Nolan Shaheed lives a double life. He’s one of the top jazz musicians in the world, performing with artists like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Duke Ellington.
He’s also a track and field superstar. The 61-year-old recently set new age group records in both the 800m and 1500m.
Nolan says he enjoys both running and playing his trumpet, and that’s all the really matters.
He explains how he started running in high school to help make him a better trumpet player. The better he got at running, the better player he became.
These days, he says he’d have a tough time deciding whether he enjoys running or playing more.
It doesn’t matter — he’s succeeding at both.
At a recent event, Nolan ran a 4:24 1500m — setting a new world record for his age group and smashing the old record by more than 3 seconds.
The record-setting run was enough to have some calling him the greatest middle-distance runner of all time.
His two record-setting runs also caught the attention of USA Track and Field, which named Nolan its Athlete of the Week from a field that includes current Olympic hopefuls!
Nolan explains how running makes him feel and reveals his unusual diet.
Click on the Related Media tab above to our listen to our previous interview with Nolan.