This episode of the Alley on the Run show is brought to you by New Balance.
Go to newbalancecom slash running to check out my favorite race day shoe the New Balance Fuel Cell SC Elite V5.
Welcome to the Alley on the Run show.
I'm your host, Allie Feller, and this is where I talk with people who are doing exciting things on the run and beyond.
From professional athletes and celebrity runners to the everyday amateur and back of the pack runner.
We are here to celebrate everyone and anyone who enjoys a life on the run.
So, whether you are running towards something big or away from something that's been holding you back, I am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace.
Today's episode is so good and I'm so excited to share it with you.
Did you hear about the man who ran the New York City Marathon and then went on to star in two performances of Wicked on Broadway that same day?
That man is Jordan Litz, and he is here with us today.
Jordan is currently starring as Fiero in Wicked on Broadway.
He's the longest running Fiero in Wicked history, having performed the role more than 1,500 times.
And two of those times were immediately after he crossed the finish line at his first marathon, the New York City Marathon on November 2nd.
Whether you have seen the show or you've caught the movie, you know that Wicked is long.
The Broadway show is two hours and 45 minutes, and it is very physical.
As I was following Jordan on the tracker on race day, I just kept thinking how in the world is this guy going to get to the Gershwin and do Dancing Through Life in both the matinee and the evening performance?
How?
Well...
He's Superman.
He did it, and I loved hearing all about it.
You are going to love this guy.
Please join me in welcoming Jordan Litz to the Allie on the Run show.
Okay, by very very, very popular request and demand.
Today we have I believe you've been called Superman New York City Marathon finisher straight into a two-show day as Fiero in Wicked the longest-running Fiero and I feel like that has a whole new meaning now.
Jordan Litz, welcome to the Alley on the Run show.
How are you doing?
I prefer Superman the musical.
Oh, okay.
It has to be the entire title.
Not good.
We are...
We're about two weeks since you took on this massive feat of your triple header of a day.
How are you feeling?
Are you feeling physically, emotionally?
Are you recovered?
Are you still riding the high?
How are you doing?
Emotionally, I'm still pretty beat up.
There hasn't been a day where I've gotten to really come down from it.
Physically, I feel fine.
Honestly, the second show of that day felt like a normal show to me.
I finished Dancing Through Life and I was like that's one of the best Dancing Through Life stuff I've done in weeks.
So
I cannot say the same for the matinee.
The matinee was a slog, but the evening show felt normal.
Once I was able to get calories back in my system and sit with my legs up on the wall for a little bit and drain the blood out, it was like yeah, I feel okay.
So I have so many questions that we'll get into, but I think my biggest question for you is why right?
Why the marathon and why...
I'm guessing, you know, you knew months in advance that you were doing this.
You could have called in an understudy.
I think they would have been okay with that.
Fans might have been sad not to see you.
But why did you want to take this on and do this very big day?
I think originally that wasn't the plan I I just wanted to run the marathon while I was still living in in New York City or near New York City and a part of the the, the New York community, and because I wanted to experience it and have just like a New York day.
And I'll tell you what running the marathon and doing two, two Broadway shows in the same day, and I've never felt more New York than that day.
It was just like I am fully entrenched into this world.
I'm drinking the Kool-Aid right now um, But it was never necessarily my intention to do both shows.
I was definitely going to do the evening one.
But then I was on the Set the Pace podcast early on.
And Rob kind of mentioned something about like yeah, so we kind of maybe heard that you might be doing both shows that day.
And I was like, well, we'll see.
I don't usually call out of shows.
And then... it sort of spiraled from there.
I did another interview and we're like, you're doing both shows.
And then finally, I was like okay, I guess, I guess I have to do this, and um started doing all of my long runs on my two show days so that I could be physically prepared for for the transition from running to stage.
Um, and then when the SNL thing happened, I was like, well, crap, now I have to do it.
I have no choice but to do this.
Um, um.
So yeah, it wasn't originally the intention, but looking back, i think the why has now become showing that we are so capable of so much more than what we think our limits are.
You know, and i hope that my daughters can look back at this and say wow, my dad ran the new york city marathon and then did two broadway shows after.
We can do anything we want.
I love that.
Let's talk about the SNL thing.
You made it into Weekend Update.
Did you know that was happening?
Did you happen to be up watching SNL?
How were you made aware that they made a little bit about you?
I'll tell you what.
I was high anxiety the night before.
I was not sleeping well because i was like i'm about to run a marathon.
I've never run a marathon in my life.
I've never run over 22 miles in my life.
What's gonna happen?
I had all this pressure on myself.
I wanted to go as close to three hours as possible and then all of the press leading up, and so i was having a hard time sleeping and uh, i think julie, my wife, got up to go to the bathroom and i made the mistake of glancing, glancing at my phone, And I saw hundreds of messages from people.
They mentioned you on Weekend Update on SNL.
Oh, my gosh.
Just like message after message after message.
And then there was no hope to sleep after that.
Like this.
Yeah, I think I remember looking at the phone.
It was like 1245.
And then I had to get up at 420 or something like that to make it to Times Square.
And yeah, it was like maybe I got another 20 minutes of sleep after that.
Oh, no.
So not the best night's sleep before attempting to do the true marathon, the ultra marathon day.
But yeah, it was a, it was very cool.
And I was very honored to have a shout out like that.
I mean, I feel like that's how, you know, you've had some sort of success in the performing world.
If they, if they riff about you on SNL.
Yeah.
Colin Jost.
Can you quote exactly what he said?
It was just a short bit at the end of weekend update.
I don't want to mess it up.
So if you can quote it, we'll go to you.
I think he said something about like.
Broadway star Jordan Litz has announced that he's running the New York City Marathon tomorrow.
And then later in the day, he will star in two performances of Wicked.
And then after that, die.
I was like, that pretty much sums up my day.
But it didn't happen because you're here and you did it.
We did it.
We're still standing.
We're still breathing.
So what is?
If i were to ask you for the snapshot moment from the day, the whole day marathon and the shows, what do you immediately picture in your head?
Uh, i'd say there are three really distinct moments for me.
Uh, one was hugging my wife in central park.
Uh in, in columbus circle, you know it's a it's chaos after the marathon, trying to find your way back and especially because i had 40 minutes to get back to the theater.
So trying to find her and meet up with her so that I could have just a moment of celebration with her before I got back to the theater.
Found her in Central Park, cried, and got that out of my system and then booked it there.
So that was a moment of us just having our little family celebrate this moment.
Two brad oscar calling me out on on stage after the after the show was really really special.
And because i i wasn't expecting any of that, you know again, it was like i just wanted to challenge myself and see what, what i was capable of.
Um, so for brad oscar, the great brad oscar, to to say something like that on stage was really really special.
And then the third moment was mile 22 coming out of the bronx, where my hamstring just completely locked up and i was like, can I even finish this right now?
Do I walk off the course?
