In this episode: Kona delivered absolute chaos right out of the gate — Solvig collapsed multiple times and still somehow staggered to the line while Taylor kept her cool and stole the show, and the men’s race was equally cinematic with surprise podiums and penalties shaking up expectations. We nerd out on all the race drama — who flamed out from the heat, who played the island instead of their rivals, and why sticking to your own plan may be the only sane strategy in that oven of humidity. I rant (politely) about the broadcast — yes, some commentators were doing hot takes from another planet — and we debate whether medical should be empowered to pull athletes who are clearly in danger. Then we switch gears to the medical mailbag where Juliet and I walk through mRNA versus traditional vaccines, why boosters matter this season, and why getting jabbed is way less dramatic than catching the flu or Covid. Finally, we sit down with Matt Fitzgerald — he tells the brutal, honest story behind his book Dying to Run, his struggle with long Covid, and what it took to claw back into endurance racing. It’s part race recap, part public-health PSA, and part moving human story — all the highs, the lows, and the weird bits in between that make triathlon and life strangely fascinating. Matt Fitzgerald’s part of the show is quietly devastating and inspiring — he writes about getting mugged by long COVID, losing running (and, for a while, normal life), and then deciding to sign up for a 100K in the middle of a health crisis. Let me be clear: he didn’t do this for clicks. He did it to reclaim identity and to say goodbye to an unfinished race in his own terms. He walks us through the abyss of post-viral illness — neuropathy, post-exertional malaise, autonomic dysregulation — and how those things make ordinary exertion feel like a betrayal by your own body. The book, Dying to Run, is an account of stubbornness, strategy and weird kindnesses — like friends carrying SATCOM devices and pacers who’d consider calling for a helicopter because, yes, it got that intense. We talk about recovery in real, non-Instagram terms: it isn’t binary. Matt documents 35 symptoms (and there are 200+ associated with long COVID), and “recovery” becomes a fuzzy, stubborn progression. He’s improved significantly over six years, can run again, but still pays in post-exertional payback and ongoing autonomic weirdness. There’s also the sobering sidebar that the testing to diagnose these issues uncovered cardiac disease that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. His message is part stoic prayer, part love letter to community: you can’t always grit your way out of chronic illness, but you can outsmart it with careful planning, good support, and the occasional reckless, soulful act — like lining up for one more race. Segments: [19:40]- Medical Mailbag: Vaccines [48:03]- Interview: Matt Fitzgerald Links Matt's Facebook page@endurance_mastery on Instagram@mattfitwriter on XMatt on YouTube
