Podcasts about groton road race

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-467 – Holistic Health with Gina  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4467.mp3] Link   Zero Prostate Cancer 2021 Boston - MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-467 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How are we doing?  In today's show we are going to talk with a friend of mine Gina who has recently moved from her 9-5 job to being a holistic coach.  She's working with me as I try to build myself back into this new season of running.  Oh yeah, before I forget, it's my birthday.  And the supply chain must be really bad because I didn't' receive any gifts from you thousands of loyal friends out there… All those expensive gifts must be sitting in a container ship off Long Beach.  Hey, I know exactly where that is.  I've run by the Queen Mary a dozen times in the morning and out into that little marina with the break water there.  Nice weather there.  Too much cement and not enough trees for my liking though.  I bought myself a new Kindle Paperwhite.  I had one of the original Kindles and I really liked the form factor.  But it eventually went end of life and those evil bastards at Amazon sent over a software update that killed it.  That was a couple years ago.  It took me this long to recover from my pique.  I got a couple runs in this week. I went for a nice long 5+ miler with Ollie in the trails on Tuesday.  As much as I enjoyed it, I also made my knee mad and it's been achy since.  I'm running with Ollie in the fully leashed mode now.  I have him on the 6-foot leash and I try to make him run in a heel position beside me. It's a work in progress. He doesn't get why I wouldn't want to just run as fast as I can.  I spend most of the time correcting him.  He doesn't work with me and it throws me off balance.  Ollie would make a terrible guide dog.  All you'd see would be Ollie sprinting down the road with the severed arm of the Achilles athlete dragging behind him.  So – I'm a work in progress and Ollie is a work in progress and, let's face it, that's life, right?  Anyhow Gina has me doing a routine of foam rolling, stretching and core.  I've done this routine for the last coupe weeks.  And I do feel a bit of benefit in terms of my form and balance.  Now I'll try to load in some strengthening as well.  Start slow.  Build a good foundation.  In section one I'll share another presentation I did to my group about what we learned from experimenting with morning routines.  Apologies for the audio.  In section two I'm going to talk a little about apps.  … I'm not going to bore you with my whining about not being able to run.  Not being able to run bothers me.  It really does.  It feels like a loss.  Why?  Because running is more than running for us.  Running is art.  Running is a creative, spiritual act.  Running is prayer for us.  And when you lose your running you lose your prayer – and that's the loss.  And you can lose it not just by being physically injured.  You can still be capable of physically running and lose the prayer.  Lose the art.  You can lose that art by trying to do to much.  By turning that prayer into an industrial act. And I'm going to give you a gift.  I'm going to stick a short piece written and read by on a podcast that I listen to sometimes, called that has some deep and meaningful conversations.  For your long runs it will give you something to think about and I was stunned by this beautiful piece of writing today.  I don't own any of this and the links are in the show notes.  It's from an essay called “Oremus,” meaning, in Latin, “Let us pray.” “Prayer, like poetry, like breath, like our own names, has a fundamental rhythm in our bodies. It changes, it adapts, it varies from the canon. It sings, it swears, it is syncopated by the rhythm underneath the rhythm, the love underneath the love, the rhyme underneath the rhyme, the name underneath the name, the welcome underneath the welcome, the prayer beneath the prayer. So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us. Let's claw ourselves out from the graves we've dug. Let's lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up and out and around. The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray.”   On with the show. About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations) … 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.  Section One – Fitness project presentation - … Gina Newton Thanks again Chris for having me!     Gina Newton is a spiritual and holistic lifestyle coach; Gina guides individuals to balance their personal energy.  After spending 20+ years in a high stress profession, Gina started Holistic Healing with Gina Marie which includes personal training specializing in pregnancy and postpartum care, private yoga, Reiki.  Gina works with people to heal in mind & body to feel their best!   Instagram: Facebook:    Section Two – Fitness Apps -   Outro Ok my friends we have holistically strengthened through the ed of episode 4-467 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How do you feel?  More balanced.  Thanks Gina. Coming up for me is the Ayer Thanksgiving 5K.  Should be fun.  I know I can run 5K – so that won't be a problem.  The challenge will be to not get swept away in the race vibes and make promises my body can't deliver on!   Then on December 5th I have put a team in for the Mill Cities Relay.  