And then I was like, no, you're on SNL, dude.
You have to do it.
You have no choice but to finish this race.
And then as I'm coming up Fifth Avenue, everybody's screaming Fiero at me, which like was awesome.
But also at the same time, I was like, don't look at me right now.
I am so deep in the pain cave.
And I went from going like 650 pace to I think I was like The last four miles 1238 1105 1111, 1340.
And then I was able to get my last – I was like, I'm not walking across the finish line.
I will not.
And so I think the last mile was maybe 8.55 or something like that.
But it was not pretty at the end.
You didn't have – I know that you had said before, like, give me cheers for Fierro.
Instead of saying cheers for Jordan.
But you didn't have Fiero on your bib.
You didn't have it on you anywhere.
This was just people recognizing you.
Just people, yeah.
Because New York is such a Broadway community.
Broadway drives the city, both economically and culturally.
So everybody knows Broadway shows.
And I think I've been in the show for such a long time.
And there's been so much hype around Wicked that so many people have come back to the show.
And over the course of five years have probably seen me in it at some point.
So I think they probably just recognized me from seeing me in the show at some point.
So was there ever a point during those last few miles where you were like, call in the understudy?
Mile 22, coming out of the Bronx.
Yeah, I mean, I was like, I don't know that I can finish the day at this.
They might have to call an ambulance at this point.
But that was the only in the race.
You know, at that point it was get to the next aid station and have five cups of Gatorade.
Get to the next aid station, have five cups of Gatorade.
I was just trying to pound in as many calories as I could to get this thing loosened up.
And that did the trick enough.
So we learned a lot.
We learned something about fueling for a marathon and hopefully next year we'll go better.
Did you have an escort getting you out of the finish line area and to where your wife was in Columbus Circle, because that's not easy to navigate and you had some time constraints.
No, I did not.
And actually they were funneling me out the normal way, which is all the way up to like 70 something.
And so I had to stop and say like, hey, is there, I have to be at a Broadway show in 40 minutes.
Is there any way that I can like sneak through the side?
And fortunately they were able to get me out just past Tavern on the Green at like 69th or something like that.
And luckily, I'm an Upper West Sider.
I lived there for several years, so I know how to get around.
So I went out to Columbus and made my way down from there.
And honestly, the walking probably saved me.
Being able to walk to the theater for 25 minutes or so probably helped get the gunk out of my legs so that I could survive a matinee of Wicked.
Yeah.
So I got to chat with you right at the finish line, stuck a microphone right in your face, which is what every runner wants after they've finished a race.
And we talked about, are there any choreography changes planned specifically for Dancing Through Life, which is a very physical, very long number?
Were there any plans at any point of like, hey, if I'm not feeling great, we're going to do this.
Like you would still be in it, but hey, I might have to adjust a couple of things here or there.
Absolutely not.
It never crossed my mind one time.
I was like, if I'm going in to do the shows, I'm going to do a show that I'm proud of.
Otherwise, especially nowadays with, I mean, Wicked has always been under the microscope, but never more than now.
So I can't go in there and do something that's less than.
My whole goal in this was to do the shows and have the audience not even know that I ran a marathon earlier in the day.
And in talking to the people at the stage door, it seems like I accomplished that goal, which was good.
The thing that I was most worried about was my voice, to be honest.
There's something about running and breathing heavy cold air for three and a half four hours, that's just.
You get to the end and you're just kind of fried and vocally fatigued a little bit.
So physically I was like yeah, this is gonna suck, but I'll just be in pain and I can push through pain.
The voice is so temperamental, especially my instrument.
It's just, there's a slight breeze.
All of a sudden, I'm not good.
So you did stage door.
Did you do it after both performances?
I did, yeah.
What was that like?
Was it different than on a normal day at the stage door?
I think it was just because again, I don't think the audience had some people there knew that were there to see me do the shows.
But the general public had no idea that I ran a marathon until those curtain call speeches.
So getting a chance to talk to them, talk to people at the stage door and they were like, how did you do that three hours ago?
And then just, I just watched you do this show and that was not easy.
I can't even imagine.
And then getting to meet other people that had just run the marathon and come to see the show afterwards.
That was really cool to be able to connect with them on that level as well.
Did you wear your orange poncho out to the stage door?
I did not.
I contemplated wearing my medal, though.
That was my next question, is if you wore the medal.
No, I just feel.
I don't know, maybe I need to get over this, but I feel kind of dorky wearing my medal around.
I get it.
But I did wear it this morning on Tamron Hall, so that's at least something.
Yeah.
Okay, so what is it like being Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway right now, as this show and Wicked the Enterprise is having such a cultural moment?
There has never been a better time to be a part of Wicked than right now.
And I'm not even just talking about the movies.
I'm talking about when we relaunched after the pandemic.
Right.
The hype and excitement surrounding relaunching Broadway after it had been dark for a year and a half was crazy.
I mean the shows for the first five or six months.
Every single one was just a rock concert because people were just so excited to not be cooped up in their apartment.
They wanted to just see live people doing live things.
So the excitement around that, and then I got to be a part of the 20th anniversary cast, which was unbelievable.
That 20th anniversary performance performance was like nothing I've ever experienced in theater before.
I mean, it was like being on a sitcom.
They were laughing at every joke, even if it was like horribly delivered.
Every high note they were cheering for.
And it was so cool.
And then movie one and now movie two, it's just the hype around wicked is, has never been higher.
So it is, it's been an honor to be the fear that they've counted on for, for all of that.
Okay and no pressure, but Jonathan Bailey Fiyero in the movie was just named People's Sexiest Man Alive.
So does the campaign start for you for next year?
But he didn't run a marathon before doing the movie.
Exactly.
Cynthia Erivo did, but he did not.
What was it like seeing the movie for you?
When did you see it?
Where did you see it?
And what was that experience like?
We had private screenings for both of them.
So we saw the first one um, maybe a month before it came out, and we just saw the first.
The second one a couple weeks ago um, and it's there.
Both experiences were unbelievable, particularly the first one, because we're like finally, after all these years there's been talk of this wicked movie and now it's happening and we're all sitting in the room together um, It was a screening for the current Broadway cast, the original Broadway cast and then a bunch of the movie cast.
And we're all in a room watching it together.
And it was like standing ovations after every song and everybody waiting for all of our favorite moments and curious to see how they were going to change things that didn't necessarily work as well in the musical or wouldn't translate to the screen as well.
And I mean, they just did a phenomenal job.
It was so fantastic and such a cool experience.
And I've only seen both the first movie and the second movie one time.
And that was it.
I want those experiences to live in my memory as perfect memories.
Because I feel like if I went back and I watched it now, I would go back in with a much more critical eye and critical ear and be thinking too much about it.
Whereas... that first experience was beautiful.
Yeah.
I wondered if it's hard to watch someone you know, Jonathan Bailey in this instance.
To watch someone in the movie is is different in many ways than the musical.
