The Trailhead

Social Psychologist Emily Balcetis on Why the Wall Is Mental, Not Physical

May 12, 2026

When you hit the wall at mile 19 of a marathon (or mile 80 of a 100-miler) it feels like your body is the problem. Your legs are concrete, your stomach is in revolt, and the finish line might as well be on the moon. But what if the wall is mostly in your head? Emily Balcetis is a social psychologist who studies how vision and perception shape motivation: how what people literally see changes what they believe they can do. She runs the SPAM Lab at NYU and is the author of Clearer, Closer, Bett...

Why Your Brain Needs You to Run with Evolutionary Biologist David Raichlen

April 28, 2026

David Raichlen is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California whose research examines how human evolution, physical activity, and brain health are linked across the lifespan. In this conversation, Zoë and Brendan talk with David about what's actually happening in your brain when you go from couch to consistently active, why exercise might be the closest thing we have to a dementia preventative, and why his research on the runner's high, which famously involved ...

Rochelle Bilow on Food, Running, and Romance Novels

April 14, 2026

Rochelle Bilow is a romance novelist, food writer, French Culinary Institute graduate, former Bon Appétit editor, and current kitchen gear expert at Serious Eats, and she just came back to ultrarunning after nearly a decade away from the sport. In this conversation, Zoë and Brendan talk with Rochelle about what she learned cooking on a farm that culinary school never taught her, why she pivoted from heartbreak memoir to romance fiction, and what it's like to balance writing deadlines with ult...