4-16-2023 Update Well my friends.  Tomorrow is Patriots Day in Boston. And we all know what that means.  That’s right, it’s the Boston Marathon.  I’ve got a few friends running.  The weather looks pretty good. Sara Hall is running and Des Linden.  The fastest man in the world, Kipchoge is looking to complete his sweep of the majors.   Who knows?  Maybe we’ll see a sub-2-hour finish from him!  That would be something.  I am running a bit again.  I have spent the last 2-3 month slowly trying to get myself back into shape.  The knee seems to be ok as long as I don’t work it to hard.  I’m still trying to see where the edge is.  I worked with Rachel and took 15-20 pounds off.  And I got through the first 30 days of the Body Building for Beginners program.  I’m going to stop that right there.  I repeated weeks 3 and 4, but I’m not going to go deeper.  It gets very specific in the second two months and is probably more complex than I need.  And, the big news is that I have signed up for a race.  My friend Ann who we have talked to a couple times here on the podcast has a charity that she is heavily involved in called “Burgers and Bands” which is a teenage suicide prevention program.  She got 50 charity slots for the Marine Corp Marathon.  So, jokingly, I said, if you run it I’ll run it.  And she called my bluff.  I am fund raising and I’m going to try to blog about the process of getting back into shape.  I’ll put a link in the show notes, at the top so you can donate.  Then my coach, who was in the mix, said “Ok if you two run I’ll train you.”  And the rest is, as they say is history.  I am going to toss in some audio from before my run today.  I am going to start podcasting more.  I have some interviews.  I’m trying to put less pressure on myself.  I’ve got a lot of ideas and a lot of content, but less time to execute. I have been plugging away at my other, After the Apocalypse podcast.  I’m just about to finish up season 3.  I’m getting somewhere around 22,000 downloads a month.  There’s 20 episodes in a season, and I plan to make each season into a book.  As I creep ever closer to retirement I’m setting myself up to have a bunch of evergreen publishing content going.  At some point I’ll circle back to all the posts on RunRunLive and try to consolidate them into some sort of order and edit them up into some books.  There are literally millions of words worth of content out there.  Anyhow, figured I’d check in let you know I’m still out here.  A little slower, gimpy-er and grey – but out here none the less.

RunRunLive 4-16-2023

Update 03.03.2023

A quick update and an article on the U-shaped curve.

Update - 01.03.2023

An update and an article on body building.

12-18-2022

11-19-2022

10-28-2022 Intro: Hello and Welcome to the RunRunLive podcast. I have some incredible updates for you today. As for format, heck, who needs format?  But as a semi-pseudo-format I’m going to keep dropping these short pieces on self-improvement, and especially how to navigate out of a dark place. I’ll do an intro with a little commentary, Then In section one, I’ve got a piece about self-worth. Then I’ll give you my updates in the outro. … Remember last time we talked about navigating the highs and lows of life?  Why? Because I know that a lot of you get the seasonal blues this time of year when the days get cold and dark.  (For you folks in Australia or Brazil; just set this aside and don’t listen for 6 months) I get these low points too. And the way I have learned to work my way out of them is to practice daily self-attention.  I hesitate to call it self-affirmation, or self-love or even self-development.  It’s hard to find words that don’t carry baggage of some sort.  So let’s just say self-attention.  This self-attention is important.  When we find ourselves in these low or challenging spots in our lives we need to systematically focus on ourselves. It may very well be that one of the reasons we are in this low point is that we have neglected self-attention.  We thought we were safely sailing calm waters and we forgot our practice.  As I said in the first piece, these highs and lows come at us throughout our journey.  We tend to enjoy the highs and suffer through the lows.  If you have a good self-care practice you don’t have to suffer through those lows.  You can see those lows as a gift and an opportunity to reassess, reset and replan. Even when everything in your world, our world, seems topsy turvy and out of balance, you are still you and the one thing you have control over is yourself.  This is the gift of self-attention. The bonus of this self-attention is that it makes you better able to deal with the outside world. … Unfortunately, needing to do some self-work is commonly seen as weakness, especially in the western cultures.  At least for my generation.  I’m happy we seem to be evolving beyond that.  Because this stigma on intelligent self-care is a lie.  80% of successful people start their days with some form of self-care.  Those successful people see it for what it is, the daily sharpening of the saw. I think we can recognize that we have these cycles of emotion and energy throughout our lives that are natural.  Feeling guilty or bad about these natural rhythms just compounds the problem. When I get into these troughs I have learned to get back to basics.  To return to the basic truths of who I am and what my values are and what my purpose is.  Then I work with that every morning as part of my routine.  This allows me to show up with my best self for the people who need me.  You are not doing yourself or anyone else any good by showing up incomplete with bad energy. Being in these low spots can be overwhelming. That’s why it is so important to let everything else go for a moment and commit some specific time on your own needs and go back to the basics.  You build yourself up day by day and step by step. I have often heard people say “Life is a marathon, not a sprint” – To which I laugh because what the hell do they know about marathons?  I know about marathons.  We know about marathons.     Remember that first marathon when you got to mile 18 and thought you were going to die?  Hell. I bet more than half of the 70+ marathons I’ve run ended that way.  The first time you hit that wall it’s awful, but eventually, with training and practice you learn how to deal with and overcome the wall.  It’s still awful, but it is a familiar awful that you have the tools to manage. That’s how these cycles of highs and lows work.  That’s why self-care is important because you can develop the tools to work your way through it. To summarize, carve out some quality time to focus on yourself and go back to basics. For me, the quality time for this kind of work is in the morning.  And the basics start with daily meditation to quite my mind.  The other important thing to understand about climbing out of a hole and the disciplines and practices to do so is that it takes time. When you sit down to meditate that first day your mind will be full of rabid weasels.  You have to keep at it.  The cause and effect of self-attention is subtle.  You may not see it in the moment, but when you look back you’ll be able to connect the dots.  You’ll see the positive impact of your practice.  Like any other training, that self-attention requires ac consistency of effort.  Don’t be discouraged.  Give yourself the gift of a little bit of focus. … Anyhow, I’m going to keep coming at you with these little bits. And you can take them or leave them. Thanks for all the positive feedback on the Watership Down essay. Stay tuned for some running news in the outro. On with the show! … Outro So my friends, the big news is that I have started running again.  I went to see the doctor and we reviewed the MRI results on the knee.  The big reveal is that the bruise on the bone has, for the most part, healed.  There is still some soft tissue degradation in there, but the big bad bruise is better.  I have started running again.  My run was .8 miles with Ollie around the neighborhood on Monday.  Then I ran 2 miles in the trails with Ollie on Wednesday and Friday.  I capped off week 1 with a 3.5 mile outing with my running club.  How about that? How did it feel?  Beautiful fall weather here – great for running.  I was a bit sore after that first trail run! The knee still has pain in it episodically.  But, at this point I’ll take what I can get. It’s definitely a mood lifter! The trick is going to be keeping myself in check.  The universe was talking to me with this injury, and I have to listen. I’m going to be in a new age group one week from today and I need to find a way to run with joy that is sustainable.

11-05-2022

Update: Hello my friends, perhaps even my running friends. Welcome to another episode of the comically directionless RunRunLive Podcast.  I think we’re about 14 years into this podcast journey.  It’s funny how time flies… There really weren’t that many of us back in 2007.  It was a small family of runners talking about running with other runners.  It was me, Steve, Nigel, Nic and Dan, Kevin with the extra-milers and Chopper.  And a few others.  I bet, if you asked any of us we’d say we never expected to make money or become famous from it.  But secretly, we all probably did.  Steve probably came the closest.  I think runners were early adopters of the technology as a community because we all spent so much time alone out on the roads. This meant we not only thought too much, but also needed something to listen to.  The perfect storm for running creators.  When I recorded my first show in June of 2007, I had just run down Mount Washington, after running the race up Mount Washington.  I pulled out my little Sony audio recorder and talked about it.  That Episode One would go up over the July 4th weekend that year.  I interviewed my running buddy Frank, who I still hang out with.  I met Frank on a training run with a bunch of marathoners from Boston in the 90’s.  His story, like mine, and like so many others was coming to running later in life, discovering the marathon, then discovering Boston, then getting hooked. And here we are 20+ years later.  I started an interview show because some of the business podcasts that I was listening to at the time had that format.  From the start I diodn’t want the podcast to be about me.  I wanted it to be about the listener.  I wanted to add value.  I wanted to share everything I’d learned, at that point almost a decade into my journey.  I wanted to share the joy of the adventure.  It wasn’t about me, but ironically, I was the target audience.  I gave myself tips and tricks, I gave myself inspirational speeches, I practiced my writing and presentation skills on myself.  Some of you just happened to be along for the ride as well! I didn’t even know there were other running podcasts when I started.  Really, it wasn’t until later that I met everyone.  I remember going on the Runner’s Roundtable and being so nervous.  It was like standing up in front of a big audience.  It’s still a bit strange to me that I have talked into the ears of probably 2-3 million people at this point in time. By the way, all that content, 400+ shows, we could feed that into an AI now and have a very good representation of me.  You probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.  It’s a tremendous training data set. Anyhow, enough reminiscing.  I’ve got an few things for you this episode.  First I’ll give you an update on what’s going on in my athletic life. Then I have a book review I wrote for my other podcast – After the Apocalyspe. Finally I’ll share an inspirational piece from a series of articles I’m working on for those of us who get stuck in low points and want to grow out of those. … First for the update.  I think last time I told you that I had thrown my back out lifting weights.  Well, that is still hurting me.  I think because I do a fair amount of chair sitting in my line of work.  I decided to not push it by trying to get back to the gym.  Let it heal.  Instead, I’m doing a daily lower back stretching routine – which seems to help.  I’m willing to share it with you if you like.  Very simple.  I believe I also mentioned that I went back for my follow up with the knee doctor.  I’m 18+ months into this knee injury.  It was first diagnosed as a bruise on the knobby part of my bone.  The knee itself was in reasonable shape, but there was this stress bruise on the bone that showed up on the MRI. I went back to the doctor a couple weeks ago and he did his poking around and sent me for another MRI.  He made sure I didn’t go to the cheap MRI place that my insurance company recommended, because it has a larger diameter machine designed to accommodate the more portly among us and because it is larger it doesn’t get as good a resolution on the images.   Another reason not to let your girth get away with you.  (By the way I just typed Girth incorrectly and discovered the “Grith” is an old English word for temporary security.) I went and got the ‘good’ MRI.   Then played phone tag with the assistant lady who is like a doctor, but not the doctor, but the doctor looked at the MRI and told her what to tell me?   The medical profession in the US sounds like a great Ponzi scheme based entirely around my sore knee.   I played phone-tag with the lady proxy doctor.  Because you have to call the office and leave a message then they call you back.  But, they have a special AI-based algorithm that guarantees them to call back while you’re on an important call with a customer.  Then they leave a message that says, ‘tag you’re it’ and the cycle starts anew.  This back and forth went on for a week until my messages started to get salty, like “Hey how about we set a time when I’m available? I’ll show up, you show up and we’ll call it…I don’t know an ‘Appointment’. Wouldn’t that me the adult and professional thing to do here?” She finally managed to get me and it turns out the news is good.  The bruise is smaller.  It is healing (despite me being an idiot and trying to run on it) There is some swelling or irritation of the meniscus around that bruise and this is what they think is causing the pain.  Which makes sense.  I’m going in next week to get a cortisone shot.  That should knock down the irritation.  They will probably want me to go to rehab, God help me.  Waste a few more thousands of dollars and a few more hours of my life doing clamshells with stretchy bands under the guidance of a Sports Sciences drop out.  Which is long way of saying, I think I’m about to start running again.  It’s about time!  I’m overweight and out of shape. Maybe the RunRunLive 5.0 podcast will be me struggling through the couch to 5K? I also found out that there is a new Non-Binary category at Boston that uses the women’s qualifying time, so all I have to do is become gender neutral and I’m in! Just kidding folks.  Don’t send hate mail.  Let’s get started shall we?  On with the Show! …

Update - 10.21.2022

10-7-2022 Ride Update 3

Misc - 9-23-2022

9-12-2022

Welcome to the Run-Run-Live 4.0 Podcast!  - This podcast celebrates the transformative power of endurance sports.  This is the next generation follow up to the RunRunLive 2.0 Podcast. This show is a thoughtful, interview-based format that explores the connection between running, and endurance sports in general and your physical and mental health. All episodes, show note, links and previous show iterations can be found at www.runrunlive.com

What an inspiring podcast!

Whatever the iteration, time spent with RunRunLive is time well spent!

3.0 Gets a 5

Welcome to the Run-Run-Live 4.0 Podcast!  - This podcast celebrates the transformative power of endurance sports.  <br>This is the next generation follow up to the RunRunLive 2.0 Podcast. <br>This show is a thoughtful, interview-based format that explores the connection between running, and endurance sports in general and your physical and mental health. <br>All episodes, show note, links and previous show iterations can be found at <a href="http://www.runrunlive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.runrunlive.com</a>

RunRunLive 5.0 - Running Podcast

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-397 – Molly Lives   (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4397.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-397.  How are we doing today?  Are you surprised to hear from me?  Well, I figured since I’ve been missing my publishing deadlines I’d make it a point to get this one out on time! I had some plane time and had a lot to get out of my head around the Baystate marathon I just ran – so let’s celebrate abundance together.  This one is going to be a bit of a gear change from last episodes’ rah-rah Boston qualification dialogue.  Today I reached out to my friend Molly who we’ve known from the on-line running community for a long time.  We ran the Mojo Loco in St. Louis together years ago. The Mojo Loco movement was a thing started by Steve Runner of  fame where we would all get together in some city and run a relay race together.  No point other than just a bunch of runners from the online community getting together to meet in the protein form and hang out.  It was a great idea.  Someone should start that project again.  I always follow Molly’s adventures online.  It’s a unique age where we all live out in public through social media.  Molly is always entertaining.  Ironically, I probably would have described her as ‘comically neurotic’. And, I watched as she ran up against something that changed her life.  So, I wanted to talk to her about that and see what, if anything, we could profit from the conversation.  To wrap up last weeks show, Jonathan ended up positively obliterating the Atlantic City Marathon with a 3:11 finish.  That’s the power of focus.  He went from a 3:54 to a 3:11 in about 24 months.  I just read today on social media that he’s gunning for a sub-3 finish next fall.  My training partner Brian toughed out a 3:33 at Baystate to get his 2020 qualifier.  We had another long-time friend of the show finally get the sub-3:30 she’d been chasing for years at, I think Amsterdam.  Great examples of sticking with it and doing the work to get the goal.  My race?  Well, you’ll have to listen to the race report I’m wrapping around this episode. … When you have a situation like Molly’s it clears away all the bullshit in your life.  It makes me ask the question why we can’t get this clarity until it is forced upon us by some crisis?  We all have the power to do what we want, to do what is right and to do what makes us happy.  Why don’t we? It’s because we are too busy trying to live the life that we think we are supposed to.  No one gave us a manual on how to live a healthy life.  The manual we got was to keep in line and do all the ‘right’ things and at some point the reward would come.  It’s probably time to update the manual.  What I would add is… Don’t wait until your name is called.  Don’t pretend to be happy living the life you think you’re supposed to live.  You only get this one life.  You only get this one now.  Respect yourself, accept yourself and do what YOU want to do.  I don’t mean to go Tony Robbins on you, but unless you can come to grips with who you are and what you want the world is just going to spin by.  So get busy with that, would ya? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Baystate part 1- http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels   Voices of reason – the conversation Molly Marco Great links:    Imerman Angels    Gilda’s Club (Detroit— though they are in NY, LA, &amp; others)   Look on Twitter for monthly chats regarding breast cancer &amp; brain cancer, for example— using hashtags: #bcsm (breast cancer social media), #btsm (brain Tumor social media).    There are great organizations, depending on the type of cancer— and usually some fun races!   I just did Head for the Cure 5K in Detroit last month— that one is great! Do some google searches and you can find some great organizations near you.   Section two – BayState part 2 - http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels Outro Thank you my friends for joining me for Episode 4-397 of the RunRunLive Podcast unless you gave up halfway through, then you’re not here anymore.  What am I going to do now?  I’m going to rest a bit.  Take some time off, gain some weight and get my head right, get my passion back.  Running, when you do it right is a clear a crisp beacon of passion.  When you do it wrong you get your ass kicked.  I’ve got some fun races in the fall.  There’s the traditional Thanksgiving 5K in Ayer.  Then the Mill Cities Relay with my club.  And, of course, the last Sunday in December, the 30th, we will gather for the Groton Marathon, which is a made up race of any distance and any pace you want to run with me and my friends up in Groton Massachusetts – you can visit the website at grotonmarathon.com. Come up and play with us.  Last weekend when I was in the pace pack people kept asking me how many marathons I’d run.  I didn’t know how to answer.  Do I count the ultras? Do I count those training runs that were longer than 26.2?  If that’s the case I think I ran 8 marathons over the summer! I’m going to continue to count Groton. Even though it’s a made-up race.  Come up and join me.  We’ll jog a casual 4:00 hour marathon and tell tall tales.  I told coach we have a full gym at the place I work now.  I told him he should teach me how to use the heavy bag because it always looks cool when people are kicking and punching it on TV! Next summer I think I’ll do a mountain biking cycle, I miss it.  Find an epic race that rewards endurance and doesn’t penalize lack of skill.  Before that I’ve got a qualified ticket to the 2019 Boston Marathon.  I haven’t requalified there since 2010.  Maybe that’s a worthy goal? … I have another trick for you when you are in uncomfortable situations where you feel like you have imposter syndrome.  This one is the ‘super-hero avatar’ trick.  It’s appropriate for Halloween.  Maybe I should have used it last Sunday! The trick is to think of someone real or imagined who is fantastic in these situations.  They are the superhero of whatever this situation you are afraid of. Picture them engaging the crowd, wowing the opposition, swaying everyone with their charisma and drive.  They are epitome of the pro you wish you were.  Got that person in your head?  Got them visualized?  Ok, now give them a name.  A cool name.  A superhero name.  Like “Crusher” or “T-Rex”.  Got it? Ok now next time you go into a situation that scares you think about how Crusher or T-Rex would handle it.  Visualize what they would do.  Now put their avatar in front of you like a projection.  Even better step into that projection like putting on a costume.  Live that situation through your super hero’s eyes and actions.  What would Crusher do in this situation?  What would T-rex do? Try that.  It might not help, but it’s fun. What the heck do you have to lose?  Life is short.  Live it like you mean it. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-397 – Molly Lives   (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4397.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4397.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-397.  How are we doing today?  Are you surprised to hear from me?  Well, I figured since I’ve been missing my publishing deadlines I’d make it a point to get this one out on time! I had some plane time and had a lot to get out of my head around the Baystate marathon I just ran – so let’s celebrate abundance together.  This one is going to be a bit of a gear change from last episodes’ rah-rah Boston qualification dialogue.  Today I reached out to my friend Molly who we’ve known from the on-line running community for a long time.  We ran the Mojo Loco in St. Louis together years ago. The Mojo Loco movement was a thing started by Steve Runner of  fame where we would all get together in some city and run a relay race together.  No point other than just a bunch of runners from the online community getting together to meet in the protein form and hang out.  It was a great idea.  Someone should start that project again.  I always follow Molly’s adventures online.  It’s a unique age where we all live out in public through social media.  Molly is always entertaining.  Ironically, I probably would have described her as ‘comically neurotic’. And, I watched as she ran up against something that changed her life.  So, I wanted to talk to her about that and see what, if anything, we could profit from the conversation.  To wrap up last weeks show, Jonathan ended up positively obliterating the Atlantic City Marathon with a 3:11 finish.  That’s the power of focus.  He went from a 3:54 to a 3:11 in about 24 months.  I just read today on social media that he’s gunning for a sub-3 finish next fall.  My training partner Brian toughed out a 3:33 at Baystate to get his 2020 qualifier.  We had another long-time friend of the show finally get the sub-3:30 she’d been chasing for years at, I think Amsterdam.  Great examples of sticking with it and doing the work to get the goal.  My race?  Well, you’ll have to listen to the race report I’m wrapping around this episode. … When you have a situation like Molly’s it clears away all the bullshit in your life.  It makes me ask the question why we can’t get this clarity until it is forced upon us by some crisis?  We all have the power to do what we want, to do what is right and to do what makes us happy.  Why don’t we? It’s because we are too busy trying to live the life that we think we are supposed to.  No one gave us a manual on how to live a healthy life.  The manual we got was to keep in line and do all the ‘right’ things and at some point the reward would come.  It’s probably time to update the manual.  What I would add is… Don’t wait until your name is called.  Don’t pretend to be happy living the life you think you’re supposed to live.  You only get this one life.  You only get this one now.  Respect yourself, accept yourself and do what YOU want to do.  I don’t mean to go Tony Robbins on you, but unless you can come to grips with who you are and what you want the world is just going to spin by.  So get busy with that, would ya? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Baystate part 1- <a href="http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels</a>   Voices of reason – the conversation Molly Marco Great links:    Imerman Angels    Gilda’s Club (Detroit— though they are in NY, LA, &amp; others)   Look on Twitter for monthly chats regarding breast cancer &amp; brain cancer, for example— using hashtags: #bcsm (breast cancer social media), #btsm (brain Tumor social media).    There are great organizations, depending on the type of cancer— and usually some fun races!   I just did Head for the Cure 5K in Detroit last month— that one is great! Do some google searches and you can find some great organizations near you.   Section two – BayState part 2 - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/vapor-flys-and-dead-squirrels</a> Outro Thank you my friends for joining me for Episode 4-397 of the RunRunLive Podcast unless you gave up halfway through, then you’re not here anymore.  What am I going to do now?  I’m going to rest a bit.  Take some time off, gain some weight and get my head right, get my passion back.  Running, when you do it right is a clear a crisp beacon of passion.  When you do it wrong you get your ass kicked.  I’ve got some fun races in the fall.  There’s the traditional Thanksgiving 5K in Ayer.  Then the Mill Cities Relay with my club.  And, of course, the last Sunday in December, the 30th, we will gather for the Groton Marathon, which is a made up race of any distance and any pace you want to run with me and my friends up in Groton Massachusetts – you can visit the website at <a href="http://grotonmarathon.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">grotonmarathon.com</a>. Come up and play with us.  Last weekend when I was in the pace pack people kept asking me how many marathons I’d run.  I didn’t know how to answer.  Do I count the ultras? Do I count those training runs that were longer than 26.2?  If that’s the case I think I ran 8 marathons over the summer! I’m going to continue to count Groton. Even though it’s a made-up race.  Come up and join me.  We’ll jog a casual 4:00 hour marathon and tell tall tales.  I told coach we have a full gym at the place I work now.  I told him he should teach me how to use the heavy bag because it always looks cool when people are kicking and punching it on TV! Next summer I think I’ll do a mountain biking cycle, I miss it.  Find an epic race that rewards endurance and doesn’t penalize lack of skill.  Before that I’ve got a qualified ticket to the 2019 Boston Marathon.  I haven’t requalified there since 2010.  Maybe that’s a worthy goal? … I have another trick for you when you are in uncomfortable situations where you feel like you have imposter syndrome.  This one is the ‘super-hero avatar’ trick.  It’s appropriate for Halloween.  Maybe I should have used it last Sunday! The trick is to think of someone real or imagined who is fantastic in these situations.  They are the superhero of whatever this situation you are afraid of. Picture them engaging the crowd, wowing the opposition, swaying everyone with their charisma and drive.  They are epitome of the pro you wish you were.  Got that person in your head?  Got them visualized?  Ok, now give them a name.  A cool name.  A superhero name.  Like “Crusher” or “T-Rex”.  Got it? Ok now next time you go into a situation that scares you think about how Crusher or T-Rex would handle it.  Visualize what they would do.  Now put their avatar in front of you like a projection.  Even better step into that projection like putting on a costume.  Live that situation through your super hero’s eyes and actions.  What would Crusher do in this situation?  What would T-rex do? Try that.  It might not help, but it’s fun. What the heck do you have to lose?  Life is short.  Live it like you mean it. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

Episode 4-397 – Molly Lives 

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-394 – Liz runs on Venti (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4394.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-394.  Today’s show is about empowerment.  There has been much ballyhoo around empowerment in the past few years, rightly so.  To my mind it is not about someone in charge, or society or culture stepping forward and blessing you with empowerment.  It is about you realizing that you have the strength, the gifts, the permission to be empowered. Just like ‘inspired’ means to be filled with spirit, ‘empowered’ means to be given or gifted power.  What we’re going to realize is that we have the ability to give ourselves that gift.  This is a big part of how a good coach, and a transition to an endurance lifestyle, can transform your mindset by giving you, or more appropriately, revealing to you your own infinite power.  Today we have a chat with Liz, who is a runner, a coach and a mom.  Liz and I have spent some time running the roads of Groton together.  We talk about empowerment of her runners.  In section one I’ll tell my Wapack Trail Race tail.  And in section two I’ll talk about…I’ll give you three guesses… That’s right Empowerment! I’m ramping up my training for the Baystate Marathon in October.  Have been working on my speed and it’s awful but I’m getting the workouts done.  At least the weather is turning a bit cooler now up here so I can avoid the soupy heat and humidity.  But the days are getting shorter in a hurry as well.  I’m doing some workouts at night in the dark.  I don’t mind, I’ve always been a night runner.  I did a trail run one night last week and it was a clear moonless night.  Really pretty to be able to look up through the trees and see the stars splashed across the sky.  As we move into fall the Concord grapes are ripening.  The sweet-sour smell hits you as you pass by.  They are screaming florid grape smells at you as if to say, “We’re still here! Your Vikings and colonials have come and gone, but we’re still here!”  I have a key tip for you.  Something I learned from the 100 mile training.  When I run at night on the road I have always worn a headlamp.  I also try to wear something reflective or a blinky light on one arm.  In Ultra-running you carry a flashlight as well.  Remember what generation I’m from.  When I think flashlight I think about those 8-inch long cylinders with multiple heavy D-cell batteries that at best gave off a wan yellow glow.  Think horror movie flashlight.  When I started training overnights for the 100 I looked around for flashlights and discovered there is a whole new generation of cheap, bright, small, LED flashlights.  Companies give them away as marketing knickknacks.  They are so small and light you can hold them between your fingers and not even notice them.  This way you don’t have to turn your head to illuminate something, you just point the flashlight at it.  When you’re running into oncoming traffic you can wave the light around in their frame of reference to make sure they see you.  So, my friends, turn on your love light, and let it shine, shine, shine… On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Wapack-2018 - http://runrunlive.com/wapack-2018   Voices of reason – the conversation Liz McHutcheon – Running on Venti Instrgram @runningonventi FB @runningonventi Twitter @runningonventi  Things I like: Lay’s Ruffle Potato Chips, New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, Harry Potter Movie Marathons, travel and photography. I’m a runner (especially love the trails), coach, writer, and former CPA who knows a few things about Quickbooks. I’m a mom to two amazing and sometimes pain in the butt daughters who have taught me more about myself then any book. I’ve lived in Ireland where I got engaged and married. I’m vegan and love all animals especially my two Golden Retrievers, Thor and Ginger and my three cats, Fluffy, Bailey and Paris. I’m over 50 and I don’t let that number tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ve been to Paris more then any other city in the world besides Boston (where I live). I’m not afraid to try new things, go by myself to run the stairs at Harvard Stadium with November Project, go run a race alone in another state and listen to what my gut is telling me to do even if I’m not sure where my gut is taking me. So why Running on Venti? I do love coffee but it is more than about the coffee. It’s about living your big, beautiful life and going after those BIG goals, one small and sometimes messy step at a time. Even when it’s scary. It’s jumping all the way in not just slowly getting used to the water. My favorite coffee to order: Iced Venti Decaf Americano with extra ice and coconut milk. Running Stats: 5K x lost count (PR 23:40), 10K x lost count (PR 54:35), 10 miler x 4 (PR 1:27), Half-Marathon x 7 (PR 1:49:11), Marathon x 3 (PR 4:51), 50K x 2 (PR 8:11). Section two – Empowerment -  Outro Thank you my friends for joining me for Episode 4-394 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Do you feel empowered? I’m training now for the Baystate marathon.  Putting in some road miles. I feel pretty good. One thing I had taken my eye off of was my nutrition. I have been eating too much junk and drinking too much beer.  I started a new project with the goal of getting to the starting line of Baystate under 170 pounds.  I figure why waste this fitness I have by half-assing my preparation?  I have a quick story about worms.  I didn’t get much out of my garden this year.  The varmints ate all my tomatoes.  I didn’t get any squash and only a couple cucumbers. But my kale was great this year.  For some reason the cabbage worms never showed up and I’ve been eating kale salads every day for a month.  This week the worms have discovered my kale, not the cabbage worms, which are all green, the color of the plant, that makes them hard to clean off.  My wife the horticulturalist says these worms are Sod Worms.  They are green and brown with yellow and black stripes.  They aren’t making a dent yet and they are easier to clean off because you can see them.  As the weather cools off they will be less active.  Hopefully I can still get my salads for a few more weeks, even if they have a bit of extra protein in them. I also have a family of caterpillars chewing through my parsley.  They are those big striped worms that turn into beautiful butterflies.  The butterflies are like royal blue monarch butterflies.  I’m letting them eat the parsley.  Seems like the right thing to do.  Karma and all. … I was listening to some poets talking about how movement is an act of meditation or prayer.  You make yourself a vessel and allow power to come through you.  Whether you that is the power of god or the power of the universe that we share.  You are a doorway.  Think of the relationship between movement and empowerment spiritually.  Moving through the stations of the cross.  Climbing the tower of a Buddhist monastery.   Each step is inserting a power (or a prayer) into the world. Think about that the next time you’re out for a run.  Imagine you are a conduit for power and are injecting it into the world each time your foot rings the ground.  Think about that. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-394 – Liz runs on Venti (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4394.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4394.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-394.  Today’s show is about empowerment.  There has been much ballyhoo around empowerment in the past few years, rightly so.  To my mind it is not about someone in charge, or society or culture stepping forward and blessing you with empowerment.  It is about you realizing that you have the strength, the gifts, the permission to be empowered. Just like ‘inspired’ means to be filled with spirit, ‘empowered’ means to be given or gifted power.  What we’re going to realize is that we have the ability to give ourselves that gift.  This is a big part of how a good coach, and a transition to an endurance lifestyle, can transform your mindset by giving you, or more appropriately, revealing to you your own infinite power.  Today we have a chat with Liz, who is a runner, a coach and a mom.  Liz and I have spent some time running the roads of Groton together.  We talk about empowerment of her runners.  In section one I’ll tell my Wapack Trail Race tail.  And in section two I’ll talk about…I’ll give you three guesses… That’s right Empowerment! I’m ramping up my training for the Baystate Marathon in October.  Have been working on my speed and it’s awful but I’m getting the workouts done.  At least the weather is turning a bit cooler now up here so I can avoid the soupy heat and humidity.  But the days are getting shorter in a hurry as well.  I’m doing some workouts at night in the dark.  I don’t mind, I’ve always been a night runner.  I did a trail run one night last week and it was a clear moonless night.  Really pretty to be able to look up through the trees and see the stars splashed across the sky.  As we move into fall the Concord grapes are ripening.  The sweet-sour smell hits you as you pass by.  They are screaming florid grape smells at you as if to say, “We’re still here! Your Vikings and colonials have come and gone, but we’re still here!”  I have a key tip for you.  Something I learned from the 100 mile training.  When I run at night on the road I have always worn a headlamp.  I also try to wear something reflective or a blinky light on one arm.  In Ultra-running you carry a flashlight as well.  Remember what generation I’m from.  When I think flashlight I think about those 8-inch long cylinders with multiple heavy D-cell batteries that at best gave off a wan yellow glow.  Think horror movie flashlight.  When I started training overnights for the 100 I looked around for flashlights and discovered there is a whole new generation of cheap, bright, small, LED flashlights.  Companies give them away as marketing knickknacks.  They are so small and light you can hold them between your fingers and not even notice them.  This way you don’t have to turn your head to illuminate something, you just point the flashlight at it.  When you’re running into oncoming traffic you can wave the light around in their frame of reference to make sure they see you.  So, my friends, turn on your love light, and let it shine, shine, shine… On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Wapack-2018 - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/wapack-2018" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/wapack-2018</a>   Voices of reason – the conversation Liz McHutcheon – Running on Venti Instrgram @runningonventi FB @runningonventi Twitter @runningonventi  Things I like: Lay’s Ruffle Potato Chips, New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, Harry Potter Movie Marathons, travel and photography. I’m a runner (especially love the trails), coach, writer, and former CPA who knows a few things about Quickbooks. I’m a mom to two amazing and sometimes pain in the butt daughters who have taught me more about myself then any book. I’ve lived in Ireland where I got engaged and married. I’m vegan and love all animals especially my two Golden Retrievers, Thor and Ginger and my three cats, Fluffy, Bailey and Paris. I’m over 50 and I don’t let that number tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ve been to Paris more then any other city in the world besides Boston (where I live). I’m not afraid to try new things, go by myself to run the stairs at Harvard Stadium with November Project, go run a race alone in another state and listen to what my gut is telling me to do even if I’m not sure where my gut is taking me. So why Running on Venti? I do love coffee but it is more than about the coffee. It’s about living your big, beautiful life and going after those BIG goals, one small and sometimes messy step at a time. Even when it’s scary. It’s jumping all the way in not just slowly getting used to the water. My favorite coffee to order: Iced Venti Decaf Americano with extra ice and coconut milk. Running Stats: 5K x lost count (PR 23:40), 10K x lost count (PR 54:35), 10 miler x 4 (PR 1:27), Half-Marathon x 7 (PR 1:49:11), Marathon x 3 (PR 4:51), 50K x 2 (PR 8:11). Section two – Empowerment -  Outro Thank you my friends for joining me for Episode 4-394 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Do you feel empowered? I’m training now for the Baystate marathon.  Putting in some road miles. I feel pretty good. One thing I had taken my eye off of was my nutrition. I have been eating too much junk and drinking too much beer.  I started a new project with the goal of getting to the starting line of Baystate under 170 pounds.  I figure why waste this fitness I have by half-assing my preparation?  I have a quick story about worms.  I didn’t get much out of my garden this year.  The varmints ate all my tomatoes.  I didn’t get any squash and only a couple cucumbers. But my kale was great this year.  For some reason the cabbage worms never showed up and I’ve been eating kale salads every day for a month.  This week the worms have discovered my kale, not the cabbage worms, which are all green, the color of the plant, that makes them hard to clean off.  My wife the horticulturalist says these worms are Sod Worms.  They are green and brown with yellow and black stripes.  They aren’t making a dent yet and they are easier to clean off because you can see them.  As the weather cools off they will be less active.  Hopefully I can still get my salads for a few more weeks, even if they have a bit of extra protein in them. I also have a family of caterpillars chewing through my parsley.  They are those big striped worms that turn into beautiful butterflies.  The butterflies are like royal blue monarch butterflies.  I’m letting them eat the parsley.  Seems like the right thing to do.  Karma and all. … I was listening to some poets talking about how movement is an act of meditation or prayer.  You make yourself a vessel and allow power to come through you.  Whether you that is the power of god or the power of the universe that we share.  You are a doorway.  Think of the relationship between movement and empowerment spiritually.  Moving through the stations of the cross.  Climbing the tower of a Buddhist monastery.   Each step is inserting a power (or a prayer) into the world. Think about that the next time you’re out for a run.  Imagine you are a conduit for power and are injecting it into the world each time your foot rings the ground.  Think about that. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