But to watch someone else do the role that you also do, not that it gets in your head, but does it change or affect the way that you perform the role of?
Like Ooh, I either liked that or I didn't like that.
Or did it change anything for you?
It changed absolutely nothing.
I, I, Let me start by saying he did an incredible job.
I think he was the perfect casting for it.
He danced it well.
He sang it well.
He acted the absolute crap out of it.
It was so good.
But his Fiero, and particularly the way it was written in the movie, is so much different than the stage Fiero.
So there was...
And also the way you act on screen versus on stage is so much different.
So even if there was something that I really, really loved that he did, I thought like that would never translate on stage.
I would never be able to pull that off.
That subtlety that he is able to deliver on screen would never translate a hundred rows back in a 2000 seat Broadway theater.
So, while I loved everything that he did um, there was nothing that I either could steal or felt like I needed to steal.
So if we were to go back in time uh, running maybe a little bit newer to you, but you have been an athlete for a long time.
You were a swimmer.
You competed at the Olympic trials in 2012.
So at what point did running come into your life?
Give us the, the when, and especially the why.
I was on tour with wicked in 2022 in Chicago and And the Chicago Marathon was happening while we were there.
And so I could literally look outside of the apartment window that I was staying at and see the runners going by.
And I just thought the atmosphere of it was so cool.
And having a giant marathon like that running through a huge city...
I just thought it was such a cool novel thing.
And I had always raced throughout my life.
So the transition from the water to the road kind of made sense.
The aerobic system is really similar.
The pounding of the legs is very different.
But I felt like it was a pretty seamless transition.
And then also around that time, Kipchoge had just broken the world record in the marathon, I think in Berlin or something like that.
And so I kind of fell in love with him and his story and just who he is.
And he's just such a cool dude with amazing values.
And I loved him not only as an athlete, but as a human.
And so he kind of like you know, like so many marathoners and and runners in general, he was the the catalyst into falling in love with that, with this sport.
So I went out and I bought myself a apple watch ultra and and a crappy like pair of shoes and just started running along lake michigan just to see, like okay, is this fun?
Do i enjoy this?
And even in 11 degree temperatures, with like 30 mile an hour winds on lake michigan, i was like this is amazing, i love this, i'm totally into this sport.
Um, so that was kind of the testing, testing ground, if you will, to start running.
And then i kind of put it aside for a little bit when i left tour and came back to new york and were was transitioning into the broadway world and um, and then had a kid when i was i'm doing my first year on broadway and uh, and so it wasn't until this last year that um, a buddy of mine was doing one of the the brooklyn half and was like hey, do you want to run this race with me?
And I was like, yeah, I want to run this race with you.
Absolutely.
I haven't really run too seriously in a while.
So I did a little bit of training for that and it went okay.
I wanted to get a little bit better performance out of myself.
So what was the next thing that I could do?
The New York City Marathon.
Like an idiot.
And so I got in contact with Broadway Cares, and Broadway Cares was the group that kind of accelerated that process for me.
But Yeah, originally it all started in Chicago by just happening to be in the city when the Chicago Marathon was happening.
That is, I mean, it's the ultimate gateway.
And I wonder, did you think about that at all when you were the one running in the marathon of like hey, someone out there is watching this right now and this is their gateway?
You know, I didn't think about that.
But I have had so many people message me now post-marathon that are like that was such an inspiring day.
I cannot believe it.
I signed up for my first five K or my first 10 K or I signed up for a marathon.
Like you're, you're such an inspiration.
And I, that was not my intention at all.
Um, but it's such a cool after effect.
Um, and one that hopefully I can continue to have.
So the Brooklyn half was your first ever road race.
Well, I ran the Disney princess half when I was working at Disney worlds with, No training.
I did something that you're not supposed to do.
I took a bib from somebody that got injured.
Now you know.
It's okay.
You learned.
This was before I knew anything.
So I ran as Ashley for the visiting princess half.
She got injured like two or three days before the race and was like, I can't run this race.
And does anybody want to do it?
And I was like, yeah, sure, whatever.
I'll go do it.
And showed up, and that was the thing that I most remember about that race is I was telling myself, just go slow.
Don't hurt yourself.
You've never run anything before in your entire life.
Just enjoy the experience.
Because Disney races are about seeing the parks and seeing characters and things like that.
And I remember I was a couple miles in and this maybe 13-year-old girl in a red tutu goes flying, flying by me and i was like, oh hell no, i'm not gonna let this go down like this.
And so i booked it and i just tailed her for like maybe five or six miles until i was like i'm just gonna pass her and i'd go for it.
So i beat the red tutu girl but um, thank you, showed her.
Thank you, take that 13 year old girl.
You gotta take the wins when you can get them.
Congrats ashley, good job.
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
So that was my first race.
OK, so what is your read?
You know, now that you well, now you're immersed.
But when you were first dipping your toes into the running community, what did you think of all that?
Rolling up to these races super early in the morning, surrounded by like minded people.
What did you think of the running community?
The running community is very cool, very tight knit, very supportive, fun community.
I didn't think that distance running was something that I was really in love with though.
All of my races when I was a swimmer were two to four minutes max.
So the idea of going two to four hours was just way off my radar.
Um, but again, it's all about just incremental building up to it and and um, and the proper training, and and it'll all work out.
But um yeah, i think i might be, i might be into it.
Yeah, i think you're hooked because, if i have heard correctly, you're already planning the next one.
I am, i am yeah, i've got five races, five races planned for next year.
I'm gonna do a half.
Well, not five marathons easy no, i know but five races.
Okay, what are they?
Let's hear it, i'm gonna do.
I'm gonna do the uh, united half, the nyc half great one.
I'm gonna do the broadway mile again, because the broadway mile was just such a Cool experience.
Maybe my favorite race of the year.
I'm going to do a 5K and a 10K.
I don't know which ones.
And then a marathon.
I'll do the New York City Marathon again.
Because I'm not going out like that.
I'm not going out like that.
I'm going to finish strong this time.
Redemption at mile 22.
Yes.
Bronx, you're going down, baby.
All right.
Can we talk about your time at Disney?
Most importantly...
I mean, you tell me what's most important from that time.
But I would like to hear the meet-cute of how you met your now wife.
Because I believe Disney was involved.
Yes.
Yes, it was.
So, Julie was a Disney princess for 11 years.
Three of those years at Tokyo Disney, which she loved.
And I met her just as she came back from her final Tokyo Disney contract.
So, this was kind of at the end of her time with Disney.
And she happened to move into an extra room of a friend of mine.
I went over to his house, we were watching lord of the rings, the extended versions, and she, she came out and and sat on the couch and 45 minutes later my friend had like gone off to like make lunch or something like that, and julie and i were just chatting and we talked about our love of new york and our love of musical theater and and so many of our our dreams and values lined up and i was like man, this girl is unbelievable and uh yeah, that was.
