The Controversy Around Eric's Sub-5 + How This Podcast Is Affecting Families

No prepared notes this week, which means full chaos.

Discussed in this episode:

– Eric's sub-five mile controversy: Someone DM'd Aisha the Strava elevation profile

– Aisha is now up to three miles straight at 9,000 feet in Crested Butte; a barre class that cost $25, which was $8 above her personal tipping point.

– Giro d'Italia access rage: HBO Max has put live sports behind an additional paywall. Aisha's cutoff is $17/month.

– Hantavirus on a Dutch cruise ship: Three deaths, eight total cases, a very long incubation period, and the Canary Islands said absolutely not, you are staying at sea. Aisha spent the majority of her non-working, non-painting hours this week on hantavirus memes and UFO memes

– Pentagon UFO files: Released with minimal fanfare. Eric is not buying it as anything other than a distraction from the Epstein files.

– Spencer Pratt is running for mayor of LA: Won 89% of a debate poll. Reality TV people are built for these moments.

– Met Gala recap: Mondo Duplantis and fiancée Desiré Inglander attended. Desiré has been described by a mutual friend of Aisha as the hottest female elf from Lord of the Rings that could ever exist in the world.

– Cocodona 250: Rachel Entrekin becomes the first female winner in race history with a time of 56:09:48.

– Denver airport Frontier plane incident: A person breached the tarmac fence and was sucked into a plane engine, causing it to burst into flames.

– Track roundup: Simeon Birnbaum runs a dominant 1:44 800m, including working past two Oregon teammates in the final stretch. Marco Langon runs 3:32. Quincy Wilson debuts in the 300m hurdles and wins in 38.77 — nobody saw hurdles in his future.

– Shanghai Diamond League preview: May 16th — six days away. The meet features five Americans in the women's steeple. The women's 1500 field is stacked: Tsige Duguma, Dorcas Ewoi, Gabija Galvydytė, Jess Hull, Emily MacKay (who apparently ran a 1:59 800 at altitude recently), Gracie Morris, Claudia Hollingsworth and more.

– Aisha's Monaco/Tour de France vacation: World Athletics meeting in Monaco at the end of June, followed by the first two days of the Tour de France in Barcelona.

– The Wout van Aert DM: When Aisha was training in Leuven, she noticed on Strava that Wout van Aert was doing afternoon jogs at around the same pace as her. She DMed him on Instagram to see if he wanted to run.

– Sarah Hall's audiobook: Aisha is halfway through For the Love of Running on Audible. Sarah Hall narrates it herself. Beautifully written, very open about relationships, spirituality, family, and her internal world.

– Voicemails: A fan notes that Mac and Chris could not have anticipated inviting Aisha and Eric onto their team and watching them dog group runs; travel recommendations for the Northeast and Boulder; a listener calls to give Centro's wife Lindsay her flowers — she's the PT for an all-women's running team in Chicago; and a dad reports that his two-year-old now says "love you, bye" as his farewell phrase, which he learned from this podcast.

📞 Call in to (856) 279-0080‬ to leave us a voicemail with any question you may have, whether it’s running-related or not.

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Follow your hosts on Instagram:

🗣️ Follow Eric Jenkins: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@_ericjenkins⁠⁠⁠⁠

🗣️ Follow Aisha Praught-Leer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@aishapraughtleer

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⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

Listening to “Off The Rails with Eric and Aisha” while running may result in uncontrollable laughter, side stitches, funny looks from strangers, and the occasional trip hazard due to snort-laughing mid-stride. Proceed with caution—and maybe stretch your abs beforehand. Use caution when wearing earbuds in public places—people will wonder if you’re okay. You are. You’re just having a really good time.