Episode 4-394 – Liz runs on Venti

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-416 – Nate Does Form (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4416.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-416 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Yes, I did that thing where I published two episodes out of order.  Last week was episode 417 and next week will be episode 418. Today we wrap up our series on running form. We talk with Nate who commands the Run Experience in California and is an expert of form.  You may hear some odd noises in the background towards the end of the interview.  I was trying to do too much and was walking the puppy in the woods behind my house at the same time I was interviewing Nate.  We got going a bit later than planned and I realized I had to get back to my house for another call.  I went off trail to take a shortcut.  Anyhow. How are you folks doing.  Got some new members. In the last couple weeks.  When I ask them what I can do for them they say ‘just keep doing the podcast’ – I guess I can handle that.  Set’s the bar pretty low.  I am sitting in my Cape Cod house.  In the morning I’m going to get up and drive over to Hyannis, catch the 6:10 highspeed ferry to Nantucket where I will pace the 1:50 pace group at the Nantucket half marathon.  They were having trouble finding pacers.  1:50 is a little quicker than I would usually volunteer for, but they needed that more.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s only a 8:23ish pace, and it’s only a ½ marathon distance.  Meh.  We’ll see if we have anyone looking for that pace.  I’m not feeling great.  I took a couple weeks off after Beantown, but it didn’t help my sore butt at all.  It really hurts when I sit for a long while, which is basically the definition of my life.  I have Baystate next week but at this point I’m thinking about switching to the half because I have serious doubts about my fitness and ability to race. I feel like my body is telling me to stop running for a while.  My thinking is to switch to some other fitness routine for the rest of the year and try to get my flexibility and core strength back.  I’m also loath to lose the fitness I’ve built up.  I’d need to find something aerobic to replace the running.  When I took those two weeks off I did do a medium effort bike workout on the Peleton in the gym.  That still aggravated the whatever it is.  I guess I could swim but logistically that is such a pain.  I’d have to join a club, rebuy all the stuff, etc.  I’d love to get into some sort of class that could give me the core strength and flexibility but I’m not confident I’d be able to find anything that fit me.  Cross fit?  Yoga classes?  I don’t know but I need to find something different.  I’m a bit rudderless.  In section one we’ll wrap up our form discussion.  In section two I’m going to talk about brown rice.  Yeah, why not?  Let me share a story I forgot to share last time from the Beantown marathon… Late in the race, after I had crashed and was limping home I had something amusing happen.  It was a loop course so later in the race I was lapping the slower runners. I passed a lady pushing a double stroller with two toddlers in it.  Good for her pushing two kids, I’m assuming her kids, for a marathon distance.  As I pass the stroller and pull ahead one of the kids yells out “Dadda!”  That gave me a chuckle. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Finishing up on form - http://runrunlive.com/finishing-up-on-form   Voices of reason – the conversation Nate Helming BIO: Co-Founded The Run Experience in 2014 with the goal of reaching a broader audience of runners and outdoor enthusiasts who want to be able to run and enjoy the outdoors and remain injury-free. He has helped athletes finish their first races, conquer new distances, overcome pre-existing injuries, set new PRs, reach the podium, and qualify for national and world level events. New Training App: (just launched this August) https://therunexperience.com/app Youtube Channel:  Section two – On Brown Rice–  Outro Well, my friends, you have used that perfect form to stroll nonchalantly to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-416.  I read a couple books this week.  I finished the   It was a decent read.  Very inspirational made you feel like you could do anything.  I didn’t see him, but he was out at Leadville.  He likes the ultra-running.  Likes to suffer.  One of the things he talked about that I found useful was using your past successes as proof that you can do whatever new thing you’re attempting.  You make an invent tory of those times when you broke through and when you succeeded and you pull those out when things get hard. I’m not in a great place in any of the aspects of my journey right now.  And it is useful for me to be able to go back through the inventory of all the amazing things I’ve been able to do in my life.  It gives me patience, and gratitude and even a bit of courage.  We all need courage. The other book I read last week was .  I found it in Starbucks.  They have a little basket of books that people leave and take. If you’re listening to me you probably already know who  is.  He was one of the most unique science fiction writers of our time.  You’ve seen his stories in the movies.  Most famously his story, “Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep” became the cult classic “Blade Runner” with Harrison Ford.  But also, “The man in the high castle”, “A Scanner Darkly”, “Minority Report”, “Total Recall” and “The Adjustment Bureau”.  It’s hard to describe a PKD book.  They are all richly tailored alternate universes.  But, close enough to our own reality to make us uncomfortable.  I would recommend you read through his notable works.  This one won the Campbell award.  It was hilariously set in 1988 – which was 15 years in the future from where Dick was writing.  The thing with PKD is that the themes are science fiction-y, but it’s more philosophical fiction.  It’s not all spaceships, ray guns and beautiful women.  The alternate universes are abstractions for him to ask very reasonable questions about unreasonable things and things that matter. Nantucket in the morning.  BayState next weekend then slow things down for the winter months and try to get my kinks straightened out.  Ollie the border collie is doing great. He’s still a terror.  He’s turning into a teenage.  He’s learning how to chase the ball and sometimes even bring it back.  He loves to run on the trails with me.  I run and he zooms around.  He’s a good dog but he has way more energy than any of us do.  I take him to work with me sometimes and let him bother me there.  I have to go up and down 3 flights of stairs to walk through the basement to the loading dock to get him outside.  I suppose it’s god for both of us.  He’s making friends with the ladies in the smoking area.  When I went to the dump this morning the lady there was asking where he was.  He’s such a cutie pie and loves everyone so much he draws a crowd wherever he goes. That’s it for me.  I’m cooked and have to get up super early.  Reach into that cookie jar of past achievements that you are proud of and I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-416 – Nate Does Form (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4416.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4416.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-416 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Yes, I did that thing where I published two episodes out of order.  Last week was episode 417 and next week will be episode 418. Today we wrap up our series on running form. We talk with Nate who commands the Run Experience in California and is an expert of form.  You may hear some odd noises in the background towards the end of the interview.  I was trying to do too much and was walking the puppy in the woods behind my house at the same time I was interviewing Nate.  We got going a bit later than planned and I realized I had to get back to my house for another call.  I went off trail to take a shortcut.  Anyhow. How are you folks doing.  Got some new members. In the last couple weeks.  When I ask them what I can do for them they say ‘just keep doing the podcast’ – I guess I can handle that.  Set’s the bar pretty low.  I am sitting in my Cape Cod house.  In the morning I’m going to get up and drive over to Hyannis, catch the 6:10 highspeed ferry to Nantucket where I will pace the 1:50 pace group at the Nantucket half marathon.  They were having trouble finding pacers.  1:50 is a little quicker than I would usually volunteer for, but they needed that more.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s only a 8:23ish pace, and it’s only a ½ marathon distance.  Meh.  We’ll see if we have anyone looking for that pace.  I’m not feeling great.  I took a couple weeks off after Beantown, but it didn’t help my sore butt at all.  It really hurts when I sit for a long while, which is basically the definition of my life.  I have Baystate next week but at this point I’m thinking about switching to the half because I have serious doubts about my fitness and ability to race. I feel like my body is telling me to stop running for a while.  My thinking is to switch to some other fitness routine for the rest of the year and try to get my flexibility and core strength back.  I’m also loath to lose the fitness I’ve built up.  I’d need to find something aerobic to replace the running.  When I took those two weeks off I did do a medium effort bike workout on the Peleton in the gym.  That still aggravated the whatever it is.  I guess I could swim but logistically that is such a pain.  I’d have to join a club, rebuy all the stuff, etc.  I’d love to get into some sort of class that could give me the core strength and flexibility but I’m not confident I’d be able to find anything that fit me.  Cross fit?  Yoga classes?  I don’t know but I need to find something different.  I’m a bit rudderless.  In section one we’ll wrap up our form discussion.  In section two I’m going to talk about brown rice.  Yeah, why not?  Let me share a story I forgot to share last time from the Beantown marathon… Late in the race, after I had crashed and was limping home I had something amusing happen.  It was a loop course so later in the race I was lapping the slower runners. I passed a lady pushing a double stroller with two toddlers in it.  Good for her pushing two kids, I’m assuming her kids, for a marathon distance.  As I pass the stroller and pull ahead one of the kids yells out “Dadda!”  That gave me a chuckle. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Finishing up on form - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/finishing-up-on-form" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/finishing-up-on-form</a>   Voices of reason – the conversation Nate Helming BIO: Co-Founded The Run Experience in 2014 with the goal of reaching a broader audience of runners and outdoor enthusiasts who want to be able to run and enjoy the outdoors and remain injury-free. He has helped athletes finish their first races, conquer new distances, overcome pre-existing injuries, set new PRs, reach the podium, and qualify for national and world level events. New Training App: (just launched this August) <a href="https://therunexperience.com/app" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://therunexperience.com/app</a> Youtube Channel:  Section two – On Brown Rice–  Outro Well, my friends, you have used that perfect form to stroll nonchalantly to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-416.  I read a couple books this week.  I finished the   It was a decent read.  Very inspirational made you feel like you could do anything.  I didn’t see him, but he was out at Leadville.  He likes the ultra-running.  Likes to suffer.  One of the things he talked about that I found useful was using your past successes as proof that you can do whatever new thing you’re attempting.  You make an invent tory of those times when you broke through and when you succeeded and you pull those out when things get hard. I’m not in a great place in any of the aspects of my journey right now.  And it is useful for me to be able to go back through the inventory of all the amazing things I’ve been able to do in my life.  It gives me patience, and gratitude and even a bit of courage.  We all need courage. The other book I read last week was .  I found it in Starbucks.  They have a little basket of books that people leave and take. If you’re listening to me you probably already know who  is.  He was one of the most unique science fiction writers of our time.  You’ve seen his stories in the movies.  Most famously his story, “Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep” became the cult classic “Blade Runner” with Harrison Ford.  But also, “The man in the high castle”, “A Scanner Darkly”, “Minority Report”, “Total Recall” and “The Adjustment Bureau”.  It’s hard to describe a PKD book.  They are all richly tailored alternate universes.  But, close enough to our own reality to make us uncomfortable.  I would recommend you read through his notable works.  This one won the Campbell award.  It was hilariously set in 1988 – which was 15 years in the future from where Dick was writing.  The thing with PKD is that the themes are science fiction-y, but it’s more philosophical fiction.  It’s not all spaceships, ray guns and beautiful women.  The alternate universes are abstractions for him to ask very reasonable questions about unreasonable things and things that matter. Nantucket in the morning.  BayState next weekend then slow things down for the winter months and try to get my kinks straightened out.  Ollie the border collie is doing great. He’s still a terror.  He’s turning into a teenage.  He’s learning how to chase the ball and sometimes even bring it back.  He loves to run on the trails with me.  I run and he zooms around.  He’s a good dog but he has way more energy than any of us do.  I take him to work with me sometimes and let him bother me there.  I have to go up and down 3 flights of stairs to walk through the basement to the loading dock to get him outside.  I suppose it’s god for both of us.  He’s making friends with the ladies in the smoking area.  When I went to the dump this morning the lady there was asking where he was.  He’s such a cutie pie and loves everyone so much he draws a crowd wherever he goes. That’s it for me.  I’m cooked and have to get up super early.  Reach into that cookie jar of past achievements that you are proud of and I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-416 – Nate Does Form

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-404 – Fjords and Mountains – Run Romsdal (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4404.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  This is the point where I frantically try to remember all those great stories, amusing anecdotes and funny things that I had ready to go when I was running but now retreat into the fog of my memory like scared children confronted by the full, blank whiteness of the empty page and blinking cursor. Bam! Right out of the gate a 54-word sentence!  Yeah! Homeric in its epicness.  I am a prose god! (Editor’s note: Word wants to change ‘epicness’ to epicenes, which is an entirely different thing. That is a Greek word meaning containing both sexes – so androgynous or hermaphroditic and if I wanted to use either of those words I would!  So, get out of my hair Bill Gates!)  Now I am picturing the poor, confused new listener who though they were tuning into a running podcast and instead are getting a crazed etymology tantrum.  Welcome to the inside of the RunRunLive hive mind my friends – sometimes it’s a bit fractal in here. But yes, we do talk about endurance sports.  I have been easing myself back into Twitter after a couple years off and there is a group called #RunChat that is nice.  That’s where I found today’s guest.  I like cool places to run and explore and these folks have gone off to the edge of the map in Scandinavia to set up a running adventure company in the Fjords and mountains.  The photos are spectacular.  Real Viking land stuff. Which causes me to remember one of those amusing anecdotes.  Have you ever heard of Ragnar Lodbrok?  The infamous Viking chieftain who plundered around Frankia and Anglo-Saxon Britain in the late 700’s?  Lodbrok is a compound of two Germanic words.  And literally translated means “Hairy Breaches” or “Hairy Pants”.  You can kind of see some English words in there think ‘Locks” as in ‘flowing locks of hair’ and ‘Breach’ – so Lod-Brok.  Because Old English and Old Norse both came from a common Indo-European root language.  In section one I’ll talk about what my nutrition and diet looks like this cycle that is getting me lean and in section two I’ll talk about a little book I read about fear.  And yes, as we speak I’m about 6 weeks away from the Boston marathon, which in runner-speak means 4 weeks of big miles and 2 weeks of taper.  My training is going really well.  I’m still quite lean and have been sticking to my diet plan for the most part.  I am battling the weather though.  Every time I have a hard workout it seems like it’s snowing or raining or in a deep freeze.  I’ve been spending a ton of time on the treadmill.  Which is good and bad.  It’s good because I can cleanly set the paces I want and hold them.  It’s bad because the treadmill does not translate 100% to road training.  For instance, I knocked off 18 miles on the treadmill last Sunday with the middle 14 at target race pace minus 7.  If I did that outside in the freezing rain storm we were having my pace would be all over the place and I’m not sure I’d get the benefits of the workout.  I need the confidence of knowing I can hold those paces.  Now over the next 4 weeks we’ll throw in some 20 milers and some race specific stuff.  But, all else being equal I feel great.  Light, fast, strong and healthy.  …. One of my habit changes that has been successful in this nutrition cycle is how I’m making my suppers now.  In an ideal world I would eat anything late in the evening, but when I get home from work I’m starving.  What I’ve been doing is using my cast-iron skillet to sauté up some vegetables when I come through the door.  This gives me something to do and takes maybe 20-30 minutes to prepare.  The resulting dinners are healthy and fill me up.  They are nutrition dense and calorie reasonable. Take your big cast iron skillet.  Put it over medium heat.  Pour a glug of olive oil in.  Dice up a garlic clove or two.  Dice up a small onion.  Dice up a teaspoon-sized chunk of ginger.  Put all this into the pan and stir it around in the oil until the onions are clear.  2-3 minutes. While that’s cooking cut up your veg.  It can be mushrooms, cabbage, squash, broccoli – whatever you have.  Fill up the skillet because the veg shrinks as it cooks.  Sauté that while mixing it so it doesn’t burn. Maybe another 5 minutes.  Pour in a half a cup of stock to get the steaming going.  You can cover it and it will cook faster but will get soggy.  Alternately you have to keep mixing it so it cooks evenly.  Serve over rice or anything else you have.  The key ingredient is the ginger.  The ginger makes it taste like restaurant food.  That will fill you up and while you’re waiting for it to cook you can clean the kitchen up a bit and kill two birds with one stone.  Actually, PETA doesn’t want us to use those animal threatening phrases anymore.  They want us to modify our speech to be animal friendly. So – instead I’ll say – you can feed two birds with one scone. Birds like scones. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – My current nutrition - http://runrunlive.com/my-current-diet-and-meal-planning Voices of reason – the conversation Colin – Run Romsdal Run Romsdal is a guided trail and mountain running company set up by Colin Thornton &amp; Hélène Hubert. Through our love of running in wild, remote and spectacular places we discovered the Romsdal region in Norway and decided we could not think of a better place to bring like minded people to come and enjoy the outstanding beauty of the place in the safe hands of people who know it the best.  Instagram -  Twitter -  Facebook - runromsdal I have attached a few photos as I can never decide what to use!  Section two – Feel the Fear (and do it anyway) - http://runrunlive.com/a-short-review-of-a-short-book-on-fear Outro Well, my friends you have traversed the dangerous, naked spine of a rocky mountain to the Fjord at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  Careful you don’t twist an ankle. Next time we are going to talk with Julia who has a great story and a passion for telling it.  I hope you noticed I’m trying to re-energize the podcast.  Baby steps!  I am working on a lot of projects and life gets weird sometimes, but it’s all good.  I’m thankful for your company and the opportunity for us to connect. So – Thank you. My training is hard, but boringly predictable.  I’m getting in 50ish miles on 5 days of hard work on my big weeks.  I’m typically doing 3 hard workouts a week.  I have been doing more speed work this cycle which I really feel like I needed.  I have knocked off 10 Yasso 800’s at my target race time which supposedly is a positive predictor! I had a great workout on Tuesday this week.  On the treadmill again (because the weather was awful) It was a 1 hour step up run, which is actually an ‘easy’ tempo session for me because this is a step back week.  On a build week that would be a 1:30 step up run or even more. For an hour step up you warm up for 20 minutes.  Run at tempo pace for 30 minutes then cool down for 10.  At first I was struggling a little, breathing hard, battling the workout.  But at 20 minutes into the tempo (40 minutes into the workout) it was like a switch flipped and I felt great.  I dropped the pace to 30 seconds per mile faster than my goal marathon pace and held that for the last 10 minutes of the step.  I somehow got into flow state and was just flying and feeling great.  It was effortless.  It was great.  That’s why we do it right?  Every once in a while, it feels effortless and that’s a beautiful thing. … I’m going to leave you with more word play from my current fascination with the history of English.  My favorite Old English word so far is ‘Gongawiver’ which translates to “Going Weaver”, Gongawiver.  That’s the old English word for spider.  Isn’t’ that great? You can use it in a sentence… Like, “The epicene server at Starbucks was frightened by a scary gongawiver. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-404 – Fjords and Mountains – Run Romsdal (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4404.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4404.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  This is the point where I frantically try to remember all those great stories, amusing anecdotes and funny things that I had ready to go when I was running but now retreat into the fog of my memory like scared children confronted by the full, blank whiteness of the empty page and blinking cursor. Bam! Right out of the gate a 54-word sentence!  Yeah! Homeric in its epicness.  I am a prose god! (Editor’s note: Word wants to change ‘epicness’ to epicenes, which is an entirely different thing. That is a Greek word meaning containing both sexes – so androgynous or hermaphroditic and if I wanted to use either of those words I would!  So, get out of my hair Bill Gates!)  Now I am picturing the poor, confused new listener who though they were tuning into a running podcast and instead are getting a crazed etymology tantrum.  Welcome to the inside of the RunRunLive hive mind my friends – sometimes it’s a bit fractal in here. But yes, we do talk about endurance sports.  I have been easing myself back into Twitter after a couple years off and there is a group called #RunChat that is nice.  That’s where I found today’s guest.  I like cool places to run and explore and these folks have gone off to the edge of the map in Scandinavia to set up a running adventure company in the Fjords and mountains.  The photos are spectacular.  Real Viking land stuff. Which causes me to remember one of those amusing anecdotes.  Have you ever heard of Ragnar Lodbrok?  The infamous Viking chieftain who plundered around Frankia and Anglo-Saxon Britain in the late 700’s?  Lodbrok is a compound of two Germanic words.  And literally translated means “Hairy Breaches” or “Hairy Pants”.  You can kind of see some English words in there think ‘Locks” as in ‘flowing locks of hair’ and ‘Breach’ – so Lod-Brok.  Because Old English and Old Norse both came from a common Indo-European root language.  In section one I’ll talk about what my nutrition and diet looks like this cycle that is getting me lean and in section two I’ll talk about a little book I read about fear.  And yes, as we speak I’m about 6 weeks away from the Boston marathon, which in runner-speak means 4 weeks of big miles and 2 weeks of taper.  My training is going really well.  I’m still quite lean and have been sticking to my diet plan for the most part.  I am battling the weather though.  Every time I have a hard workout it seems like it’s snowing or raining or in a deep freeze.  I’ve been spending a ton of time on the treadmill.  Which is good and bad.  It’s good because I can cleanly set the paces I want and hold them.  It’s bad because the treadmill does not translate 100% to road training.  For instance, I knocked off 18 miles on the treadmill last Sunday with the middle 14 at target race pace minus 7.  If I did that outside in the freezing rain storm we were having my pace would be all over the place and I’m not sure I’d get the benefits of the workout.  I need the confidence of knowing I can hold those paces.  Now over the next 4 weeks we’ll throw in some 20 milers and some race specific stuff.  But, all else being equal I feel great.  Light, fast, strong and healthy.  …. One of my habit changes that has been successful in this nutrition cycle is how I’m making my suppers now.  In an ideal world I would eat anything late in the evening, but when I get home from work I’m starving.  What I’ve been doing is using my cast-iron skillet to sauté up some vegetables when I come through the door.  This gives me something to do and takes maybe 20-30 minutes to prepare.  The resulting dinners are healthy and fill me up.  They are nutrition dense and calorie reasonable. Take your big cast iron skillet.  Put it over medium heat.  Pour a glug of olive oil in.  Dice up a garlic clove or two.  Dice up a small onion.  Dice up a teaspoon-sized chunk of ginger.  Put all this into the pan and stir it around in the oil until the onions are clear.  2-3 minutes. While that’s cooking cut up your veg.  It can be mushrooms, cabbage, squash, broccoli – whatever you have.  Fill up the skillet because the veg shrinks as it cooks.  Sauté that while mixing it so it doesn’t burn. Maybe another 5 minutes.  Pour in a half a cup of stock to get the steaming going.  You can cover it and it will cook faster but will get soggy.  Alternately you have to keep mixing it so it cooks evenly.  Serve over rice or anything else you have.  The key ingredient is the ginger.  The ginger makes it taste like restaurant food.  That will fill you up and while you’re waiting for it to cook you can clean the kitchen up a bit and kill two birds with one stone.  Actually, PETA doesn’t want us to use those animal threatening phrases anymore.  They want us to modify our speech to be animal friendly. So – instead I’ll say – you can feed two birds with one scone. Birds like scones. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – My current nutrition - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/my-current-diet-and-meal-planning" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/my-current-diet-and-meal-planning</a> Voices of reason – the conversation Colin – Run Romsdal Run Romsdal is a guided trail and mountain running company set up by Colin Thornton &amp; Hélène Hubert. Through our love of running in wild, remote and spectacular places we discovered the Romsdal region in Norway and decided we could not think of a better place to bring like minded people to come and enjoy the outstanding beauty of the place in the safe hands of people who know it the best.  Instagram -  Twitter -  Facebook - runromsdal I have attached a few photos as I can never decide what to use!  Section two – Feel the Fear (and do it anyway) - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/a-short-review-of-a-short-book-on-fear" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/a-short-review-of-a-short-book-on-fear</a> Outro Well, my friends you have traversed the dangerous, naked spine of a rocky mountain to the Fjord at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-404.  Careful you don’t twist an ankle. Next time we are going to talk with Julia who has a great story and a passion for telling it.  I hope you noticed I’m trying to re-energize the podcast.  Baby steps!  I am working on a lot of projects and life gets weird sometimes, but it’s all good.  I’m thankful for your company and the opportunity for us to connect. So – Thank you. My training is hard, but boringly predictable.  I’m getting in 50ish miles on 5 days of hard work on my big weeks.  I’m typically doing 3 hard workouts a week.  I have been doing more speed work this cycle which I really feel like I needed.  I have knocked off 10 Yasso 800’s at my target race time which supposedly is a positive predictor! I had a great workout on Tuesday this week.  On the treadmill again (because the weather was awful) It was a 1 hour step up run, which is actually an ‘easy’ tempo session for me because this is a step back week.  On a build week that would be a 1:30 step up run or even more. For an hour step up you warm up for 20 minutes.  Run at tempo pace for 30 minutes then cool down for 10.  At first I was struggling a little, breathing hard, battling the workout.  But at 20 minutes into the tempo (40 minutes into the workout) it was like a switch flipped and I felt great.  I dropped the pace to 30 seconds per mile faster than my goal marathon pace and held that for the last 10 minutes of the step.  I somehow got into flow state and was just flying and feeling great.  It was effortless.  It was great.  That’s why we do it right?  Every once in a while, it feels effortless and that’s a beautiful thing. … I’m going to leave you with more word play from my current fascination with the history of English.  My favorite Old English word so far is ‘Gongawiver’ which translates to “Going Weaver”, Gongawiver.  That’s the old English word for spider.  Isn’t’ that great? You can use it in a sentence… Like, “The epicene server at Starbucks was frightened by a scary gongawiver. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-404 – Fjords and Mountains – Run Romsdal

