The Ben True pod - An amazing listen. True reveals he pays Dan Curts $20k a year to train with him

Great interview. He put to words my thoughts about the shoes and being able to handle larger training loads. Very interesting that he doesn’t handle the carbon plates well for workouts. I haven’t heard that from anyone who’s worn them.

camus wrote:

I remember seeing True run the NYC Half a few years ago. He ran well but when asked about moving up to 26.2, he stated he had no interest in the marathon

Ben True had a contract to run the NYC Marathon in 2020 - so at least last year he changed his mind positively about the marathon.

We'll see if this fast 10k changed his mind.

Loved the interview. If you didn’t already root for Ben, you should now. Been a fan for years but this interview made me an even bigger fan

It was a great interview. True is a gentleman, thoughtful and open.... and the podcast is great despite the whiners here.

oldlegs wrote:

It was a great interview. True is a gentleman, thoughtful and open.... and the podcast is great despite the whiners here.

My goodness

It is amazing how often Rojo trips over his words on the podcast. Can barely get a coherent sentence out - sounds drunk the entire time.

obvious answer wrote:

It is amazing how often Rojo trips over his words on the podcast. Can barely get a coherent sentence out - sounds drunk the entire time.

I don’t know what your talking about

An ideal sponsor for Ben would be Dahlie Sportswear, https://www.dahlie.com/en-us/men/shop-by-activity/running/ — Sondre Moen just signed with them and now he wears all shoes he wants; it looks he prefers new Asics to any other carbon shoes.

agip wrote:

camus wrote:

I remember seeing True run the NYC Half a few years ago. He ran well but when asked about moving up to 26.2, he stated he had no interest in the marathon

Ben True had a contract to run the NYC Marathon in 2020

He said he had a contract to run the NYC half (which he's already run), not the marathon

jamin wrote:

You guys rule ?

This is you at 35.

Ex D1 G5 wrote:

I will listen to anyone else interview Ben True, just not this bunch. There's good reason I never see anyone promoting this pod outside this website. Though Chris Chavez is way too chummy with his interview subjects, he has far greater acumen and integrity.

Yea, that's always been a bit weird for me about Chris Chavez - he seems more focused on being friends with his subjects (track & field athletes, pro runners) than being an actual reporter.

Don't really follow other pro sports or read/watch other sports media so is this common in other sports (blurry lines between media and athletes)?

Hats off to him for a big PR at his age.

Hardloper wrote:

agip wrote:

Ben True had a contract to run the NYC Marathon in 2020

He said he had a contract to run the NYC half (which he's already run), not the marathon

hmmm I heard a different interview in which I believe he said the full marathon. Maybe I heard wrong or he mispoke.

If your baseless speculation about super shoes cost Ben a sponsor, expect a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of dollars

Listened to the whole thing. Always liked True and I will be rooting for him to make a team.

Nah, I think this "I'm too cool to care about times" is just an attempt to make out like you're some elite hard-core and competitive badass. Face it, most everyone cares about time in track. Or would you say people don't care when world records are set? ..and think of it this way - thousands, even millions of people participate in races on the track (as well as other surfaces). Most of them are in no position to place high, so of course time becomes their primary focus. Take your typical Boston or NYC marathon - you have 50,000 competitors, and maybe the top couple of hundred at most are focusing on place. Everyone else, when asked how they did, will respond with a time. They're not going to say "I got 3815th".

Ben is an interesting guy. I'm a fan but his stubbornness is a bit puzzling. He told Saucony that he would never have an active social media presence and he said that until this fall he has been offering $20k a year to runners to train with him in New Hampshire. If he had that kind of money to spend on a training partner that when unused for 6 years he could have used a portion of it to hire someone to manage his instagram account.

High Fidelity wrote:

rojo wrote:

Find out what True thinks about the super shoes. He's got some really interesting observations.

Find out how he ran a 26+ second pb at age 35.

Find out how he's become rejuvenated by finally finding a training partner for the 1st time in 6 years. The unsponsored True reveals he is PAYING Dan Curts $20,000 a year to train with him and it's going really well.

To start things off, I read the following quote to True from another messageboard thread as I loved it.

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/02/ben-true-podcast-grant-holloway-indoor/

If your baseless speculation about super shoes cost Ben a sponsor, expect a lawsuit for hundreds of thousands of dollars

Why would True using super shoes cost him a sponsor? It is understood that super shoes also helped the BTC guys in the same race, and he was right with them. True is unsponsored, so it's not like he was breaking a contract using whatever spikes he was using.

The Original Poster wrote:

Ben is an interesting guy. I'm a fan but his stubbornness is a bit puzzling. He told Saucony that he would never have an active social media presence and he said that until this fall he has been offering $20k a year to runners to train with him in New Hampshire. If he had that kind of money to spend on a training partner that when unused for 6 years he could have used a portion of it to hire someone to manage his instagram account.

If you listened to the entire Pod you'd have heard him talk about how others pay people to do their socials, but that isn't him being "True" (sorry couldn't resist) to himself. I enjoyed his attitude of doing what he loves for the reasons that he does, while also not allowing outside elements interfere with who he is and how he lives his life as a runner. As others have said, I was a fan before and am a bigger fan now. A very transparent interview. Go Ben, stay True!