Running News Daily

He has toddler twins and a very big job, but the cabinet member makes running a priority.

When you’re a “transportation guy,” as Pete Buttigieg calls himself, there’s no better place to run than Gravelly Point Park, in Arlington, Virginia, under the flight path of planes on final approach at Reagan Washington National Airport.

“It feels as though the planes are trying to land right between your eyes, and then you watch them go over your head,” said Buttigieg, the 41-year-old U.S. Secretary of Transportation. “It’s just really fun and motivating.”

Buttigieg—who in 2021 was sworn in as the youngest member of President Biden’s Cabinet—is (with all respect due to a government leader) a bit of a dork when it comes to planes.

“There it is!” he said, as a United Airbus passed close overhead. “You hear that swizzling noise in the air? That’s wake turbulence!”

“Turbulent” is a word Buttigieg uses regularly, although his political career has been mostly smooth sailing. In 2011, he was elected mayor of his hometown of South Bend, Indiana. Eight years later, he entered the Democratic presidential race as a longshot candidate and won the Iowa caucuses. He ended his bid in March 2020 and endorsed the man who’s now his boss, Joe Biden. 

Recently Buttigieg squeezed a midmorning run with this reporter into a typically hectic day at the helm of a 53,000-employee department: getting his two-year-old twins fed, dressed, and off to daycare; meeting with the German minister of transportation; welcoming the newly confirmed FAA administrator to his post; meeting with colleagues at the Commerce Department; talking permitting processes at the White House; and then attending a state dinner for the Prime Minister of Australia. Wardrobe requirements included a suit, running clothes, and a tuxedo.

On days like that, running is a source of satisfaction and stress relief. As a cabinet secretary, Buttigieg is required to train with security; his detail trails behind him on a bike while he runs, or waits by the water’s edge while he swims. (When members of Buttigieg’s open-water swimming group tried to correct a hitch in the Secretary’s stroke, his security team protested, “Don’t fix that! It’s the only way we know which one is him!”) 

For Buttigieg, knowing Secret Service members’ jobs revolve around his workout schedule is the ultimate in accountability. “It’s definitely kept me from hitting the snooze button more than once,” he said.

Apart from this interview, conducted at sub-10-minute-mile pace, and the occasional bit of bipartisan “jogging diplomacy,” as he calls runs with members of Congress, Buttigieg tends not to mix work with training. He runs about five days a week, usually early in the morning, when most people are too focused on their own workouts to recognize him.

“I get spotted a little bit, but not enough to disrupt my training,” Buttigieg said. “Once in a while somebody wants to take a selfie when I’m mid-run, and I’m never sure how to handle that. Usually I just do it.” 

Humble run beginnings

As a teenager, Buttigieg did not take to running naturally.

“It’s difficult to overstate how unathletic I was,” said Buttigieg, who joined the track and cross-country teams at St. Joseph’s High School in South Bend. “I was the kid who was so far behind at a cross-country meet that I might take a wrong turn because there was nobody left on the course. So it meant a lot to me, years later, when I got to be speedier.”

His progression from back-of-the-packer to one of the fittest members of the executive branch took years. As an undergrad at Harvard, Buttigieg would run on the treadmill or along the Charles River, but never more than three to four miles. At Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg added rowing to his endurance repertoire. By his mid 20s, running had become a “comfortable habit”—and a gratifying one.

“There’s a level of coordination that I may never have to be good at basketball,” he said. “But running—the more you do it, the more rewarding it becomes.”

When Buttigieg joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 2009, he excelled at the 1.5-mile run that was part of the requisite fitness test, getting close to a perfect score of 9 minutes flat.

“For a while I was the fastest guy in my unit, which felt great because I was always the slowest guy in my high school,” he said. 

In 2014, during a seven-month deployment as a counterintelligence officer in Afghanistan, Buttigieg ran a half marathon at the U.S. base in Bagram. In addition to the typical instructions about course markers and fluid stations, the pre-race briefing included warnings to participants about the potential for rocket attacks. He ran his current PR of 1:42.