It was a very simple, uh easy way to meet somebody, like very low pressure.
It wasn't like a real date or anything like that.
We just happened to be sitting on a couch talking, Shout out to the friend who excused himself for like 45 minutes to make a sandwich.
Well, I don't know where he went.
He knew what he was doing.
Yes.
Thanks.
Thanks, Cole.
You're the man.
So what was your role at Disney at the time?
I started with the Voices of Liberty, which is an eight part acapella group in Epcot.
Still to this day, one of my favorite jobs I've ever had.
And the best people, just the sweetest humans and the most talented vocalists to the day.
I've performed on Broadway.
I've sung in sessions.
You name it.
These are the most talented vocalists I've ever sung with in my life.
They're crazy good.
And then I did the Dapper Dans, the barbershop quartet on Main Street.
I did Gaston in the Beauty and the Beast musical.
I recorded for fireworks and parade shows.
I was kind of everywhere all over the park.
And that's what made it fun, because there were so many different outlets of performing that you could get involved with, rather than just being locked into Fiero for five years, which is amazing.
Don't get me wrong.
You married a literal Disney princess.
Congrats.
Thank you.
I think I win.
You win.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, earlier in the conversation, you said daughters, plural.
Second one's not here yet, right?
Unless I missed something in the past two weeks.
But how are we doing?
That's imminent.
So what's crazy is that when Greta was born, Julie was as far along with her as she is now with baby two.
So she could come literally right now, and that would be when Greta came.
So we are on high alert baby watch right now.
Julie's mom just flew in on Tuesday.
So she's here for backup because, you know, my fear is that I'll be on stage dancing through life when Julie goes into labor.
And then I can't get back here for an hour and a half, even if I leave in the middle of the show.
I'm you know, we live in Jersey.
So that's that's an hour and a half trek minimum to get back.
So, yeah.
What is the plan?
Is there like someone backstage who's going to have your phone during the performances?
Just Well, my dresser follows me around everywhere.
So he will keep me updated on anything and everything.
And then we also have people here in South Orange that Well, now that her mom is here, we'll be fine.
But if there are any issues we have a bunch of Broadway friends here in South Orange that can help us.
I actually live six houses away from the original Fiyero Norbert Leo Butts.
He lives around the corner from me.
And so we're buds now.
And he and his wife Michelle, who is the original Nessa.
They are like if you guys need anything, like if you need us to come get your dog Scarlett or whatever, we're there for you.
So we've got a good community out here to help us out.
Oh, that's awesome.
Well, congratulations in advance.
Just so excited for you and your family.
Thank you.
This episode of the Allie on the Run show is brought to you by New Balance.
It is that time of year when we're all being inundated with holiday gift guides and favorite things lists.
And yeah, I'll add to that.
Let me tell you about a few of my favorite things from New Balance.
Not to give to other people.
No, no, no, no, no.
These are things I think you should get for yourself because you deserve it.
Let's do shoes first.
I love the Rebel for walking and for short runs.
I love the Super Comp Trainer for longer runs.
And the SC Elite V5 is my race day shoe.
If you're going to treat yourself to one shoe this holiday season, I always say go Super Comp Trainer.
It's my favorite shoe.
It's an everyday shoe with a carbon fiber plate.
And it feels great.
It's a fun shoe.
I get excited to put it on every single time.
If you're looking for non-running shoes, yay.
My go-to lifestyle shoes of choice are the 327s.
They come in a bunch of different colors.
They are the ones that Katie Couric complimented in the middle of our interview.
So New Balance 327s with the Katie Couric stamp of approval.
For cozy stuff, I am wearing the Linear Heritage Fleece Wide Leg Pant.
You know I love a wide leg sweat pant.
Tis the season.
I mean, it's always sweat pant season, but especially right now.
And my favorite New Balance bra is the Envy Essential Yoga Bra.
Now, for something cute, a great little stocking stuffer, check out the Active Ruffle Quarter Socks.
I love a ruffle sock.
They're really cute.
I have four pair of them.
I could go on and on and on and on and on.
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But these are just some of my favorite things.
And one of my favorite hobbies is going to NewBalance.com and perusing the new arrivals section.
It's a dangerous little hobby, but it's a fun one.
So seriously, the holidays are coming.
I know it's a high stress time.
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That's NewBalance.com slash running to treat yourself to something good.
So let's get back to the running piece of this.
You decide you're going to run the 2025 New York City Marathon.
What happens next?
Did you work with a coach?
How did you approach training, and how did that fit into your life?
I used RUNNA.
I know that there's some mixed reviews on RUNNA.
I loved it.
My schedule only allowed me to train alone, basically.
Most runners will train in the morning or then the evening, because it's cooler during those time periods of the day.
And just with their schedules, that's the way it works best.
Unfortunately, with my schedule, I perform at night.
I don't get home until 12.31 sometimes.
And then I can't be getting up at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. to go run with other runners.
So all of my training, every single run I did, except for maybe two, was alone, which makes it challenging, but it also makes you tough at the same time.
So RUNA was a great outlet for me because I could just program all of my runs into my watch and then it would keep me on pace for things.
And I'm a very self-motivated runner.
So I feel like this kind of program worked well for me.
It may not for other people, but it worked great for me.
I tried to run four, I started out running five days a week and two lift sessions a week.
And the five runs was getting a little too heavy, too much, too much.
And I wasn't being able to recover from it.
And my show was starting to suffer a little bit.
I was kind of getting miserable.
Man, I remember I had a 17 mile long run in the middle of July.
And it was, I think it was 94 degrees outside with like 70% humidity.
And I only got through 14.
And I was like, I am on the verge of death.
I cannot do this anymore.
So that was really tough to train alone in the middle of the day when Greta was sleeping, because I wanted to maximize my time with the family as well.
But anyway.
So I cut that extra run and I finished the training with four runs a week and two lift sessions a week.
And I felt like that was a good middle ground.
And for me, I'm doing eight Broadway shows a week as well.
So I kind of count that as maybe like an extra easy run.
I don't know.
Makes sense to me.
I'm on my legs a lot.
I'm jumping off statues.
I'm running on and off stage.
I'm dancing.
That kind of feels like an easy run would.
So I tried to let myself not feel too guilty about cutting that additional day of running.
At this point in your career, tenure with Wicked, are there still additional commitments?
Are there rehearsals?
Is there ever just, you know, days where you're on the stage blocking?
Or is it just, I mean, just, is it just those eight performances?
But are there commitments beyond the onstage time?
Yes, we do have rehearsals.
It's not as often as you would think.
It's usually when new people are coming into the show, particularly principals.
If a new witch is coming in or a new wizard or Bok or Nessa, then they'll use the principles to rehearse those people.
Usually our ensemble.
They're such troopers.
They'll handle a lot of the rehearsing, which gives the principles some time to rest for the shows.
But no, we do have, I would say like once or twice a month we'll have extra rehearsals.
We did have extra stuff.