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-399 – The Mindful Runner (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4399.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-399.  This is Chris your host and today we are going get a bit emotional.  We are going to the dogs.  Our themes are Buddy the Wonder Dog and courage.  One of our longtime friends Janet inquired how Buddy the old wonder dog is doing so today we are going to tell some Buddy stories.  In the interview I invited Gary back on to talk about his new book on running.  I thought the timing was good with the holidays to give you another gift option!  What can you buy for runners that they won’t hate?  A book.  Lots of books on running.  Gary has a dream job of writing about running for a living.  I would have to become independently wealthy to do that.  As it turns out words are cheap, in my experience. I’m doing fine.  I haven’t made much weight loss progress but I’m eating healthier.  The weight will come off as I start building up miles in my spring campaign. I’m working with Rachel to lose some weight and get my nutrition right.  It’s hard through the holidays but I’m giving myself a long runway into the spring so even with setbacks I can ease my way into a good race weight for Boston.  And I’m working with Coach to build some strength.  My core is not as strong as I’d like.  My legs fatigue way faster than I think they should.  My aerobic fitness is good, but my legs can’t get near that aerobic barrier and hold it like they used to.  I went to the PT to get his opinion and there’s nothing wrong with me per se I’m just getting old.  I’m healthy and not injured.  With the shorter days I’ve been pushing my runs out into the evening.  I find this is a dead time for me anyhow.  I’m too mentally tired to do anything creative.  I find it nice and head-clearing to get out on the road in the cold and dark with my lights.  It’s peaceful.  Sometimes the stars are out, or the moon and it’s quite pretty.  … Like I said, we are going to spend some time talking about my old running partner Buddy the Wonder Dog today.  He’s doing OK.  He’s here with me now, sleeping.  The old saying is that you can’t teach and old dog new tricks. I beg to differ.  You can teach an old dog bad habits rather easily.  Buddy has never been given human food.  We never fed him from the table or scraps. I never gave him anything I was eating and as a result he never learned how to beg.  You could eat, he wouldn’t bother you.  As he’s gotten older I started to toss him a peanut now and then.  We let him have the morsels that fell on the floor and what have you.  I figured, hey, how long has he got left?  Let him live a little.  What’s the harm?  Of course, now it doesn’t’ matter what I’m eating.  A soon as I sit on the couch his nose is 3 inches from my food staring intently.  And any time we’re in the kitchen he’s underfoot on scrap patrol.  So, yes, you can teach an old dog bad habits.  The same is probably true for humans. On with the show.   … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Buddy in old age- http://runrunlive.com/buddy-in-old-age Voices of reason – the conversation Gary Dudney GARY DUDNEY has been publishing articles on running, trail running, and ultrarunning for the past 20 years. His work has appeared in all the major running magazines, such as Runner’s World, Running Times, Trailrunner, and Marathon &amp; Beyond. For Ultrarunning magazine, considered the “voice of the sport” of ultra long distance running, he’s served as a regular columnist since 2008, and he has additionally supplied the magazine with dozens of uniquely quirky race reports.  Ideas for The Tao of Running were shaped by the 60 one hundred mile races he’s participated in and the almost two hundred other long distance races he’s completed. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Kansas in English Literature and his fiction credentials include stories in Boy’s Life magazine and in numerous literary magazines and one published novel, Cries-at-Moon of the Kitchi-Kit. His second book on the mental side of running, The Mindful Runner: Finding Your Inner Focus, was just released on November 1 of 2018. Section two – Courage-  Outro Alright, I appreciate you sticking with me through the emotional journey of  Episode 4-3989of the RunRunLive Podcast I’m sure it took great courage on your part.     I ran the Thanksgiving 5K with my daughter and a bunch of people from my running club.  I had a good time.  It’s always great to see friends and its always great to spend time with my kids.  I also decided to stop stressing out about pace and time.  This is just about the only 5K I run each year so it bothers me if I don’t’ race well.  When we woke up before the race it was 9 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very cold for this early in the winter.  There was a nice little breeze too.  So itf you’re one of those softies who believe in windchill it would have felt about zero.  There was no warming up.  I didn’t even bother.  I just went out at what felt like a good hard pace and tried to hold it.  I think I ended up with7:20’s, but who cares, right? I’ve been trying to follow a good morning routine with stretching, meditation, reading and writing and it helps.  I haven’t made much progress on my new book about startup sales, ironically because the startup I’m in is keeping me uber stressed out and busy.  Thanks for playing along.  Next episode will be our 400th official episode. I’ll have to think hard about what I want to do next.  … I decided to write that quick update on Buddy because I got an email from long time friend Janet inquiring for his health and wellbeing.  Let me tell you my Buddy story of the week.  Monday night I was getting ready to leave work.  It was after 6:30.  I had a need to pick up a bag of dog food, because we were almost at the bottom of the barrel.  This is ok, because the dog food store is on my way home.  Then I realized I have forgotten to bring the 10% off coupon for said dog food that I received in the mail and was quite excited about.  I believe the coupon algorithm in the great coupon generating AI computer typically only sends coupons when you don’t need something.  So, the universe has made an error in my favor and I aim to take advantage of it. I decide to go home first.  Which is not on my way.  But I can pick up the dog and take him to the pet store with me as an outing.  It’s one of the few places they allow dogs.  As I leave work it is sluicing rain.  Again.  Rainiest month in history.  (Like a normal week in Seattle or London.)  I get home and go to let Buddy out.  He’s been in the house all day.  He looks outside at the weather and digs in his heels.  “Like, it’s only been 8 hours, I can hold it.  I’m not going from warm bed to cold rain!” I push him out onto the wet front steps.  I do some quick things around the house.  I grab the coupon off the fridge and retrieve him for the trip to the store.  It’s still pouring rain.  I’m not dressed for it having just come from work.  He digs in his heels as I try to load him into the truck.  Armful of wet dog into the seat.  We drive off to the pet store to get the food.  It’s late.  No one is in the parking lot and the store is empty.  I unload the dog and lead him on the leash to the store.  He wants to wander around the parking lot and sniff everything.  It’s pouring rain, still.  We enter the empty store and I lead him back to the section where his food bags are stacked.  Leaving a trail of wet footprints.  I have to keep pulling him away from all the interesting things to sniff on the way.  I know to keep an eye on him because the pet store is full of pet smells.  There have been hundreds of other dogs in there getting groomed and trained and just wandering around.  I know if I don’t watch him, he may try to mark something.  It’s not that he has that bad habit, it’s just that his reptilian brain gets overwhelmed by the scent of other dogs.  For a dog nose that place must be the equivalent of technicolor.  I find the food and sure enough as I’m hoisting a 30-pound bag up onto my shoulder one handed with the leash in the other hand, he starts peeing on the floor.  Dammit! I yank him away and go to check out.  Now I have a moral decision to make.  A decision that requires courage.  Pretend it didn’t happen or confess to the young lady at the register.  And as I’m practicing doing things that scare me this month, I decide to come clean, so to speak.  She says they have “Sanitary Stations” just for this and asks if I want her to clean it up or would I like to do it myself – with the clear emphasis on ‘do it yourself’.  I grab a handful of paper towels from the sanitary station and the bottle of organic squirty stuff.  I mop up my friend the dog’s unfortunate leavings.  I have to make another trip to get more towels.  He was serious about his duties.  When all is as clean as it’s going to get we wander back to the register to retrieve the big bag of food.  I ask her if most people just ignore it and leave.  She says that mostly happens with poop.  Que the ominous foreshadowing. We exit the building.  It is, impossibly, raining even harder and colder.  Me in my dress pants and shirt with a big bag of food balanced on my shoulder like a suburban lumberjack and the leash in the other hand.  I decide to pause to let him sniff the pots outside the door.  I feel bad that I had to practice urinatus-interuptus on him in the store.  But he has other plans and begins to poop on the sidewalk in front of the store.  I say ‘no’ and try to pull him away but he manages to leave a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak across the parking lot.  Eventually I wrangle him and the bag of food into the truck.  Now I’m stuck in another moral conundrum, but since I’ve already got momentum, I grab a plastic bag (that I keep in the truck for these types of outings) and stoop amid the puddles to undo the poo.  And that is my old Buddy story from this week.  There is no moral to it, but I think I earned some karma.  and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-399 – The Mindful Runner (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4399.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4399.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-399.  This is Chris your host and today we are going get a bit emotional.  We are going to the dogs.  Our themes are Buddy the Wonder Dog and courage.  One of our longtime friends Janet inquired how Buddy the old wonder dog is doing so today we are going to tell some Buddy stories.  In the interview I invited Gary back on to talk about his new book on running.  I thought the timing was good with the holidays to give you another gift option!  What can you buy for runners that they won’t hate?  A book.  Lots of books on running.  Gary has a dream job of writing about running for a living.  I would have to become independently wealthy to do that.  As it turns out words are cheap, in my experience. I’m doing fine.  I haven’t made much weight loss progress but I’m eating healthier.  The weight will come off as I start building up miles in my spring campaign. I’m working with Rachel to lose some weight and get my nutrition right.  It’s hard through the holidays but I’m giving myself a long runway into the spring so even with setbacks I can ease my way into a good race weight for Boston.  And I’m working with Coach to build some strength.  My core is not as strong as I’d like.  My legs fatigue way faster than I think they should.  My aerobic fitness is good, but my legs can’t get near that aerobic barrier and hold it like they used to.  I went to the PT to get his opinion and there’s nothing wrong with me per se I’m just getting old.  I’m healthy and not injured.  With the shorter days I’ve been pushing my runs out into the evening.  I find this is a dead time for me anyhow.  I’m too mentally tired to do anything creative.  I find it nice and head-clearing to get out on the road in the cold and dark with my lights.  It’s peaceful.  Sometimes the stars are out, or the moon and it’s quite pretty.  … Like I said, we are going to spend some time talking about my old running partner Buddy the Wonder Dog today.  He’s doing OK.  He’s here with me now, sleeping.  The old saying is that you can’t teach and old dog new tricks. I beg to differ.  You can teach an old dog bad habits rather easily.  Buddy has never been given human food.  We never fed him from the table or scraps. I never gave him anything I was eating and as a result he never learned how to beg.  You could eat, he wouldn’t bother you.  As he’s gotten older I started to toss him a peanut now and then.  We let him have the morsels that fell on the floor and what have you.  I figured, hey, how long has he got left?  Let him live a little.  What’s the harm?  Of course, now it doesn’t’ matter what I’m eating.  A soon as I sit on the couch his nose is 3 inches from my food staring intently.  And any time we’re in the kitchen he’s underfoot on scrap patrol.  So, yes, you can teach an old dog bad habits.  The same is probably true for humans. On with the show.   … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Buddy in old age- <a href="http://runrunlive.com/buddy-in-old-age" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/buddy-in-old-age</a> Voices of reason – the conversation Gary Dudney GARY DUDNEY has been publishing articles on running, trail running, and ultrarunning for the past 20 years. His work has appeared in all the major running magazines, such as Runner’s World, Running Times, Trailrunner, and Marathon &amp; Beyond. For Ultrarunning magazine, considered the “voice of the sport” of ultra long distance running, he’s served as a regular columnist since 2008, and he has additionally supplied the magazine with dozens of uniquely quirky race reports.  Ideas for The Tao of Running were shaped by the 60 one hundred mile races he’s participated in and the almost two hundred other long distance races he’s completed. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Kansas in English Literature and his fiction credentials include stories in Boy’s Life magazine and in numerous literary magazines and one published novel, Cries-at-Moon of the Kitchi-Kit. His second book on the mental side of running, The Mindful Runner: Finding Your Inner Focus, was just released on November 1 of 2018. Section two – Courage-  Outro Alright, I appreciate you sticking with me through the emotional journey of  Episode 4-3989of the RunRunLive Podcast I’m sure it took great courage on your part.     I ran the Thanksgiving 5K with my daughter and a bunch of people from my running club.  I had a good time.  It’s always great to see friends and its always great to spend time with my kids.  I also decided to stop stressing out about pace and time.  This is just about the only 5K I run each year so it bothers me if I don’t’ race well.  When we woke up before the race it was 9 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very cold for this early in the winter.  There was a nice little breeze too.  So itf you’re one of those softies who believe in windchill it would have felt about zero.  There was no warming up.  I didn’t even bother.  I just went out at what felt like a good hard pace and tried to hold it.  I think I ended up with7:20’s, but who cares, right? I’ve been trying to follow a good morning routine with stretching, meditation, reading and writing and it helps.  I haven’t made much progress on my new book about startup sales, ironically because the startup I’m in is keeping me uber stressed out and busy.  Thanks for playing along.  Next episode will be our 400th official episode. I’ll have to think hard about what I want to do next.  … I decided to write that quick update on Buddy because I got an email from long time friend Janet inquiring for his health and wellbeing.  Let me tell you my Buddy story of the week.  Monday night I was getting ready to leave work.  It was after 6:30.  I had a need to pick up a bag of dog food, because we were almost at the bottom of the barrel.  This is ok, because the dog food store is on my way home.  Then I realized I have forgotten to bring the 10% off coupon for said dog food that I received in the mail and was quite excited about.  I believe the coupon algorithm in the great coupon generating AI computer typically only sends coupons when you don’t need something.  So, the universe has made an error in my favor and I aim to take advantage of it. I decide to go home first.  Which is not on my way.  But I can pick up the dog and take him to the pet store with me as an outing.  It’s one of the few places they allow dogs.  As I leave work it is sluicing rain.  Again.  Rainiest month in history.  (Like a normal week in Seattle or London.)  I get home and go to let Buddy out.  He’s been in the house all day.  He looks outside at the weather and digs in his heels.  “Like, it’s only been 8 hours, I can hold it.  I’m not going from warm bed to cold rain!” I push him out onto the wet front steps.  I do some quick things around the house.  I grab the coupon off the fridge and retrieve him for the trip to the store.  It’s still pouring rain.  I’m not dressed for it having just come from work.  He digs in his heels as I try to load him into the truck.  Armful of wet dog into the seat.  We drive off to the pet store to get the food.  It’s late.  No one is in the parking lot and the store is empty.  I unload the dog and lead him on the leash to the store.  He wants to wander around the parking lot and sniff everything.  It’s pouring rain, still.  We enter the empty store and I lead him back to the section where his food bags are stacked.  Leaving a trail of wet footprints.  I have to keep pulling him away from all the interesting things to sniff on the way.  I know to keep an eye on him because the pet store is full of pet smells.  There have been hundreds of other dogs in there getting groomed and trained and just wandering around.  I know if I don’t watch him, he may try to mark something.  It’s not that he has that bad habit, it’s just that his reptilian brain gets overwhelmed by the scent of other dogs.  For a dog nose that place must be the equivalent of technicolor.  I find the food and sure enough as I’m hoisting a 30-pound bag up onto my shoulder one handed with the leash in the other hand, he starts peeing on the floor.  Dammit! I yank him away and go to check out.  Now I have a moral decision to make.  A decision that requires courage.  Pretend it didn’t happen or confess to the young lady at the register.  And as I’m practicing doing things that scare me this month, I decide to come clean, so to speak.  She says they have “Sanitary Stations” just for this and asks if I want her to clean it up or would I like to do it myself – with the clear emphasis on ‘do it yourself’.  I grab a handful of paper towels from the sanitary station and the bottle of organic squirty stuff.  I mop up my friend the dog’s unfortunate leavings.  I have to make another trip to get more towels.  He was serious about his duties.  When all is as clean as it’s going to get we wander back to the register to retrieve the big bag of food.  I ask her if most people just ignore it and leave.  She says that mostly happens with poop.  Que the ominous foreshadowing. We exit the building.  It is, impossibly, raining even harder and colder.  Me in my dress pants and shirt with a big bag of food balanced on my shoulder like a suburban lumberjack and the leash in the other hand.  I decide to pause to let him sniff the pots outside the door.  I feel bad that I had to practice urinatus-interuptus on him in the store.  But he has other plans and begins to poop on the sidewalk in front of the store.  I say ‘no’ and try to pull him away but he manages to leave a trail of breadcrumbs, so to speak across the parking lot.  Eventually I wrangle him and the bag of food into the truck.  Now I’m stuck in another moral conundrum, but since I’ve already got momentum, I grab a plastic bag (that I keep in the truck for these types of outings) and stoop amid the puddles to undo the poo.  And that is my old Buddy story from this week.  There is no moral to it, but I think I earned some karma.  and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-399 – The Mindful Runner

Enoch Builds

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-407 – Enoch Builds a Life of Running (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4407.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-407 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  The first paragraph comes to you from Chicago where I am sipping coffee at in an airBNB getting ready to go work a convention all week.  It’s not perfect, having to stand around on my feet and act like an adult all week, but at least it gives me something to do to take my mind off where I’ll be in 7 days – and that would be driving to Hopkinton Massachusetts to join 30,000 other friends to run the 2019 Boston Marathon.  Bear with me. There will be some time jumps in the narrative this episode as I work through the week in the snippets of time available to me.  I’ll try to give the updates as they pass through my big, dense brain.  It may cause us to time shift a bit as we progress but should eventually coalesce into some sort of thematic narrative.  As for today, I feel good.  I’m very happy with my fitness.  The only thing left to do is execute a good, conservative race plan.  Which sounds easy enough, but has always been a challenge for me, especially at Boston.  I’m known as that guy who trains well and then has a bad race.  When you see that pattern consistently in an athlete it’s usually mental.  Today we chat with Enoch who is also running Boston and we have a good conversations around coaching, training and running that I think you’ll get some value out of.  I don’t know what section one is going to be, but you can bet it will be some sort of rumination on the upcoming race or the just-ended training cycle.  … I capped off my training since the last time we talked with a 23ish mile long run.  My buddies joined me for the first 2 hours and we ran a fair bit of it at a tempo pace.  When I dropped them I slowed it down.  I didn’t want to practice going out too fast and crashing.  I don’t need any more practice on that front! I finished up the distance fine.  I was pretty tired for a few days as I recovered from it.  I managed to tweak something in my left foot on that run but nothing that will keep me from racing.  I finished off the first week of taper, cutting way back on the volume.  My last tune up was 10 miles with the middle 7 at faster than race pace – no problem.  I’m fit and I have good pop.  I went into this week of travel under 170 pounds, which is 15-20 pounds lighter than I usually race at.  I stopped thinking about dieting this week at the conference and have probably put 5 pounds back but I’ll eat clean this weekend to cap it all off,  I’ll line up light enough and I’ve stopped focusing on it.  … It looks like the weather is going to be good old Boston Marathon weather again this year.  Some sort of rain and wind.  I don’t really care.  I’ve got enough fitness to overcome most anything and I’ll take cold and rainy over hot any day.  We’ll see how it plays out but it can’t be a s bad as last year.  Even if it is I’ll be ready both mentally and physically to adapt to it.  I’ve run Boston 20 times.  This will be my 21st.  It still motivates me but it doesn’t hold the dread or make me crazy like it used to.  We are two old soldiers grappling our friendly match over a shared past that resonates with gratefulness for the opportunity.  I am blessed.    On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Prelude – Boston 2019 -  Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Enoch Thanks for having me on Chris, I really enjoyed it! My Journey to the Olympic Trials: goo.gl/x8V527  Istagram: Team_FTC See you in Boston, Over the past 15 years, Coach Enoch (pronounced e-knock) has worked with countless runners of all ages and abilities. He enjoys sharing his passion and knowledge of the sport with all of his runners. Enoch loves helping runners achieve their goals and dreams. Coach Enoch first found his love for running in the 9th grade at Keystone Heights High School. As a member of the cross country and track team, Enoch took it upon himself to learn all that he could about running. He would go on to coach himself to multiple top five state championship finishes, and under his guidance, help his cross country team finish with its highest place in school history at the state meet. Upon graduation, Enoch was awarded a cross country/track scholarship to the University of Florida. During Enoch's freshman year at UF, he coached local High School Senior, Jeremy Criscione. Under Enoch's coaching Jeremy won the Cross Country state championship and set a State Record for the 5K and a 2-mile State Track championship. At UF, Enoch was a multiple All-SEC Conference and South Region Honoree. He was the captain of his Cross Country team and won numerous invitationals around the southeast. Enoch still holds top 10 time records at UF in the 8k and Steeple Chase. During Enoch's time at UF, he worked closely with the coaches and gained much of his running knowledge from some of the top minds in the sport. After College, Enoch stepped away from running to pursue other passions but he knew he would return back to his first love one day. In 2012, Enoch moved to Dallas and began coaching himself again. From 2012 to 2014, Enoch coached himself and qualified for 2016 Olympic Trials in the Marathon event. He trained 85 - 100miles a week and competed in both national and local track meets and road races. Enoch also took it upon himself to coach numerous local athletes in the area and helped elevate the local Dallas running scene to a new level. In 2014, Enoch and his wife Angela took a travel sabbatical living abroad for 15 months. They traveled 5 continents before returning home to Florida to settle down and be closer to friends and family in November 2015. Upon moving home, Enoch began volunteering with the local non-profit, Youth Combine and competed on the Youth Combine's record breaking relay team at the Five Points of Life Marathon. In August 2016, Enoch began coaching with the Florida Track Club and fell in love with the team coaching aspect. Soon after, Enoch and the Florida Track Club formed a partnership, and thus, Team Florida Track Club was born! TeamFTC offers runners an exciting team atmosphere, organized group runs, customized training plans and one on one training sessions. Enoch continues to race often and can be seen fighting for the win with other local elite athletes. Enoch debuted in the Marathon in 2017 running 2:18:17 to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials. Look for Coach Enoch and his Team Florida Track Club at your next local race or join today and become part of the team! Enoch's Personal Records:  Distance Time 1 Mile 4:08 2 Mile 8:45 5k 14:05 8k XC 23:46 10k (split in 1/2 Marathon) 30:02 15k (split in 1/2 Marathon)  45:01 10 Mile (split in 1/2 Marathon) 48:20 Half Marathon  1:03:54 Marathon 2:18:17   Section two – Now and the Body -  Outro Well, my friends you probably have trained hard and are ready to race after listening to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-407, now you just have to execute.   Here we are on Saturday morning.  I’m pretty tired after a week of hard business travel.  Got up early to get to the airport Friday morning, quarter of 5 Chicago time.  My flight got into Boston around noon and I navigated the public transport, dragging my bags, over to the Hynes to get my bib.  Walked the expo.  It was packed but smaller than previous years.  Lots of useless crap.  I wish they’d let more races in.  Who needs more crap?  I’m particularly disappointed with the official gear.  Seems like the Adidas folks are designing for a different audience – not me.  I don’t need shorts with an abstract picture and the unicorn on the ass.  Who wants to look at my ass?  Get off my lawn! I bought a Boston Strong hat at the Marathon Sports booth.  Took me forever to get home.  By the time I got out of the expo it was rush hour do I couldn’t get on any of the inbound Green Line trains at the Pru.  I had to drag my bags down to Park street, about a mile walk and then jump on the Red Line.  Lots and lots of time on my feet and walking this week.  I need get the heck off them! I am avoiding getting on the scale!  Too late now anyhow! Checked the weather this morning.  Understanding that it changes every day and there is no guarantee that the weather predicted today will have any resemblance to the weather on race day.  Earlier in the week they were saying it was going to be like last year.  The BAA sent out an email saying they would smoosh wave 4 into the back of wave 3 to get folks out of Hopkinton sooner.  But as of this morning it looks, actually, like great racing weather.  Yes, it will be raining and windy.  But the key difference from last year is that it will be 20 degrees warmer and there will be a stiff tail wind for most of it.  So, my friends it looks like we will be buffeted, but we will set the sails, rig the flying jib and point our small but rugged craft downwind.  And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-407 – Enoch Builds a Life of Running (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4407.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4407.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-407 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  The first paragraph comes to you from Chicago where I am sipping coffee at in an airBNB getting ready to go work a convention all week.  It’s not perfect, having to stand around on my feet and act like an adult all week, but at least it gives me something to do to take my mind off where I’ll be in 7 days – and that would be driving to Hopkinton Massachusetts to join 30,000 other friends to run the 2019 Boston Marathon.  Bear with me. There will be some time jumps in the narrative this episode as I work through the week in the snippets of time available to me.  I’ll try to give the updates as they pass through my big, dense brain.  It may cause us to time shift a bit as we progress but should eventually coalesce into some sort of thematic narrative.  As for today, I feel good.  I’m very happy with my fitness.  The only thing left to do is execute a good, conservative race plan.  Which sounds easy enough, but has always been a challenge for me, especially at Boston.  I’m known as that guy who trains well and then has a bad race.  When you see that pattern consistently in an athlete it’s usually mental.  Today we chat with Enoch who is also running Boston and we have a good conversations around coaching, training and running that I think you’ll get some value out of.  I don’t know what section one is going to be, but you can bet it will be some sort of rumination on the upcoming race or the just-ended training cycle.  … I capped off my training since the last time we talked with a 23ish mile long run.  My buddies joined me for the first 2 hours and we ran a fair bit of it at a tempo pace.  When I dropped them I slowed it down.  I didn’t want to practice going out too fast and crashing.  I don’t need any more practice on that front! I finished up the distance fine.  I was pretty tired for a few days as I recovered from it.  I managed to tweak something in my left foot on that run but nothing that will keep me from racing.  I finished off the first week of taper, cutting way back on the volume.  My last tune up was 10 miles with the middle 7 at faster than race pace – no problem.  I’m fit and I have good pop.  I went into this week of travel under 170 pounds, which is 15-20 pounds lighter than I usually race at.  I stopped thinking about dieting this week at the conference and have probably put 5 pounds back but I’ll eat clean this weekend to cap it all off,  I’ll line up light enough and I’ve stopped focusing on it.  … It looks like the weather is going to be good old Boston Marathon weather again this year.  Some sort of rain and wind.  I don’t really care.  I’ve got enough fitness to overcome most anything and I’ll take cold and rainy over hot any day.  We’ll see how it plays out but it can’t be a s bad as last year.  Even if it is I’ll be ready both mentally and physically to adapt to it.  I’ve run Boston 20 times.  This will be my 21st.  It still motivates me but it doesn’t hold the dread or make me crazy like it used to.  We are two old soldiers grappling our friendly match over a shared past that resonates with gratefulness for the opportunity.  I am blessed.    On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Prelude – Boston 2019 -  Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Enoch Thanks for having me on Chris, I really enjoyed it! My Journey to the Olympic Trials: <a href="http://goo.gl/x8V527" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">goo.gl/x8V527</a>  Istagram: Team_FTC See you in Boston, Over the past 15 years, Coach Enoch (pronounced e-knock) has worked with countless runners of all ages and abilities. He enjoys sharing his passion and knowledge of the sport with all of his runners. Enoch loves helping runners achieve their goals and dreams. Coach Enoch first found his love for running in the 9th grade at Keystone Heights High School. As a member of the cross country and track team, Enoch took it upon himself to learn all that he could about running. He would go on to coach himself to multiple top five state championship finishes, and under his guidance, help his cross country team finish with its highest place in school history at the state meet. Upon graduation, Enoch was awarded a cross country/track scholarship to the University of Florida. During Enoch's freshman year at UF, he coached local High School Senior, Jeremy Criscione. Under Enoch's coaching Jeremy won the Cross Country state championship and set a State Record for the 5K and a 2-mile State Track championship. At UF, Enoch was a multiple All-SEC Conference and South Region Honoree. He was the captain of his Cross Country team and won numerous invitationals around the southeast. Enoch still holds top 10 time records at UF in the 8k and Steeple Chase. During Enoch's time at UF, he worked closely with the coaches and gained much of his running knowledge from some of the top minds in the sport. After College, Enoch stepped away from running to pursue other passions but he knew he would return back to his first love one day. In 2012, Enoch moved to Dallas and began coaching himself again. From 2012 to 2014, Enoch coached himself and qualified for 2016 Olympic Trials in the Marathon event. He trained 85 - 100miles a week and competed in both national and local track meets and road races. Enoch also took it upon himself to coach numerous local athletes in the area and helped elevate the local Dallas running scene to a new level. In 2014, Enoch and his wife Angela took a travel sabbatical living abroad for 15 months. They traveled 5 continents before returning home to Florida to settle down and be closer to friends and family in November 2015. Upon moving home, Enoch began volunteering with the local non-profit, Youth Combine and competed on the Youth Combine's record breaking relay team at the Five Points of Life Marathon. In August 2016, Enoch began coaching with the Florida Track Club and fell in love with the team coaching aspect. Soon after, Enoch and the Florida Track Club formed a partnership, and thus, Team Florida Track Club was born! TeamFTC offers runners an exciting team atmosphere, organized group runs, customized training plans and one on one training sessions. Enoch continues to race often and can be seen fighting for the win with other local elite athletes. Enoch debuted in the Marathon in 2017 running 2:18:17 to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials. Look for Coach Enoch and his Team Florida Track Club at your next local race or join today and become part of the team! Enoch's Personal Records:  Distance Time 1 Mile 4:08 2 Mile 8:45 5k 14:05 8k XC 23:46 10k (split in 1/2 Marathon) 30:02 15k (split in 1/2 Marathon)  45:01 10 Mile (split in 1/2 Marathon) 48:20 Half Marathon  1:03:54 Marathon 2:18:17   Section two – Now and the Body -  Outro Well, my friends you probably have trained hard and are ready to race after listening to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-407, now you just have to execute.   Here we are on Saturday morning.  I’m pretty tired after a week of hard business travel.  Got up early to get to the airport Friday morning, quarter of 5 Chicago time.  My flight got into Boston around noon and I navigated the public transport, dragging my bags, over to the Hynes to get my bib.  Walked the expo.  It was packed but smaller than previous years.  Lots of useless crap.  I wish they’d let more races in.  Who needs more crap?  I’m particularly disappointed with the official gear.  Seems like the Adidas folks are designing for a different audience – not me.  I don’t need shorts with an abstract picture and the unicorn on the ass.  Who wants to look at my ass?  Get off my lawn! I bought a Boston Strong hat at the Marathon Sports booth.  Took me forever to get home.  By the time I got out of the expo it was rush hour do I couldn’t get on any of the inbound Green Line trains at the Pru.  I had to drag my bags down to Park street, about a mile walk and then jump on the Red Line.  Lots and lots of time on my feet and walking this week.  I need get the heck off them! I am avoiding getting on the scale!  Too late now anyhow! Checked the weather this morning.  Understanding that it changes every day and there is no guarantee that the weather predicted today will have any resemblance to the weather on race day.  Earlier in the week they were saying it was going to be like last year.  The BAA sent out an email saying they would smoosh wave 4 into the back of wave 3 to get folks out of Hopkinton sooner.  But as of this morning it looks, actually, like great racing weather.  Yes, it will be raining and windy.  But the key difference from last year is that it will be 20 degrees warmer and there will be a stiff tail wind for most of it.  So, my friends it looks like we will be buffeted, but we will set the sails, rig the flying jib and point our small but rugged craft downwind.  And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-407 – Enoch Builds a Life of Running 

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-402 – A Narcissistic Interviewee (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4402.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  First of all let me apologize for causing so much mid-workout vision issues last week for many of you.  I got multiple letters that many of you had some dust in your eyes when I talked about the passing of my friend Buddy.  Or as my sister put it, “Thanks for making me ugly-cry in the gym!” Twas no my intention.  I just wrote what came to me in that moment on that day when I knew we were going to have to make that last trip to the vet and my old friend would need to bring some change to pay the ferryman.  Let’s not be all sack cloth and ashes here, rolling in the mud, tearing at our hair and wailing.  Let’s celebrate today, this moment and the friends we have to share it with.  If a dog teaches you anything it is how to live in and enjoy the moment.  The sun came up today.  The reaper hasn’t caught us yet and we, you and I, are going to fight that asshole all the way down.  We are not going to sit around and wait to be caught. We are going to get out there and live and love and have adventures and make that sonnabitch work hard to catch us.  Right? Sorry for the shows being a bit less predictable in cadence recently.  Life happens.  Even to me! Today we interview some narcissistic knucklehead about pretty much nothing.  In section one I’ll talk about committing, really committing to this marathon cycle.  And in section two I’ll give you the draft introduction to a new book I’m writing on startup sales.  I’ll give you a couple useful tips for the season.  First, this time of year we end up having to hit the gym a lot.  One of the things I do during my warm up, because whether you’re running or lifting or whatever you should do a little 5 minute warm up, what I do is get on the treadmill in my socks for 5 minutes.  I set it at a slow pace, (for me), like 12-15 min miles and just let my feet relax and spread out a bit.  Really helps get everything warm and relaxed.  Second tip is about consistency.  One of the things I’ve been challenged with over the last couple cycles, especially since the 100 miler, is my legs are super tight.  What I’ve done is to work a simple 5-6 minute stretching routine into every day regardless of what my workout is.  It’s not the stretching per se but the consistency of doing it every day that makes a difference. It has really helped my running this cycle.  Small things done consistently have a huge impact. I’ve got a new podcast for you.    If you love words and language like me, you will find this fascinating.  This is for all you closet Philologists and Lexicologists.  If you don’t like these things it’s going to be like a freshman English lecture.  For example, I learned that there is a root language known as Indo-European that influenced Latin, Greek and Germanic.  Those languages borrowed from each other, but were all decedents of the Indo European.  And, today I learned that the original Indo-European word for ‘host’ had a dual meaning of both the host and the guest.  Same word.  This root word gives us both ‘host’ and ‘guest’ as well as house, hospital, hospitality, etc.  It also means that the word Ghost is literally a guest in your house. … Ok.  Get your hankies out. One last Buddy story from last week.  I stayed home with him Thursday and even though we had a rough night he rallied during the day and was up tottering around the house.  At some point in the afternoon my wife came home so I took the opportunity to jump out the door for a run in the woods.  As I’m standing in the open doorway in my running kit talking to me wife the old dog stumbles over and sticks his head between me and the door.  The dog can barely stand but he’s decided he’s ready to head out into the woods with me on a run.  A gamer and a wonder dog to the very end. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – A new training cycle- http://runrunlive.com/hitting-the-training-again Voices of reason – the conversation Chris Russell Chris is the product of suburban entitlement and over-education.  I promise I’ll find real guests in the future.  😊 Section two – Startup Sales - http://runrunlive.com/startup-sales Outro Well, my friends you have looked at your reflection and fallen in love through to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  Wake up.  We’ve got work to do.  And miles to go before we sleep.  My training is going very well.  My strategy of losing weight and eating clean is paying off with some great workouts.  I feel lean and strong.  At least this week.  I’ve been holding steady at around 173 pounds, which is somewhere around 10 pounds lighter than I normally would be at this point.  The first 10 are easy.  I want to see if I can get down to 165ish and go into Boston at 170ish.  My paces ae better and my staying power in my legs is better.  We’ll see how it goes.  I don’t have any races planned for the spring besides Boston.  This is good and bad.  It’s good because I won’t waste energy and risk over-training by racing too hard.  It’s bad because I like to use those races as practice runs to give me confidence.  So much of racing well is confidence. I’m in the midst of thinking thorough what I want to do with the podcast going forward.  I think this current format has run its course.  I like the format but I want to bring the quality up and be more consistent on the cadence and the themes. … Went out into the trails today.  It was Sunny and just below the freezing mark.  We had a deep freeze, followed by a heavy rain, followed by another freeze.  The trails are nice and firm but there is a lot of ice.  It’s slow going.  Buddy would not have liked it.  He didn’t like the ice.  I ran into a guy ‘walking’ some sort of cattle dog cross that was wildly exuberant, running in circles and giving me friendly full-body hip checks.  Fun times.  Nice to see the people using those trails.  Buddy and I made those trails.  It’s good for the soul.  Getting out in the woods.  Wending your way through the ice and snow.  Splitting the horizon where winter sun meets frozen ground.  That’s life. I’ll see you out there, MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-402 – A Narcissistic Interviewee (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4402.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4402.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  First of all let me apologize for causing so much mid-workout vision issues last week for many of you.  I got multiple letters that many of you had some dust in your eyes when I talked about the passing of my friend Buddy.  Or as my sister put it, “Thanks for making me ugly-cry in the gym!” Twas no my intention.  I just wrote what came to me in that moment on that day when I knew we were going to have to make that last trip to the vet and my old friend would need to bring some change to pay the ferryman.  Let’s not be all sack cloth and ashes here, rolling in the mud, tearing at our hair and wailing.  Let’s celebrate today, this moment and the friends we have to share it with.  If a dog teaches you anything it is how to live in and enjoy the moment.  The sun came up today.  The reaper hasn’t caught us yet and we, you and I, are going to fight that asshole all the way down.  We are not going to sit around and wait to be caught. We are going to get out there and live and love and have adventures and make that sonnabitch work hard to catch us.  Right? Sorry for the shows being a bit less predictable in cadence recently.  Life happens.  Even to me! Today we interview some narcissistic knucklehead about pretty much nothing.  In section one I’ll talk about committing, really committing to this marathon cycle.  And in section two I’ll give you the draft introduction to a new book I’m writing on startup sales.  I’ll give you a couple useful tips for the season.  First, this time of year we end up having to hit the gym a lot.  One of the things I do during my warm up, because whether you’re running or lifting or whatever you should do a little 5 minute warm up, what I do is get on the treadmill in my socks for 5 minutes.  I set it at a slow pace, (for me), like 12-15 min miles and just let my feet relax and spread out a bit.  Really helps get everything warm and relaxed.  Second tip is about consistency.  One of the things I’ve been challenged with over the last couple cycles, especially since the 100 miler, is my legs are super tight.  What I’ve done is to work a simple 5-6 minute stretching routine into every day regardless of what my workout is.  It’s not the stretching per se but the consistency of doing it every day that makes a difference. It has really helped my running this cycle.  Small things done consistently have a huge impact. I’ve got a new podcast for you.    If you love words and language like me, you will find this fascinating.  This is for all you closet Philologists and Lexicologists.  If you don’t like these things it’s going to be like a freshman English lecture.  For example, I learned that there is a root language known as Indo-European that influenced Latin, Greek and Germanic.  Those languages borrowed from each other, but were all decedents of the Indo European.  And, today I learned that the original Indo-European word for ‘host’ had a dual meaning of both the host and the guest.  Same word.  This root word gives us both ‘host’ and ‘guest’ as well as house, hospital, hospitality, etc.  It also means that the word Ghost is literally a guest in your house. … Ok.  Get your hankies out. One last Buddy story from last week.  I stayed home with him Thursday and even though we had a rough night he rallied during the day and was up tottering around the house.  At some point in the afternoon my wife came home so I took the opportunity to jump out the door for a run in the woods.  As I’m standing in the open doorway in my running kit talking to me wife the old dog stumbles over and sticks his head between me and the door.  The dog can barely stand but he’s decided he’s ready to head out into the woods with me on a run.  A gamer and a wonder dog to the very end. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – A new training cycle- <a href="http://runrunlive.com/hitting-the-training-again" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/hitting-the-training-again</a> Voices of reason – the conversation Chris Russell Chris is the product of suburban entitlement and over-education.  I promise I’ll find real guests in the future.  😊 Section two – Startup Sales - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/startup-sales" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/startup-sales</a> Outro Well, my friends you have looked at your reflection and fallen in love through to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-402.  Wake up.  We’ve got work to do.  And miles to go before we sleep.  My training is going very well.  My strategy of losing weight and eating clean is paying off with some great workouts.  I feel lean and strong.  At least this week.  I’ve been holding steady at around 173 pounds, which is somewhere around 10 pounds lighter than I normally would be at this point.  The first 10 are easy.  I want to see if I can get down to 165ish and go into Boston at 170ish.  My paces ae better and my staying power in my legs is better.  We’ll see how it goes.  I don’t have any races planned for the spring besides Boston.  This is good and bad.  It’s good because I won’t waste energy and risk over-training by racing too hard.  It’s bad because I like to use those races as practice runs to give me confidence.  So much of racing well is confidence. I’m in the midst of thinking thorough what I want to do with the podcast going forward.  I think this current format has run its course.  I like the format but I want to bring the quality up and be more consistent on the cadence and the themes. … Went out into the trails today.  It was Sunny and just below the freezing mark.  We had a deep freeze, followed by a heavy rain, followed by another freeze.  The trails are nice and firm but there is a lot of ice.  It’s slow going.  Buddy would not have liked it.  He didn’t like the ice.  I ran into a guy ‘walking’ some sort of cattle dog cross that was wildly exuberant, running in circles and giving me friendly full-body hip checks.  Fun times.  Nice to see the people using those trails.  Buddy and I made those trails.  It’s good for the soul.  Getting out in the woods.  Wending your way through the ice and snow.  Splitting the horizon where winter sun meets frozen ground.  That’s life. I’ll see you out there, MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-402 - Duane Interviews a Guy

