This extra-special episode of Cinematic Underdogs welcomes Juan — former track star walk-on, unabashed Steve Prefontaine super-fan, and current rockstar psychology PhD student at ASU.
Studying the intersections of exercise & dieting (among other factors), Juan is teeming with the type of esoteric insights we cherish so much on the pod: offering a uniquely immersive, heady, and self-reflexive perspective and all around good vibes.
Discussing everything from the logistics & phenomenology of competitive running, to the tenuous conjectures & over-localized correlations we tend to make between what we eat and how we perform, to the larger-than-life persona of our boy Pre, this conversation is for anyone as titillated as we are by the subcultural nuances of collegiate running, biometrics, and the dire economics of amateur athletes.
Mostly though, we debate the merits of 1996's Without Limits vis-à-vis 1997's Prefontaine: exploring the commensurately incisive & elusive mythology of an iconic young man from Coos Bay, OR, whose impassioned devotion to running inspired these indelible biopics and so much more.