A triathlon two years in the making

Buttigieg continued to run throughout his mayorship of South Bend and his 2019–20 presidential run. In 2021, his first year as transportation secretary, he was training for a half-Ironman in Michigan when he and husband, Chasten, adopted premature newborn twins, Penelope and Gus. Suddenly, instead of miles, Buttigieg was counting ounces of formula. Long training runs were scrapped during sleepless nights and Gus’s hospitalization with RSV.

It took until this year before Buttigieg could try another tri. Preparing for a half-Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) is a major undertaking for anyone. But when you’ve got 2-year-olds, Buttigieg said, “physically redirecting and restraining them is a huge part of parenting.” He followed a 16-week training plan he got online and relied on Chasten to hold down the fort with their kids on weekend mornings while he did long runs or four-hour bike rides.

“I would try to make up for it later in the day, but there’s no way I could’ve done this without Chasten being very supportive,” Buttigieg said. “While there’s an ethos of self-discovery and self-reliance in endurance sports, it really does bring out how dependent you can be on others to support you.”

During the race, held in mid-September in Michigan, Chasten and the kids hung out at a nearby playground—“we were playing with fire when it came to naptime”—and were at the finish line when “Papa” crossed in 6 hours and 31 minutes, largely on the strength of a 2:05 half marathon leg.

“It was pretty thrilling, although there was a fair amount of pain,” Buttigieg said. “But the kids really got into it, and that’s part of why you do this, to be in good health for the people you love.”

Buttigieg said he was wrecked for a couple of days post-race, but he now hopes to take his fitness out for an occasional spin—perhaps a run at a half marathon PR. But he won’t undertake another 6-hour race anytime soon.

“I don’t think I can do something this time intensive again while I’ve got this job,” he said. “It’s too much to ask of Chasten.”

A runner’s perspective on infrastructure

After he averaged about 25 miles per week during his triathlon buildup, now it’s back to shorter workouts for Buttigieg. And with more than 100 miles of traffic-separated pathways up and down the Potomac, the nation’s capital is an endurance athlete’s paradise. “There are few better places to run in the whole world, I would argue,” he said. 

The Washington area represents the kind of well-connected, accessible and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure the Department of Transportation wants to build more of through its National Roadway Safety program. For Buttigieg, helping communities around the country build separate paths for running and biking is about a population’s safety as much as its fitness.

“I worry sometimes that a path like this is viewed as purely ornamental,” he said. “I would argue that the recreational case is pretty compelling, but also fundamentally, safety is on the line. The very layout of our roads can either incentivize or discourage active transportation, and they can either make it safer or more dangerous.”

Buttigieg formed a new perspective on road design in 2016, when he was part of a group of U.S. mayors who traveled to Denmark. Buttigieg saw 1970s-era photos of Copenhagen, which now rivals Amsterdam for highest rate of bike commuting, and recognized the look of a lot of car-dependent American cities.

“That’s when the lightbulb went off,” he said. “It’s not some immutable Nordic cultural characteristic that changed things. It was some conscious decisions made by planners to make it more attractive and safer. By doing that, they reduced congestion, they reduced pollution, and over the long run, they increased safety.”

Buttigieg has a lot of priorities beyond encouraging active transportation. He wants to train more air traffic controllers. Strengthen HazMat requirements for railroads. Build more roads and bridges. Budget cuts or a government shutdown would make it harder to accomplish those projects.

When political roadblocks lead to frustration, he works through it with exercise. He is a transportation secretary who gets to where he needs to be, psychologically and physically, by putting one foot in front of the other. 

“Especially in the early morning when the dawn’s just breaking over the river here, it’s hard not to feel even in our troubled Washington that there’s some magnificence to our nation’s capital,” Buttigieg said. “You count your blessings after a run, if not always during one.”

The future of American distance running may have just announced itself.

Luke Surface, an 8th-grade student-athlete from North Raleigh Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, delivered a performance that stunned the track and field community after taking on some of the nation’s best high school runners at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Competing at the legendary Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon — one of the most iconic venues in American distance running — Surface lined up in the boys championship 5,000 meters against a field dominated by high school seniors, including several athletes preparing to compete at the NCAA Division I level.