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-418 – Matt’s Long Ride (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4418.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-418 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last talked.  I did jump on the Ferry out of Hyannis to Nantucket for that half marathon.  It was kind of fun but also a bit of a struggle.  When I first signed up for it, I thought it would be a fun outing.  Maybe take my wife along or some of my running buddies.  In the end it was just me.  I met up with the other pacers on the ferry and met some nice people in the race.  It was a nice sunny day.  It was a pretty big race considering it was out on an island.  This race fell a week before my target race, the BayState Marathon, and I planned to use it just as a final easy run.  That was the plan.  With how inconsistent my training has been this summer I wasn’t feeling very excited about it.  I offered to run the 2:00 pace group, but they had a greater need for the 1:50 and I acquiesced.  I don’t run a lot of ½ marathons, and my math gets fuzzy.  A 1:50 half is the equivalent of a 3:40ish full marathon, and while not super challenging for where I am right now, it wouldn’t be the lark that a 2:00 would.  It works out to a 8:23 ish pace versus a 9:09 pace.  I went in tired.  My week was weird and my tempo run slipped to Friday, which was probably too close to the race.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt wasn’t helped by the long ride down to the Cape.  I made the morning ferry with no issues and had no issues finding the pace team at the start. I lost my pace group early.  The first part of the course is a lot of sand roads.  They had had a storm for the previous couple days before the race that dumped a lot of rain and left numerous large puddles straddling the road side-to-side.  It turned those early sections into a bit of a steeplechase.  As a pacer I’m supposed to maintain pace no matter what – so I did and lost everyone who was trying to keep up with me.  I was trying to run by the overall average pace on my watch.  Which was a mistake.  I figured if my overall average was an 8:22 – 8:23 I’d be right on that 1:50 finishing time.  I ended up right on an 8:23.  I slowed down a little at the end because I was all alone and thought I might be a bit too fast.  That turned out to be the mistake and I crossed about 30 seconds too slow – which is a cardinal sin in the pacing biz.  I’ll probably get excommunicated.  Pacing isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Even though my average pace was exactly where it needed to be based on my watch, I missed the clock time.  It’s a bit befuddling.  My watch is always off a little on the distance and I guess that could be worth 30 seconds.  It looks like the only strategy that works is to have your mile splits written out, hard copy and check every mile – old school pacing.  And then plan to be a minute early on top of that to make up for variability.  I got it done, but I didn’t feel great.  Another small racing failure in what has been several months of disconsolate results and discontent.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt was screaming in the car-ride home.  I was in a bit of a blue mood rolling into the last week of taper for BayState.  And that, my friends is what we will talk about in section one!  In our interview today we talk with Matt about his recent experience of riding his bike unsupported across the TransAm route and then writing about it.  In section two I’m going to rant a little on the current ‘hustle’ culture.  As I was lined up in the starting corral in Lowell, the city of my birth, a city that I have some history with.  I had one of those pure moments that I love about racing.  When you are there, on race morning, all the waiting is over.  The decisions have all been made.  It’s a pure moment.  The expectations and worrying are washed away by the rising sun.  The volunteer singing the national anthem fills your soul and dampens your eyes.  It is a pure place without affectation, without choice and filled with the energy of being set free onto the course.   How many pure moments like that are left in our world? On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – BayState 2019 -  Voices of reason – the conversation Matt Hi Chris,  I’ve been a listener to your podcast for years now. You’ve been a constant source of entertainment and motivation in my life. I really enjoyed your Marathon BQ book, and used it for my marathon. Though most of my training has been more in the ultra-cycling world, geared towards 24 hour cycling events, and last year I raced Trans AM, a 4200 mile ride from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia. One of the things that saw me through those 16 hours of riding every day was listening to your podcasts.  Riding across country was a profound enough experience that I wrote a book about my journey “As Fast As You Can: How I Biked Across The U.S. In Duct-Taped Shoes” and there’s a quote from you in there from the podcast when you were talking about your 100 mile race “Here’s the uncomfortable truth.  There is no strategy that is going to allow you to stretch the effort over the distance to make things sunshine rainbows and unicorns.  You are going to be uncomfortable.  At some point, things are going to suck.  And not just for a few minutes like a 5K or 10K.  It’s going to suck for hours on end.  Your goal is to acclimate to the suck.  You can keep going with raw bleeding patches of skin.  It just sucks.” ~ Chris, from the “Run Run Live” Podcast. That was one of my favorite things that you’ve said, and it helped keep me going. If you’re interested, I’d love to work with you, maybe talk with you on your podcast. I have a modest facebook following and would do everything in my power to help promote your show, to add what support I can. Let me know if you’re interested. And thank you for being an inspiration. Regards, Matt Kovacic     Section two – Hustle–  Outro Well, my friends, you have peddled non-stop across the country to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-418.  Time to put some nut-butter on those saddle sores.  I was flying back from Miami this week and looking out the window when the following words bubbled to the top of my brain: “Clouds boil up out of the southeast humidity escaping from the cauldron of the world.” That’s how my brain works sometimes.  It paints pictures with words.  But, let’s talk about something important.  Ollie the Collie.  Last week we started puppy class.  Which is a very good thing because he is a wild man.  Technically I could just train him myself without class but this, as in all things, is better with a coach.  Going in I was pretty sure Ollie would be the crazy, uncontrollable puppy in puppy class.  He’s got so much energy and he’s really busy.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ollie was the smartest, calmest puppy in class.  It’s a border collie thing.  When it’s time to work they fall in line.  He picked up the commands right away and he didn’t cause any trouble.  He’s going to be a good dog. I forgot to mention last show that I met up with Tim when I was in Chattanooga a couple weeks ago and we went for a trail run up on Signal Mountain.  It was good to see him.  He’s retired now and is planning to through-hike the Appalachian Trail next summer.  These long endurance events like the AT and Matt’s Trans AM can be game changers.  Matt’s a great example of just deciding to do something and doing it in a way that changes your life.  It’s one of those things that will become a fulcrum for his life journey.  If you think about your life’s trajectory, we tend to fall into a path and either consciously or unconsciously build the conditions that keep us on that path.  One of these big events is a great lever, to pry yourself out of that rut.  I’ve got a funny story about Matt’s interview.  As you may or may not know I have an editor for these interviews.  One of the most time-consuming and hard to automate parts of the podcasting process is the audio editing of the interviews.  The process is that you have to play the interview and cut out the bad bits.  By definition it’s a hard thing.  You have to understand what is being said to know whether it is pertinent or not.  I do my best to be consistent, but some interviewees are harder than others.  Sometimes we go down non-value-added (re: boring) rat holes that need to be ferreted out.  Sometimes I get a real talker or I lose track of time and the interview has to be significantly shortened.  I have had many good interview editors over the last many years that we’ve been in business.  Currently I work with Dimitry who live in Moscow.  He does a good job and seems to have learned my method well enough to make these tricky edits.  I pay him for each show – and that is one of the things I use subscription money for.  It doesn’t seem to bore him too badly.  I have had other editors quit on me, basically saying “I can’t take any more of this!”  Sometimes he’ll comment on what he thought was an interesting topic or person.  With Matt’s interview, Dimitry was very enthusiastic.  He said that he, himself, was a “Bike-Packer” as well and wondered how he could get a copy of Matt’s book.  So here’s a guy I work with every week.  That knows a shitload about my life.  That I’ve never met.  In Moscow.  That’s the world we live in today!  And as weird as that sounds, this conversation with Matt resonated and made a connection.  Think about that.  You never know which conversation or which thing you do is going to make a connection. So keep doing epic stuff and keep having conversations and I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-418 – Matt’s Long Ride (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4418.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4418.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-418 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last talked.  I did jump on the Ferry out of Hyannis to Nantucket for that half marathon.  It was kind of fun but also a bit of a struggle.  When I first signed up for it, I thought it would be a fun outing.  Maybe take my wife along or some of my running buddies.  In the end it was just me.  I met up with the other pacers on the ferry and met some nice people in the race.  It was a nice sunny day.  It was a pretty big race considering it was out on an island.  This race fell a week before my target race, the BayState Marathon, and I planned to use it just as a final easy run.  That was the plan.  With how inconsistent my training has been this summer I wasn’t feeling very excited about it.  I offered to run the 2:00 pace group, but they had a greater need for the 1:50 and I acquiesced.  I don’t run a lot of ½ marathons, and my math gets fuzzy.  A 1:50 half is the equivalent of a 3:40ish full marathon, and while not super challenging for where I am right now, it wouldn’t be the lark that a 2:00 would.  It works out to a 8:23 ish pace versus a 9:09 pace.  I went in tired.  My week was weird and my tempo run slipped to Friday, which was probably too close to the race.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt wasn’t helped by the long ride down to the Cape.  I made the morning ferry with no issues and had no issues finding the pace team at the start. I lost my pace group early.  The first part of the course is a lot of sand roads.  They had had a storm for the previous couple days before the race that dumped a lot of rain and left numerous large puddles straddling the road side-to-side.  It turned those early sections into a bit of a steeplechase.  As a pacer I’m supposed to maintain pace no matter what – so I did and lost everyone who was trying to keep up with me.  I was trying to run by the overall average pace on my watch.  Which was a mistake.  I figured if my overall average was an 8:22 – 8:23 I’d be right on that 1:50 finishing time.  I ended up right on an 8:23.  I slowed down a little at the end because I was all alone and thought I might be a bit too fast.  That turned out to be the mistake and I crossed about 30 seconds too slow – which is a cardinal sin in the pacing biz.  I’ll probably get excommunicated.  Pacing isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Even though my average pace was exactly where it needed to be based on my watch, I missed the clock time.  It’s a bit befuddling.  My watch is always off a little on the distance and I guess that could be worth 30 seconds.  It looks like the only strategy that works is to have your mile splits written out, hard copy and check every mile – old school pacing.  And then plan to be a minute early on top of that to make up for variability.  I got it done, but I didn’t feel great.  Another small racing failure in what has been several months of disconsolate results and discontent.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt was screaming in the car-ride home.  I was in a bit of a blue mood rolling into the last week of taper for BayState.  And that, my friends is what we will talk about in section one!  In our interview today we talk with Matt about his recent experience of riding his bike unsupported across the TransAm route and then writing about it.  In section two I’m going to rant a little on the current ‘hustle’ culture.  As I was lined up in the starting corral in Lowell, the city of my birth, a city that I have some history with.  I had one of those pure moments that I love about racing.  When you are there, on race morning, all the waiting is over.  The decisions have all been made.  It’s a pure moment.  The expectations and worrying are washed away by the rising sun.  The volunteer singing the national anthem fills your soul and dampens your eyes.  It is a pure place without affectation, without choice and filled with the energy of being set free onto the course.   How many pure moments like that are left in our world? On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – BayState 2019 -  Voices of reason – the conversation Matt Hi Chris,  I’ve been a listener to your podcast for years now. You’ve been a constant source of entertainment and motivation in my life. I really enjoyed your Marathon BQ book, and used it for my marathon. Though most of my training has been more in the ultra-cycling world, geared towards 24 hour cycling events, and last year I raced Trans AM, a 4200 mile ride from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia. One of the things that saw me through those 16 hours of riding every day was listening to your podcasts.  Riding across country was a profound enough experience that I wrote a book about my journey “As Fast As You Can: How I Biked Across The U.S. In Duct-Taped Shoes” and there’s a quote from you in there from the podcast when you were talking about your 100 mile race “Here’s the uncomfortable truth.  There is no strategy that is going to allow you to stretch the effort over the distance to make things sunshine rainbows and unicorns.  You are going to be uncomfortable.  At some point, things are going to suck.  And not just for a few minutes like a 5K or 10K.  It’s going to suck for hours on end.  Your goal is to acclimate to the suck.  You can keep going with raw bleeding patches of skin.  It just sucks.” ~ Chris, from the “Run Run Live” Podcast. That was one of my favorite things that you’ve said, and it helped keep me going. If you’re interested, I’d love to work with you, maybe talk with you on your podcast. I have a modest facebook following and would do everything in my power to help promote your show, to add what support I can. Let me know if you’re interested. And thank you for being an inspiration. Regards, Matt Kovacic     Section two – Hustle–  Outro Well, my friends, you have peddled non-stop across the country to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-418.  Time to put some nut-butter on those saddle sores.  I was flying back from Miami this week and looking out the window when the following words bubbled to the top of my brain: “Clouds boil up out of the southeast humidity escaping from the cauldron of the world.” That’s how my brain works sometimes.  It paints pictures with words.  But, let’s talk about something important.  Ollie the Collie.  Last week we started puppy class.  Which is a very good thing because he is a wild man.  Technically I could just train him myself without class but this, as in all things, is better with a coach.  Going in I was pretty sure Ollie would be the crazy, uncontrollable puppy in puppy class.  He’s got so much energy and he’s really busy.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ollie was the smartest, calmest puppy in class.  It’s a border collie thing.  When it’s time to work they fall in line.  He picked up the commands right away and he didn’t cause any trouble.  He’s going to be a good dog. I forgot to mention last show that I met up with Tim when I was in Chattanooga a couple weeks ago and we went for a trail run up on Signal Mountain.  It was good to see him.  He’s retired now and is planning to through-hike the Appalachian Trail next summer.  These long endurance events like the AT and Matt’s Trans AM can be game changers.  Matt’s a great example of just deciding to do something and doing it in a way that changes your life.  It’s one of those things that will become a fulcrum for his life journey.  If you think about your life’s trajectory, we tend to fall into a path and either consciously or unconsciously build the conditions that keep us on that path.  One of these big events is a great lever, to pry yourself out of that rut.  I’ve got a funny story about Matt’s interview.  As you may or may not know I have an editor for these interviews.  One of the most time-consuming and hard to automate parts of the podcasting process is the audio editing of the interviews.  The process is that you have to play the interview and cut out the bad bits.  By definition it’s a hard thing.  You have to understand what is being said to know whether it is pertinent or not.  I do my best to be consistent, but some interviewees are harder than others.  Sometimes we go down non-value-added (re: boring) rat holes that need to be ferreted out.  Sometimes I get a real talker or I lose track of time and the interview has to be significantly shortened.  I have had many good interview editors over the last many years that we’ve been in business.  Currently I work with Dimitry who live in Moscow.  He does a good job and seems to have learned my method well enough to make these tricky edits.  I pay him for each show – and that is one of the things I use subscription money for.  It doesn’t seem to bore him too badly.  I have had other editors quit on me, basically saying “I can’t take any more of this!”  Sometimes he’ll comment on what he thought was an interesting topic or person.  With Matt’s interview, Dimitry was very enthusiastic.  He said that he, himself, was a “Bike-Packer” as well and wondered how he could get a copy of Matt’s book.  So here’s a guy I work with every week.  That knows a shitload about my life.  That I’ve never met.  In Moscow.  That’s the world we live in today!  And as weird as that sounds, this conversation with Matt resonated and made a connection.  Think about that.  You never know which conversation or which thing you do is going to make a connection. So keep doing epic stuff and keep having conversations and I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-418 – Matt’s Long Ride

Morgan Writes

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-413 – Morgan Writes in the Wilderness (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4413.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-413 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   We’ve got a great show for you-all today. A couple weeks ago I interviewed Morgan.   I really enjoyed the interview.  You’ll hear the story in the conversation, but the brief version is that I get the privilege to read a lot of books by athletes, and seldom does the writing do justice to the story. In most cases there is just too much exposition and too much linear narrative.  Morgan’s book, “Outlandish” is the exception.  She is good at her craft. And I dig that.  Also, note that about 17 minutes into the interview my phone crapped out and we had to reconnect to finish it. In section one I’ll give you a nice stand-alone audio on good running form.  I’ll also post it as a separate file so that you can have it to listen to independently when you’re out and about on your feet. In section two I’m going to finish talking through the “Happiness Curve” which I completed last week while traveling.  It has been an action-packed couple weeks since we last talked.  I knocked off 16 miles with my Sunday-Morning Buddies on that one Sunday that was really hot and humid.  It was pretty awful.  I got home, took a shower and immediately napped for 2 hours.  I fought through it though and that was a good confidence builder. I was down in Memphis at a client last week, (the week of the 21st of July 2019 – for those of you who are time traveling – or are interested aliens from another dimension and need a way-point).  I got a couple decent runs in on the sidewalks.   Had some dicey travel coming back and didn’t end up getting to bed until 4:00 AM on Friday morning. But, of course I was still at work at 9:00!   Then Saturday, Yvonne and I drove out to North Central PA to meet up with Greg to pace the Conquer the Canyon ½ marathon. I know what you’re saying, “this is normal Chris stuff”, but wait for it… The big news is that we stopped to see a puppy litter on our way and came home with a new puppy!  Yup, an eight-week border collie.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  It’s like having a new baby in the house.  He’s starting to settle in now, but he’s a terror.   God help us.  As I am editing this sitting on the steps in my front yard he wasthrowing up some grass he just ate, now he’s rolling in it.  And...managing to be cute as hell in the process… Oh, and I picked up a cold traveling.  So I lost some more training time and the continuous sleep deprivation doesn’t help at all! I’m still a bit of a train wreck in my training…or should that be ‘training wreck’. … I’ll give you a story.  I posted a workout to Instagram.  One of my runs down in Memphis.  Nothing special just a sidewalk 8 miler out and back.  And one of the comments was that’s a pretty good pace and distance…wait for it… for a guy your age!  That’s it.  I’ve entered the “for a guy your age” club!  And, because my expectations are exceeding low, I’m happy with that. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Form series Chapter Two -    Voices of reason – the conversation Morgan Sjogren  Morgan Sjogren (“SHOW gren”) is a writer, adventurer, and former elite track athlete turned avid trail runner. A lifelong competitive runner, Morgan has raced sprints on the track to ultramarathons in the mountains, yet she prefers using running as a vehicle to explore wild places. Her writing focuses on human-powered adventure, public lands, conservation, history, travel and food. Find her writing and photography published by REI, Runner’s World, Trail Runner, Patagonia, Archaeology Southwest, Sidetracked, Gear Junkie, Snowsports Industries America (SIA), The Gulch and Adventure Pro. Sjogren is the author of three books. The Best Bears Ears National Monument Hikes, the first guidebook devoted to the National Monument. Her forthcoming guidebook, The Best Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Hikes releases this year. Both are focused on educating the public to visit their lands with a conservation mindset. Outlandish is a sun-soaked starter manual to fueling your own epic. Through her riveting ersonal stories, flavorful recipes, and the book’s gotta-go-there photographs, Sjogren shares her advice and lessons learned from years exploring the desert Southwest while living out of her canary-yellow Jeep Wrangler. Outlandish is a gorgeous guide to a more adventurous life. Section two – The Happiness Curve Final cut–      Outro Well, my friends, you packed your jeep with burritos and set out into the wastes for a long, soul searching, run and found yourself at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-413, Was it cathartic? For the conquer the canyon ½ marathon,  I met Greg and was official alternate pacer for the 2:00 hour group.  It was fun to be able to coach people along and help them get through the race.  The key difference when you’re pacing is that you aren’t going very hard, so you can help others.  That’s good, right?  That’s sharing some of that wisdom.  If you’re heads down racing you don’t have the bandwidth to help other runners.  It was a pretty, wooded course along a packed gravel rail trail that follows a river through a canyon.  No hills.  Kind footing.  Decent scenery.  We had a bald eagle watching us at one point. I think the best part about pacing is that people come up to you afterwards and thank you for helping them.  That’s cool, when someone thanks you for getting them through the rough spot and thanks you for getting them a PR.  And there you go, one of the keys to happiness: helping others.  My mileage has been pretty low.  I’m getting out 3 days a week.  I still feel that mountain bike dinger in my knee.  I rehabbed the hamstring pull I gave myself in that 5k a couple weeks ago.  And I’m just about through the other side of the airplane cold I caught traveling last week.  I’ve been doing 3 sessions a week of high-hamstring tendinosis exercises.  Trying to get my glutes and hips strong.  It’s a couple sets of hip bridges, a couple sets of clamshells, and a couple sets of planks.  In between sets I do pushups and incline situps – so I’m keeping a bit of core strength.  I figure if I can still do a hundred pushups and 200 situps I can’t be that out of shape, right? Next up for me is pacing Eric at Leadville in a couple weeks. Good thing I’m picking him up at 50 miles!  I have no doubt I can muscle through some Rocky Mountain High miles at 3.5 miles per hour.  I did a night run last night over to the ski area next to my house.  I ran over and did the ski hill, hike up, run down, hike up, run down – ended up with 10+ miles and about 2,00 feet of climbing.  At this ski area they have a tiki bar in the summer months with bad cover bands and the like.   The bouncers rode over on a golf cart to see what I was up to.  They could see my lights going up and down the mountain.  Told them I was training.  They weren’t happy but they went away.  I guess it might not make sense to see and old guy humping up and down the double diamond late at night. Then I got up early this morning and ran part of the Wapack with Paul.   That was perfect.  Doing those technical mountains on tired legs was just the ticket.     I’ll tell you a couple more stories to take you out.  First, was on the plane flying back.  I sit next to this guy, maybe a couple years younger than me.  Looks a bit squirrely, a bit nervous, so I ask him where he’s going.  Turns out he’s going to Boston to meet his daughter who he hasn’t seen in 21 years, since she was 4 years old.  Felt like I had stumbled into a reality TV show! His story was that he had a drinking problem, left them and moved to California. Now he’s cleaned up and the ex-wife had orchestrated the reunion.  No wonder he was nervous. I told him to not worry about the past and just be in the moment and this isn’t about him, and he’s going to do great.   Wish I could be a fly on that wall.  Then, final story, I’m at this brewery with Tim and Frank, two of my running buddies, in Lowell, catching up.  They let people bring their dogs in to this brewery.  It’s all very Bohemian.  Bit of a hole in the wall.  I dig it.  I’m at the bar saying hi to this big goofy pit bull and there’s a guy there, bit older than me. He leans down to pet the dog, turns to me and says “A lot of times they’re afraid of me because they can smell the cancer.”  How do you respond to something like that?  Luckily, I happen to know everything, so I said, “You know, I’ve heard about that.” People are funny.  I was out at the race last week and no one said “Hey, you’re that guy!” and no one asked me how many marathons I’d done. I didn’t wear any Boston gear.  I was basically anonymous.  It was a different crowd. It wasn’t about me.  If you want to be popular at a race, ask people about their accomplishments, ask them about their stories, listen intently, and then congratulate them when they tell you. Everybody has stories.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-413 – Morgan Writes in the Wilderness (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4413.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4413.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-413 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   We’ve got a great show for you-all today. A couple weeks ago I interviewed Morgan.   I really enjoyed the interview.  You’ll hear the story in the conversation, but the brief version is that I get the privilege to read a lot of books by athletes, and seldom does the writing do justice to the story. In most cases there is just too much exposition and too much linear narrative.  Morgan’s book, “Outlandish” is the exception.  She is good at her craft. And I dig that.  Also, note that about 17 minutes into the interview my phone crapped out and we had to reconnect to finish it. In section one I’ll give you a nice stand-alone audio on good running form.  I’ll also post it as a separate file so that you can have it to listen to independently when you’re out and about on your feet. In section two I’m going to finish talking through the “Happiness Curve” which I completed last week while traveling.  It has been an action-packed couple weeks since we last talked.  I knocked off 16 miles with my Sunday-Morning Buddies on that one Sunday that was really hot and humid.  It was pretty awful.  I got home, took a shower and immediately napped for 2 hours.  I fought through it though and that was a good confidence builder. I was down in Memphis at a client last week, (the week of the 21st of July 2019 – for those of you who are time traveling – or are interested aliens from another dimension and need a way-point).  I got a couple decent runs in on the sidewalks.   Had some dicey travel coming back and didn’t end up getting to bed until 4:00 AM on Friday morning. But, of course I was still at work at 9:00!   Then Saturday, Yvonne and I drove out to North Central PA to meet up with Greg to pace the Conquer the Canyon ½ marathon. I know what you’re saying, “this is normal Chris stuff”, but wait for it… The big news is that we stopped to see a puppy litter on our way and came home with a new puppy!  Yup, an eight-week border collie.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  It’s like having a new baby in the house.  He’s starting to settle in now, but he’s a terror.   God help us.  As I am editing this sitting on the steps in my front yard he wasthrowing up some grass he just ate, now he’s rolling in it.  And...managing to be cute as hell in the process… Oh, and I picked up a cold traveling.  So I lost some more training time and the continuous sleep deprivation doesn’t help at all! I’m still a bit of a train wreck in my training…or should that be ‘training wreck’. … I’ll give you a story.  I posted a workout to Instagram.  One of my runs down in Memphis.  Nothing special just a sidewalk 8 miler out and back.  And one of the comments was that’s a pretty good pace and distance…wait for it… for a guy your age!  That’s it.  I’ve entered the “for a guy your age” club!  And, because my expectations are exceeding low, I’m happy with that. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Form series Chapter Two -    Voices of reason – the conversation Morgan Sjogren  Morgan Sjogren (“SHOW gren”) is a writer, adventurer, and former elite track athlete turned avid trail runner. A lifelong competitive runner, Morgan has raced sprints on the track to ultramarathons in the mountains, yet she prefers using running as a vehicle to explore wild places. Her writing focuses on human-powered adventure, public lands, conservation, history, travel and food. Find her writing and photography published by REI, Runner’s World, Trail Runner, Patagonia, Archaeology Southwest, Sidetracked, Gear Junkie, Snowsports Industries America (SIA), The Gulch and Adventure Pro. Sjogren is the author of three books. The Best Bears Ears National Monument Hikes, the first guidebook devoted to the National Monument. Her forthcoming guidebook, The Best Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Hikes releases this year. Both are focused on educating the public to visit their lands with a conservation mindset. Outlandish is a sun-soaked starter manual to fueling your own epic. Through her riveting ersonal stories, flavorful recipes, and the book’s gotta-go-there photographs, Sjogren shares her advice and lessons learned from years exploring the desert Southwest while living out of her canary-yellow Jeep Wrangler. Outlandish is a gorgeous guide to a more adventurous life. Section two – The Happiness Curve Final cut–      Outro Well, my friends, you packed your jeep with burritos and set out into the wastes for a long, soul searching, run and found yourself at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-413, Was it cathartic? For the conquer the canyon ½ marathon,  I met Greg and was official alternate pacer for the 2:00 hour group.  It was fun to be able to coach people along and help them get through the race.  The key difference when you’re pacing is that you aren’t going very hard, so you can help others.  That’s good, right?  That’s sharing some of that wisdom.  If you’re heads down racing you don’t have the bandwidth to help other runners.  It was a pretty, wooded course along a packed gravel rail trail that follows a river through a canyon.  No hills.  Kind footing.  Decent scenery.  We had a bald eagle watching us at one point. I think the best part about pacing is that people come up to you afterwards and thank you for helping them.  That’s cool, when someone thanks you for getting them through the rough spot and thanks you for getting them a PR.  And there you go, one of the keys to happiness: helping others.  My mileage has been pretty low.  I’m getting out 3 days a week.  I still feel that mountain bike dinger in my knee.  I rehabbed the hamstring pull I gave myself in that 5k a couple weeks ago.  And I’m just about through the other side of the airplane cold I caught traveling last week.  I’ve been doing 3 sessions a week of high-hamstring tendinosis exercises.  Trying to get my glutes and hips strong.  It’s a couple sets of hip bridges, a couple sets of clamshells, and a couple sets of planks.  In between sets I do pushups and incline situps – so I’m keeping a bit of core strength.  I figure if I can still do a hundred pushups and 200 situps I can’t be that out of shape, right? Next up for me is pacing Eric at Leadville in a couple weeks. Good thing I’m picking him up at 50 miles!  I have no doubt I can muscle through some Rocky Mountain High miles at 3.5 miles per hour.  I did a night run last night over to the ski area next to my house.  I ran over and did the ski hill, hike up, run down, hike up, run down – ended up with 10+ miles and about 2,00 feet of climbing.  At this ski area they have a tiki bar in the summer months with bad cover bands and the like.   The bouncers rode over on a golf cart to see what I was up to.  They could see my lights going up and down the mountain.  Told them I was training.  They weren’t happy but they went away.  I guess it might not make sense to see and old guy humping up and down the double diamond late at night. Then I got up early this morning and ran part of the Wapack with Paul.   That was perfect.  Doing those technical mountains on tired legs was just the ticket.     I’ll tell you a couple more stories to take you out.  First, was on the plane flying back.  I sit next to this guy, maybe a couple years younger than me.  Looks a bit squirrely, a bit nervous, so I ask him where he’s going.  Turns out he’s going to Boston to meet his daughter who he hasn’t seen in 21 years, since she was 4 years old.  Felt like I had stumbled into a reality TV show! His story was that he had a drinking problem, left them and moved to California. Now he’s cleaned up and the ex-wife had orchestrated the reunion.  No wonder he was nervous. I told him to not worry about the past and just be in the moment and this isn’t about him, and he’s going to do great.   Wish I could be a fly on that wall.  Then, final story, I’m at this brewery with Tim and Frank, two of my running buddies, in Lowell, catching up.  They let people bring their dogs in to this brewery.  It’s all very Bohemian.  Bit of a hole in the wall.  I dig it.  I’m at the bar saying hi to this big goofy pit bull and there’s a guy there, bit older than me. He leans down to pet the dog, turns to me and says “A lot of times they’re afraid of me because they can smell the cancer.”  How do you respond to something like that?  Luckily, I happen to know everything, so I said, “You know, I’ve heard about that.” People are funny.  I was out at the race last week and no one said “Hey, you’re that guy!” and no one asked me how many marathons I’d done. I didn’t wear any Boston gear.  I was basically anonymous.  It was a different crowd. It wasn’t about me.  If you want to be popular at a race, ask people about their accomplishments, ask them about their stories, listen intently, and then congratulate them when they tell you. Everybody has stories.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-413 – Morgan Writes in the Wilderness

