January 19, 2022
This week’s guest is Ben Eidenschink, a Wisconsin native who currently lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado. Ben recently made waves when he finished 6th overall at the 2022 USATF Cross Country Championships as an unsponsored, relatively unheralded runner. He was one-half of the winning team in the “Em ‘n Ben” co-ed scoring challenge with his girlfriend, Alicia Monson, where Ben Blankenship and Emily Infeld challenged all professionals to pair up in a scoring duel.
Ben has personal bests of 13:56 for 5000m and 28:20 for 10,000m, but this was a breakout performance on the national stage and surely the start of a big 2022 season. We talked about his attitude as he races against pros, his journey from the University of Wisconsin to Colorado, and why he’s not moving to the roads any time soon. We also covered lucky underwear, training with the Coffee Club, high school message board drama, and some truly-excellent quarantine shenanigans in Madison.
If you didn’t know Ben’s name before, you better remember it now as he’s not going anywhere and he’s only getting better.
Enjoy the conversation, don’t forget to leave us a rating and a review if you enjoyed the episode, and don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on Instagram at @runyourmouthpod.
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Quotes and Notes
On choosing the University of Wisconsin as a Wisconsin native:
“Chris Solinsky grew up pretty close to where I’m from, so watching him compete and seeing these in-state guys go to Wisconsin and run really well made me want to go there as well and continue the tradition.”
On arriving on the scene at U.S. XC Champs:
“Not many people know who I am, and I kinda like that. To me, it’s nice flying under the radar a little bit. It’s motivating when I get out there and there’s multiple Olympians in the field, and I’m still able to race with those guys.”
On continuing to run competitively:
“I’d definitely say I have unfinished business. I see that I have a lot of room left to grow and there’s a lot left for me to accomplish. It might be weird to ‘normal people’ who ask why I’m still running after college, but I love racing and I’m still improving. The work is paying off.”
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.