Supwell Running founder Yowana Wamala runs 100 miles most weeks. He also has three kids, a fourth on the way, a full-time job at an advertising agency, and a daily YouTube channel that's grown from honest shoe reviews into a burgeoning media empire: podcast, app, online shop, a new product line in the works.

This year, he crossed a major goal: a 2:29 marathon, trained for somewhere between bedtime stories and breakfast duty, on long runs that traipse through the Charlotte suburbs while he talks his loyal "Hobby Joggers" through whatever shoe he's testing that day. Between the marathon time, the multi-platform output, and the credentials (a BA from Columbia, an MBA from Duke), you'd expect someone a little harder to reach.

But the whole operation runs on the opposite instinct: get more people into running, and get them better at it. His videos are casual, verging on unguarded, kids wandering into frame, the balancing act on full display, which is probably why people keep coming back daily, to the tune of an hour-plus and 10k views a pop.

He's also, somewhat famously to his audience, a dad first. In this conversation, Courier co-founder and father Matt Sims sat down with Yowana to talk about fatherhood, the endless pursuit, and doing the work when nobody's watching.

[MATT]: For someone meeting you for the first time this Father's Day, who is Yowana when he's not running or filming? Dad of three with a fourth on the way, founder of Supwell, full-time worker, 100-mile-a-week runner. How do all of those fit in one life?

[YOWANA]: I'm a simple guy. I work, I run, I hang out with my family in the burbs. I have a philosophy called ruthless prioritization where I only spend time on the most important things. There's not a lot of relaxation, but I love it this way. I like staying busy and chasing the next goal. I call it the endless pursuit—for some of us out there, no matter what time we run or what goal we accomplish, there's another one on the horizon calling our name. When we do have an off weekend, though, we love getting out to the Blue Ridge mountains in the western part of the state. North Carolina is highly underrated when it comes to natural beauty. 

[MATT]: You came to running almost by accident in 2020, a gym guy with nowhere to lift. What did running give you that the gym never did, and how did that turn into building Supwell?

[YOWANA]: It's funny to me now that I spent so much time lifting in high school and college because I was never that good at it. I was never repping 225 on the bench or putting down 300 on the squat rack. But I loved the grind of getting after it, the process and commitment it took to maintain strength.

I found a similar fulfillment with running, but I saw myself progress in a way that I never did in the gym. It's also nice that running is a hobby that lets us get outside daily. Especially during Covid when we were encouraged to stay inside all day, there was a sense of freedom in my daily runs. And now, I look to running as my favorite part of my day.

[MATT]: You've built real trust with the hobby jogger community, which is rare. Why do you think people stick around, and what made you bet on long-form video when everyone says nobody has the attention span for it?

[YOWANA]: I didn't even start the long videos on purpose. I used to do standard 7 to 15 minute highly-edited shoe reviews from behind my desk in the office. When my youngest daughter Joy was born in 2024, I was forced out of my usual routine with a newborn and additional childcare responsibilities for the older 2 kids. I started showing more of my life outside of the desk and shoe reviews, my early morning treadmill sessions at the gym, stroller runs with my son, and that evolved into the long format you see today. People connect with the channel because they see the grind and everything that goes into creating videos daily, being a dad and operating a business.

[MATT]: With a fourth on the way, how do you balance being a dad, an entrepreneur, a content creator, and a full-time employee without dropping the most important ball?

I'm definitely not perfect. I showed my wife this question and she said that sometimes I do drop the ball (laughs). Different seasons of life require energy in different areas. I try to do my best all the time, but my best is almost never good enough.

I have a joke that everyday somebody is going to be mad at me—either my audience, my wife or a customer. It's the cost of doing business, and it's something I've gotten comfortable with. In the words of Bossman Dlow: "You wanna be a boss? You gotta pay the price."

[MATT]: 100-mile weeks take time. Does running ever feel like it's pulling you away from your family, do you carry any guilt around that, and how do you fold training into family life rather than around it?

[YOWANA]: There's opportunity cost associated with everything we do. I've made peace with that. Every weekend, I do my 20 mile long run, and that's time I'm not spending with my kids. However, I'll hang out with them later in the day, and because I work from home, I'm always around before and after school.

At this point, running has become part of my career. There's no equation that measures the tradeoffs of time, but I'm comfortable with how I prioritize my responsibilities and the rhythm of life I've found this year. The reality is that if you want to be truly great at something—running, parenting, business—you have to dedicate the time. There are no shortcuts. 

[MATT]: In my experience, having kids often makes you a better runner, sharper and more grateful for the time. Has that been true for you?

[YOWANA]: I started running only after having kids, so I'm not sure. What I can say is that having kids has made me eliminate a lot of distractions and nonsense from my life. I'm not going to stay up until midnight watching a game and drinking beers when I know I need to be up at 6:30 am for breakfast with my family. Running does the same—when we're focused on performance and getting faster, we eliminate things that work against that goal. So having kids and running go together nicely in that way. 

[MATT]: Have you always been into creating content? If not, what were the biggest hurdles you had to clear to get consistent and comfortable on camera?

[YOWANA]: No, not at all. I never had any desire to create videos or be in front of the camera. I actually watched a fair bit of early YouTube in the late 2000s and 2010s, but I never thought I would be the one creating videos. It was something I stumbled into when I started buying performance running shoes and blabbering about them to my wife Charli. She was the one who lovingly encouraged me to do something useful with the useless information I had acquired, and that's when I started the channel.

[MATT]: How do you actually sleep with the mileage and the full house, what's your fastest food when there's no time, and have the kids made your immune system stronger or just tested it daily?

Sleep - we are diligent with the bedtime for the kids. They're down by 8, and we have a few hours to finish work, clean the house and watch a show or read together. I average about 7 hours, usually around 11 to 6 am. 

Fastest food - Vegan frozen pizza from Whole Foods has become a staple. I'll also do vegan buffalo chicken on a bagel or buns. As the famous quote from Once a Runner goes, "if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn". (And yes, I do believe that.) Honestly, my lunches are the worst because I'm always rushing. It's something I'll improve once I have the time.

Immune system - Definitely stronger now. I thankfully don't get sick very often, even though the kids do. I think it helps that we're seven years into parenting. I've had all the bugs at this point.

[MATT]: When your kids are grown and look back at all of this, what do you most want them to say their dad was about?

[YOWANA]: The work, baby. The idea that it's cool to push hard toward a goal and be totally dedicated to whatever it is you want to do. It already makes me so happy when I hear my kids say things like "Daddy never gives up" or "we've gotta put in the work." It's not even something I've actively taught them, but they've absorbed it.

 It's not about running for me. I have no desire to turn my kids into marathoners. But if they all can pick something to go after and chase a dream, my most important job will have been accomplished.

Follow Yowana and Supwell.

Also check out Yowana's interview with Matt on Supwell's youtube.