It will be a hoot.  I'll take the broken-old-guy short leg and my old running buddies can divvy up the actual racing.  We are in the midst of kickstarting the old Groton Road Race after a 2-year hiatus.  Stay tuned for more on that but it will be in the spring. Speaking of the spring, they have opened early registration for the 2022 Boston Marathon at it's usual time and place on Patriots Day.  I could register if I was qualified.  But, I'm not. It makes me wonder whether I should keep pushing out this podcast if I'm not really competing anymore.  What's the benefit to you?  But for now I'll keep doing it.  Because I know that it helps someone.  It shows up at the right time and says the right thing for someone and that's my little rock creating ripples in the pond. I will tell you a story.  This week during my Fitness Project office hours I had a bunch of people show up and we talked about what we learned from the morning routines.     I have to tell you I was a little wary of putting myself out there in a work setting.  I set up this challenge for everyone in my group to get up at a fixed time for a week and do something.  I called it 5 at 5 or 5 at 6 or whatever you wanted to do.  Just get up, and do something you hadn't done before and report back to the team as you are doing it. Everyone listened politely. Some asked clarifying questions. Then Monday Morning came around and I committed to list 5 things I was grateful for each day in the morning for a week. That was my commitment.  I published it out to the team chat.  This was another scary moment.  But, I figured, what's the worse that can happen?  I'm ready to retire anyhow. Then, an amazing thing started to happen.  One by one people started chiming in with their morning projects.  And we got through the week with a heightened sense of comradery. Mission accomplished I thought.  Then I held my office hours and all these people showed up.  They told me how my project had kick started them into a fitness routine.  They told me what they had learned.  How they had tried to get up earlier and failed but then learned to simplify and take what they could get. They told me about how their new meditation practices had allowed them to carry that calm leadership into their days.  They told me how these projects had opened windows of connectivity to their spouses and children.  I was shocked and humbled.  Before we had this fitness call I was leading another call, earlier in the week.  And it wasn't going great.  I was getting anxious, and I know that you can't be anxious in these types of calls because it shows and it bleeds into the environment and poisons the room. And I thought to myself, “Wait.  Take a breath.  You are giving them a gift.  You are the gift.  Your knowledge, your leadership, your ownership is a gift.  You have no control over how they receive the gift.  If they choose not to take the gift, or not to appreciate the gift, that's on them.” And I relaxed.  And, right then and there, in the middle of this call, I reached for a yellow sticky and wrote “I give you my gift” on it to remind me.  This is my message to you.  You are only responsible for the gift.  Whether it is a podcast or a morning routine, you give the gift that you have, without fear.  You give your gift and let others take it.  Watch what happens.  Give a gift of a sincere thank you in every interaction you have today.  Give a gift of sincere praise in every interaction you have today. Those gifts will come back to you thousandfold. And I'll see you out there. My Apocalypse show ->     MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-467 – Holistic Health with Gina  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4467.mp3] Link   Zero Prostate Cancer 2021 Boston - MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-467 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How are we doing?  In today's show we are going to talk with a friend of mine Gina who has recently moved from her 9-5 job to being a holistic coach.  She's working with me as I try to build myself back into this new season of running.  Oh yeah, before I forget, it's my birthday.  And the supply chain must be really bad because I didn't' receive any gifts from you thousands of loyal friends out there… All those expensive gifts must be sitting in a container ship off Long Beach.  Hey, I know exactly where that is.  I've run by the Queen Mary a dozen times in the morning and out into that little marina with the break water there.  Nice weather there.  Too much cement and not enough trees for my liking though.  I bought myself a new Kindle Paperwhite.  I had one of the original Kindles and I really liked the form factor.  But it eventually went end of life and those evil bastards at Amazon sent over a software update that killed it.  That was a couple years ago.  It took me this long to recover from my pique.  I got a couple runs in this week. I went for a nice long 5+ miler with Ollie in the trails on Tuesday.  As much as I enjoyed it, I also made my knee mad and it's been achy since.  I'm running with Ollie in the fully leashed mode now.  I have him on the 6-foot leash and I try to make him run in a heel position beside me. It's a work in progress. He doesn't get why I wouldn't want to just run as fast as I can.  I spend most of the time correcting him.  He doesn't work with me and it throws me off balance.  Ollie would make a terrible guide dog.  