On the next episode of NYRR On the Run, which airs Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. EDT, training partners Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan, who represented the U.S. on the 2012 Olympic Marathon team, talk about their rivalry and their friendship—both of which are fierce. Also in this week’s episode, a Chinatown seventh grader demonstrates the power of running as a universal language, and Joe Battaglia and host Karla Bruning debate pacers vs. racers.

In a lively conversation on this week’s NYRR On the Run Radio, Goucher talks more about her surprising relationship with Flanagan, reflects on the deep bond she has with her fans, and recalls the moment that she became, in her heart, a marathon runner: On the women’s press truck at the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, watching the great Paula Radcliffe fight for victory. “I was captivated,” recalled the two-time Olympian. “I was so inspired by this performance by Paula and I just wanted it to be me. I just wanted to know, ‘can I be that tough?’” After that ride, she said, the commitment to debut at the distance in NYC the next year “was just paperwork.”

Both the web episode and the podcast can be found here, at ontherun.nyrr.org.

Photo: PhotoRun/NYRR