Because we just redid all of our lighting in the show to LEDs now.
And so we had extra rehearsals like blocking and re-teching the show and all that stuff.
But yeah, we do have little extra commitments.
Press things here and there.
But yeah, eight Broadway shows is plenty in my opinion.
Heck of a commitment.
Are there other runners in the cast?
Yes.
Yes.
Jeff, the guy that plays my... his character's name is Averick, but he's the guy that drives me in.
And we call him the rat track because he's a rat in a lot of scenes.
He runs, he ran that Brooklyn half with me.
And then Travis, who is one of my understudies has run the New York city marathon.
Celia ran, who's one of the Glinda understudies has run the NYC half.
And then there are a couple of people in in the crew.
So a girl named Mary Kay who is an active triathlete runner.
She and I connect about running all the time.
She just did the nine plus one.
I'm trying to convince her to do the marathon next year.
Okay, if she did nine plus one, what else do you do it for?
That's what I'm saying.
That's what I'm saying.
You've run all of the... I mean, she's run like 14 races this year.
And I'm like, just do it.
You've never...
You've done all the triathlons.
You've done all the halves.
Just run the marathon.
And she's concerned about the amount of training that it'll take.
But I think I can convince her to do it.
Easily.
You got time.
Yes.
And then there's a couple of guys in sound that have also run the New York City Marathon and been involved with New York Roadrunners a bunch over the years.
All right.
So let's go to New York City Marathon weekend.
Did you have to go to the expo to pick up your bib or was that taken care of for you?
No, I went to the expo.
I tried not to partake in the expo though, if just because i was already on my legs.
You know when most people are like resting and tapering.
The week of the marathon, i did six broadway shows, you know what i'm saying.
So, like i tried to stay off of my legs as much as i possibly could um, and that even meant like, instead of biking to the train station like i normally do, like take the car to the train station anything to like save every little ounce of of effort in my legs.
But yeah, i did stop by the the expo because it's just so cool.
Like, ah, man, you could spend hours there shopping and talking to people.
I stopped by and talked to the Pacers for a second just because I wanted to get their game plan, and all that too.
Yeah, what'd you learn?
I learned that I probably need to rethink my next year's marathon and how I go about stuff.
I never found the Pacers.
Unfortunately, when I was out on race day because I was with the VIP like group, we started in.
We started in wave one.
But just they kind of threw us in when like whenever we wanted to or in the back of the wave.
So I was like trying to find them.
And so I basically ran.
I did.
I ran the entire race alone when my plan was to run with the three hour pacer for as long as I could until my body broke down.
But no, I never found him, never did see him.
Yeah okay, so you know i, i take that back.
I did see them.
Oh, did they pass you?
I did see them at mile 15 when they passed me.
That's so demoralizing when it happens.
And then you're like okay, just don't get caught by the 305 pacer, okay the 310, okay the three.
And then you're like, all right, sub for a bus baby, we got this.
Yeah, we've all been there.
I made so many new goals and renegotiations with myself throughout that race.
And that was my exact thought pattern.
I was like, OK, you know what?
You can still go 310, 310.
You know what?
Worst case scenario, you'll go under under 330.
No, no, we barely survived.
It was tough.
But you did survive.
I want to hear about the ride out to Staten Island on race morning.
What was that in itself as an experience?
How was yours?
I was trying to sleep because I had slept so little the night before.
But then like you're on this bus and like you recognize all of these people and like you have friends from Broadway shows and other performing things and you want to kind of interact with them but also you want to stay in the zone because you're about to have the toughest day of your life.
And so I just tried to Have a couple of little interactions here and then just like sit quietly by myself looking out at the water, just to relax as much as I possibly could.
What was the logistics plan?
And I know it sounds like it ended up changing a bit based on what time you finished.
But did you have like a go bag with all of your stuff?
Was everything already at the theater?
Logistically, what happened?
Everything was already at the theater as far as like the stuff that I needed for the show.
Um, but originally the plan I was staying at on, on 72nd street at our old apartment.
And the plan was to go walk, walk straight from the finish line uh, to our apartment and pick up some stuff, take a shower, maybe eat a couple of things, and then go to the theater.
But I had to like, just basically sprint from the finish line to the theater.
So I showed up to the theater in my full racing kit alpha flies and all um and, And I had no clothes, because all of my clothes were back at the house.
So Julie had to bring me clothes for in-between shows and after the show, the second show in-between shows.
So yeah, luckily, I don't need my own street clothes for the show.
So I just got into my costumes and I was fine to go.
But yeah, that was not the plan.
Yeah, we'll get to that.
So you get to the starting line, you're out.
In Staten Island, you're in the VIP tent.
What did you make of all of that?
It was cool.
The VIP thing is fun.
But there's a part of me that likes to experience the way it is intended to be experienced.
In the corrals with everybody.
I liked that I had the opportunity to find a place to warm up, which was nice.
And the private bathrooms were...
Great.
Yeah, it's hard to go back once you've had the bathroom access.
It's hard to go back to the masses.
But from what I understand, New York Roadrunners and New York City Marathon does a really good job of having enough bathrooms available.
From what I read on all of the Reddits and stuff like that, I feel like they have bathrooms pretty well covered.
A lot of porta-potties, yeah.
Pre-race, which is what we had, too.
It's just that ours were private.
Yeah.
The VIP thing was cool, but I had a lot of friends running as muggles, if you will.
I wanted to see them and chat with them, but again, 60000 people, not a chance you're going to find any of those people.
Can you give us the sights and sounds of the top level of the Verrazano Bridge, right as you are starting the New York City Marathon?
What do you remember?
I just remember looking off to the city and thinking, that's so far away.
That was really the only thought that went through my brain.
And I was like, I have to run at seven minute mile pace or less all the way up there.
Dear God, help me.
So yeah, that's all that came to mind.
And then the downhill was great.
Yeah, mile two is awesome.
Mile two was definitely my fastest mile by about 30 seconds, which was great.
And not even on purpose.
I was just like... The downhill was so fast that I had no choice but to fly.
Okay, so then you start winding through Brooklyn.
What do you remember most from that burrow?
Brooklyn was great.
The energy.
I liked Brooklyn because it felt like the least pressure of the hills.
There weren't.
It was pretty.
Yes, there are hills, but it was pretty flat, so you could kind of just open up a little bit and run free without having to like think okay, this hill is going to destroy my legs here, this hill is going to destroy my legs here and i can save as much as i possibly can uh, for the beating that my body's going to take on the back half of this marathon.
And so that's all i was thinking all through brooklyn was just conserve conserve conserve, conserve and run within yourself.
And i'd Honestly, I felt like I did that because people were passing me left and right.
And I was still on pace for what I wanted to do.
And I was like, great, I'll catch them in the back end.
Did not happen.
But you had good intentions.
I did.
And I felt like I followed that game plan pretty, pretty well.
Yeah, it didn't necessarily go my way, unfortunately.
