Learning to Run Quiet

There’s something about Elliot Cardin that doesn’t quite match his resume.

He’s a Norda athlete, a national champ, and one of the most consistent long-distance runners in North America. But you don’t get the sense he’s trying to convince you of any of that.

In fact, before he was racing at all, he went out into the woods and ran a 100-mile solo effort—just to see what would happen. He wasn’t chasing a belt buckle. There was no crowd waiting. Just a simple question he wanted to answer: what am I capable of?

What’s compelling now isn’t just how fast he’s gotten—it’s how he talks about the past couple years. About the season he sat out. About the things that didn’t work. The fatigue. The decisions he regrets. The injury that made him listen to his body instead of pushing through.

He’s starting to win. But he’s doing it on his terms—careful, patient, unhurried. There’s clarity in that.

And in a sport that often rewards volume over vision, watching an athlete choose to pace himself is almost more interesting than watching him race.

Get to know Elliot in this recent interview with Norda. You will hear a lot more about him in the years to come.