In this episode, One Year No Beer Co-Founder Andy Ramage interviews Matt Frazier. Matt is a marathoner and ultra-runner from Baltimore. He is the creator of No Meat Athlete, a site which has helped many people discover the healthiest and happiest version of themselves, being active and eating a plant-based diet; he is also the author of its popular eponymous book, which is very well-regarded by renowned vegans, marathoners and health enthusiasts worldwide. He is a star in the world of vegan athletes.

The goal

Matt reveals here that he actually hated running his whole life, until he started to get into fitness during his college days. On a whim, he decided to join a marathon, which didn’t really go well for him at first, but the experience was enough to get him hooked.

He eventually came up with the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Initially, he was at least three minutes behind the required pace for the running race (required: ~7:15/mile, Matt’s was 11 minutes), but that just fueled his enthusiasm to reach the goal. “I was obsessed,” he claims. He then spent 6 years working on qualifying for the marathon, but was just not making good enough progress. He plateaued.

The diet change

For ethical reasons completely unrelated to his Boston Marathon goal, Matt ‘stopped eating animals.’ He admits that when he started the No Meat Athlete site, his first thought was that it would make for an interesting story to write on a blog if he’ll go vegetarian and keep trying to qualify for Boston. Six months after he started the blog and went vegan, Matt qualified for the Boston Marathon.

Breaking conventions

Listen as Matt relates how people really grabbed on to the idea that one can be a vegetarian and still be a successful athlete. He got into ultra-running, he embraced veganism completely, and his health and performance became better than ever. He saw his site take a life of its own, wrote a book about it, and started No Meat Athlete running groups around the world.

But much like being alcohol free, vegetarianism is still a novelty. When we think about it, it shouldn’t be a surprise that eating plants – fruits and vegetables – is the way to go to be healthier and become a better athlete. And yet, it does not seem to be the popular thinking. Matt streamlines the problem here perfectly, “The thought that we are meant to eat meat and that’s what we need to do to be healthy, runs so deep, it’s hard to change.” But he suggests that we can break this and other unseemly conventions with healthy changes, through small steps.

Matt also shares in this episode some of his highly-recommended books that changed his life:

1. Awaken the Giant Within, by Tony Robbins
2. Talent Is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin
3. Turning Pro, by Steven Pressfield

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MATT FRAZIER’S LINKS Website: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/No Meat Athlete Podcast: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/radio-archive/ No Meat Athlete Book: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/book-info/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/NoMeatAthlete/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoMeatAthlete/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nomeatathlete_official/