All you'd see would be Ollie sprinting down the road with the severed arm of the Achilles athlete dragging behind him.  So – I'm a work in progress and Ollie is a work in progress and, let's face it, that's life, right?  Anyhow Gina has me doing a routine of foam rolling, stretching and core.  I've done this routine for the last coupe weeks.  And I do feel a bit of benefit in terms of my form and balance.  Now I'll try to load in some strengthening as well.  Start slow.  Build a good foundation.  In section one I'll share another presentation I did to my group about what we learned from experimenting with morning routines.  Apologies for the audio.  In section two I'm going to talk a little about apps.  … I'm not going to bore you with my whining about not being able to run.  Not being able to run bothers me.  It really does.  It feels like a loss.  Why?  Because running is more than running for us.  Running is art.  Running is a creative, spiritual act.  Running is prayer for us.  And when you lose your running you lose your prayer – and that's the loss.  And you can lose it not just by being physically injured.  You can still be capable of physically running and lose the prayer.  Lose the art.  You can lose that art by trying to do to much.  By turning that prayer into an industrial act. And I'm going to give you a gift.  I'm going to stick a short piece written and read by on a podcast that I listen to sometimes, called that has some deep and meaningful conversations.  For your long runs it will give you something to think about and I was stunned by this beautiful piece of writing today.  I don't own any of this and the links are in the show notes.  It's from an essay called “Oremus,” meaning, in Latin, “Let us pray.” “Prayer, like poetry, like breath, like our own names, has a fundamental rhythm in our bodies. It changes, it adapts, it varies from the canon. It sings, it swears, it is syncopated by the rhythm underneath the rhythm, the love underneath the love, the rhyme underneath the rhyme, the name underneath the name, the welcome underneath the welcome, the prayer beneath the prayer. So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us. Let's claw ourselves out from the graves we've dug. Let's lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up and out and around. The world is big and wide and wild and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable, and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray.”   On with the show. About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations) … 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.  Section One – Fitness project presentation - … Gina Newton Thanks again Chris for having me!     Gina Newton is a spiritual and holistic lifestyle coach; Gina guides individuals to balance their personal energy.  After spending 20+ years in a high stress profession, Gina started Holistic Healing with Gina Marie which includes personal training specializing in pregnancy and postpartum care, private yoga, Reiki.  Gina works with people to heal in mind & body to feel their best!   Instagram: Facebook:    Section Two – Fitness Apps -   Outro Ok my friends we have holistically strengthened through the ed of episode 4-467 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How do you feel?  More balanced.  Thanks Gina. Coming up for me is the Ayer Thanksgiving 5K.  Should be fun.  I know I can run 5K – so that won't be a problem.  The challenge will be to not get swept away in the race vibes and make promises my body can't deliver on!   Then on December 5th I have put a team in for the Mill Cities Relay.  It will be a hoot.  I'll take the broken-old-guy short leg and my old running buddies can divvy up the actual racing.  We are in the midst of kickstarting the old Groton Road Race after a 2-year hiatus.  Stay tuned for more on that but it will be in the spring. Speaking of the spring, they have opened early registration for the 2022 Boston Marathon at it's usual time and place on Patriots Day.  I could register if I was qualified.  But, I'm not. It makes me wonder whether I should keep pushing out this podcast if I'm not really competing anymore.  What's the benefit to you?  But for now I'll keep doing it.  Because I know that it helps someone.  It shows up at the right time and says the right thing for someone and that's my little rock creating ripples in the pond. I will tell you a story.  This week during my Fitness Project office hours I had a bunch of people show up and we talked about what we learned from the morning routines.     I have to tell you I was a little wary of putting myself out there in a work setting.  I set up this challenge for everyone in my group to get up at a fixed time for a week and do something.  I called it 5 at 5 or 5 at 6 or whatever you wanted to do.  Just get up, and do something you hadn't done before and report back to the team as you are doing it. Everyone listened politely. Some asked clarifying questions. Then Monday Morning came around and I committed to list 5 things I was grateful for each day in the morning for a week. That was my commitment.  I published it out to the team chat.  This was another scary moment.  But, I figured, what's the worse that can happen?  I'm ready to retire anyhow. Then, an amazing thing started to happen.  One by one people started chiming in with their morning projects.  And we got through the week with a heightened sense of comradery. Mission accomplished I thought.  