Chapter 45: Rich Roll on wrestling with recovery and running to redemption

Happy new moon, everybody! Today we fly down to the hills of Calabasas, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where I sat behind a microphone at a walnut desk across from the one and only Rich Roll. Rich went to Stanford and Cornell and was a national athlete in swimming before his career was cut short by a decade-long struggle with alcohol—eventually landing him in jail and rehab. On the eve of his 40th birthday, as he walked up the stairs he was left totally winded… and decided it was time to make a change. The next day, Rich overhauled his life. He switched to a 100% vegan, plant-based diet, grabbed his running shoes, jumped back into the pool, and two years later, fueled only by plants and after losing 50 pounds, he became the first vegan to ever compete in the 320-mile ultra-marathon and finished as the 3rd fastest American in the race. Are you kidding me?? He then went on to complete five Ironman Triathlons on five islands of Hawaii in one week! In 2012, he wrote his inspirational memoir ​ 'Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself' ​ , which became a bestseller upon its release. It's a fantastic book and memoir. I've read it. I loved it and can't recommend it enough. In 2013, he launched ​ The Rich Roll Podcast ​ which is honestly my favorite podcast on the planet. Rich hangs out at the edge of personal growth and development and offers deep exploration—what he calls "a weekly aural dance"— with guests like ​ Yuval Noah ​ ​ Harari ​ , ​ Malala Yousafzai ​ , and, yes, ​ even me ​ ! If you know Rich this classic chat is a way to see him from a new side by learning about which books make him tick ... and if you don't know him yet, well, you're in for a treat. He's a gem and I think after the chat you'll want to keep hanging out with him on ​ YouTube ​ or ​ Instagram ​ . Pull up an extra chair and grab a seat at our table!

You can listen to Chapter 45: Rich Roll on wrestling with recovery and running to redemption online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Chapter 45: Rich Roll on wrestling with recovery and running to redemption is an episode from 3 Books With Neil Pasricha by Neil Pasricha.

This episode is 01:38:40 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2026.

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