118 | The Hype man turns the questions on the boss

The tables are turned this week. Last time, Oska interviewed Alex from Don Greig Racing Stables — this time, Alex has spent weeks sourcing anonymous questions from runners all over Christchurch, and Oska has no idea what's coming.

It makes for a genuinely honest hour. We cover childhood — including the four teachers who changed the direction of his life at a point when things weren't easy at home — his approach to brutal honesty (and where it actually comes from), and why having a coach, a psychologist, and a trusted small circle matters as much as any training plan. He's candid about where he's at right now: working through an injury, and for the first time in his life, genuinely not enjoying running. We also get into his half marathon record (eight national titles, undefeated in Christchurch), what's realistic for him in the marathon, and a properly interesting section on the business side of running shoes — how he ranks the major brands as a retailer, what he thinks about the wave of new Chinese running shoe brands, and the four-pillar framework (chemistry, geometry, aesthetics, accessibility) he wrote about for Tempo Journal on what actually makes a "perfect" shoe. We close with his real shoe rotation philosophy and a run of genuinely ridiculous rapid-fire questions.

This episode covers:

• Hayden Wilde's 70.3 World Championship win
• Childhood, and the four teachers who changed everything
• Honesty, coaching, and mental health
• Currently not enjoying running, and working through injury
• Half marathon record, and marathon ambitions
• Ranking shoe brands as a retailer
• Chinese running shoe brands and the "perfect shoe" framework
• Shoe rotation philosophy and barefoot running
• Rapid-fire round