Episode 90 - Lionel Ortega; Former UNM Athlete and Professional Runner

This week I had the pleasure to talk to Lionel Ortega. He is a former UNM Athlete and Professional Runner. He covers a lot about his career in this conversation. We go from how he got into running, into some highlights, and into his work for Nike and Adidas. It was great to hear him look back on his career and express that running is a part of his life, not his life.

He talked about the three words that changed his life and about scrapping by to get to marathons and other races. I really enjoyed hearing him talk about how running is still a part of his life. He may not compete anymore, but he still gets something from it.

Lionel learned early to not be afraid to ask for your worth. I think that is an important lesson. It's important to have a healthy idea of what you are worth in your own eyes. And we also get to the story of him getting arrested for running on UNM's track. 

Yesterday was the 2021 NM Cross Country State Championships. It's easy to look at the champions and think about what they will accomplish, but hopefully we'll be hearing from all of the athletes that competed. Maybe that's fun runs, maybe it's running in college. I just hope the love of running sticks with them.

So the seasons change and we start looking toward track season, cooler weather, slower runs. Stretch, layer, and keep running, New Mexico.