Okay, so all throughout the early miles in the race or at any point in the race, were you staying pretty present, or were there times that you were thinking about the shows that you were about to do?
I didn't think about the shows at all until much, much later in the race, when things started to unravel.
Early on, I was thinking...
Like this feels fantastic.
I feel so springy.
Maybe the lack of sleep isn't going to catch up with me.
I was very focused on my fueling plan, all of that.
I felt dialed in and locked in, to be honest, early on.
Wicked is so, so relevant right now.
Were there any wicked signs along the way that you saw?
Anything like you're defying gravity?
Not like it lends itself well to marathon.
It really does.
Yeah, it really does.
No, I the only wicked related signs that I saw were geared towards me or that people had written or made for Fiero.
And I don't I don't think I saw many of them early on in the race.
I really only saw them in Manhattan, because that's where most of like the Broadway people were watching from was was once you got into the city.
What did you think about the crowds?
Were they what you expected more or less?
What'd you think?
About the same.
You know people were always like, Oh my gosh, the crowds in the marathon are going to like blow you away.
And while it was so cool and I like, it was such an amazing experience.
I also, how do I make this sound like not like arrogance?
I've experienced it before.
No, that's such a good point.
Because of like performing.
I get that crazy reaction every single night on Broadway, except maybe tenfold, because it's like in this compressed theater.
So it's even louder in your face.
It was just that it was constant for three and a half hours.
Like that was the big difference.
It just never stopped except for when you went over the Queensborough Bridge.
But other than that, it was just loud for three and a half hours, which is like, from what I understand, unlike any marathon in the world.
Yeah, there's nothing like New York.
No one does it like New York.
How'd the Queensborough treat you?
How'd you feel going up and over?
I was still okay.
That's when my hamstring really started bothering me, going over Queensborough.
And at that point, it was about damage control.
I gave up on the time goal and it was about like okay, how do I minimize the pain in this hamstring so that I can get to the finish line in one piece and still have something left for two Broadway shows?
Were you doing the math in your head of like, okay, if I hold this pace, I'll finish it this time.
And I'll have this much time to get to the theater marathon.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
I mean, and I'm a, and I'm a math guy too.
Cause, as I said, you know being a swimmer you you, you're constantly doing swimming math in the same way.
Um, So yes, I was definitely doing that.
And I was like, in my mind, I was thinking worst case scenario, I'm going like 325.
And that's going nine minute miles.
At that point, 930s or something like that, which is what you do on your easy runs if you're a sub three hour runner.
And so yeah, I was still doing the math, trying to make sure that like okay, I still need this amount of time to get to my apartment, to get my clothes, to take a shower, to eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich or whatever I was going to need to get to the theater to survive.
And uh, it just kept getting worse and worse.
Yeah, what do you remember about turning into Central Park?
At this point, you're mile 23 24, so you're in the park.
Sounds like you were maybe hurting a bit at this point, but what did it feel like to be in Central Park?
It, it.
I was hoping I don't want to lie to you.
I was hoping that it was going to feel like coming home, because I had run the back half of that course so many times.
Because, living in New York and New Jersey, you have the biggest home field advantage of any marathon runner.
You can go out and run any part of that course except for the Verrazano Bridge anytime you want.
And so in multiple of my long runs I'd go out to Pulaski and run from Pulaski all the way through uh Queensborough, up up Manhattan, through the Bronx and back down.
I'd done that like four or five times.
And so I was hoping that it would feel like coming home.
But I was just, oh my gosh.
I was in so much pain and I was just trying to like walk run at that point because this hamstring kept locking up.
And then i bumped into a buddy of mine who was also on the struggle bus, named steve steve.
He's one of the new york road runners coaches.
Oh, coach steve.
Yeah, coach steve.
Yes, okay.
In 2014, i was hurting during the new york city marathon and i finished the race with steve.
So steve and i go way back.
All of our finish line pictures are me and him together.
I was like i'm dying and he was like i got you hilarious.
Yes yeah, so he was.
I mean, I was on the struggle bus, but he left on crutches.
So yeah, he was not.
He was not good.
I think something was going on with his hip or something.
But he and I walked together for maybe a couple of minutes and finally I was able to like get this under control, and then I ran the last mile and a half or something like that.
But it was cool to bump into him just at the end to have some sort of friend support when you needed it most.
All right, bring us to the finish line.
I just wanted to run across the finish line.
I just wanted to not, after all of that training, have to hobble across.
And it was.
It took everything because that you know, we don't talk about the Central Park South stretch, but that's a tough hill as well, man.
You know, we talk about Fifth Avenue.
We talk about Pulaski.
We even talk about, like the Bronx bridges, even though they aren't like the worst.
But that last little hill, when you've got almost nothing left is is tough.
But fortunately I was able to keep walking, keep or keep running and keep moving.
And and then um Julie and Greta and Mary Kay, who's our head of hair, and my dresser, Steven.
We're all watching in the grandstands.
So I was able to like see them coming up the stretch.
And even though, like I was in a lot of pain, I was like seeing them there uh, having them go through this entire six-month training journey with me was really, really very special.
All right, so I want to hear more about the moment.
There's a great video that you've posted that shows this.
But you, walking into the theater, you're kind of triumphantly running into the theater.
You've got the poncho, you've got the medal.
What was it like getting to the Gershwin and having the marathon in the rear view?
There was still... there was still some moments of like, is this a smart idea?
Should I be doing this right now?
Because I hadn't sung a note yet.
And again it's like my legs were definitely tired and this hamstring was not good, but like is my voice even going to work?
And when I got up to that, the video that you're referencing was maybe 15 minutes before showtime.
That's when I was finally able to walk into my, my dressing room.
And then I think I also posted a video of me hugging my dresser, Steven, and I'm just like crying.
And that's maybe 10 minutes before showtime.
And so finally they call five and I'm able to like get in the shower and kind of stretch a little bit.
Oh, there's a shower there.
Okay.
I have a shower.
One of my questions, not to be too personal, but I was wondering if you showered.
For sure.
No, I absolutely showered.
No, I, there's no way I'm doing Fiyero that disgusting.
Salty.
Um, I mean, yeah, you like do this with your arm and there's like salt that like brushes off.
Yeah.
No, I took a shower.
And then I had maybe a couple of minutes before making my first entrance which fortunately, is just turning the bed.
I'm in the ensemble kind of in the first scene.
And that was my first test of like, can I still move?
I run on with a lantern, turn the bed, turn the bed again, run off stage.
It's like a 30 second spot in a scene and nothing cramped up, nothing hurt.
And I thought, okay, I think I might be all right.
And then the rest of the show just happened.
I've done the show over 1500 times, maybe 1600 times at this point.
And sometimes it's about just pressing the play button and letting muscle memory take over.
And I think that's exactly what happened.