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-409 – Julie the Marathon Goddess (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4409.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-409 of the RunRunLive Podcast. With any luck I’ll be able to publish this before I jump in my truck and drive up to Burlington VT for my next marathon.  It’s go time and I’m stressed out about it.  I’ve held my weight and conditioning and am coming into the race in good shape, on paper anyhow.  It’s a 3.5 hour drive from my house. Vermont Cities, I’m told, is a much more reasonable course than Boston.  Fewer hills.  My training buddies tell me that it has always been a good race for them.  It still stresses me out.  Age graded, for my goal, I’m targeting times that are faster than I ever ran when I was younger – if you believe age grading. Looks like the weather is going to be dicey.  The race starts at 7:00 AM so I shouldn’t have to worry about heat.  But, they are calling for thunder storms and a stiff wind in the morning.  Doesn’t matter.  I’m committed.  I’ll fight it all the way down. It’s a figure 8 course.  I’m not sure how sheltered it is, but that should mean I’ll have as much head wind as tail wind and side wind.  I’m going to find a pace group and stick with it.  Stay in the shadow of the pace group. I need a 3:35 to requalify and it looks like they have a 3:30 pace group.  I’ll have to decide whether I want to hang with them or freewheel.  10 seconds a mile could be significant and I’d much rather negative split than burn out.  We’ll see. I’m camping in a park on the lake front.  Like I said it’s a trick I learned in my mountain bike racing days.  Frankly, I don’t think those hard-core mountain bikers are house-trained.  I’ve got a tent, a mattress and a mattress pump in the back of my truck.  You don’t sleep much the night before a race anyhow.  Eyeballing the map, it looks like I can walk to the start from where I’m camped. Brian is going to be up there with his son.  I’m going to stay over Sunday night probably.  We’ll see. I can’t wait to have this over with.  I’m pretty sick of road racing and training.  Not sure what I’m going to do if I miss my time.  I might hang it up.  Move on.  What would you do?  Do you think 21 Boston marathons is enough?  Or will my life totally unravel if I remove this prop from the infrastructure? Today we have a great interview with Julie the Marathon Goddess.  You know Julie.  She’s the California Girl from the move “The Spirit of the Marathon 2”.  Which isn’t an awful movie.  The reason it’s not awful is that it has a cast of characters and Julie is one of those characters. In section one I’m going to talk about some new things I learned in this last training cycle.  In section two I’m going to talk about the wild and whacky English Language. And, since we’re talking about the English language and the Boston Marathon I have a question for you?  What is another perfectly good word for ‘unicorn’?  Monocerous!  Isn’t that a great word.  Monocerous! Here’s another one.  Did you know that the word Cadence comes from the same Indo-European root as Cadaver?  Same Latin root meaning, loosely to fall.  The cadence is the foot fall.  The cadaver is a fallen one, so to speak.  So next time you can’t keep up your cadence and you feel like a cadaver, you’ll know why. Oh, I have a redaction from last show.  My childhood friend Dave didn’t die.  He’s living in Seattle I think.  His older brother Eric, who I went to school with passed.  Rest in Peace Eric. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.    Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!    Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – LEssons from this long training cycle.  Voices of reason – the conversation Julie Weiss Author/Runner/Marathon Goddess     Available now on : 52 Weeks, 52 Marathons: The Miles and Trials of a Marathon Goddess by Julie Weiss with John Hanc and Ali Nolan (Tender Fire/Enhanced Communications)   Do you ever wonder, or have a burning desire to be more than what you have aspired to be? I always knew there was more to life, and I found it through my joy of running. Before I started running I was overweight, on antidepressants and I could barely run around the block. I was a young mom and had battled some very dark moments. Since I started running I am no longer taking any medication and I have lost 20 pounds. Running saved my life. On March 2, 2008, I ran my first marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon. I had made all the beginner mistakes. Ouch! Pretty much sums it up. I had not trained properly, and swore I would stick only to 10K’s after that. But it was not long, two months in fact, until I ran another marathon and then another. My father became my biggest fan. We had a goal, that goal was that I would qualify for the Boston marathon where he would go to see me run. I attempted to qualify for Boston 19 times. Every time I completed a marathon I would call my father and let him know how I did. He was still proud of me, even if it was my slowest time. He always encouraged me to keep going and so I did. In October of 2010, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I was devastated, but my father urged me to continue to train, to work and go on with life as usual. It was hard, but I did as he wished. On December 5, 2010 I finally did qualify for the Boston marathon and made it in 3:47, sadly it was 1 week after my father passed away, just 35 days after his diagnosis. I know he was there with me, he was the wind at my back and had the best seat in the house, my heart. After I ran the Boston marathon in 2011 I looked deeply into the disease that had taken my father. I found that pancreatic cancer was the 4th leading cause of cancer death and the least funded for research. This was unacceptable to me. I knew had to something dramatic to raise awareness and that it should be centered around my passion for running and the love for my father. So I set out to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise $1,000,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. I recently completed marathon#52 on March 17, 2013 at the ASICS L.A. Marathon. I did all of this while holding down a full time job. I work 9-5 as an accountant. I would leave my office on a Friday or Saturday, travel to a different city, state or even country, run a marathon on Sunday and fly back home to get to work Monday morning. Almost every weekend waking up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the starting line. Not even Super Storm Sandy could stop me. I dedicated each of my marathons to someone affected by pancreatic cancer because my fight was nothing compared to what theses people had to go through. They are my heroes. I am now 42, have two amazing kids, who are 20 and 24, my wonderful fiance, and of course my first running partner ever, my dog Jessie. I have found my purpose in life. Now, I invite you to join me in the light, embrace your highest self and start being the person you were put on this earth to be. If it speaks to you, I also invite you to join me in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The disease that took the life of my number 1 fan, my father, and so many others. I am so grateful that we have completed this amazing journey, but we are not done yet.  I am currently on a journey to finish 100 marathons ending at the 2016 Sketchers Performance Los Angeles Marathon and hope to reach my 1 Million dollar fundraising goal by then. When you do what you love, for those you love, that is when the miracles happen. The joy comes from the heart. If your love is running, I have learned that it’s not about how many miles you go, or even how fast. The heart does not have a clock, it has beats. My mission is to make sure those beats are spent on pursuing your dreams, your passions and having fun. Marathon Goddess is about embracing the God or Goddess within us all. Now I am running with a purpose, to fight the good fight against pancreatic cancer. It has become my mission, and I will not stop until we have found a cure. Find your passion, bring out your spirit and let it shine. We got this!!  Section two – The Wonderful, Wacky, English Language -    Outro Well, my friends you did that thing where you strike the Goddess pose in your underwear in front of the bathroom mirror and though tno one was watching, but we won’t judge and you have come to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-409, Keep up the good work. We’ve been having a cold and rainy spring in New England.  Every time I hit one of those long hard tempo runs in a 45 degree drizzle I mutter a little curse to the gods.  Why couldn’t we have this weather at one of my target marathons? I’ve been working in my garden for the last couple weeks.  I started some seeds earlier but the weather has been so cold they are quite stunted.  I got some tomatoes and beans and squash in.  We’ll see what come up.  Nothing like a warm, garden fresh tomato on a warm August afternoon. Part of the rhythm of life. I should be able to execute a decent race at Vermont.  I’m still light – hovering around 170 pounds – I’m still hitting my tempo paces in the mid-7’s.  Like, I said, on paper it’s a lock.  We’ll see.  Wish me luck. Send me whatever universal Karma you can. I accepted an invitation to pace a ½ marathon in PA at the end of July.  It’s the Conquer the Canyon marathon and half marathon.  I’ll be the alternate pacer for the 2 hour ½ with Greg.  Light duty. It looks like a pretty course on a rail trail that winds through a river valley.  6-hour drive for me.  This pacing outfit is called Beast Pacers.  If you want to be a pacer they have races all over the country.  They comp you the entry.  Would be a great way to pick up your 50 states. One more of my favorite old-English words for you before you go.  The old/middle English word for window or opening was ‘thirl’.  You may be familiar with a compound word we still use this in.  It combines the word for ‘nose’ and that word for window ‘thirl’ – and you may have guessed – that compound word is ‘nostril’ – literally ‘nose-window’.  Isn’t that great?  Nose window? … Julie’s story is a good one.  On the one hand it’s familiar to us.  It’s the classic hero’s journey.  Over coming challenges to become the champion.  On the other I think it verifies a useful truth: if you just decide to do something you can change the world, at least your little part of the world.  You don’t need permission.  You just do it and let the details figure themselves out. It’s not goal setting.  It’s not achievement.  It’s more like directing, or freeing the universal energy that is in each of us. Looking inside yourself, how do you let that energy free? I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-409 – Julie the Marathon Goddess (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4409.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4409.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-409 of the RunRunLive Podcast. With any luck I’ll be able to publish this before I jump in my truck and drive up to Burlington VT for my next marathon.  It’s go time and I’m stressed out about it.  I’ve held my weight and conditioning and am coming into the race in good shape, on paper anyhow.  It’s a 3.5 hour drive from my house. Vermont Cities, I’m told, is a much more reasonable course than Boston.  Fewer hills.  My training buddies tell me that it has always been a good race for them.  It still stresses me out.  Age graded, for my goal, I’m targeting times that are faster than I ever ran when I was younger – if you believe age grading. Looks like the weather is going to be dicey.  The race starts at 7:00 AM so I shouldn’t have to worry about heat.  But, they are calling for thunder storms and a stiff wind in the morning.  Doesn’t matter.  I’m committed.  I’ll fight it all the way down. It’s a figure 8 course.  I’m not sure how sheltered it is, but that should mean I’ll have as much head wind as tail wind and side wind.  I’m going to find a pace group and stick with it.  Stay in the shadow of the pace group. I need a 3:35 to requalify and it looks like they have a 3:30 pace group.  I’ll have to decide whether I want to hang with them or freewheel.  10 seconds a mile could be significant and I’d much rather negative split than burn out.  We’ll see. I’m camping in a park on the lake front.  Like I said it’s a trick I learned in my mountain bike racing days.  Frankly, I don’t think those hard-core mountain bikers are house-trained.  I’ve got a tent, a mattress and a mattress pump in the back of my truck.  You don’t sleep much the night before a race anyhow.  Eyeballing the map, it looks like I can walk to the start from where I’m camped. Brian is going to be up there with his son.  I’m going to stay over Sunday night probably.  We’ll see. I can’t wait to have this over with.  I’m pretty sick of road racing and training.  Not sure what I’m going to do if I miss my time.  I might hang it up.  Move on.  What would you do?  Do you think 21 Boston marathons is enough?  Or will my life totally unravel if I remove this prop from the infrastructure? Today we have a great interview with Julie the Marathon Goddess.  You know Julie.  She’s the California Girl from the move “The Spirit of the Marathon 2”.  Which isn’t an awful movie.  The reason it’s not awful is that it has a cast of characters and Julie is one of those characters. In section one I’m going to talk about some new things I learned in this last training cycle.  In section two I’m going to talk about the wild and whacky English Language. And, since we’re talking about the English language and the Boston Marathon I have a question for you?  What is another perfectly good word for ‘unicorn’?  Monocerous!  Isn’t that a great word.  Monocerous! Here’s another one.  Did you know that the word Cadence comes from the same Indo-European root as Cadaver?  Same Latin root meaning, loosely to fall.  The cadence is the foot fall.  The cadaver is a fallen one, so to speak.  So next time you can’t keep up your cadence and you feel like a cadaver, you’ll know why. Oh, I have a redaction from last show.  My childhood friend Dave didn’t die.  He’s living in Seattle I think.  His older brother Eric, who I went to school with passed.  Rest in Peace Eric. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.    Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!    Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – LEssons from this long training cycle.  Voices of reason – the conversation Julie Weiss Author/Runner/Marathon Goddess     Available now on : 52 Weeks, 52 Marathons: The Miles and Trials of a Marathon Goddess by Julie Weiss with John Hanc and Ali Nolan (Tender Fire/Enhanced Communications)   Do you ever wonder, or have a burning desire to be more than what you have aspired to be? I always knew there was more to life, and I found it through my joy of running. Before I started running I was overweight, on antidepressants and I could barely run around the block. I was a young mom and had battled some very dark moments. Since I started running I am no longer taking any medication and I have lost 20 pounds. Running saved my life. On March 2, 2008, I ran my first marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon. I had made all the beginner mistakes. Ouch! Pretty much sums it up. I had not trained properly, and swore I would stick only to 10K’s after that. But it was not long, two months in fact, until I ran another marathon and then another. My father became my biggest fan. We had a goal, that goal was that I would qualify for the Boston marathon where he would go to see me run. I attempted to qualify for Boston 19 times. Every time I completed a marathon I would call my father and let him know how I did. He was still proud of me, even if it was my slowest time. He always encouraged me to keep going and so I did. In October of 2010, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I was devastated, but my father urged me to continue to train, to work and go on with life as usual. It was hard, but I did as he wished. On December 5, 2010 I finally did qualify for the Boston marathon and made it in 3:47, sadly it was 1 week after my father passed away, just 35 days after his diagnosis. I know he was there with me, he was the wind at my back and had the best seat in the house, my heart. After I ran the Boston marathon in 2011 I looked deeply into the disease that had taken my father. I found that pancreatic cancer was the 4th leading cause of cancer death and the least funded for research. This was unacceptable to me. I knew had to something dramatic to raise awareness and that it should be centered around my passion for running and the love for my father. So I set out to run 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise $1,000,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. I recently completed marathon#52 on March 17, 2013 at the ASICS L.A. Marathon. I did all of this while holding down a full time job. I work 9-5 as an accountant. I would leave my office on a Friday or Saturday, travel to a different city, state or even country, run a marathon on Sunday and fly back home to get to work Monday morning. Almost every weekend waking up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the starting line. Not even Super Storm Sandy could stop me. I dedicated each of my marathons to someone affected by pancreatic cancer because my fight was nothing compared to what theses people had to go through. They are my heroes. I am now 42, have two amazing kids, who are 20 and 24, my wonderful fiance, and of course my first running partner ever, my dog Jessie. I have found my purpose in life. Now, I invite you to join me in the light, embrace your highest self and start being the person you were put on this earth to be. If it speaks to you, I also invite you to join me in the fight against pancreatic cancer. The disease that took the life of my number 1 fan, my father, and so many others. I am so grateful that we have completed this amazing journey, but we are not done yet.  I am currently on a journey to finish 100 marathons ending at the 2016 Sketchers Performance Los Angeles Marathon and hope to reach my 1 Million dollar fundraising goal by then. When you do what you love, for those you love, that is when the miracles happen. The joy comes from the heart. If your love is running, I have learned that it’s not about how many miles you go, or even how fast. The heart does not have a clock, it has beats. My mission is to make sure those beats are spent on pursuing your dreams, your passions and having fun. Marathon Goddess is about embracing the God or Goddess within us all. Now I am running with a purpose, to fight the good fight against pancreatic cancer. It has become my mission, and I will not stop until we have found a cure. Find your passion, bring out your spirit and let it shine. We got this!!  Section two – The Wonderful, Wacky, English Language -    Outro Well, my friends you did that thing where you strike the Goddess pose in your underwear in front of the bathroom mirror and though tno one was watching, but we won’t judge and you have come to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-409, Keep up the good work. We’ve been having a cold and rainy spring in New England.  Every time I hit one of those long hard tempo runs in a 45 degree drizzle I mutter a little curse to the gods.  Why couldn’t we have this weather at one of my target marathons? I’ve been working in my garden for the last couple weeks.  I started some seeds earlier but the weather has been so cold they are quite stunted.  I got some tomatoes and beans and squash in.  We’ll see what come up.  Nothing like a warm, garden fresh tomato on a warm August afternoon. Part of the rhythm of life. I should be able to execute a decent race at Vermont.  I’m still light – hovering around 170 pounds – I’m still hitting my tempo paces in the mid-7’s.  Like, I said, on paper it’s a lock.  We’ll see.  Wish me luck. Send me whatever universal Karma you can. I accepted an invitation to pace a ½ marathon in PA at the end of July.  It’s the Conquer the Canyon marathon and half marathon.  I’ll be the alternate pacer for the 2 hour ½ with Greg.  Light duty. It looks like a pretty course on a rail trail that winds through a river valley.  6-hour drive for me.  This pacing outfit is called Beast Pacers.  If you want to be a pacer they have races all over the country.  They comp you the entry.  Would be a great way to pick up your 50 states. One more of my favorite old-English words for you before you go.  The old/middle English word for window or opening was ‘thirl’.  You may be familiar with a compound word we still use this in.  It combines the word for ‘nose’ and that word for window ‘thirl’ – and you may have guessed – that compound word is ‘nostril’ – literally ‘nose-window’.  Isn’t that great?  Nose window? … Julie’s story is a good one.  On the one hand it’s familiar to us.  It’s the classic hero’s journey.  Over coming challenges to become the champion.  On the other I think it verifies a useful truth: if you just decide to do something you can change the world, at least your little part of the world.  You don’t need permission.  You just do it and let the details figure themselves out. It’s not goal setting.  It’s not achievement.  It’s more like directing, or freeing the universal energy that is in each of us. Looking inside yourself, how do you let that energy free? I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-409 – Julie the Marathon Goddess

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-420 – Kicksology (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4420.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-420 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    It is the week of Thanksgiving up here in New England.  We haven’t gotten any snow yet at my house.  The trails are very runnable. Ollie the Collie and I are getting out 2-3 times a week.  He’s still a menace.  I won’t be able to get away with the ‘Oh, sorry, he’s just a puppy…’ line much longer.  He’ll knock out 8 to 10 miles easy with me in the trails.  I like to let him off leash so he can burn some energy.  It’s takes about 4 ½ miles for him to settle down.  Until that point he’s sprinting up and down the trail.  It’s a challenge because he has no manners and won’t come when he’s called and just loves to meet and greet people we run into.  He’s got another gear now and when he goes, I can’t catch him.  I’ve started referring to him as the ‘monochrome menace’.  But he’s a good runner and he minds well when he’s on leash.  He’ll be a good partner but I’m going to have to break him, like a wild stallion.  He’ll be my .   (Editor’s note: all classical references will be linked to Wikipedia in the show notes) Today we have a good show for you.  Yeah you.  You know who you are.  But first an advertisement for a new cologne that I’m producing for the holidays.  It’s called RunRunLive and it is the pleasing scent of sweat and dog ass.  Buy yours today at the RunRunLive web store.  Comes in a 16-ounce pop-top tall boy.  Today we chat with Brian Metzler about his new book Kicksology which is all about the evolution and lore of the running shoe.  Brian is a veteran running journalist.  Chances are you’ve read something that Brian has created or touched.  He has been a frequent contributor and started or edited a few of your favorite running publications.     What I liked about the book was that it was a trip down memory lane for me.  We love our shoes.  We have an irrational passion for a good pair of shoes.   Brian does a good job of tapping into that. In section one we are going to talk about breathing.  In section two we’re going to talk about memory and redemption.  Since we last talked, you and I, I went for my annual check up.  Apparently, I’m still healthy.  I’ve been working hard on overeating and drinking too much beer for a couple months.  I’m up 8-10 pounds, but it’s part of my natural cycle.  I can already feel the tug of the pendulum in the other direction. I have some good news for you men.  They have determined that the manual test for prostate problems has no efficacy.  No more fingers up the poop chute.  My doctor was reflective.  He said of all the hundreds of these tests he’s done he only ever found 6 anomalies and none of those turned out to be actual problems.  Thanks again to Peter for reading that piriformis bit into audio last episode.  I got some great feedback on that.  I told you I’m trying to make November the month of gratitude.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I’ve been trying to get my morning routine in line by meditating a bit.  I’m going to share a technique I learned that might help you in this season of thanks giving. This is apropos given that we will be talking about breathing next.  Here’s the technique, and you can do this while you’re meditating, or running or sitting in the car.  Inhale gratitude.  Exhale that gratitude out into the world.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Breathing and running -  Voices of reason – the conversation Brian Metzler Kicksology  Brian Metzler is a freelance journalist who covers running, running gear, and related sports. A running shoe geek since his prepubescent cross-country team days, Metzler has run more than 75,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,500 pairs of running shoes, run focus groups for several running shoe brands, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles, raced to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago, run a marathon on top of the Great Wall of China, completed two high-altitude 100-mile ultraruns, completed four Ironman triathlons, and regularly races with donkeys in Colorado. Metzler was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner and Adventure Sports magazines and was a senior editor at Running Times as well as Editor-in-Chief of Competitor magazine and Competitor.com. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Runner’s World, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, and Men’s Journal. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range and co-author of Natural Running with Danny Abshire and Run Like a Champion with Alan Culpepper.     Section two – Memories and Redemption –  Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-420 in those brand new running shoes that you are thankful for.  Like I said I’m just doing 2-4 runs a week right now with Ollie.  Not training for anything specific.  I ran the local Thanksgiving 5k with my running club friend yesterday.   I had planned to walk it with Teresa but her foot was too hurt still.  That put me in a bit of a bind because I wasn’t planning on running Thursday and I definitely wasn’t planning on racing a 5K.  I ran with Ollie in the woods on Monday and Wednesday. It worked out ok.  I just lined up in the 8:00 min mile section and eased into it.  I ran easy and got pulled along by the crowd.   Ended up being surprised to average a 7:26 pace.  Since I wasn’t hammering it I was being chatty with the other runners.  I’m a new level of annoying when you are running all out and I pull up beside you and start chatting. Next up, next weekend is the Mill Cities Relay.  I’ve got a good Men’s 50+ team and we’re going to have fun.  Then of course since I choose to live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and just show up without training on the last Sunday of December, we will be holding the 7th edition of the Groton Marathon.  I’ve got a handful of loonies signed up.  All are welcome.  Like I said earlier I’ve been putting in a lot of miles with Ollie.  Thursday was a long day for Ollie.  We had a lovely long walk in the Shaker conservation land in the bright, cold morning.  I was able to let him off leash so that he could sprint about through the swampy underbrush.  We were out for almost 2 hours.  Then we worked all day at Katie’s new house painting the walls and ceilings.  Ollie’s role in this is supervisorial.  He tests the quality of the painting by licking the freshly painted walls.  He enforces a schedule of mandatory puppy wrestling breaks. In this way we all stay limber for the work at hand. Later in the day he and I managed to beat the setting sun to a nice trail run.  We ambled through the soggy leaves for 6.5 more miles.  I was tired too.  My body was heavy from the unaccustomed time on my feet all day and the strange angles and dangles of honest work. We stood there steaming in the winter leaves and watching the sun melt into the trees.  I asked Ollie, “How you feeling?  Is this too much work, too much training?” He turned to me with his sharp brown eyes, considered me for a few long moments and responded, “No, Old-one, it is right that we train long.  For we must be prepared.  The day is coming when we will need to fight.  We will need our aerobic capacity and strength.” “Really”, I said, “How so?” He suppressed a small growl and pawed at the soft leaves and continued, “Grey-one, the time is coming soon when all will be ruin.  When the last remaining humans will be confined to carpeted cubicles and forced to ‘cuddle’ (here he seemed to sneer the word) and scratch behind ears and speak baby talk…We must be prepared.  We few remaining working dogs and humans for the Doodle Apocalypse.” And with that he trotted off up the trail with a seriousness and purpose no 6 month old dog should be forced to carry. And… I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-420 – Kicksology (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4420.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4420.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-420 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    It is the week of Thanksgiving up here in New England.  We haven’t gotten any snow yet at my house.  The trails are very runnable. Ollie the Collie and I are getting out 2-3 times a week.  He’s still a menace.  I won’t be able to get away with the ‘Oh, sorry, he’s just a puppy…’ line much longer.  He’ll knock out 8 to 10 miles easy with me in the trails.  I like to let him off leash so he can burn some energy.  It’s takes about 4 ½ miles for him to settle down.  Until that point he’s sprinting up and down the trail.  It’s a challenge because he has no manners and won’t come when he’s called and just loves to meet and greet people we run into.  He’s got another gear now and when he goes, I can’t catch him.  I’ve started referring to him as the ‘monochrome menace’.  But he’s a good runner and he minds well when he’s on leash.  He’ll be a good partner but I’m going to have to break him, like a wild stallion.  He’ll be my .   (Editor’s note: all classical references will be linked to Wikipedia in the show notes) Today we have a good show for you.  Yeah you.  You know who you are.  But first an advertisement for a new cologne that I’m producing for the holidays.  It’s called RunRunLive and it is the pleasing scent of sweat and dog ass.  Buy yours today at the RunRunLive web store.  Comes in a 16-ounce pop-top tall boy.  Today we chat with Brian Metzler about his new book Kicksology which is all about the evolution and lore of the running shoe.  Brian is a veteran running journalist.  Chances are you’ve read something that Brian has created or touched.  He has been a frequent contributor and started or edited a few of your favorite running publications.     What I liked about the book was that it was a trip down memory lane for me.  We love our shoes.  We have an irrational passion for a good pair of shoes.   Brian does a good job of tapping into that. In section one we are going to talk about breathing.  In section two we’re going to talk about memory and redemption.  Since we last talked, you and I, I went for my annual check up.  Apparently, I’m still healthy.  I’ve been working hard on overeating and drinking too much beer for a couple months.  I’m up 8-10 pounds, but it’s part of my natural cycle.  I can already feel the tug of the pendulum in the other direction. I have some good news for you men.  They have determined that the manual test for prostate problems has no efficacy.  No more fingers up the poop chute.  My doctor was reflective.  He said of all the hundreds of these tests he’s done he only ever found 6 anomalies and none of those turned out to be actual problems.  Thanks again to Peter for reading that piriformis bit into audio last episode.  I got some great feedback on that.  I told you I’m trying to make November the month of gratitude.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I’ve been trying to get my morning routine in line by meditating a bit.  I’m going to share a technique I learned that might help you in this season of thanks giving. This is apropos given that we will be talking about breathing next.  Here’s the technique, and you can do this while you’re meditating, or running or sitting in the car.  Inhale gratitude.  Exhale that gratitude out into the world.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Breathing and running -  Voices of reason – the conversation Brian Metzler Kicksology  Brian Metzler is a freelance journalist who covers running, running gear, and related sports. A running shoe geek since his prepubescent cross-country team days, Metzler has run more than 75,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,500 pairs of running shoes, run focus groups for several running shoe brands, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles, raced to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago, run a marathon on top of the Great Wall of China, completed two high-altitude 100-mile ultraruns, completed four Ironman triathlons, and regularly races with donkeys in Colorado. Metzler was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner and Adventure Sports magazines and was a senior editor at Running Times as well as Editor-in-Chief of Competitor magazine and <a href="http://Competitor.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Competitor.com</a>. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Runner’s World, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, and Men’s Journal. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range and co-author of Natural Running with Danny Abshire and Run Like a Champion with Alan Culpepper.     Section two – Memories and Redemption –  Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-420 in those brand new running shoes that you are thankful for.  Like I said I’m just doing 2-4 runs a week right now with Ollie.  Not training for anything specific.  I ran the local Thanksgiving 5k with my running club friend yesterday.   I had planned to walk it with Teresa but her foot was too hurt still.  That put me in a bit of a bind because I wasn’t planning on running Thursday and I definitely wasn’t planning on racing a 5K.  I ran with Ollie in the woods on Monday and Wednesday. It worked out ok.  I just lined up in the 8:00 min mile section and eased into it.  I ran easy and got pulled along by the crowd.   Ended up being surprised to average a 7:26 pace.  Since I wasn’t hammering it I was being chatty with the other runners.  I’m a new level of annoying when you are running all out and I pull up beside you and start chatting. Next up, next weekend is the Mill Cities Relay.  I’ve got a good Men’s 50+ team and we’re going to have fun.  Then of course since I choose to live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and just show up without training on the last Sunday of December, we will be holding the 7th edition of the Groton Marathon.  I’ve got a handful of loonies signed up.  All are welcome.  Like I said earlier I’ve been putting in a lot of miles with Ollie.  Thursday was a long day for Ollie.  We had a lovely long walk in the Shaker conservation land in the bright, cold morning.  I was able to let him off leash so that he could sprint about through the swampy underbrush.  We were out for almost 2 hours.  Then we worked all day at Katie’s new house painting the walls and ceilings.  Ollie’s role in this is supervisorial.  He tests the quality of the painting by licking the freshly painted walls.  He enforces a schedule of mandatory puppy wrestling breaks. In this way we all stay limber for the work at hand. Later in the day he and I managed to beat the setting sun to a nice trail run.  We ambled through the soggy leaves for 6.5 more miles.  I was tired too.  My body was heavy from the unaccustomed time on my feet all day and the strange angles and dangles of honest work. We stood there steaming in the winter leaves and watching the sun melt into the trees.  I asked Ollie, “How you feeling?  Is this too much work, too much training?” He turned to me with his sharp brown eyes, considered me for a few long moments and responded, “No, Old-one, it is right that we train long.  For we must be prepared.  The day is coming when we will need to fight.  We will need our aerobic capacity and strength.” “Really”, I said, “How so?” He suppressed a small growl and pawed at the soft leaves and continued, “Grey-one, the time is coming soon when all will be ruin.  When the last remaining humans will be confined to carpeted cubicles and forced to ‘cuddle’ (here he seemed to sneer the word) and scratch behind ears and speak baby talk…We must be prepared.  We few remaining working dogs and humans for the Doodle Apocalypse.” And with that he trotted off up the trail with a seriousness and purpose no 6 month old dog should be forced to carry. And… I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-420 – Kicksology

