UCAN: Click here and use code ALI for 20% off your next UCAN order.
• THE FIRSTENERGY AKRON MARATHON, HALF MARATHON, & TEAM RELAY: Click here to register, and use code ALI20 to get $20 off your race registration.

What you’ll get on this episode:

• Juliette and Roisin’s plans to head to Stanford University later this month (5:45)
• How Roisin got into running (9:45)
• How Juliette got into running (12:45)
• The story of how Juliette and Roisin met, and how they became friends (16:00)
• Roisin talks about qualifying for the Olympic Track & Field Trials at Trials of Miles last summer (22:40)
• What it was like for Roisin and Juliette to compete at last summer’s Olympic Trials (24:00)
• How Roisin and Juliette navigate the pressure of being the fastest high schoolers in the country (26:50)
• Roisin and Juliette’s race-day rituals (30:30)
• Juliette reflects on breaking 2:00 in the 800m for the first time at Trials of Miles this summer (37:45)
• How Roisin has worked on her confidence over the years (42:40)
• Roisin’s experience breaking the DMR world record with Team New Balance (46:15)
• All about the day Juliette broke the high school national record (48:50)
• What it was like making Team USA for the World Athletics U20 Championships (51:00)
• Reflecting on competing at World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia (57:30)
• On the decision to attend Stanford, and who committed first (1:09:00)

For more, check out:

Watch Roisin & Juliette compete at World Athletics U20 Championships

Follow Juliette:

• Instagram @jwhittaker22

Follow Roisin:

• Instagram @roisin.willis

Follow Ali:

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SUPPORT the Ali on the Run Show! If you’re enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Spread the run love. And if you liked this episode, share it with your friends!

Heather MacLean joins the show to reflect on the 2022 World Indoor Track World Champs in Belgrade, her comeback from surgery, making her first Olympic team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, why she deserves a Dunkin Donuts sponsorship, her affinity toward crystals, and a whole lot more. If you know a Dunkin Donuts exec, spread the word so we can land Heather this Dunkin sponsorship she so badly deserves. 

Video version: https://youtu.be/G-BavcCIYF4

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Topics

• 0:00 Intro
• 9:45 Welcome Heather MacLean
• 11:05 Traveling home and 2022 season plans
• 13:45 Reflecting on the 2022 World Indoor Track Championships in Belgrade, Serbia
• 18:20 How Heather trains for championship racing
• 20:15 The importance of mental strength and prepping for the 2022 US and World Outdoor Champs
• 23:25 Olympic Rings tattoos
• 26:35 Dunkin Donuts sponsorship manifestation
• 32:35 Story behind Heather’s Twitter handle
• 34:15 Heather’s Dunkin habits and drink of choice
• 39:55 Heather’s letter to Dunkin to ask for a sponsorship
• 42:30 Growing up with 7 kids in the family
• 44:45 Crystals
• 52:15 Energy Vortexes in Sedona
• 54:37 Claddagh Ring
• 55:35 Dating a non-runner
• 57:15 Working at a beer garden after college while training to get a pro running contract
• 1:01:45 Heather’s surgery and recovery
• 1:15:25 Listener questions
• 1:21:00 Celebration after making the Olympic team
• 1:23:00 Celebration after making the Indoor World Team
• 1:25:30 Heather’s biggest weakness

Help us grow the show:

1. Sauce us a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
2. Join our Patreon for exclusive, uncut and uncensored content + big giveaways: https://www.patreon.com/beermile
3. Subscribe to Beer Mile Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/beermilemedia

Social

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