5 Podcasts to Run To

At the Austin Marathon Expo this year I had a chance to talk to an awesome older couple who had traveled in to run from out of town. We both remarked that we liked the song that was playing and how it would be a good running song. Then he added something I did not expect, he said, “I don’t listen to music anymore while I run, we have switched to books and podcasts”. The couple lives out in the country and did all of their marathon training on one stretch of road and to “mix things up” they had moved to listening to books and podcasts. I don’t know their names, but they may have changed my life.

Here are 5 Podcasts options to change up your running entertainment.

1. How Did This Get Made?

Have you ever seen a movie so bad that it’s amazing? Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas want to hear about it! We’ll watch it with our funniest friends, and report back to you with the results.

Subscribe to How Did This Get Made?

2. Stuff to Blow Your Mind

Deep in the back of your mind, you’ve always had the feeling that there’s something strange about reality. There is. Join Robert and Joe as they examine neurological quandaries, cosmic mysteries, evolutionary marvels and our transhuman future on Stuff To Blow Your Mind, a podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

Subscribe to Stuff to Blow Your Mind

3. Plumbing In The Death Star

In which we ask the important questions in pop culture and dissect fictional universes. Because seriously, who deals with super weapon sanitation and imperial employee agreements? If you’re looking for serious discussions, this isn’t the podcast you’re looking for and we are so sorry about that joke.New episode every Monday!

Subscribe to Plumbing in the Death Star

4. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

NPR’s weekly current events quiz. Have a laugh and test your news knowledge while figuring out what’s real and what we’ve made up.

Subscribe to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me

5. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Dan Carlin’s subjects, varying from the Bronze Age to World War I and beyond, unfold through dramatic readings, during which he speculates on what might have happened in alternate timelines for as long as necessary (four hours!) to tell his story. But just because Carlin plays master of ceremonies on Hardcore History doesn’t mean that the truth suffers. Carlin is a showman, and his performance elevates dry lecture to entertainment. Warning: it is hardcore and can be graphic.

Subscribe to Hardcore History