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-408 – Bill Endures (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4408.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-408 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Well, folks it’s been almost a month since Boston, so let’s get back on track, back in the saddle and do some serious podcasting!  Grr… I’m sitting in the Starbucks, one of the two Starbucks that is on my work commute route.  My hands are a bit cold.  I road my motorcycle this morning.  It’s in the low 40’s but sunny.  I like to stop and write for small patched of time in the morning at these oases of warmth and humanity.  I’ve got some calls that I’ll take from here and then I’ll wander into my office later.   Today we’ve got a great chat with Bill who is one of those crunchy, old ultra-runners who have done everything.  I was interested in how he did his cross country run and he definitely has a view point on it! In section one we’ll talk about working through a post event funk.  In section two I’ll keep pounding away on the big, navel-gazing topics of Eckhart Tolle’s book.  I’m training, actually in my taper for Vermont.  I have had some good workouts and some not-so great workouts.  In general I’ve kept the weight off and my training paces are good.  I’ve got some high-hamstring-attach point challenges that I’m trying to rehab through.  The challenge with extended training cycles on the road is that they tend to get very specific and make you fragile.  Somehow this long cycle has made my hips and glutes a bit weak and they go on me in the high miles.  It’s the same old story, lower the water level and you find new rocks.  Keep training and you’ll find new weak points.  So I’m working through that.  We talked for awhile, but I’ll save the updates for the Outro.  … I will tell one story.  It’s a story about a giant, half-eaten catfish.  When I was in elementary school, so 8, 9, 10 years old I had a best friend whose name was Dave.  We built a fort in the rafters of my Dad’s garage one summer and decorated it with stickers from Mad Magazine.  I can remember listening to “Ricky Don’t Loose That Number” by Steely Dan on the pop station, which would make it 1975ish.  I’d go over to Dave’s house on the weekends and we’d disappear into the woods and roads around his house to go exploring.  We would wander over to the train tracks and put pennies on the tracks for the trains to smoosh, things like that.  One time we were out on the power lines behind his house, the same power lines that I ride my mountain bike on and do long trail runs on now.  It was this time of year – spring in New England.  What happens in spring is we get the melt and a lot of rain and the ponds, rivers and swamps all fill up with water.  For instance, I have a little pond in my back yard, right now that only exists this time of year.  Anyhow we were wandering through this patch of swamp that had recently been a pond and we came across a giant catfish, high a dry, with a bit missing from the scavengers.  Too bad we didn’t’ have Instagram back then.  Here was this enormous fish, as if dropped form the sky by aliens into the middle of a field.  That’s a 50-60 year-old fish that took a wrong turn somewhere.  I’ll always remember that image in my internal Instagram, which is probably much better than the actual picture anyhow. I tell this story because my Mom called to tell me Dave died this week.  I hadn’t spoken to him in decades.  BNot to be morbid, but I want you to understand and appreciate today as a gift.  We’re all winning.  We are all in extra innings and you and I are blessed.  Don’t waste it.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Warning Lights - http://runrunlive.com/paying-attention-to-your-warning-lights Voices of reason – the conversation Bill Schultz Not sure what you're looking for as far as links and articles, but I've included a few below. I started running in 1978 and ran my 1st ultra in 1979.  Ran my 1st 24Hr around 1982 and my 1st 6 Day race in 1984.  My best was in 1989 when I won with 475 miles. The next year, 1990, I took a sabbatical from teaching and ran a US Trascon water to water in 95 days. (Huntington Beach, CA to Atlantic City, NJ.  I've been Co-RD for the Dawn To Dusk To Dawn Track Ultras (D3) since 1984. This year's race will be the 24th edition.  Along with my own running, I've been helping Mike Melton time ultras from 100K to 6 Days around the country (13 last year).   Attached are some Articles that came out back in 1989 and 1990 regarding my Transcon and my best 6 Day race. Here are a few links.          Section two – No-Mind -    Outro Well, my friends you called ahead, made your plans and safely ran across the nation in record time to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-408, nmaybe it’s tome to retire?  Don’t get caught in a funk! Enochs results Like I said I am in a short training cycle for the Vermont City Marathon.  There’s just no way I’m going to walk away without my qualifying time this spring.  I’m in too good shape.  If you’re going to be up there let me know and we’ll say high.  I’m going to pitch a tent in the park there for a couple nights.  It’s something I learned from mountain bike racing.  Just pitch a tent you’ll be fine! I got a new Garmin, a 235.  I’ll give you a write up at some point.  I’m still figuring it out, but I like it so far.  One quick story / iPhone tip for you to take you out.  I have an iPhone 6s.  like it.  I listen to podcasts and music on it.  When I drive to work I tend to listen to podcasts.  Now, for some reason, when I plug in the phone to the radio I put in my truck, it decides to start playing the first song, alphabetically in the song list on my phone.  The first song alphabetically in the song list on my phone was a really aggressive punk rock number called “Already Dead” by Rancid.  The challenge I had was that some of the podcasters I listen to, and I won’t name any names, haven’t figured out how to level their audio.  You have to turn them way up to hear them.  The result, as you may have guessed by now, was that I’d get blown out of my seat a couple times a week when I plugged in my phone for the ride to work.  It was like having an audio bomb go off in the truck!  Eventually I was moved to engineer a solution.  I downloaded a really mild morning meditation and renamed it lower case aaaaaaa-filename…. Now I am greeted by a lovely, low and soothing voice encouraging me to embrace the day.  It’s much better.  And if someone is in the car with me I get to tell this story.  As a corollary, I also changed the my alarm to wake up in the morning on my iPhone to be an compilation of inspirational “seize the day!” type speeches.  If you want me to walk you through the how to’s just shoot me a note. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-408 – Bill Endures (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4408.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4408.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-408 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Well, folks it’s been almost a month since Boston, so let’s get back on track, back in the saddle and do some serious podcasting!  Grr… I’m sitting in the Starbucks, one of the two Starbucks that is on my work commute route.  My hands are a bit cold.  I road my motorcycle this morning.  It’s in the low 40’s but sunny.  I like to stop and write for small patched of time in the morning at these oases of warmth and humanity.  I’ve got some calls that I’ll take from here and then I’ll wander into my office later.   Today we’ve got a great chat with Bill who is one of those crunchy, old ultra-runners who have done everything.  I was interested in how he did his cross country run and he definitely has a view point on it! In section one we’ll talk about working through a post event funk.  In section two I’ll keep pounding away on the big, navel-gazing topics of Eckhart Tolle’s book.  I’m training, actually in my taper for Vermont.  I have had some good workouts and some not-so great workouts.  In general I’ve kept the weight off and my training paces are good.  I’ve got some high-hamstring-attach point challenges that I’m trying to rehab through.  The challenge with extended training cycles on the road is that they tend to get very specific and make you fragile.  Somehow this long cycle has made my hips and glutes a bit weak and they go on me in the high miles.  It’s the same old story, lower the water level and you find new rocks.  Keep training and you’ll find new weak points.  So I’m working through that.  We talked for awhile, but I’ll save the updates for the Outro.  … I will tell one story.  It’s a story about a giant, half-eaten catfish.  When I was in elementary school, so 8, 9, 10 years old I had a best friend whose name was Dave.  We built a fort in the rafters of my Dad’s garage one summer and decorated it with stickers from Mad Magazine.  I can remember listening to “Ricky Don’t Loose That Number” by Steely Dan on the pop station, which would make it 1975ish.  I’d go over to Dave’s house on the weekends and we’d disappear into the woods and roads around his house to go exploring.  We would wander over to the train tracks and put pennies on the tracks for the trains to smoosh, things like that.  One time we were out on the power lines behind his house, the same power lines that I ride my mountain bike on and do long trail runs on now.  It was this time of year – spring in New England.  What happens in spring is we get the melt and a lot of rain and the ponds, rivers and swamps all fill up with water.  For instance, I have a little pond in my back yard, right now that only exists this time of year.  Anyhow we were wandering through this patch of swamp that had recently been a pond and we came across a giant catfish, high a dry, with a bit missing from the scavengers.  Too bad we didn’t’ have Instagram back then.  Here was this enormous fish, as if dropped form the sky by aliens into the middle of a field.  That’s a 50-60 year-old fish that took a wrong turn somewhere.  I’ll always remember that image in my internal Instagram, which is probably much better than the actual picture anyhow. I tell this story because my Mom called to tell me Dave died this week.  I hadn’t spoken to him in decades.  BNot to be morbid, but I want you to understand and appreciate today as a gift.  We’re all winning.  We are all in extra innings and you and I are blessed.  Don’t waste it.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Warning Lights - <a href="http://runrunlive.com/paying-attention-to-your-warning-lights" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://runrunlive.com/paying-attention-to-your-warning-lights</a> Voices of reason – the conversation Bill Schultz Not sure what you're looking for as far as links and articles, but I've included a few below. I started running in 1978 and ran my 1st ultra in 1979.  Ran my 1st 24Hr around 1982 and my 1st 6 Day race in 1984.  My best was in 1989 when I won with 475 miles. The next year, 1990, I took a sabbatical from teaching and ran a US Trascon water to water in 95 days. (Huntington Beach, CA to Atlantic City, NJ.  I've been Co-RD for the Dawn To Dusk To Dawn Track Ultras (D3) since 1984. This year's race will be the 24th edition.  Along with my own running, I've been helping Mike Melton time ultras from 100K to 6 Days around the country (13 last year).   Attached are some Articles that came out back in 1989 and 1990 regarding my Transcon and my best 6 Day race. Here are a few links.          Section two – No-Mind -    Outro Well, my friends you called ahead, made your plans and safely ran across the nation in record time to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-408, nmaybe it’s tome to retire?  Don’t get caught in a funk! Enochs results Like I said I am in a short training cycle for the Vermont City Marathon.  There’s just no way I’m going to walk away without my qualifying time this spring.  I’m in too good shape.  If you’re going to be up there let me know and we’ll say high.  I’m going to pitch a tent in the park there for a couple nights.  It’s something I learned from mountain bike racing.  Just pitch a tent you’ll be fine! I got a new Garmin, a 235.  I’ll give you a write up at some point.  I’m still figuring it out, but I like it so far.  One quick story / iPhone tip for you to take you out.  I have an iPhone 6s.  like it.  I listen to podcasts and music on it.  When I drive to work I tend to listen to podcasts.  Now, for some reason, when I plug in the phone to the radio I put in my truck, it decides to start playing the first song, alphabetically in the song list on my phone.  The first song alphabetically in the song list on my phone was a really aggressive punk rock number called “Already Dead” by Rancid.  The challenge I had was that some of the podcasters I listen to, and I won’t name any names, haven’t figured out how to level their audio.  You have to turn them way up to hear them.  The result, as you may have guessed by now, was that I’d get blown out of my seat a couple times a week when I plugged in my phone for the ride to work.  It was like having an audio bomb go off in the truck!  Eventually I was moved to engineer a solution.  I downloaded a really mild morning meditation and renamed it lower case aaaaaaa-filename…. Now I am greeted by a lovely, low and soothing voice encouraging me to embrace the day.  It’s much better.  And if someone is in the car with me I get to tell this story.  As a corollary, I also changed the my alarm to wake up in the morning on my iPhone to be an compilation of inspirational “seize the day!” type speeches.  If you want me to walk you through the how to’s just shoot me a note. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-408 – Bill Endures

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-421 – Coach Talk About the Off Season (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4421.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-421 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Today we have a good show for you – I talk to the coach about how to manage the off-season which is what most athletes treat this time of year as.  Good practical stuff. In section one I’m going to review the science / opinion on fasting and how it interacts with endurance sports.  In section two I’m going to talk about how to actively cultivate peacefulness – because I think it’s a message we need to hear this time of year.  We are also going to talk about testicles or the lack thereof.  Because that’s just where I am in the never-ending carnival that is daily life.  Ollie the collie is doing well.  He had surgery on Monday and is officially neutered.  You would think that would slow him down.  It did for about a day but he is quickly back to his maniac ways.  I’ve been hunting around now for our next training opportunity.  He’s a great, smart, athletic boy but I need him to learn some simple stuff – like come when called or we are both going to get in trouble.  He also loves to destroy anything laying around the house if we’re not watching.  And, he’s very mouthy.  He loves the taste of human flesh.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But it can get annoying, especially in mixed company.  When I was at the vet this week for the ‘adjustment’ I asked for recommendations on training.  They gave me a contact that they highly recommended.  I conversed with this trainer.  Their program was to take the dog for 3 weeks and deliver him back fully trained.  No muss, no fuss.  Sounds good, right?   They just show up 3 weeks later and hand you the keys to the car.  The only problem I had was that they want $3500 for the process, which I’m sure is quite reasonable, but above my price bracket.  Clearly, I’m becoming that old guy who expects everything to cost a quarter.  We are going to another consultation with a trainer today and we’ll see where that goes.  Another funny story is when I try to do yoga or core work Ollie thinks this is a great opportunity to wrestle on the floor with me.  It’s impossible. It’s funny, but it’s impossible.  Again, who doesn’t’ love a good wrestle on the floor?  Continuing our theme of testicles, I had a fairly hilarious sponsorship opportunity this week.  I got an email from one of those outfits that is trying to make money off podcasts by aggregating niche shows like mine and selling them as a package to sponsors.  This story might be considered a bit PG-13 so you’ve been warned.  Now, I don’t do sponsorship in general, because a) I hate commercials in my podcasts with the burning hate of a thousand suns and b) I just don’t have enough downloads to move the needle money wise.  I mean it would be hatefully annoying to you folks, a big hassle for me all for something like $20 a month.  But the example sponsor they held out to me as attractive commercial bait was a company called Manscaped.  Intrigued I looked them up and yes, they are a new company offering everything you need to create lovely topiaries in your nether regions.  Which is a bit amusing, but the names of their products had both my wife and I howling with laughter.  Their main product is an electric shaver called, wait for it, ‘The Lawn Mower’.   A body wash called ‘The Crop Cleanser’, a hydrating toner called ‘Crop Reviver’ , subtitled ‘Ball Toner’ and an anti-chafing product called ‘Ball Deodorant’.  And the website copy is just a delight to read. So there you go.  A gift for the man who has everything… and they didn’t even have to pay me.  On with the show, … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Fasting and endurance athletes -  Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline Team PRSFit   What I bring to the individual is 25 years of experience. My  approach to training is individual focused and comprehensive. I believe that coaching is about educating my athletes not just giving you a schedule. Communication, structure, guidance and motivation is the complete package that I offer to everyone I work with. I limit the number of athletes I work with to 20. This ensures you get the attention and high quality coaching you need to achieve your goals. “No individual is too big, too small, or too slow not to be coached.”.  Ironman U Certified Lydyard Level II Certified Certified Natural Running Coach Certified Total Immersion Swim Coach Certified Nutrition and Wellness Coach Certified Personal Trainer  In addition the coach completed his studies in nursing with a specialty in orthopedics and nutrition. He was published by the Colorado Nurses Association. The Coach only works with 20 athletes. Section two – Peace and Action –  Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it, hopefully without any undo chafing or stinkiness, to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-421.    Peace be with you.  Go in Peace.     I’m still in my down phase.  Running 2-4 days a week.  Keeping my miles in the mid-30’s a week.  Started working some core work and yoga back in on the off days and boy it is amazing how fast you lose your fitness when you take a couple weeks off.  For those first couple of core workouts I was sore as heck afterwards.  I raced the Mill Cities Relay last week.  I took the first leg.  It’s about 5 ½ miles.  The challenge was that we woke up to very cold weather.  It was about 1-2 degrees F when my leg kicked off.   It was sunny and there was no wind, so it was not uncomfortably cold.  But the air was super dry and hard to breathe. As is my habit I went out too fast and struggled a bit in the middle miles.  Not my best race ever.  But, I just kept reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to get out and do this.  How there are plenty of people in my age group who would kill to be able to do it.  My team ended up averaging 7:07’s across the 27 miles, which is respectable for our over-50 crew but still only put us 5th in our age group.  Most importantly we had a blast and it was a beautiful day.  Really a privilege to be able to run with those guys.  Next up for me is the Groton Marathon, an entirely made up race on the morning of the last Sunday in December.  The story is that when I was running my marathon a month in 2013/2014 in response to the Boston Marathon incident that year, my December marathon got canceled due to weather.  So I made up my own marathon, grabbed some running buddies and just did it myself.  My life, my rules.  Now we’re 7 years in and still doing it.  I’ve got a handful of folks signed up.  It’s a casual run around the towns on back roads with no fuss.  I’m not in any kind of shape this year so it will be slow.  But, we’ll have some good cheer, some good conversations, take some pictures and celebrate that we live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and have people show up. And with that, Ollie and I will see you out there.    MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-421 – Coach Talk About the Off Season (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4421.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4421.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-421 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Today we have a good show for you – I talk to the coach about how to manage the off-season which is what most athletes treat this time of year as.  Good practical stuff. In section one I’m going to review the science / opinion on fasting and how it interacts with endurance sports.  In section two I’m going to talk about how to actively cultivate peacefulness – because I think it’s a message we need to hear this time of year.  We are also going to talk about testicles or the lack thereof.  Because that’s just where I am in the never-ending carnival that is daily life.  Ollie the collie is doing well.  He had surgery on Monday and is officially neutered.  You would think that would slow him down.  It did for about a day but he is quickly back to his maniac ways.  I’ve been hunting around now for our next training opportunity.  He’s a great, smart, athletic boy but I need him to learn some simple stuff – like come when called or we are both going to get in trouble.  He also loves to destroy anything laying around the house if we’re not watching.  And, he’s very mouthy.  He loves the taste of human flesh.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But it can get annoying, especially in mixed company.  When I was at the vet this week for the ‘adjustment’ I asked for recommendations on training.  They gave me a contact that they highly recommended.  I conversed with this trainer.  Their program was to take the dog for 3 weeks and deliver him back fully trained.  No muss, no fuss.  Sounds good, right?   They just show up 3 weeks later and hand you the keys to the car.  The only problem I had was that they want $3500 for the process, which I’m sure is quite reasonable, but above my price bracket.  Clearly, I’m becoming that old guy who expects everything to cost a quarter.  We are going to another consultation with a trainer today and we’ll see where that goes.  Another funny story is when I try to do yoga or core work Ollie thinks this is a great opportunity to wrestle on the floor with me.  It’s impossible. It’s funny, but it’s impossible.  Again, who doesn’t’ love a good wrestle on the floor?  Continuing our theme of testicles, I had a fairly hilarious sponsorship opportunity this week.  I got an email from one of those outfits that is trying to make money off podcasts by aggregating niche shows like mine and selling them as a package to sponsors.  This story might be considered a bit PG-13 so you’ve been warned.  Now, I don’t do sponsorship in general, because a) I hate commercials in my podcasts with the burning hate of a thousand suns and b) I just don’t have enough downloads to move the needle money wise.  I mean it would be hatefully annoying to you folks, a big hassle for me all for something like $20 a month.  But the example sponsor they held out to me as attractive commercial bait was a company called Manscaped.  Intrigued I looked them up and yes, they are a new company offering everything you need to create lovely topiaries in your nether regions.  Which is a bit amusing, but the names of their products had both my wife and I howling with laughter.  Their main product is an electric shaver called, wait for it, ‘The Lawn Mower’.   A body wash called ‘The Crop Cleanser’, a hydrating toner called ‘Crop Reviver’ , subtitled ‘Ball Toner’ and an anti-chafing product called ‘Ball Deodorant’.  And the website copy is just a delight to read. So there you go.  A gift for the man who has everything… and they didn’t even have to pay me.  On with the show, … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Fasting and endurance athletes -  Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline Team PRSFit   What I bring to the individual is 25 years of experience. My  approach to training is individual focused and comprehensive. I believe that coaching is about educating my athletes not just giving you a schedule. Communication, structure, guidance and motivation is the complete package that I offer to everyone I work with. I limit the number of athletes I work with to 20. This ensures you get the attention and high quality coaching you need to achieve your goals. “No individual is too big, too small, or too slow not to be coached.”.  Ironman U Certified Lydyard Level II Certified Certified Natural Running Coach Certified Total Immersion Swim Coach Certified Nutrition and Wellness Coach Certified Personal Trainer  In addition the coach completed his studies in nursing with a specialty in orthopedics and nutrition. He was published by the Colorado Nurses Association. The Coach only works with 20 athletes. Section two – Peace and Action –  Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it, hopefully without any undo chafing or stinkiness, to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-421.    Peace be with you.  Go in Peace.     I’m still in my down phase.  Running 2-4 days a week.  Keeping my miles in the mid-30’s a week.  Started working some core work and yoga back in on the off days and boy it is amazing how fast you lose your fitness when you take a couple weeks off.  For those first couple of core workouts I was sore as heck afterwards.  I raced the Mill Cities Relay last week.  I took the first leg.  It’s about 5 ½ miles.  The challenge was that we woke up to very cold weather.  It was about 1-2 degrees F when my leg kicked off.   It was sunny and there was no wind, so it was not uncomfortably cold.  But the air was super dry and hard to breathe. As is my habit I went out too fast and struggled a bit in the middle miles.  Not my best race ever.  But, I just kept reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to get out and do this.  How there are plenty of people in my age group who would kill to be able to do it.  My team ended up averaging 7:07’s across the 27 miles, which is respectable for our over-50 crew but still only put us 5th in our age group.  Most importantly we had a blast and it was a beautiful day.  Really a privilege to be able to run with those guys.  Next up for me is the Groton Marathon, an entirely made up race on the morning of the last Sunday in December.  The story is that when I was running my marathon a month in 2013/2014 in response to the Boston Marathon incident that year, my December marathon got canceled due to weather.  So I made up my own marathon, grabbed some running buddies and just did it myself.  My life, my rules.  Now we’re 7 years in and still doing it.  I’ve got a handful of folks signed up.  It’s a casual run around the towns on back roads with no fuss.  I’m not in any kind of shape this year so it will be slow.  But, we’ll have some good cheer, some good conversations, take some pictures and celebrate that we live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and have people show up. And with that, Ollie and I will see you out there.    MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-421 – Coach Talk About the Off Season

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-419 – Dawn’s Wisdom (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4419.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-419 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  So – I’m a week late with this one, but it’s great show.  Think about it this way – we gave it an additional week to marinate, to grow, to rise like rustic bread or age like fine wine.  Last week I was all lined up to get the show out for Friday. Thursday was my birthday.  I took Thursday and Friday off from work to recuperate a bit and was working on the show.   Then, ironically as I was writing the hero’s journey piece that is in section two, that talks about how life is not a straight line, and it seldom goes as you expect it to, my old computer ceased to turn on.  I’ve had this Microsoft surface since at least 2015 and it’s been the best computer I ever.  It was powerful enough to do all the audio editing for the show, it has a great form factor for traveling.  Just a great machine that matches my need.  End of this story is that I spent all day Friday in the Microsoft store and ended up buying a new surface that I am happily tapping away on now.  I didn’t loose any data, just some time – and oh by the way – I’m about $2,000 lighter so you might want to consider becoming a member of the RunRunLive Podcast to help defray unexpected expenses.  So with that excuse out of the way let me take you back to the primordial jungles of North America where strange and dangerous beasts roam dark, dank forests…. (Fade in Jungle music) Our old friend Peter Herridge everyone with that excellent dramatic reading.  That piece of writing has been kicking around in my head or a few years.  Probably since I first heard the word ‘piriformis’ and thought, that sounds like the name of a nasty dinosaur.  I immediately thought of Peter who has such a great voice.  Peter was a good runner in his day and one of the original podcasters from a decade ago when we all got online and met each other.  Peter does a podcast every once in a while called ‘spikes’. Today we have a really good, timely chat with Dawn.  I have been following Dawn for a few years but never had her on the show.  She is a heavy social media poster and for some reason I see her posts on LinkedIn a lot.  I have always treated LinkedIn as a professional network and haven’t let this ‘hobby’ side of my life bleed over into it.  She stands out, because you’ve got all these businesspeople talking about business stuff and then there’s Dawn talking about empowerment and Joy.  This time of year, in the northern hemisphere anyhow, we all get stressed out.  The weather turns.  The days get shorter.  If you have kids their schedule ramps up.  It’s budget-setting time and trade show season at your work.  The end of the year is approaching with holidays and deadlines and sales quotas.  It tends to push people into anxiety and depression.  I was there myself this month.  With my work having challenges, me getting older and an unruly puppy to train.  Things just felt awful and closed in and trapped.  My mind started repeating a scarcity narrative of how much I don’t have and how much I’ve lost.  Which, I know is ridiculous, because I’m one of the most blessed and lucky people you’ll ever meet, but that’s how your brain works, especially this time of year. Then I stumbled across one of Dawn’s posts talking about gratitude and abundance.  By the way, one of the symptoms of this downward-spiraling mental malaise is you start trying to distract yourself online.  Whether it’s FB scrolling or too much news or video games.  That’s a bad way to avoid life.  Anyhow, I took a deep breath and declared November a month of gratitude.  In section one I’m going to suggest two useful ways you can use your off-season training to learn some new skills and add to your running assets.  In section two we are going to take the hero’s journey together.  Because one of the most effective way to contextualize your experience in this world is to see it as a journey.  Tell your narrative as a journey.  And that is what we are going to talk about today.  Gratitude and journeys.  Because, my friends, no matter how low or shitty it gets the hero in you always knows the way.  Without the shitty parts there can be no hero.  I saw a great post this week that said ‘failure is like stepping in manure, it stinks when you do it but it makes for great fertilizer!” On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Using your in-between time -  Voices of reason – the conversation Dawn Ciccone Make your day a new &amp; exciting adventure! Discover your incredible life. Dawn Ciccone  A marathoner, writer, personal trainer, nutrition and running coach, Dawn offers methodologies learned from experience!  Her passion is to help people face challenges, dIscover the gifts they bring and trust themselves as the beautifully powerful person you’re meant to be.   Dawn has conquered abusive relationships, addiction, disordered eating and came through a tragic accident that left her helpless. Dawn has been where you’re at and knows how to turn challenges into opportunities!   Credentials Certified RRCA &amp;   USTAF coach   American Red Cross Health &amp; Safety Instructor   Certified Nutritional Health Educator and Personal Fitness Trainer   Certified Master Reiki Practitioner, intuitive, empath, lightworker, transformational speak.   Section two – Your Hero’s Journey–  Outro Well, my friends, you have Made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-419.  Okey – Dokey – I’m in a down phase in my training.  Which is another, kinder way of saying I’m not training much.  Much for me that is.  I’m just doing 3 days a week in the trails with Ollie the Collie and then a longer run with the boys on Sundays – somewhere in the 20-30 miles a week.  I’ve fattened myself back up with some poor nutritional choices as well, but I think we need to take these breaks to rebalance the humors every once in a while.  I know discipline is power but that can burn you out and I’ve got a lot going on right now.  I’m noticing that I’m starting to get the bug again to do something epic.  Got any suggestions?  I’m not sure if I’ll get into Boston this year.  If I don’t that opens up the spring for something.  Coming up is our traditional Thanksgiving 5k.  But, Teresa hurt her foot, so I’m going to walk it with her.  Maybe we’ll start early and take the dog.  After that the first week of December is the Mill Cities Relay.  I was running with my buddies Brian and Frank and we came up with a the bright idea of entering our own team.  You only need 5 people and we already had 3 so how hard could it be?  As I started reaching out to some of our old running friends, (in our age group), I found that many of them were no longer running at all due to age-related injuries.  In a weird Schadenfreude way they made me feel pretty good about the fact that I’m still getting out there.  It also reminded me to be kinder to myself. Finally, I am planning to run the Groton Marathon, and organize it, for the 7th edition on December 29th this year – please come up and run with us.  It’s fun.  What about Ollie the collie? We were asked not to come back to puppy training.  It started as we were sitting patiently, waiting for class to start.  Ollie the border collie puppy and myself in the big box pet store.  It was our 3rd class.  Ollie was doing well, learning quickly.  The dopey brown doodle came in with it’s handler all stupid and goofy, doh do doh.  The dopy doodle’s exuberance overruled the owners’ ability to control it and it pulled its way over into our space to check out Ollie. Ollie was not happy about this.  He turned to look at me and said  “Dad, what is this madness?   These doodles and snoodles and snickerdoodle caboodles?  What right do they have to play with the canine DNA of pure breeds for their own amusement?  These freaks!  These aberrations! This cannot stand! I draw the line here! I must stop this madness!  Foul abomination I strike at thee! I will blot your aberration from this world!” At least that’s what I thought he said, because it was at this point he went berserk and tried to murder the doodle.  But, since I was holding him by the collar he turned and sunk his teeth into my hand.  As I was bleeding and shaking with fear, that’s when the nice lady said maybe we should leave and not come back.  On the one hand Ollie is mental and that has its challenges.  But, on the other hand, I’m kinda jealous because that’s exactly the kind of punk-rock, hard core mental many of us tried to be as teenagers! He’s just coming up on 6 months old and he’s already 31 pounds of muscular athlete with a big brain to boot.  He’s running 20 – 30 miles with me off leash in the woods each week and he’s scary fast and strong.  He’s not much on cuddling, but as they say, he’s someone you’d want to share a fox-hole with. I just have to train him up.  He’s going to be a great dog.  And remember, as Ollie says, Death to Doodles! I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-419 – Dawn’s Wisdom (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4419.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4419.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-419 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  So – I’m a week late with this one, but it’s great show.  Think about it this way – we gave it an additional week to marinate, to grow, to rise like rustic bread or age like fine wine.  Last week I was all lined up to get the show out for Friday. Thursday was my birthday.  I took Thursday and Friday off from work to recuperate a bit and was working on the show.   Then, ironically as I was writing the hero’s journey piece that is in section two, that talks about how life is not a straight line, and it seldom goes as you expect it to, my old computer ceased to turn on.  I’ve had this Microsoft surface since at least 2015 and it’s been the best computer I ever.  It was powerful enough to do all the audio editing for the show, it has a great form factor for traveling.  Just a great machine that matches my need.  End of this story is that I spent all day Friday in the Microsoft store and ended up buying a new surface that I am happily tapping away on now.  I didn’t loose any data, just some time – and oh by the way – I’m about $2,000 lighter so you might want to consider becoming a member of the RunRunLive Podcast to help defray unexpected expenses.  So with that excuse out of the way let me take you back to the primordial jungles of North America where strange and dangerous beasts roam dark, dank forests…. (Fade in Jungle music) Our old friend Peter Herridge everyone with that excellent dramatic reading.  That piece of writing has been kicking around in my head or a few years.  Probably since I first heard the word ‘piriformis’ and thought, that sounds like the name of a nasty dinosaur.  I immediately thought of Peter who has such a great voice.  Peter was a good runner in his day and one of the original podcasters from a decade ago when we all got online and met each other.  Peter does a podcast every once in a while called ‘spikes’. Today we have a really good, timely chat with Dawn.  I have been following Dawn for a few years but never had her on the show.  She is a heavy social media poster and for some reason I see her posts on LinkedIn a lot.  I have always treated LinkedIn as a professional network and haven’t let this ‘hobby’ side of my life bleed over into it.  She stands out, because you’ve got all these businesspeople talking about business stuff and then there’s Dawn talking about empowerment and Joy.  This time of year, in the northern hemisphere anyhow, we all get stressed out.  The weather turns.  The days get shorter.  If you have kids their schedule ramps up.  It’s budget-setting time and trade show season at your work.  The end of the year is approaching with holidays and deadlines and sales quotas.  It tends to push people into anxiety and depression.  I was there myself this month.  With my work having challenges, me getting older and an unruly puppy to train.  Things just felt awful and closed in and trapped.  My mind started repeating a scarcity narrative of how much I don’t have and how much I’ve lost.  Which, I know is ridiculous, because I’m one of the most blessed and lucky people you’ll ever meet, but that’s how your brain works, especially this time of year. Then I stumbled across one of Dawn’s posts talking about gratitude and abundance.  By the way, one of the symptoms of this downward-spiraling mental malaise is you start trying to distract yourself online.  Whether it’s FB scrolling or too much news or video games.  That’s a bad way to avoid life.  Anyhow, I took a deep breath and declared November a month of gratitude.  In section one I’m going to suggest two useful ways you can use your off-season training to learn some new skills and add to your running assets.  In section two we are going to take the hero’s journey together.  Because one of the most effective way to contextualize your experience in this world is to see it as a journey.  Tell your narrative as a journey.  And that is what we are going to talk about today.  Gratitude and journeys.  Because, my friends, no matter how low or shitty it gets the hero in you always knows the way.  Without the shitty parts there can be no hero.  I saw a great post this week that said ‘failure is like stepping in manure, it stinks when you do it but it makes for great fertilizer!” On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Using your in-between time -  Voices of reason – the conversation Dawn Ciccone Make your day a new &amp; exciting adventure! Discover your incredible life. Dawn Ciccone  A marathoner, writer, personal trainer, nutrition and running coach, Dawn offers methodologies learned from experience!  Her passion is to help people face challenges, dIscover the gifts they bring and trust themselves as the beautifully powerful person you’re meant to be.   Dawn has conquered abusive relationships, addiction, disordered eating and came through a tragic accident that left her helpless. Dawn has been where you’re at and knows how to turn challenges into opportunities!   Credentials Certified RRCA &amp;   USTAF coach   American Red Cross Health &amp; Safety Instructor   Certified Nutritional Health Educator and Personal Fitness Trainer   Certified Master Reiki Practitioner, intuitive, empath, lightworker, transformational speak.   Section two – Your Hero’s Journey–  Outro Well, my friends, you have Made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-419.  Okey – Dokey – I’m in a down phase in my training.  Which is another, kinder way of saying I’m not training much.  Much for me that is.  I’m just doing 3 days a week in the trails with Ollie the Collie and then a longer run with the boys on Sundays – somewhere in the 20-30 miles a week.  I’ve fattened myself back up with some poor nutritional choices as well, but I think we need to take these breaks to rebalance the humors every once in a while.  I know discipline is power but that can burn you out and I’ve got a lot going on right now.  I’m noticing that I’m starting to get the bug again to do something epic.  Got any suggestions?  I’m not sure if I’ll get into Boston this year.  If I don’t that opens up the spring for something.  Coming up is our traditional Thanksgiving 5k.  But, Teresa hurt her foot, so I’m going to walk it with her.  Maybe we’ll start early and take the dog.  After that the first week of December is the Mill Cities Relay.  I was running with my buddies Brian and Frank and we came up with a the bright idea of entering our own team.  You only need 5 people and we already had 3 so how hard could it be?  As I started reaching out to some of our old running friends, (in our age group), I found that many of them were no longer running at all due to age-related injuries.  In a weird Schadenfreude way they made me feel pretty good about the fact that I’m still getting out there.  It also reminded me to be kinder to myself. Finally, I am planning to run the Groton Marathon, and organize it, for the 7th edition on December 29th this year – please come up and run with us.  It’s fun.  What about Ollie the collie? We were asked not to come back to puppy training.  It started as we were sitting patiently, waiting for class to start.  Ollie the border collie puppy and myself in the big box pet store.  It was our 3rd class.  Ollie was doing well, learning quickly.  The dopey brown doodle came in with it’s handler all stupid and goofy, doh do doh.  The dopy doodle’s exuberance overruled the owners’ ability to control it and it pulled its way over into our space to check out Ollie. Ollie was not happy about this.  He turned to look at me and said  “Dad, what is this madness?   These doodles and snoodles and snickerdoodle caboodles?  What right do they have to play with the canine DNA of pure breeds for their own amusement?  These freaks!  These aberrations! This cannot stand! I draw the line here! I must stop this madness!  Foul abomination I strike at thee! I will blot your aberration from this world!” At least that’s what I thought he said, because it was at this point he went berserk and tried to murder the doodle.  But, since I was holding him by the collar he turned and sunk his teeth into my hand.  As I was bleeding and shaking with fear, that’s when the nice lady said maybe we should leave and not come back.  On the one hand Ollie is mental and that has its challenges.  But, on the other hand, I’m kinda jealous because that’s exactly the kind of punk-rock, hard core mental many of us tried to be as teenagers! He’s just coming up on 6 months old and he’s already 31 pounds of muscular athlete with a big brain to boot.  He’s running 20 – 30 miles with me off leash in the woods each week and he’s scary fast and strong.  He’s not much on cuddling, but as they say, he’s someone you’d want to share a fox-hole with. I just have to train him up.  He’s going to be a great dog.  And remember, as Ollie says, Death to Doodles! I will see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-419 – Dawn’s Wisdom