Despite being one of the youngest runners in the race, the 14-year-old held his own against the elite competition, finishing eighth in an incredible 14:25.88. The performance set a new national middle school record, averaging approximately 4:39 per mile for more than three miles.

That kind of time is fast enough to win many high school state championships across the United States and meets qualifying standards for several major NCAA Division I conference competitions — a remarkable achievement for a runner who has not yet entered high school.

But Surface’s historic 5,000m performance was only the latest chapter in a season filled with record-breaking moments.

Earlier in May, he clocked 8:52.03 for 3,200 meters at the NCISAA Division I State Championships in North Carolina, breaking another national middle school record. His converted two-mile time of 8:55.12 surpassed the previous world-best mark for a 14-year-old age group, previously held by Vincent Recupero.

During the previous cross-country season, Surface also made headlines when he ran 15:12 at the adidas XC Challenge, finishing second while competing against runners who were several years older.

Across cross country, two miles, and the 5,000 meters, Surface has continued to prove that his talent is far beyond his age group. While he still has four years of high school competition ahead before reaching the college level, his performances have already placed him among the most exciting young distance runners to watch.

The American high school 5,000-meter record currently stands at 13:32, set by Lex Young in 2023 — a mark Surface is not yet close to challenging. However, his remarkable progression at such a young age has caught the attention of the running world, with many eager to follow how far his extraordinary journey can go.

For now, Luke Surface remains an eighth grader rewriting the record books — and his story is only beginning.

DOHA, Qatar – Ethiopian distance running is once again making a powerful statement on the global stage. Following the Doha Diamond League meeting, Ethiopia has achieved a remarkable clean sweep of the women's 3000m/5000m standings, occupying all eight leading positions in one of the most competitive disciplines in world athletics.

Leading the charge is Likina Amebaw, who sits comfortably at the top of the rankings with 22 points. Close behind is fellow Ethiopian star Freweyni Hailu on 14 points, while Medina Eisa occupies third place with 12 points. The dominance continues through the rest of the leaderboard, with Senayet Getachew, Hawi Abera, Aleshign Baweke, Marta Alemayo, and Bernesh Dessie completing an extraordinary Ethiopian monopoly of the standings.

The achievement highlights Ethiopia's exceptional depth in women's distance running, where a new generation of athletes continues to emerge and challenge for global honours. Rather than relying on a single standout performer, Ethiopia has assembled a formidable squad capable of controlling races and collecting points across multiple Diamond League meetings.

While the current standings paint a picture of complete Ethiopian supremacy, the battle for the Diamond League title is far from over. Several meetings remain on the road to the season finale, leaving plenty of opportunities for rivals to close the gap and for positions within the Ethiopian contingent to shift dramatically.

For now, however, the spotlight belongs firmly to Ethiopia. The East African powerhouse has transformed the women's 3000m/5000m standings into an all-Ethiopian affair, sending a clear message to the rest of the world that the race for Diamond League glory will likely run through Addis Ababa.

The question now is whether Likina Amebaw can maintain her advantage and finish the season as the overall leader, whether Freweyni Hailu or Medina Eisa can mount a successful challenge, or whether another athlete will produce a late-season surge to rewrite the script.

One thing is certain: the road to the Diamond League Final promises a fascinating battle among some of the finest distance runners on the planet.

Kenyan athletics superstar and world champion Beatrice Chebet has officially entered a beautiful new chapter in her life after welcoming a baby boy.

The 26-year-old track sensation, born on 5 March 2000, has built a remarkable legacy as one of the greatest distance runners of her generation. Chebet is a world record holder in the 5000m, 10,000m and road 5km, with a career decorated by historic victories on the biggest stages.

She made history at the 2024 Summer Olympics by winning gold medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m, before achieving the same remarkable double at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Her medal collection also includes a 5000m silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and bronze at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Beyond the track, Chebet has also dominated cross country, becoming a three-time world champion after winning the junior title in 2019 and senior titles in 2023 and 2024. She has also claimed major 5000m victories at the 2018 World U20 Championships, 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 African Championships in Athletics.

