Lindsey Nelson: From Childhood Cancer to Endurance Racing

She’s the runner you’ve probably seen breaking the tape at NYC street races, calmly keeping the fast pace on a Nike long run, or somehow smiling after an all-day ultra effort of running 100 miles in 24 hours. My guest is my close friend and training partner, Lindsey Nelson, a 2:53 marathoner who pairs serious speed with serious life responsibility as a nurse practitioner student.

We go back to the beginning, including Lindsey’s childhood cancer story. She shares how a bump on her forehead led to a diagnosis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis, a rare blood cancer, and how surgery and years of follow-up shaped the way she sees health, purpose, and risk. That experience becomes the seed for her nursing path and a lens for understanding grit that isn’t performative, it’s practiced.

From there we get into the running that made her a standout in the New York City running community: OSR bread runs where navigation is part of the race, winning the OSR 30 perimeter of Manhattan, and ultra relay chaos like The Speed Project and Southbound 400. She breaks down what it takes to keep showing up when you’re sleep-deprived, running short sprint legs on a highway, or lining up for a backyard ultra and grinding to 100 miles in 24 hours.

We also talk training without a coach, chasing a sub-2:50 marathon, and managing MODY diabetes (maturity onset diabetes of the young) with a glucose monitor and smart fueling. If you like endurance stories that mix performance, community, and real-world obstacles, you’ll feel right at home here. Subscribe, share this with a running friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.