Ep 107: More than Miles - The Healing Power of Running, with Ultrarunner Maggie Grehlinger and Dr. Michelle Quirk

What can ultrarunning teach us about healing, accessibility, and listening to our bodies?

In this episode of the Mindful Marathon Podcast, I’m joined by Maggie Grehlinger, an ultrarunner based in Philadelphia, school-based occupational therapist, and adaptive fitness coach. Maggie works with neurodivergent individuals and uses trauma-competent approaches in her work. She also believes deeply in the power of movement to support healing and well-being.

Maggie shares how she went from being a former high-school athlete who didn't particularly enjoy running to discovering road running during the pandemic, recovering from a femoral neck stress fracture, and eventually finding her way into trail and ultrarunning. Her injury changed the way she thought about running, not simply as a sport or a way to chase PRs, but as something meaningful that could bring more to her life.

We talk about:

What Maggie loves about trail and ultrarunning, and why slowing down can actually be part of the appeal

One of the biggest misconceptions about ultrarunning: that you have to run enormous amounts of mileage to train for an ultra

How her injury and a difficult season of life changed her relationship with running

What it means to use movement as a way to process emotions rather than trying to outrun them

Why traditional fitness culture can make movement feel inaccessible or unwelcoming

The importance of seeing people who look like you represented in endurance sports

How we can make existing fitness spaces more inclusive rather than creating separate spaces that may be inaccessible because of cost

The tricky distinction between challenging yourself and overriding your body's signals