It's just, I've done it so many times in every kind of condition. whether it's like a hurt knee or a sore throat or just emotionally gassed, that I could rely on all of those performances to get me through these two.
Did you know that you were going to get called out at the curtain call?
No, I did not.
No.
Natasha, our Morrible, said something in the matinee, which was really, really sweet.
She said something like, you know, our Fiyero...
Jordan, let's just ran the New York city marathon three hours ago before the start of this show.
And the audience goes freaking crazy.
And that was really, really cool.
And then for Brad to say something again in in the evening show.
That one I kind of maybe had a feeling he might say something just because only because Natasha said something in the in the matinee.
But to have mentors like that and like like Titans in the Broadway industry, be like be that proud of you and proud enough to say something at a curtain call was was really, really special.
What did you do in between shows?
There's not a ton of time either.
Wicked is such a long show, two hours and 45 minutes.
Yeah, just about.
Yeah.
And then after stage during for a half an hour and all of that.
Um it's yeah, I maybe had an hour before the next half off half hour call.
So Julie and Greta brought me some clothes and uh, I went and I got Chipotle.
Uh, I wanted to get as many calories in my system as I could.
I just hung with the girls in the dressing room, which is not necessarily how you relax with a toddler.
Hanging with a two-year-old, yeah.
Hanging with a two-year-old because she just wants to play the entire time.
I think she picked up on my vibe and was able to just climb on me while I laid on the floor in pain.
I have a little a cute picture of me with my legs up against the wall, with her sitting next to me with her legs on the wall.
So she was picking up on the vibe and knew that I needed to recover a little bit.
And then that was it.
And then the second show.
As I said once, I had food back in my system, everything just came back and I felt completely fine for show two.
Show two was one of the best shows I've had in a long time.
So I don't know if it was adrenaline or what.
And what does that mean to you?
What makes something an exceptional show presence uh and, and being present on stage for your scene partners, and there's a certain connection that you can feel when things like the pacing of the scene is just right um, which means that the laughs from the audience are stronger, or the gasps from the audience are stronger um, all of the notes that i sang felt free and and easy, the way that they're supposed to um, And I didn't miss any dance steps.
And it wasn't necessarily even just missing the dance steps.
It was dancing with fervor and guts.
And all of that was there, which was shocking after the day I had.
So by the time you got home that night, did you crash or was the adrenaline through the roof?
I was still flying so high.
Not surprised.
So high.
Yeah, I mean I think I ended up leaving the theater because i chatted with um, you know friends after the show and because a bunch of people came to see the evening show that i knew and um, and then i chatted with some of my cast afterwards.
I said i don't think i left the theater until, like it was 11 30 11 45 um, and that's when the show ends at 10.
So we're still hanging around for another hour and a half hour and 45 minutes um, and then i got home and and julie was still up, so i was able to kind of chat with her a little bit.
And does she wait up for you or is she just not a good sleeper?
No, she waited up.
Oh, my god, a literal princess, i love her and and you're like eight months pregnant too yeah so yeah she's, she's the best, she's the absolute best.
And yeah, she gave me a little hug and and then i ate some, ate some donuts and and some ice cream, and just piled whatever i could in my system and and then just sat and looked at the wall for a.
I had not had a chance to just be for the entire day.
So yeah, I don't think I got to bed until maybe almost one.
Oh my gosh.
So I've been up for almost 23 hours probably.
And then are you dark on Mondays?
Yes, thankfully.
So how'd you spend Monday?
I will say though, there was a lot of press that I was not expecting.
My whole plan for the next week was to just relax and recover from everything, but because of how this story kind of unexpectedly blew up um, i did like four interviews the next day and then the day after that it was like the today show and then another interview and then it's just been non-stop things uh, for a while.
So it's uh yeah, it's.
It's been exciting but also exhausting exhausting, to say the least.
Look at what you just did pretty, pretty impressive, and i hope that both shows included i think every show does, but i hope they were both standing ovations.
I i will say and this is just a testament to wicked, not even me or the witches or anybody that's in the cast it's just how well it's written and what an amazing show it's in it is.
I've done 1600 performances, let's say, of wicked.
Not one time has there not been a standing ovation, every single time.
It's just it has that kind of impact on people.
No matter whether or not you like musical theater, you still leave loving Wicked.
I mean, we had the offensive line of the Jets come see our show for the 20th anniversary and that's how I became kind of buddies with Aaron Rodgers.
He came to see the show with all of his offensive line sat front row the giant, the most large men sitting and watching musical theater in the front row.
And they left loving Wicked and loving musical theater.
And then they went and they saw more Broadway shows because they saw Wicked, which is so cool.
It's just like you get hooked on marathons.
You easily get hooked on musicals.
Exactly.
If you see the right one to start, you know.
Yeah, that's a good point.
OK, other than Wicked, what would you recommend people to see right now as their first Broadway show?
Man, it may not be for everybody.
I love Hadestown.
I think Hadestown is such an incredible show.
It's so unique.
The music is so interesting.
The story is timeless.
It's just, it's so, I think it's an accessible musical theater.
I think sometimes people get turned off by musical theater with the excessive, like sequence and tap dancing and stuff like that.
There, there's so much more to musical theater than just like that kind of Broadway stuff.
If you're not into that, which is, that kind of musical theater is incredible as well.
But I think, you know, a Haiti's town is fantastic.
Um, the outsiders is amazing.
There's there's a lot of great gateway musicals that can get you into to other things, or come see wicked.
Honestly, of course, come see wicked.
Yeah.
Where are you during, you know, and there are so many incredible moments during the show.
Um, dancing through life is a favorite of mine and of many, where are you during defying gravity?
And Like are you able to just like be backstage doing something, or does the world stop during that show?
The backstage does not stop because it's such a technical number with so many people involved.
So the backstage has set pieces flying in and out and cast members are running on and off and the crew is running on and off.
There's a lot happening backstage.
You can find little spots to watch if you want to.
But if I'm going to watch it, I watch from the call booth.
So if you're looking out at the audience from the stage, there's a call booth where the stage manager calls the show.
All the way up on, like the third floor, all the way to the right.
And so you can climb a couple of ladders and get up there and watch the show from up there.
So that's the best place, in my opinion, if you're in the cast, if you want to go watch the end of act one or something like that.
But other than that, I can't go out to the audience or like the sound booth or anything like that, because I'd be in the public eye at that point.
Um, but normally i'm just hanging out in my dressing room like reading a book or watching youtube clips about running or whatever.
Yeah, i love that you're watching running stuff while you're backstage.
That's the best you have.
No, he's hooked.
New York City marathon course breakdowns.
All the best running shoes.
Best training day shoes.
Like, you know it.
I'm deep into it, you guys.
Oh, I love this so much.
Okay, we are going to do a sprint to the finish round with some rapid fire questions.
You can say no to this question.
Will you sing something?
Will you just sing one line from Dancing Through Life?
Or do you need like a proper warmup?
The trouble with schools is they always try to teach the wrong lesson.