Katy Sherratt

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-411 – Katy Sheratt – CEO Back on my Feet (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4411.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-411 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   Like I mentioned last week 411 and 412 are out of order due to the forecasted recording sequence being different than the actual recording sequence and me not wanting to go move files around.  But, I know you, you don’t care about such things.  You care about important things like running past your house at the end of a long run to pick up that last .003 miles because you’ll be damned if you enter 6.97 miles into your log. Today we have a very good interview with Katy Sherratt who is the front person, the leader, for Back on My Feet.  This is the organization that helps homeless individuals by leveraging the transformational power of running.  We have spoken with this organization before.  We have history.  I was so fascinated by their program that I chased down the initial leadership team for an interview back in episode 89, which would have been 10 years ago, and then interviewed one of their recovering addicts in episode 167.  So, if your interested we’ve got sample points in the life cycle curve of this program from its birth to where it is now.  It’s a testament to how effective and resonant the program is that it grew from that nascent good idea of one runner in Baltimore to the professionally managed, multi-city, international manifestation of today.  And, I was interested to ask Katy about that progression.  Katy is a professional and you can hear the media coaching in her responses, but I think I did a good job of asking the questions that I truly wanted to understand.  … My training is not going great.  I’ve still got this troublesome high-hamstring tendinosis that is really curtailing my ability to push the pace or climb hills at pace.  It’s fine until I load it then it screams back at me.  I’m currently working through the best way to re-hab it.  That being said I have been getting some good volume in.  I’m trying to get 2 longer runs of 8 – 10 miles in during the week, then get a bike ride in on Saturday, then go longer on Sunday on the tired legs.  But, it’s a bit unstructured and I a feel a bit adrift. It’s getting hot and humid up here and the bugs are out.  This makes trail running a bit less enjoyable. I tweaked it Tuesday night and I’m limping around a bit right now.  It was a hot night.  There is a summer race series that many folks from my club run in near my office so I decided I’d run over to the race, run the 5k with them, then run back. Jogged over, it was about 4 miles away.  That was ok, a nice easy warm up.  Then I lined up for the 5K.  No big deal.  I just kicked it off at a solid tempo pace and felt pretty good.  Clicked off the first mile at around a 7 minute mile, working hard but not killing myself, it had a lot of downhill.  Then the course climbs a little hill over a bridge, over the river, and as I was leaning into the hill something tweaked in my left hamstring. I didn’t stop running but I slowed down to a pace where I wasn’t loading the hamstring and limped it in.   Got passed by a lot of people in the 2nd mile!  Had to get a ride back to my office.  2 days later and it is still noticeable sore.  So, looks like I have a new project. … I listen to a lot of history podcasts.  And when I find a new one, I typically start at the beginning and listen through until I’m caught up.  The interesting thing about this to me, is the pattern.  There’s this arc to a successful podcast.  They start out as tentative and unsure of themselves. Then they start to get positive feedback and they find their stride.  They comment with amazement on the 100 listeners, then the 1,000 listeners and the 10,000 listeners.  Then they start to think that this could be a fulltime job for them and they start to look for revenue.  The audible ads, the Patrion page, the iTunes reviews. At some point they become quite pleased with their progress and start having Q&amp;A session about “Why they got into the podcast and where they got the theme music and some even quit their jobs. You can do that if you’re a history major. It’s fun to watch.  I’m not sure what part of that cycle I’m in.  I decided quite early on that this was a labor of love and I was primarily doing it as an exercise in self-preservation and improvement for myself, not for any practical or commercial concern.  I talked to sponsors, but to be honest, I hate commercials and there just isn’t enough money in ads to move my needle.    I stopped paying attention to numbers but, weirdly to imagine, we’ve had multi-millions of downloads from around the world.  I don’t even know how to containerize that number.  Each of those might be some individual, you for instance, at some point in their lives, looking for some combination of information, entertainment or inspiration, I get that personal touch point, but I can’t wrap my brain around the abstract of ‘millions’. I do get a bit of a satisfied feeling about the 400+ hours of content we have available for you now.  That’s a goodly chunk body of work and by my calculations represents about a million words of content.  That’s 4-5 goodly books worth of material. So, thank you all, whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are, for facilitating my personal journey of creation.  I appreciate it.  I think the lesson here, is that you, yes you, as an individual can start something for no apparent reason and it can be the proverbial snowball that creates an avalanche.  For me it’s bee the personal connection and friends and opportunities for connection that are the best part.  For you it might be fame and fortune.  Put yourself in the running shoes of Anne Mahlum.  You are running in Philly at 5 o’clock in the morning and you keep running by the homeless shelter. You think to yourself, “Ya know what would be a good idea?  If someone were to invite these folks out for a run and potentially transform their lives.”  And so she started Back on my Feet with that one small thought and that one kick of the snowball. What’s your snowball? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Form series Chapter One -    Voices of reason – the conversation Katy Sherratt Katy Sherratt leads Back on My Feet as Chief Executive Officer. An award-winning social innovation leader, Katy has been instrumental in increasing Back on My Feet’s programmatic impact by over 75% and introduced new and important measures to demonstrate the holistic impact of the program. Under her tenure, Back on My Feet has gone from early stage startup to sustainable organization and is now a leader in the homelessness services space nationwide. Funding has increased by over 50% thanks to the growth of existing, and cultivation of new, partnerships and fundraising streams and the geographic expansion of operations along the East and West coasts. Katy has been recognized across multiple media and news outlets including by The Economist’s Philanthrocapitalism program as a leader in social innovation and cutting edge non-profit management. In 2016 she was also named among Women’s Running Magazine’s “Top 20 Gamechangers” and most recently a winner at the Philadelphia Social Innovation Awards. Katy brings over 15 years of leadership experience across both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Prior to joining Back on My Feet, Katy led global projects for Accenture in their UK and US-based Strategy Practices working with corporate clients, NGOs and nonprofits with clients ranging from leading Financial Institutions to the United Nations. “I’m honored to lead such a unique, dynamic and growing organization,” said Katy. “You don’t have to be a marathoner or even a 5K runner, to feel the power of what we do on the morning runs – the community we build for individuals experiencing homelessness is the critical missing link and the reason why we’ve had such huge success in enabling our members to transition out of homelessness and maintain that transition.”   Section two – The Happiness Curve – navigating the cliff -      Outro Well, my friends, that was fun, huh?  You got up at 5:00 AM and ended up at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-411, you are amazing. I have no idea whether or not I’m going to survive this summer with the sore but and sore knee and hot weather, I’m a hot mess!  But it is the season I’m in, yeah?  I’ll give you a couple tips.  The first tip, which I haven’t tested yet, bt seems to be corroborated from multiple sources is how to make a DIY der fly trap.  The deer flies are awful this time of year. I got chased out of the woods by them last week.  Even if you have the big hat on and the bug spray they still harass you in their multitudes. You can buy the deer fly patches which are a sticky patch that you put on the back of your hat that they get stuck on.  Or, you can make them.  The instructions are to take some blue tape (apparently the flies like blue and that painters tape works great) and create a 2X6 inch patch on the back of your hat.  Then apply a layer of an off the shelf product called “Tanglefoot” which is sticky goop that you apply to tree trunks to keep bugs from climbing up. That’s it. This will trap the flies, or enough of them, to solve the problem.  The second tip is for your bottles.  If you carry water bottles on your run, either in your hand or in a belt, you may notice that they start to taste a bit moldy as they age.  Especially if you have been putting sports drink concoctions in them.  It just can’t be helped.  The sugars get turned into wildlife.  You can wash them out.  You can rinse them with a bleach solution.  You can put them in the dishwasher.  But once those beasties get in there it’s a losing battle.  I don’t want to gross you out but the problem is typically hiding in your nipples.  That rubber bit that sticks out of the top of the bottle has crevices that you can’t get to.  But guess what?  If you pull on that nipple you can usually get it to pop off.  Once you pop it off you’ll see all the black stuff in there and you can scrub it out.   Then you can pop it back in. Good to go. So that’s it.  We went from form to homelessness to old age to moldy nipples – such are the seasons of life.   And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-411 – Katy Sheratt – CEO Back on my Feet (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4411.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4411.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-411 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   Like I mentioned last week 411 and 412 are out of order due to the forecasted recording sequence being different than the actual recording sequence and me not wanting to go move files around.  But, I know you, you don’t care about such things.  You care about important things like running past your house at the end of a long run to pick up that last .003 miles because you’ll be damned if you enter 6.97 miles into your log. Today we have a very good interview with Katy Sherratt who is the front person, the leader, for Back on My Feet.  This is the organization that helps homeless individuals by leveraging the transformational power of running.  We have spoken with this organization before.  We have history.  I was so fascinated by their program that I chased down the initial leadership team for an interview back in episode 89, which would have been 10 years ago, and then interviewed one of their recovering addicts in episode 167.  So, if your interested we’ve got sample points in the life cycle curve of this program from its birth to where it is now.  It’s a testament to how effective and resonant the program is that it grew from that nascent good idea of one runner in Baltimore to the professionally managed, multi-city, international manifestation of today.  And, I was interested to ask Katy about that progression.  Katy is a professional and you can hear the media coaching in her responses, but I think I did a good job of asking the questions that I truly wanted to understand.  … My training is not going great.  I’ve still got this troublesome high-hamstring tendinosis that is really curtailing my ability to push the pace or climb hills at pace.  It’s fine until I load it then it screams back at me.  I’m currently working through the best way to re-hab it.  That being said I have been getting some good volume in.  I’m trying to get 2 longer runs of 8 – 10 miles in during the week, then get a bike ride in on Saturday, then go longer on Sunday on the tired legs.  But, it’s a bit unstructured and I a feel a bit adrift. It’s getting hot and humid up here and the bugs are out.  This makes trail running a bit less enjoyable. I tweaked it Tuesday night and I’m limping around a bit right now.  It was a hot night.  There is a summer race series that many folks from my club run in near my office so I decided I’d run over to the race, run the 5k with them, then run back. Jogged over, it was about 4 miles away.  That was ok, a nice easy warm up.  Then I lined up for the 5K.  No big deal.  I just kicked it off at a solid tempo pace and felt pretty good.  Clicked off the first mile at around a 7 minute mile, working hard but not killing myself, it had a lot of downhill.  Then the course climbs a little hill over a bridge, over the river, and as I was leaning into the hill something tweaked in my left hamstring. I didn’t stop running but I slowed down to a pace where I wasn’t loading the hamstring and limped it in.   Got passed by a lot of people in the 2nd mile!  Had to get a ride back to my office.  2 days later and it is still noticeable sore.  So, looks like I have a new project. … I listen to a lot of history podcasts.  And when I find a new one, I typically start at the beginning and listen through until I’m caught up.  The interesting thing about this to me, is the pattern.  There’s this arc to a successful podcast.  They start out as tentative and unsure of themselves. Then they start to get positive feedback and they find their stride.  They comment with amazement on the 100 listeners, then the 1,000 listeners and the 10,000 listeners.  Then they start to think that this could be a fulltime job for them and they start to look for revenue.  The audible ads, the Patrion page, the iTunes reviews. At some point they become quite pleased with their progress and start having Q&amp;A session about “Why they got into the podcast and where they got the theme music and some even quit their jobs. You can do that if you’re a history major. It’s fun to watch.  I’m not sure what part of that cycle I’m in.  I decided quite early on that this was a labor of love and I was primarily doing it as an exercise in self-preservation and improvement for myself, not for any practical or commercial concern.  I talked to sponsors, but to be honest, I hate commercials and there just isn’t enough money in ads to move my needle.    I stopped paying attention to numbers but, weirdly to imagine, we’ve had multi-millions of downloads from around the world.  I don’t even know how to containerize that number.  Each of those might be some individual, you for instance, at some point in their lives, looking for some combination of information, entertainment or inspiration, I get that personal touch point, but I can’t wrap my brain around the abstract of ‘millions’. I do get a bit of a satisfied feeling about the 400+ hours of content we have available for you now.  That’s a goodly chunk body of work and by my calculations represents about a million words of content.  That’s 4-5 goodly books worth of material. So, thank you all, whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are, for facilitating my personal journey of creation.  I appreciate it.  I think the lesson here, is that you, yes you, as an individual can start something for no apparent reason and it can be the proverbial snowball that creates an avalanche.  For me it’s bee the personal connection and friends and opportunities for connection that are the best part.  For you it might be fame and fortune.  Put yourself in the running shoes of Anne Mahlum.  You are running in Philly at 5 o’clock in the morning and you keep running by the homeless shelter. You think to yourself, “Ya know what would be a good idea?  If someone were to invite these folks out for a run and potentially transform their lives.”  And so she started Back on my Feet with that one small thought and that one kick of the snowball. What’s your snowball? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Form series Chapter One -    Voices of reason – the conversation Katy Sherratt Katy Sherratt leads Back on My Feet as Chief Executive Officer. An award-winning social innovation leader, Katy has been instrumental in increasing Back on My Feet’s programmatic impact by over 75% and introduced new and important measures to demonstrate the holistic impact of the program. Under her tenure, Back on My Feet has gone from early stage startup to sustainable organization and is now a leader in the homelessness services space nationwide. Funding has increased by over 50% thanks to the growth of existing, and cultivation of new, partnerships and fundraising streams and the geographic expansion of operations along the East and West coasts. Katy has been recognized across multiple media and news outlets including by The Economist’s Philanthrocapitalism program as a leader in social innovation and cutting edge non-profit management. In 2016 she was also named among Women’s Running Magazine’s “Top 20 Gamechangers” and most recently a winner at the Philadelphia Social Innovation Awards. Katy brings over 15 years of leadership experience across both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Prior to joining Back on My Feet, Katy led global projects for Accenture in their UK and US-based Strategy Practices working with corporate clients, NGOs and nonprofits with clients ranging from leading Financial Institutions to the United Nations. “I’m honored to lead such a unique, dynamic and growing organization,” said Katy. “You don’t have to be a marathoner or even a 5K runner, to feel the power of what we do on the morning runs – the community we build for individuals experiencing homelessness is the critical missing link and the reason why we’ve had such huge success in enabling our members to transition out of homelessness and maintain that transition.”   Section two – The Happiness Curve – navigating the cliff -      Outro Well, my friends, that was fun, huh?  You got up at 5:00 AM and ended up at the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-411, you are amazing. I have no idea whether or not I’m going to survive this summer with the sore but and sore knee and hot weather, I’m a hot mess!  But it is the season I’m in, yeah?  I’ll give you a couple tips.  The first tip, which I haven’t tested yet, bt seems to be corroborated from multiple sources is how to make a DIY der fly trap.  The deer flies are awful this time of year. I got chased out of the woods by them last week.  Even if you have the big hat on and the bug spray they still harass you in their multitudes. You can buy the deer fly patches which are a sticky patch that you put on the back of your hat that they get stuck on.  Or, you can make them.  The instructions are to take some blue tape (apparently the flies like blue and that painters tape works great) and create a 2X6 inch patch on the back of your hat.  Then apply a layer of an off the shelf product called “Tanglefoot” which is sticky goop that you apply to tree trunks to keep bugs from climbing up. That’s it. This will trap the flies, or enough of them, to solve the problem.  The second tip is for your bottles.  If you carry water bottles on your run, either in your hand or in a belt, you may notice that they start to taste a bit moldy as they age.  Especially if you have been putting sports drink concoctions in them.  It just can’t be helped.  The sugars get turned into wildlife.  You can wash them out.  You can rinse them with a bleach solution.  You can put them in the dishwasher.  But once those beasties get in there it’s a losing battle.  I don’t want to gross you out but the problem is typically hiding in your nipples.  That rubber bit that sticks out of the top of the bottle has crevices that you can’t get to.  But guess what?  If you pull on that nipple you can usually get it to pop off.  Once you pop it off you’ll see all the black stuff in there and you can scrub it out.   Then you can pop it back in. Good to go. So that’s it.  We went from form to homelessness to old age to moldy nipples – such are the seasons of life.   And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-411 – Katy Sherratt – CEO Back on my Feet

VT 2019 – The French Farce

Boston 2019

Alix Shutello

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-424 – Alix Shutello – The Intersection of Publishing and Endurance (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4424.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-424 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Some off you may be wondering what happened to me last week! Or not.  I was waylaid by an aggressive intersection of life and technology that prevented me from putting a show out.  It was a cascading series of events that you get sometimes in this squiggly path we are all on.  First I had an interview set up with Jamie Bearse who heads up the ZERO for prostate cancer foundation that I’ve decide to run Boston for this year.  Oh, right, I got a waiver number from my club for Boston and I’m running again.  Anyhow, Jamie got the flu, not the coronavirus, this was before that reared it’s multifarious ugly heads and we had to reschedule.  I, not willing to give up, called our friend John Vaughn who is a Prostate cancer survivor and coerced him into recording a last-minute call on the same subject.  Probably the finest and most compelling interview ever done by two mere mortals… But, something got twiddled sideways in the great bit-locker in the sky and there was no file of the recording to download.  After a week of tet-a-tete with the support guys there was no file.  Meanwhile I was in Phoenix for 5 straight days for a kickoff with my new job.  I did, over-optimistically bring my recording stuff, but, as these things go, was not afforded the chance to create some sort of non-interview filler episode.  C’est la Vie. Such is life.  But, even as you mourn the apparent reality that a rigorous and devoted podcaster like myself can’t keep a schedule, all hope is not lost!  I rounded up a great talk with Alix for you for today’s show.  I met Alix on LinkedIn, saw that she runs an endurance sports magazine and had to get her on.  I love to understand the intersection of business and endurance.  I have two asks today.  First is that you send me suggestions on people you’d like me to interview.  I don’t have a producer so I have to hunt them down on my own and after 12 years of doing this I’ve talked to a lot of people! Second ask is to contribute to my Prostate cancer campaign.  I’ll put the links in the show notes.  My friends are dying from this.  It’s important to me.   In the first section I’ll talk about long run paces, again.  In section two I’ll give you my brief understanding of the current OKR wave in organizations.  How’s my training going?  Actually quite well.  Since I’m planning not to hammer Boston this year my coach has me running basic base building runs so far.  For example this week I have had 4 easy 1:20 runs.  These are not race specific so I can do them in the woods with Ollie and it makes us both quite happy.  I got every one of my workouts in while in Phoenix.  Proud of that.  I’m heading to Vegas next week and look forward to doing some early morning exploring there as well. I received multiple ‘feedbacks’ that my grizzly bear audio was just a little too real last episode.  People were startled and looked around on their runs to make sure they weren’t about to be eaten!  Sorry.  Trying to be creative.  Yah know… 12 years and all… got to keep it from becoming too rote. No, I did not suffer from any grisly grizzly attacks but that was actual audio of a grizzly eating a dead caribou in Yellowstone.  There is a grisly back story here.  And it’s not that someone found a way to mic up a dead caribou.  If you search for grizzly audio there’s a sort of viral audio of this poor dude and his girlfriend being attacked and eaten by grizzlies in the early 2000’s in Yellowstone.  I did not watch or listen to it because I don’t need that in my head.  Apparently they were trying to video the grizzly with the phone, the grizzly attacked, the phone was dropped and you get a black box narrative of the affair.  Not my cup o’ tea.  I won’t leave you with that.  I’ll leave you with something positive.  The days are getting longer up here in New England.  It’s been a mild January and we don’t have much snow.  This means there’s enough sun to get on the trails with the dog around 6:30 AM now.  And it’s cold enough for the trails to be firm and fast.  There’s nothing like being out in the woods in the silence of a winter’s morning.  Your feet crunching in the frozen ground.  The sun glow highlighting the world in an innocent blur.  Your friend the dog hiding at the tops of hills to pounce on you, damn near knock you down, and run off laughing like a teenager to find his next ambush spot. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Long run Nuances -  Voices of reason – the conversation Alix Shutello  My Story: A Message from the CEO Hi, my name is Alix Shutello and I started Endurance Sports &amp; Fitness Magazine back in 2010 because someone asked me to. I mean that!  I started writing a blog entitled, Tighthams, to write about my running exploits as a new mom.   In 2002, I ran the San Diego Marathon pregnant and it wasn’t until 2006 when I wrote about it in my blog. I started the blog, truth be told, to learn how to us WordPress. Many of my 11 magazine clients at the time were starting to blog and leverage social media. I figured if I were going to be able to consult with my clients on blogging, I needed to start blogging myself. And now I’ve published this blog about running a marathon pregnant, and other women from around the world began responding to the blog. I was immediately humbled. Many of these women had multiple kids, had run through all of their pregnancies, and who still felt that society didn’t agree that women should run pregnant. In essence, my blog post on running pregnant started a conversation, and that was a lesson I could teach my clients. I kept up with the blog and started to write reviews on products and post some other topics, all of which seemed to generate a number of comments, so I turned Tighthams from a blog into a company called Runners Illustrated. Runners Illustrated, which played off of a combination of Runners World and Sports Illustrated was a great way for me to report on all aspects of running. An endurance runner from Australia names Andy Bowen emailed me one day. He asked me if I could start covering endurance races. Bowen was one of a number of athletes who approached me about covering global endurance foot races beyond the marathon. It opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed….and from there, Runners Illustrated, which focused on running any distance up to the marathon morphed to include all types of ultra running. It didn’t stop there. Once I changed the name of Runners Illustrated to Endurance Racing Magazine, the triathlon community found me too – and it didn’t stop there. Endurance Racing Magazine operated from 2012-2016 and covered a number of non-motorized endurance sports including kayaking, canoeing, ultra marathons, adventure racing, Ironman-distance races, ultra-triathlons, duathlons and all other types of trail and road races in between. In late 2016 I conducted a survey and the title of this publication changed to Endurance Sports &amp; Fitness Magazine. The title, while long, resonated with my readers and created more comfort for those, like me, who are striving to enter the endurance world. In 2016 the newly redesigned magazine (which was only published digitally) hit the “shelves” with a lot of fanfare. We hope that you consider supporting the magazine through a subscription or by advertising. The magazine, which is a community-based magazine, is supported by a number of writers who give their time to provide excellent content and rich stories for our reader base. Please  and support our publication. If you ever need to contact me, reach me at . I look forward to hearing from you. Alix Shutello CEO &amp; Publisher Section two – On OKR’s –  Outro Well, my friends, we have transversed the frozen ground to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-424 lies sweating and spent in the hoar frost. Nothing new or novel in my training or racing to report.  I’m plunking away build mileage for Boston. I canceled the pacing race on Martha’s Vineyard so I can focus on requalifying in June.  I have signed up for the Tunnel Light Marathon in Oregon which is on a rail trail and is a consistently slightly downhill course.  I’m not going to run any other races, except for the Groton 10K of course.  This is I think our 29th running of the 10K.  Last Sunday in April, come up and join us.  If you folks need anything feel free to reach out to me.  I like hearing from you.  Ollie the collie is doing fine.  He’s just 8 months old now. He’s a stud of an athlete.  We’ll finish this week with somewhere around 30 trail miles.  He’s still incredibly unruly.  He is very vocal, which Buddy was not.  Ollie will spontaneously treat you to a loud, close-range, ear-splitting bark if he wants your attention.  He’s still very mouthy and jumpy and does not listen well but we’re working on it.  A couple weeks ago we were out running in the woods and we came upon a large flock of wild turkeys. Probably 20-30 of them.  Ollie was beside himself with joy.  He chased those birds hither and thither.  Some flew away, like turkeys do, they can’t really fly but they can go short distances, some ran away clucking.  Eventually he came back to rejoin me all tuckered out and quite happy with himself. He’s just come into my office to see me and put his big head in my lap for a hug.  When I was out in phoenix last week I was thinking about the absurdity of having such a city in the middle of the desert.  Before the modern era you could not do such things at scale.  One of my mornings I was running along a canal, which I think they called an aqueduct.  It was fenced in.  I did not attempt to breach the barbed wire.  I’ve been known to jump fences, but it looked like they really didn’t want you inside this fence. Turns out, I was told later, that the whole thing is alarmed with motion sensors and if you get inside the fence the authorities rush out to apprehend you.  That might have made a good running adventure story. The Puebloans who lived here before got by, but not at this scale.  Cities need a reason to exist.  They need to be near something.  Ancient desert cities were on an Oasis and or near a source of water or trade route.  You just don’t put a city in the middle of a desert like Vegas or Phoenix for no reason.  There was a recent discovery of a large city in Egypt from a few thousand years ago.  And they were asking the same question.  Why was this city here?  In the middle of the desert?  They were able to use modern LIDAR and other airborne surveys to figure it out.  A branch of the Nile used to run by this city.  That branch of the Nile silted up so the residents picked up the whole city and moved it to the next branch of the Nile some 100 miles away.  We’ll see what happens when Phoenix runs out of water.  And Vegas.  Challenges like this bring out the innovative nature of humans.  I will see you out there.  (Outro bumper) To continue my music series I give you track #2 from Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-424 – Alix Shutello – The Intersection of Publishing and Endurance (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4424.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4424.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello and welcome to episode 4-424 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Some off you may be wondering what happened to me last week! Or not.  I was waylaid by an aggressive intersection of life and technology that prevented me from putting a show out.  It was a cascading series of events that you get sometimes in this squiggly path we are all on.  First I had an interview set up with Jamie Bearse who heads up the ZERO for prostate cancer foundation that I’ve decide to run Boston for this year.  Oh, right, I got a waiver number from my club for Boston and I’m running again.  Anyhow, Jamie got the flu, not the coronavirus, this was before that reared it’s multifarious ugly heads and we had to reschedule.  I, not willing to give up, called our friend John Vaughn who is a Prostate cancer survivor and coerced him into recording a last-minute call on the same subject.  Probably the finest and most compelling interview ever done by two mere mortals… But, something got twiddled sideways in the great bit-locker in the sky and there was no file of the recording to download.  After a week of tet-a-tete with the support guys there was no file.  Meanwhile I was in Phoenix for 5 straight days for a kickoff with my new job.  I did, over-optimistically bring my recording stuff, but, as these things go, was not afforded the chance to create some sort of non-interview filler episode.  C’est la Vie. Such is life.  But, even as you mourn the apparent reality that a rigorous and devoted podcaster like myself can’t keep a schedule, all hope is not lost!  I rounded up a great talk with Alix for you for today’s show.  I met Alix on LinkedIn, saw that she runs an endurance sports magazine and had to get her on.  I love to understand the intersection of business and endurance.  I have two asks today.  First is that you send me suggestions on people you’d like me to interview.  I don’t have a producer so I have to hunt them down on my own and after 12 years of doing this I’ve talked to a lot of people! Second ask is to contribute to my Prostate cancer campaign.  I’ll put the links in the show notes.  My friends are dying from this.  It’s important to me.   In the first section I’ll talk about long run paces, again.  In section two I’ll give you my brief understanding of the current OKR wave in organizations.  How’s my training going?  Actually quite well.  Since I’m planning not to hammer Boston this year my coach has me running basic base building runs so far.  For example this week I have had 4 easy 1:20 runs.  These are not race specific so I can do them in the woods with Ollie and it makes us both quite happy.  I got every one of my workouts in while in Phoenix.  Proud of that.  I’m heading to Vegas next week and look forward to doing some early morning exploring there as well. I received multiple ‘feedbacks’ that my grizzly bear audio was just a little too real last episode.  People were startled and looked around on their runs to make sure they weren’t about to be eaten!  Sorry.  Trying to be creative.  Yah know… 12 years and all… got to keep it from becoming too rote. No, I did not suffer from any grisly grizzly attacks but that was actual audio of a grizzly eating a dead caribou in Yellowstone.  There is a grisly back story here.  And it’s not that someone found a way to mic up a dead caribou.  If you search for grizzly audio there’s a sort of viral audio of this poor dude and his girlfriend being attacked and eaten by grizzlies in the early 2000’s in Yellowstone.  I did not watch or listen to it because I don’t need that in my head.  Apparently they were trying to video the grizzly with the phone, the grizzly attacked, the phone was dropped and you get a black box narrative of the affair.  Not my cup o’ tea.  I won’t leave you with that.  I’ll leave you with something positive.  The days are getting longer up here in New England.  It’s been a mild January and we don’t have much snow.  This means there’s enough sun to get on the trails with the dog around 6:30 AM now.  And it’s cold enough for the trails to be firm and fast.  There’s nothing like being out in the woods in the silence of a winter’s morning.  Your feet crunching in the frozen ground.  The sun glow highlighting the world in an innocent blur.  Your friend the dog hiding at the tops of hills to pounce on you, damn near knock you down, and run off laughing like a teenager to find his next ambush spot. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Long run Nuances -  Voices of reason – the conversation Alix Shutello  My Story: A Message from the CEO Hi, my name is Alix Shutello and I started Endurance Sports &amp; Fitness Magazine back in 2010 because someone asked me to. I mean that!  I started writing a blog entitled, Tighthams, to write about my running exploits as a new mom.   In 2002, I ran the San Diego Marathon pregnant and it wasn’t until 2006 when I wrote about it in my blog. I started the blog, truth be told, to learn how to us WordPress. Many of my 11 magazine clients at the time were starting to blog and leverage social media. I figured if I were going to be able to consult with my clients on blogging, I needed to start blogging myself. And now I’ve published this blog about running a marathon pregnant, and other women from around the world began responding to the blog. I was immediately humbled. Many of these women had multiple kids, had run through all of their pregnancies, and who still felt that society didn’t agree that women should run pregnant. In essence, my blog post on running pregnant started a conversation, and that was a lesson I could teach my clients. I kept up with the blog and started to write reviews on products and post some other topics, all of which seemed to generate a number of comments, so I turned Tighthams from a blog into a company called Runners Illustrated. Runners Illustrated, which played off of a combination of Runners World and Sports Illustrated was a great way for me to report on all aspects of running. An endurance runner from Australia names Andy Bowen emailed me one day. He asked me if I could start covering endurance races. Bowen was one of a number of athletes who approached me about covering global endurance foot races beyond the marathon. It opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed….and from there, Runners Illustrated, which focused on running any distance up to the marathon morphed to include all types of ultra running. It didn’t stop there. Once I changed the name of Runners Illustrated to Endurance Racing Magazine, the triathlon community found me too – and it didn’t stop there. Endurance Racing Magazine operated from 2012-2016 and covered a number of non-motorized endurance sports including kayaking, canoeing, ultra marathons, adventure racing, Ironman-distance races, ultra-triathlons, duathlons and all other types of trail and road races in between. In late 2016 I conducted a survey and the title of this publication changed to Endurance Sports &amp; Fitness Magazine. The title, while long, resonated with my readers and created more comfort for those, like me, who are striving to enter the endurance world. In 2016 the newly redesigned magazine (which was only published digitally) hit the “shelves” with a lot of fanfare. We hope that you consider supporting the magazine through a subscription or by advertising. The magazine, which is a community-based magazine, is supported by a number of writers who give their time to provide excellent content and rich stories for our reader base. Please  and support our publication. If you ever need to contact me, reach me at . I look forward to hearing from you. Alix Shutello CEO &amp; Publisher Section two – On OKR’s –  Outro Well, my friends, we have transversed the frozen ground to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-424 lies sweating and spent in the hoar frost. Nothing new or novel in my training or racing to report.  I’m plunking away build mileage for Boston. I canceled the pacing race on Martha’s Vineyard so I can focus on requalifying in June.  I have signed up for the Tunnel Light Marathon in Oregon which is on a rail trail and is a consistently slightly downhill course.  I’m not going to run any other races, except for the Groton 10K of course.  This is I think our 29th running of the 10K.  Last Sunday in April, come up and join us.  If you folks need anything feel free to reach out to me.  I like hearing from you.  Ollie the collie is doing fine.  He’s just 8 months old now. He’s a stud of an athlete.  We’ll finish this week with somewhere around 30 trail miles.  He’s still incredibly unruly.  He is very vocal, which Buddy was not.  Ollie will spontaneously treat you to a loud, close-range, ear-splitting bark if he wants your attention.  He’s still very mouthy and jumpy and does not listen well but we’re working on it.  A couple weeks ago we were out running in the woods and we came upon a large flock of wild turkeys. Probably 20-30 of them.  Ollie was beside himself with joy.  He chased those birds hither and thither.  Some flew away, like turkeys do, they can’t really fly but they can go short distances, some ran away clucking.  Eventually he came back to rejoin me all tuckered out and quite happy with himself. He’s just come into my office to see me and put his big head in my lap for a hug.  When I was out in phoenix last week I was thinking about the absurdity of having such a city in the middle of the desert.  Before the modern era you could not do such things at scale.  One of my mornings I was running along a canal, which I think they called an aqueduct.  It was fenced in.  I did not attempt to breach the barbed wire.  I’ve been known to jump fences, but it looked like they really didn’t want you inside this fence. Turns out, I was told later, that the whole thing is alarmed with motion sensors and if you get inside the fence the authorities rush out to apprehend you.  That might have made a good running adventure story. The Puebloans who lived here before got by, but not at this scale.  Cities need a reason to exist.  They need to be near something.  Ancient desert cities were on an Oasis and or near a source of water or trade route.  You just don’t put a city in the middle of a desert like Vegas or Phoenix for no reason.  There was a recent discovery of a large city in Egypt from a few thousand years ago.  And they were asking the same question.  Why was this city here?  In the middle of the desert?  They were able to use modern LIDAR and other airborne surveys to figure it out.  A branch of the Nile used to run by this city.  That branch of the Nile silted up so the residents picked up the whole city and moved it to the next branch of the Nile some 100 miles away.  We’ll see what happens when Phoenix runs out of water.  And Vegas.  Challenges like this bring out the innovative nature of humans.  I will see you out there.  (Outro bumper) To continue my music series I give you track #2 from Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-424 – Alix Shutello – The Intersection of Publishing and Endurance