Now, the Kenyan star is celebrating a different kind of milestone — becoming a mother.

Sharing the joyful news, Chebet introduced her newborn son with a heartfelt message filled with love and excitement:

“Tiny hands, tiny feet, and a love so big! A beautiful new chapter begins. Welcome to our world our sweet little baby boy!”

The arrival of her son marks a special moment away from competition, as the world champion embraces motherhood while carrying the pride of a nation that has watched her achieve greatness.

Messages of congratulations have poured in from fans and the athletics community, celebrating the new chapter for one of Kenya’s most successful athletes.

As Beatrice Chebet adds motherhood to her list of remarkable achievements, the champion now begins a new journey filled with love, joy, and unforgettable moments with her baby boy. 

Jake Wightman delivered a masterclass in championship racing as he surged to the men's 800m title at the UK Athletics Championships, holding off a determined challenge from Ben Pattison in a thrilling finish.

In a race defined by patience, positioning, and precise execution, Wightman waited for the perfect moment to strike before unleashing his finishing kick down the home straight. The former world champion crossed the line in 1:45.40, just doing enough to edge Pattison and secure the national crown.

The contest lived up to expectations, bringing together two of Britain's finest middle-distance talents in a tactical battle where every move carried significance. With the pace controlled through the early stages, the field remained tightly packed, setting the stage for a dramatic final lap.

As the bell rang, the intensity immediately rose. Pattison looked poised to seize control and pushed hard in the closing metres, but Wightman's experience and race awareness proved decisive. Drawing on years of competing at the highest level, he maintained his composure under pressure and found the extra gear required to stay ahead when it mattered most.

The victory marks another significant chapter in Wightman's decorated career and serves as a timely statement of intent as the international season gathers momentum. More importantly, it showcased the qualities that have made him one of Britain's most respected middle-distance athletes — tactical intelligence, resilience, and an ability to deliver in the biggest moments.

For Pattison, the narrow defeat will provide encouragement rather than disappointment. His performance confirmed his growing status among Britain's elite 800m runners and highlighted the depth of talent currently thriving in the event.

But on this occasion, the spotlight belonged to Wightman. In a race where the margins were razor-thin, he executed his plan to perfection and walked away with the UK Athletics Championship title.

Remember the name Gout Gout.

At just 18 years old, the Australian sprint prodigy is already commanding global attention and fueling conversations about the future of track and field. In a sport constantly searching for its next superstar, Gout is rapidly emerging as one of the brightest talents the world has seen in years.

His latest statement came at the prestigious Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, where he stepped onto the track alongside some of sprinting's biggest names, including reigning world champion Noah Lyles. Far from being overwhelmed by the occasion, the teenager delivered a composed and confident performance, finishing third in the 150m in 14.96 seconds against two of the fastest athletes on the planet.

Yet impressive as that performance was, it is not the result that has the athletics community buzzing most.

Earlier this year, Gout stunned the sprinting world by clocking an astonishing 19.67 seconds for 200m, setting a new world Under-20 record. The performance instantly elevated him from promising prospect to genuine phenomenon.

What makes the achievement even more remarkable is the historical context. At the same age, Gout was faster than sprint legend Usain Bolt. Comparisons to the Jamaican icon are inevitable, not because records demand them, but because the raw numbers are impossible to ignore.

Of course, Gout's journey is only beginning. Like any young athlete, he still has room to grow, refine his craft, and gain valuable experience at the highest level. The road from teenage sensation to global champion is rarely straightforward.

But there is no denying the extraordinary potential that lies within him.

His speed, composure, and ability to perform under pressure have already marked him out as one of athletics' most exciting young stars. More importantly, he possesses the kind of talent that inspires belief that a new era of sprinting may be on the horizon.

The sport has always thrived on rivalries that capture the imagination of fans across the globe. With established champions such as Noah Lyles currently leading the way, the emergence of Gout Gout adds an intriguing new chapter to sprinting's future.

The next great rivalry may already be taking shape.

And one of its leading figures is still only a teenager.

For now, the message is simple: remember the name Gout Gout. The future is arriving faster than anyone expected.