Leave me.
I've been kicked out of enough of them to know.
There you go.
I'm blushing.
I'm so happy right now.
Thank you for indulging me.
With that, are you ready for our sprint to the finish round?
Hit it.
All right.
What would your last meal on earth be?
Steak sandwich from Doghouse Grill in Fresno, California.
Favorite movie?
That Thing You Do with Tom Hanks.
Whoa.
Nice throwback.
Yeah.
Favorite TV show?
Breaking Bad.
Good one.
What food reminds you of your childhood?
Fudge.
My mom used to make fudge during Christmas, and I've now taken her recipe and make it every year myself.
Who would you want to play you in a movie?
Elliot Kipchoge.
Oh, I love that answer, yes.
And the resemblance is uncanny.
We look the exact same, right?
Always getting confused.
At the marathon, people were like, I can't even tell who's finishing.
I mean, Fiero.
Yeah, no.
I don't know.
Okay, we'll go with that answer.
I like it.
What was your very first job?
I recorded rehearsal tracks for acapella groups like barbershop quartets and choirs and things like that.
Fun.
What's your...
Go-to karaoke song.
Oh, I hate karaoke.
I was going to say like yeah, because karaoke with someone like you is like not fun for the rest of us.
I hate karaoke.
I don't mind singing duet at karaoke because like then it's like it's fun because then you're doing it with somebody.
But like I sing solo every day.
No, I don't need to have people hear me sing anymore.
Don't make this guy go to karaoke.
So that's my answer.
Okay.
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A professional swimmer.
I wanted to go to the Olympics.
Favorite pasta shape?
Pasta shape?
Yeah.
Bowtie?
Bowtie pasta?
Sure.
Is that a shape?
Yeah.
Farfalle is the... I believe the Italian name for it.
Oh, Farfalle.
Got it.
We both sound so authentic right now.
Yeah, we are Italian through and through.
First concert, best concert?
Um...
First concert was probably like a barbershop quartet contest.
The concert that I remember that most that changed my life was Bobby McFerrin.
He was the guy that sings the Don't Worry, Be Happy song.
But he does solo concerts where he gets up on stage in ripped jeans, dreadlocks, bare feet and a microphone and just him.
And he blows your mind with his voice.
And he's what inspired me to pursue a career in performing.
What was your first Broadway show?
The first one you ever went to?
Wicked.
Stop.
When?
How old were you?
What impact did it have on you?
You're pausing the sprint to the finish.
I need a story.
I was 29 years old when I first saw my first Broadway show because I'm from California.
And also, I wasn't even in musical theater until I was 26.
This is crazy, actually.
I happened to be in New York while a good friend of mine, Jennifer Newberry, was also in New York.
And we knew each other from Disney World.
And she said, I want to take you to go see a Broadway show.
And so she took me to see Wicked.
And now however, many years later this is eight years later I'm Fiyero on Broadway and she's the Glinda standby on Broadway.
So now she was my Glinda on tour for a year.
And now she's been my Glinda standby here on Broadway.
And so and she took me to see my first Broadway show.
I know this is like Broadway lingo and that's how everyone talks, but I find it very enduring that you say my Glinda.
Like it's very sweet.
My Glinda.
She is my Glinda.
Yeah.
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Caramel cone by Haagen-Dazs.
Biggest pet peeve.
New Jersey transit.
Does that count?
Yes, absolutely.
It does.
Everything about it.
If you could take a class in anything, what would it be?
Music, harmonics.
I've always been fascinated by the harmonic system and overtones and how chords stack on top of each other.
I've never gotten to take a class in that.
Cool.
If you could go for a run with anyone, living, dead, alive.
We know the answer.
Is it Kipchoge?
You're a doppelganger.
Are you freaking kidding me?
The guy that's playing me in the movie, obviously.
I need to communicate, like, here's how you talk, here's how you run.
Also, like, how's your singing voice?
Yeah, no.
I'm sure it's great.
These days you don't have to be able to sing.
They just fix everything in post.
Oh, don't tell us that.
I want to believe that everyone... Oh, sorry, yeah.
Everything you saw on Wicked was live and perfectly sung right on set.
Thank you for being honest.
In one word, how does running make you feel?
Free.
Love it.
All right, last thing.
Give everyone listening a reason to go for a run.
I would say go for a run, because there is no better meditation than slapping on a pair of shoes and disconnecting from the world for a few hours, disconnecting from social media, from all of the stresses in your life.
And just letting go of that and being outside.
There's a good six month period or so where it sucks and your body has to adjust to it all.
And then once you get through that, it's the absolute best.
I love that answer.
All right.
So you're in for the 2026 New York City Marathon.
Assuming you are still Fiero on Broadway at the time.
If that is part of your life plan, would you do the same thing again?
The marathon in a two show day?
I don't know that it's necessary now.
Oh, okay.
This was like a checkbox.
I don't even know that it was necessarily.
Again, it didn't start out that way, but is it cool if you do it again?
I don't know.
Then it's really your thing.
Then it's just like, yeah, then you're just showing off.
This time around, it was just like, I'm just trying to prove it to myself.
Now that I know that I can do it and the world knows that I can do it, what's...
Does anybody care?
I'd much rather go sub three and just do the night show than go like a 315 and do both shows, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, lots to think about before next year.
Jordan, I have loved this conversation.
You're amazing.
This was so fun.
Congratulations on all your achievements.
And, of course, sending you and your family all the absolute best as you prepare to become a family of four.
Thank you.
It's going to happen any minute.
Very exciting.
Take good care of yourselves.
Take good care of each other.
Congratulations.
Thanks for doing this.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for being here for this episode of the Allie on the Run show with my guest, Jordan Litz.
Raise your hand if you're currently in love with Jordan Litz.
Yeah, when he sang, I know.
Good stuff right there.
Jordan, congratulations times three for Congratulations on the marathon.
Congratulations on making it through those performances and 1,600 more.
And of course, congratulations to Jordan, his wife, and their growing family.
What an absolutely exciting time for the Litz family.
Thank you all for being here.
For more from me, I am allyontherun1 on Instagram and my newsletter is allyontherun.substack.com.
Would love to have you over there.
And truly, thank you for being here.
I'll probably say this more as we get to the end of this year and the start of a new one but uh, this year has been wild for me um, not the easiest year and the alley on the run show has been a constant, and you all have been constants, and so thank you for continuing to choose to listen to this show and be here for these conversations.
It makes my job so fun and i'm loving it.
I'm in a big season right now of loving these conversations and just having an absolute blast, so thanks for being part of it.
Thank you, of course, to New Balance for all that they do to support the show, to support this community and to make all of this fun possible.
Newbalance.com slash running.
Get the ruffle socks.
They're cute.
They're fun.
You can fit a bunch of them in your stocking.
All right.
What are my reminders to you?
You've got this.
You're doing great.
Thank you for joining me on the run.