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-412 – Maryro does Comrades (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4412.mp3] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-412 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  You’ll have to forgive me an episode incongruity here, a non-linear scrap of publishing.  I had a couple interviews stack on top of each other, like the way you stack your hips in a yoga pose, and, apparently, in the race to you ears, episode 4-412 won out over episode 4-411.  Confused?  Don’t be.  It will be fine.  Today, this week, you will get episode 4-412, an interview by my friend Alex, long time participant of the RunRunLive podcast experience, of another long-time friend of the show Maryro Mendez, who ran Comrades this year.  I’m always fascinated with Comrades.  It seems such a foreign place, an extreme adventure.  Both Alex and Maryro are world travelers.  I have yet to make it to Africa.  Except, maybe through enjoying a good read of “The Heart of Darkness”.  In section one I’m going to give you the run-down on the cow-pasture race.  I got some positive feedback on the uncertainty essay from last show, thank you for that.  I certainly appreciate it.  I struggled to write that last episode.  I felt too jacked up about other things.  I need a certain amount of alone time and contemplation to get the creative juices flowing and I couldn’t get settled.  That has been solved!  I am took Vacation!  Yes, just my wife and I down on Cape Cod enjoying the beautiful weather.  Soaking up the sea breezes.  Very peaceful.  No internet.  Just reading and relaxing. In section two I’m going to piece together a vacation story for you.  … I took 5 days off from running and riding due to a sore knee.  It was one of those things where I probably tried to do too much too fast.  In this case the too much part had to do with going mountain bike riding with Anthony.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Anthony. Anthony has taught me an un-repayable number of useful things about bikes and riding over the last decade.  But, for my second ride in the woods in two years he overestimates my ability.  And, I on my part feel compelled to keep up, like a boy trying to please his Dad.  I ended up bleeding from 4 different wounds at the end of the night.  Nothing life threatening.  Just those slow speed, slow motion crashes that stalk you when you haven’t got the miles in yet. That little bit of uncertainty, that spoonful of tentativeness as you go into an obstacle those few millimeters off your line that find you wide in the turns and stuck in the bad spots.  You might call it ‘anti-flow’  On one of these slow speed crashes I couldn’t clip out and took the full weight of mass times acceleration (due to the force of gravity) on a pointy rock with my left knee.  It hurt but didn’t feel consequential at the time.  Over the next week it just ached a bit as I kept up my running and cycling.  Finally, with the race in the cow pasture Wednesday night,  going hard on uneven ground and the knee seemed to be more sore than it should be after a week, so I did the smart thing and took a few days off.  I was a bit worried I might lose fitness, but I managed to get over myself, and do a little core work and yoga instead.  Still a little sore, but I think it’s on the mend.  We’ll see.  I guess I don’t heal as fast as I used to.  But, I feel pretty good and it’s summer time, and the days are long and what can be wrong with that? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com  … Section one – Lonely Cows -  Voices of reason – the conversation Alex Cooke Interviews Maryro Mendez Comrades Marathon 2019(up run): The other big 5 People always come to Africa wanting to see the big 5, Lion, Elephant, Leopard, Rhino and Buffalo, but I came here with the mission of not just seeing but conquering the other big 5. The nerve wracking 5 famous hills along the Comrades route, Cowies Hill, Fields Hill, Botha’s Hill, Inchanga and Polly shorts. What ever people can say about this race, they would be falling short but I will just describe my own experience here. On our way to Durban, Andrey had a packed itinerary. We spent 2 days in Johannesburg and 5 days in Kruger National Park, chasing the animals and we were rewarded with amazing sightings. That on its own is worth a different write up. We arrived in Durban on Friday afternoon, went straight to the expo, picked up my race pack and wonder around a bit just to feel the vibe but not too long.  The city was filled with incredible energy. The people were amazing from day one. There is no hiding that I was scared, scared of failure, of not finishing. I knew I had put it a lot of work but also knew I had not been feeling quite right, mentally and physically. I also knew even when I was creative trying to do hill work, living in Rotterdam, NL I lacked that part. I felt excitement, fear and pure joy to be there. It was the fact that I was stepping in to the unknown but actually knowing that it was going to be the hardest race I had ever done that made this so especial. It was actually being part of a race that it is so important to a nation and you can feel it as soon as you land in Durban. Less than 10% of the 25000 runners are international runners, the rest are South Africans whom are very proud of their race. Only 20% are women. On Saturday Andrey went hiking up Royal Natal Park and also drove on the route while I stayed in the hotel resting. When he got back, he said “if you see those hills, the first 40km are the most difficult, you have never done anything like it. Even by car they look horrible” ok that scared me even more. “I got the belief, I will embrace the experience that I have earned after 5 months of hard training when conditions weren’t ideal. I got the belief that I am enough, good enough to be here but I will be patient and cautious because no medal will come easy tomorrow” I said to myself on Saturday.  I woke up at 3:15, had some Ucan and almond butter, had a shower and we left for the start at 4:30 for a 5:30 start. Luckily our hotel was just in front so I was in my corral before 5. The atmosphere was incredible. I was next to a South African guy doing his 11th comrades. He started talking to me with a very zen like tone. He told me to be patient, that his first was also the up run and he did it in 10h15min. Even when my ultimate goal was to finish, on a good day I thought I could do 10h (A goal), my B goal was to finish under 10:30 but I thought “maybe my first can be close to this guy’s 10:15”. I also wanted to finish before sun set (5:15 pm) The start is just amazing, very emotional no point describing because you have to be there to live it. Never felt such an emotional start in a race. I started my watch as soon as the gun went off because this race is gun time and all the cut offs and different medals are awarded by gun time. I was seeded in corral C so took me a few minutes to cross but not too long. I had my watch in overall time and average pace, this time I didn’t want to get distracted  by mile splits that made no sense. It was very humid and I was sweating like crazy even when the sun was not out yet and I started to worry but tried to just keep it together. The sea of people in front and behind was incredible to see thinking we had 87 km to go. I followed Bruce Fordyce’s advice and ignored the distance markers that go in count down mode.  I was running by feel and just checking my total time and average pace every now and again specially when I passed the cut off points (there are 7 in total) that would give a good idea of how much I was slowing down or not. I realised very early on that running up the hills in such a slow pace felt very inefficient, just didn’t feel natural to me so I decided to power hike up the hills. This was not a walking break this was very intense walking. I was passing people running while I walked up the hills, felt just like Killian Jornet  . However I did not train my body to do this so every time I was changing from walking to running my calves would rebel against me. I could feel my lower back too. But I just when over the initial transition discomfort and continue and as soon as I was in running mode it felt good again. “do not stop” that was my other strategy, no matter what, I was not stopping for anything. And I didn’t. There is no doubt as to when you are going up the big hills, they are relentlessly brutal. I was scared to ask anyone if we were at any of those hills in case I got NO for an answer. All along the route the atmosphere is delightful, the locals set up tents full of aid for people apart from the official 43 water stations and they do it every year. People singing, dancing, bbqing. Going pass the wall of honour was neat, thinking my name could be there once I finished. When I reached Arthur’s seat I touched it out is respect and moved on. When I reached half way at 43km to go I knew I had just done the hardest marathon (a bit over a marathon) I had ever done in my life and I still had more than a marathon to go. I was supposed to see Andrey there but nothing. I struggled a little, but I said The only way you are not finishing this is if you do not make any the cut off point and you are forced to stop and get on a bus.  The 10h bus passed me. They are amazing to watch. You can hear them coming, it is like a pack of horses trotting and singing. I felt a little disappointed that there would be no sub 10 for me but I was clear by that point I had underestimated the course so I just continued with my mission. Suddenly with like 37km to go a familiar voice when I was not expecting “Moni, Moni” it was Andrey. That was my only stop. Maybe for just a minute or two. I grabbed a ucan bar and the hotshot anti cramp, which saved me because my calves were alive and kicking. My lower back was sore again for the power walking I am guessing. That gave me a second wind.  The10:30h bus passed me and I was between 1h30- 1h20 ahead of the cut off time at the check points every time. I caught up with the 10:30 bus again. I was going to stay with them but I felt good so left them behind.  The Coca Cola station is amazing and this kid starting calling, “my lady get a coke my lady” I grabbed a coke (never ever I drink real full sugar coke) and boy that felt good, it was iced cold. He said “I knew you wanted a coke my lady push on continue” and that my friends is reason 1568 I loved Comrades. With 20km to go I decided it was time to start counting down the km and noticed every km board. A runner with a green number that had done 13 Comrades started talking to me, he asked about my shoes, he congratulated me for my first comrades finish to which I thanked them but said that there was still 20 km to go. He said you will finish I know. With 17 km to go I saw Andrey up on a bridge after I went under it, again great surprise, I waved and continued. I reached little pollys, she is like The hiena, not part of the big 5 but her presence doesn’t go unnoticed in the wilderness. When I hit the 10km to go mark, I started feeling for the first time that I had it in the bag. Now my aim was to go sub 10:15. Then Polly shorts shoes up, and there is no need to ask anyone, I knew this is the famous mighty one that stretches along for 2km.  Last 7 km I felt strong and full of joy. The down hills were hard, my toes were completely wrecked or so they felt. And the uphills even though shorter in comparison really sneaked up on you. 5 km to go and there he was again, I saw Andrey and I said “see you at the finish” saying that felt so good. I have say the performance of the day goes to him. Driving around with road closures it was messy. 4 km to go I kept checking my watch, 3 km to go and suddenly I felt it was taking too long for the 2k mark but then I saw 1km to go!!! I had missed the 2 km mark.  I was there, I got chills. Yeah and because it is Comrades there is one final mini climb a few meters to the finish. I crossed the line 10h 13 minutes and 55 seconds after the gun went off and got my bronze medal.  The different colour bibs depending on if you are national or international, the number of medals on your bib, the different medals depending on your finish time, the people oh the people and how passionate they are, all that make this race extra especial. With regards to nutrition I had 2 chia gels(low carb) and almond butter during the first third of the race. Then I started taking maurten gels I had 5 in total. I also had half a bar of ucan and some coke (I still can’t believe I drank full sugar coke but the even had ice cubes!) in the second half. I think probably consumed about 1000-1200 cals. I never felt I needed to eat but I forced myself to have something every 30 mins or so. I also had high5 zero electrolyte tablets. I grabbed 2 water poaches in maybe 40 out of the 43 water station, they were always cold so one to drink and one for my head and neck. All races should have those. I realised now why this race was unique for me. I normally enjoy the training, the process more that the races themselves. Races are always an excuse for me to train. This time for the first time was the other way around, I enjoyed the race more than the training, the race was a whole process in itself that was changing me for the better as I went through. The race was a whole new experience.  From a performance standpoint I could say I am a little sad I didn’t get a sub 10 but I am actually very happy my splits were consistent, I finished strong and I learned a lot. In the end it is only running so the time itself is nothing in comparison to what you gain as a person through running. But the type A person I am is already looking at what to improve  Comrades you are much more that people say, I will be back for the down run but next summer is already committed for other adventures so will be tight. If not in 2020 I will be back for the 100th Comrades in 2021 which will be another down run as it was the original...and maybe for my second I can properly aim for a better time  I am a runner because I run, I run because I am a runner  We carry with us, deep inside, the knowledge that we have faced our fears and conquered challenges, and with that brings confidence, peace of mind and self-belief. Section two – Puzzle Pieces -    Outro Well, my friends you run the uphill course to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-412, see you in Paradise City. Got a couple nice long runs and rides in this week down the Cape.  I did my traditional long run on the beach in Chatham.  I went on the 4th itself and it was jammed with people.  Usually once I get a mile or so down the beach I’m pretty much alone, but on the 4ht of July people come out by boat and hang out all over the place.  At one point there was a seal on the beach injured, probably by a Great White Shark.  Some guy was yelling at me to, I guess, not run by it.  Chill out there Ranger Rick, it’s a seal, not a unicorn.  When I came back the other way they had the seal EMT’s there working on it.  There are a lot of seals and a lot of sharks now on the Cape.  I ran out of beach almost exactly at 5 miles.  Which gave me a nice tidy 10 for the outing.  I timed it well too.  I got out just after high tide. That means the tide is going out and you get a nice strip of hard sand. I got out this weekend for an 18+ mile trail run.  Felt ok.  It was a little hard at the end, but it’s supposed to be.  I have to bring my volume up for the races I’m running this summer.  All in all I got a good mental rest.  I read a couple books.  The best one was a Bradbury collection of short stories from the 70’s.  Great writer Bradbury.  The better read among you will smell a bit of Bradbury in my writing this week. One of the books I’m working my way through is ‘ by Jonathan Rauch.  He basically says that the science shows everyone’s life arc is about the same.  You’re happy when your young, you’re miserable when you’re in the prime of your life for the most part and then, in the last bit, the middle age forward, you get happy again, because, I guess you just don’t really care anymore?  A couple things you can take form that.  One is that your happiness is different depending on what phase of life you’re in.  Another is that it’s, on average, the same experience for everybody.  There ya go.  Hang in there and it gets better.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-412 – Maryro does Comrades (Audio: link) audio:<a href="http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4412.mp3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4412.mp3</a>] Link  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -  Hello, my friends and welcome to episode 4-412 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  You’ll have to forgive me an episode incongruity here, a non-linear scrap of publishing.  I had a couple interviews stack on top of each other, like the way you stack your hips in a yoga pose, and, apparently, in the race to you ears, episode 4-412 won out over episode 4-411.  Confused?  Don’t be.  It will be fine.  Today, this week, you will get episode 4-412, an interview by my friend Alex, long time participant of the RunRunLive podcast experience, of another long-time friend of the show Maryro Mendez, who ran Comrades this year.  I’m always fascinated with Comrades.  It seems such a foreign place, an extreme adventure.  Both Alex and Maryro are world travelers.  I have yet to make it to Africa.  Except, maybe through enjoying a good read of “The Heart of Darkness”.  In section one I’m going to give you the run-down on the cow-pasture race.  I got some positive feedback on the uncertainty essay from last show, thank you for that.  I certainly appreciate it.  I struggled to write that last episode.  I felt too jacked up about other things.  I need a certain amount of alone time and contemplation to get the creative juices flowing and I couldn’t get settled.  That has been solved!  I am took Vacation!  Yes, just my wife and I down on Cape Cod enjoying the beautiful weather.  Soaking up the sea breezes.  Very peaceful.  No internet.  Just reading and relaxing. In section two I’m going to piece together a vacation story for you.  … I took 5 days off from running and riding due to a sore knee.  It was one of those things where I probably tried to do too much too fast.  In this case the too much part had to do with going mountain bike riding with Anthony.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Anthony. Anthony has taught me an un-repayable number of useful things about bikes and riding over the last decade.  But, for my second ride in the woods in two years he overestimates my ability.  And, I on my part feel compelled to keep up, like a boy trying to please his Dad.  I ended up bleeding from 4 different wounds at the end of the night.  Nothing life threatening.  Just those slow speed, slow motion crashes that stalk you when you haven’t got the miles in yet. That little bit of uncertainty, that spoonful of tentativeness as you go into an obstacle those few millimeters off your line that find you wide in the turns and stuck in the bad spots.  You might call it ‘anti-flow’  On one of these slow speed crashes I couldn’t clip out and took the full weight of mass times acceleration (due to the force of gravity) on a pointy rock with my left knee.  It hurt but didn’t feel consequential at the time.  Over the next week it just ached a bit as I kept up my running and cycling.  Finally, with the race in the cow pasture Wednesday night,  going hard on uneven ground and the knee seemed to be more sore than it should be after a week, so I did the smart thing and took a few days off.  I was a bit worried I might lose fitness, but I managed to get over myself, and do a little core work and yoga instead.  Still a little sore, but I think it’s on the mend.  We’ll see.  I guess I don’t heal as fast as I used to.  But, I feel pretty good and it’s summer time, and the days are long and what can be wrong with that? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about <a href="http://Stamps.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stamps.com</a> or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles.   Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you!   Links are in the show notes and at <a href="http://RunRunLive.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RunRunLive.com</a>  … Section one – Lonely Cows -  Voices of reason – the conversation Alex Cooke Interviews Maryro Mendez Comrades Marathon 2019(up run): The other big 5 People always come to Africa wanting to see the big 5, Lion, Elephant, Leopard, Rhino and Buffalo, but I came here with the mission of not just seeing but conquering the other big 5. The nerve wracking 5 famous hills along the Comrades route, Cowies Hill, Fields Hill, Botha’s Hill, Inchanga and Polly shorts. What ever people can say about this race, they would be falling short but I will just describe my own experience here. On our way to Durban, Andrey had a packed itinerary. We spent 2 days in Johannesburg and 5 days in Kruger National Park, chasing the animals and we were rewarded with amazing sightings. That on its own is worth a different write up. We arrived in Durban on Friday afternoon, went straight to the expo, picked up my race pack and wonder around a bit just to feel the vibe but not too long.  The city was filled with incredible energy. The people were amazing from day one. There is no hiding that I was scared, scared of failure, of not finishing. I knew I had put it a lot of work but also knew I had not been feeling quite right, mentally and physically. I also knew even when I was creative trying to do hill work, living in Rotterdam, NL I lacked that part. I felt excitement, fear and pure joy to be there. It was the fact that I was stepping in to the unknown but actually knowing that it was going to be the hardest race I had ever done that made this so especial. It was actually being part of a race that it is so important to a nation and you can feel it as soon as you land in Durban. Less than 10% of the 25000 runners are international runners, the rest are South Africans whom are very proud of their race. Only 20% are women. On Saturday Andrey went hiking up Royal Natal Park and also drove on the route while I stayed in the hotel resting. When he got back, he said “if you see those hills, the first 40km are the most difficult, you have never done anything like it. Even by car they look horrible” ok that scared me even more. “I got the belief, I will embrace the experience that I have earned after 5 months of hard training when conditions weren’t ideal. I got the belief that I am enough, good enough to be here but I will be patient and cautious because no medal will come easy tomorrow” I said to myself on Saturday.  I woke up at 3:15, had some Ucan and almond butter, had a shower and we left for the start at 4:30 for a 5:30 start. Luckily our hotel was just in front so I was in my corral before 5. The atmosphere was incredible. I was next to a South African guy doing his 11th comrades. He started talking to me with a very zen like tone. He told me to be patient, that his first was also the up run and he did it in 10h15min. Even when my ultimate goal was to finish, on a good day I thought I could do 10h (A goal), my B goal was to finish under 10:30 but I thought “maybe my first can be close to this guy’s 10:15”. I also wanted to finish before sun set (5:15 pm) The start is just amazing, very emotional no point describing because you have to be there to live it. Never felt such an emotional start in a race. I started my watch as soon as the gun went off because this race is gun time and all the cut offs and different medals are awarded by gun time. I was seeded in corral C so took me a few minutes to cross but not too long. I had my watch in overall time and average pace, this time I didn’t want to get distracted  by mile splits that made no sense. It was very humid and I was sweating like crazy even when the sun was not out yet and I started to worry but tried to just keep it together. The sea of people in front and behind was incredible to see thinking we had 87 km to go. I followed Bruce Fordyce’s advice and ignored the distance markers that go in count down mode.  I was running by feel and just checking my total time and average pace every now and again specially when I passed the cut off points (there are 7 in total) that would give a good idea of how much I was slowing down or not. I realised very early on that running up the hills in such a slow pace felt very inefficient, just didn’t feel natural to me so I decided to power hike up the hills. This was not a walking break this was very intense walking. I was passing people running while I walked up the hills, felt just like Killian Jornet  . However I did not train my body to do this so every time I was changing from walking to running my calves would rebel against me. I could feel my lower back too. But I just when over the initial transition discomfort and continue and as soon as I was in running mode it felt good again. “do not stop” that was my other strategy, no matter what, I was not stopping for anything. And I didn’t. There is no doubt as to when you are going up the big hills, they are relentlessly brutal. I was scared to ask anyone if we were at any of those hills in case I got NO for an answer. All along the route the atmosphere is delightful, the locals set up tents full of aid for people apart from the official 43 water stations and they do it every year. People singing, dancing, bbqing. Going pass the wall of honour was neat, thinking my name could be there once I finished. When I reached Arthur’s seat I touched it out is respect and moved on. When I reached half way at 43km to go I knew I had just done the hardest marathon (a bit over a marathon) I had ever done in my life and I still had more than a marathon to go. I was supposed to see Andrey there but nothing. I struggled a little, but I said The only way you are not finishing this is if you do not make any the cut off point and you are forced to stop and get on a bus.  The 10h bus passed me. They are amazing to watch. You can hear them coming, it is like a pack of horses trotting and singing. I felt a little disappointed that there would be no sub 10 for me but I was clear by that point I had underestimated the course so I just continued with my mission. Suddenly with like 37km to go a familiar voice when I was not expecting “Moni, Moni” it was Andrey. That was my only stop. Maybe for just a minute or two. I grabbed a ucan bar and the hotshot anti cramp, which saved me because my calves were alive and kicking. My lower back was sore again for the power walking I am guessing. That gave me a second wind.  The10:30h bus passed me and I was between 1h30- 1h20 ahead of the cut off time at the check points every time. I caught up with the 10:30 bus again. I was going to stay with them but I felt good so left them behind.  The Coca Cola station is amazing and this kid starting calling, “my lady get a coke my lady” I grabbed a coke (never ever I drink real full sugar coke) and boy that felt good, it was iced cold. He said “I knew you wanted a coke my lady push on continue” and that my friends is reason 1568 I loved Comrades. With 20km to go I decided it was time to start counting down the km and noticed every km board. A runner with a green number that had done 13 Comrades started talking to me, he asked about my shoes, he congratulated me for my first comrades finish to which I thanked them but said that there was still 20 km to go. He said you will finish I know. With 17 km to go I saw Andrey up on a bridge after I went under it, again great surprise, I waved and continued. I reached little pollys, she is like The hiena, not part of the big 5 but her presence doesn’t go unnoticed in the wilderness. When I hit the 10km to go mark, I started feeling for the first time that I had it in the bag. Now my aim was to go sub 10:15. Then Polly shorts shoes up, and there is no need to ask anyone, I knew this is the famous mighty one that stretches along for 2km.  Last 7 km I felt strong and full of joy. The down hills were hard, my toes were completely wrecked or so they felt. And the uphills even though shorter in comparison really sneaked up on you. 5 km to go and there he was again, I saw Andrey and I said “see you at the finish” saying that felt so good. I have say the performance of the day goes to him. Driving around with road closures it was messy. 4 km to go I kept checking my watch, 3 km to go and suddenly I felt it was taking too long for the 2k mark but then I saw 1km to go!!! I had missed the 2 km mark.  I was there, I got chills. Yeah and because it is Comrades there is one final mini climb a few meters to the finish. I crossed the line 10h 13 minutes and 55 seconds after the gun went off and got my bronze medal.  The different colour bibs depending on if you are national or international, the number of medals on your bib, the different medals depending on your finish time, the people oh the people and how passionate they are, all that make this race extra especial. With regards to nutrition I had 2 chia gels(low carb) and almond butter during the first third of the race. Then I started taking maurten gels I had 5 in total. I also had half a bar of ucan and some coke (I still can’t believe I drank full sugar coke but the even had ice cubes!) in the second half. I think probably consumed about 1000-1200 cals. I never felt I needed to eat but I forced myself to have something every 30 mins or so. I also had high5 zero electrolyte tablets. I grabbed 2 water poaches in maybe 40 out of the 43 water station, they were always cold so one to drink and one for my head and neck. All races should have those. I realised now why this race was unique for me. I normally enjoy the training, the process more that the races themselves. Races are always an excuse for me to train. This time for the first time was the other way around, I enjoyed the race more than the training, the race was a whole process in itself that was changing me for the better as I went through. The race was a whole new experience.  From a performance standpoint I could say I am a little sad I didn’t get a sub 10 but I am actually very happy my splits were consistent, I finished strong and I learned a lot. In the end it is only running so the time itself is nothing in comparison to what you gain as a person through running. But the type A person I am is already looking at what to improve  Comrades you are much more that people say, I will be back for the down run but next summer is already committed for other adventures so will be tight. If not in 2020 I will be back for the 100th Comrades in 2021 which will be another down run as it was the original...and maybe for my second I can properly aim for a better time  I am a runner because I run, I run because I am a runner  We carry with us, deep inside, the knowledge that we have faced our fears and conquered challenges, and with that brings confidence, peace of mind and self-belief. Section two – Puzzle Pieces -    Outro Well, my friends you run the uphill course to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-412, see you in Paradise City. Got a couple nice long runs and rides in this week down the Cape.  I did my traditional long run on the beach in Chatham.  I went on the 4th itself and it was jammed with people.  Usually once I get a mile or so down the beach I’m pretty much alone, but on the 4ht of July people come out by boat and hang out all over the place.  At one point there was a seal on the beach injured, probably by a Great White Shark.  Some guy was yelling at me to, I guess, not run by it.  Chill out there Ranger Rick, it’s a seal, not a unicorn.  When I came back the other way they had the seal EMT’s there working on it.  There are a lot of seals and a lot of sharks now on the Cape.  I ran out of beach almost exactly at 5 miles.  Which gave me a nice tidy 10 for the outing.  I timed it well too.  I got out just after high tide. That means the tide is going out and you get a nice strip of hard sand. I got out this weekend for an 18+ mile trail run.  Felt ok.  It was a little hard at the end, but it’s supposed to be.  I have to bring my volume up for the races I’m running this summer.  All in all I got a good mental rest.  I read a couple books.  The best one was a Bradbury collection of short stories from the 70’s.  Great writer Bradbury.  The better read among you will smell a bit of Bradbury in my writing this week. One of the books I’m working my way through is ‘ by Jonathan Rauch.  He basically says that the science shows everyone’s life arc is about the same.  You’re happy when your young, you’re miserable when you’re in the prime of your life for the most part and then, in the last bit, the middle age forward, you get happy again, because, I guess you just don’t really care anymore?  A couple things you can take form that.  One is that your happiness is different depending on what phase of life you’re in.  Another is that it’s, on average, the same experience for everybody.  There ya go.  Hang in there and it gets better.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -    Rachel -&gt;  Coach Jeff -&gt;

Episode 4-412 – Maryro does Comrades

Leadville, 2019

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