EDR.#34: “it is what I came for, but it also isn’t what I came for”: Noah Schutte on his debut marathon

Well, it turns out, it’s true what they say, the marathon is a bit of a difficult nut to crack: even for the elite of us runners. In this episode, I speak with local Leiden legend, Noah Schutte, about his marathon debut, which took place on 20th October 2024. 

I first interviewed Noah back in Episode 14, way back in July. In that episode, we talk more generally about his running journey - not sure how to not use the word ‘journey’ - and a fair bit about his coaches and training practices. 

In this conversation, we speak just about how the marathon went down: preparation, immediate post-race feelings, pacing and what happened when things started to not go as planned. One thing that struck me during the conversation, was that it seemed like Noah experienced something that so many of us experience in every race we do: our legs not working the way we’d like them to. Even though things went awry on this day, I’m pleased to have heard Noah say that it won’t be his last marathon and that - if anything - it has made him more curious about how to unpick the marathon puzzle. 

This a rather relaxed and unstructured conversation, but we do our best to stay on point. At the end of the conversation, Noah generously asks me about my Eindhoven marathon. I tried to keep it as brief as possible for those who have already listened to my review. Another thing that I took from Noah’s thinking about his marathon, was his beautiful simplicity in just stating, on his Strava post, ‘it wasn’t in my legs today’: yep, that’s just how it is sometimes. Or most of the times. There was no laborious mentioning of wind, circumstances or preparation. Just, ‘my legs weren’t up to it.’ One thing is for sure though, Noah will be back and firing sooner rather than later. 

This is probably the last marathon review episode for a while. Upcoming episodes include discussions on the gendered nature of running; making running-related art, as well as an interview with an author of a rather well-selling book on running in Ethiopia. As always, I seek to mix up the kinds of episodes I do on this podcast: from research-based episodes, to those which deal with the nuts and bolts of so-called ‘performance’ running. I’m trying to mix up the discourses of running: it’s something that many of us love doing and it is also a sport which is subject to various problematic cultural and political structures. But more on that another time. 

For the moment, enough of my chattering and I hope you enjoy this chat with Noah Schutte. 

*Accompanying image by Erik van Leeuwen

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Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press

Strava: Andy Fuller

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Twitter/X: @readingsideways

Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com