Then I held my office hours and all these people showed up.  They told me how my project had kick started them into a fitness routine.  They told me what they had learned.  How they had tried to get up earlier and failed but then learned to simplify and take what they could get. They told me about how their new meditation practices had allowed them to carry that calm leadership into their days.  They told me how these projects had opened windows of connectivity to their spouses and children.  I was shocked and humbled.  Before we had this fitness call I was leading another call, earlier in the week.  And it wasn't going great.  I was getting anxious, and I know that you can't be anxious in these types of calls because it shows and it bleeds into the environment and poisons the room. And I thought to myself, “Wait.  Take a breath.  You are giving them a gift.  You are the gift.  Your knowledge, your leadership, your ownership is a gift.  You have no control over how they receive the gift.  If they choose not to take the gift, or not to appreciate the gift, that's on them.” And I relaxed.  And, right then and there, in the middle of this call, I reached for a yellow sticky and wrote “I give you my gift” on it to remind me.  This is my message to you.  You are only responsible for the gift.  Whether it is a podcast or a morning routine, you give the gift that you have, without fear.  You give your gift and let others take it.  Watch what happens.  Give a gift of a sincere thank you in every interaction you have today.  Give a gift of sincere praise in every interaction you have today. Those gifts will come back to you thousandfold. And I'll see you out there. My Apocalypse show ->     MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

Folks, I am re-releasing episode 4-310 where I interviewed Bryan Lions so we could all hear his voice and listen to his story. Chris,   ... The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-310 – Bryan Lyons on Pushing Rick in 2015 (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4310.mp3] Link Intro Bumper: Hello my friends, this is Chris your host and this is the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-310.  Welcome.  We are in our final days of taper leading into the Boston Marathon.  I’m ready.  I’m right on my target race weight, I’m strong in the legs and I’ve done it a few times before. I’m starting from the back this year in the last charity corral.  It will take me awhile to get to the starting line and it will be crowded.  Looks like we’re getting decent weather, cool and rainy.  That’s actually my favorite racing weather. One of my friends from the running club is getting a limo to take a bunch of us out to Hopkinton on Monday morning.  There’s no checked bags from Hopkinton anymore so we’ll have to navigate the cool, wet weather on the morning with some throw away stuff.  There will be a wind.  I don’t know yet if it’s a head wind on not but as far back in the pack as I am there’s lots of shelter if you know what I mean. I don’t know if I’ll be carrying my phone or not.  I’d love to be unplugged but I don’t know how to get it into Boston otherwise without being separated from it for a day.  It turns out this new iPhone6 fits perfectly into one of those ½ size snack baggies and you can use the phone through the plastic. Today we have the great privilege to speak with Bryon Lyons who is taking over for Dick Hoyt in Pushing Rick this year.  It’s a long one, but’s that’s ok.  I think we cover some good ground. In the first section I’m going to muse on this year’s Boston from my perspective, as is my annual tradition. In the second section we’ll talk about how to use an external brain to get important stuff done. I’m good to go for Monday.  I have a red Team Hoyt singlet that I’ll probably put a long sleeve shirt on underneath because of the weather.  It’s also got some rough bits that I’d like to keep off my nipples! I still need to swing by Whole Foods and pick up some Hammer Gels for the race.  I tried to cook up my own energy gels from organic peanut butter and cocoa powder but it was a disaster.  It was like when you give a dog a spoonful of peanut butter and their mouth gets all stuck.  I’ll have to keep working on that.  Damn near choked me to death on my last couple long runs. We might go long today, but I’ll keep my comments short. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Tapering into Boston Voices of reason – the interviews Bryan Lyons From “Team Hoyt Racing at Boston With a Different Look For the first time since 1980, Dick Hoyt won’t run behind his son. But Bryan Lyons, a longtime supporter and runner, takes up the cause. By Liam Boylan-Pett; April 9, 2015 Rick and Dick Hoyt with Bryan Lyons Bryan Lyons (left, bib number 33864) at the 2014 Boston Marathon with Dick and Rick Hoyt. In 2014, Dick Hoyt completed the Boston Marathon for the 32nd time—each year pushing his son Rick, who’s a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, in a custom-racing wheelchair. After last year’s race, Dick wanted to retire. Rick, however, wanted to cover the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston again. He’s going to—this year with a new running partner. Dr. Bryan Lyons, a dentist in Billerica, Massachusetts, and a family friend of the Hoyts, will push Rick in the 119th running of Boston. “It was sort of shocking for [Dick] to ask me,” Lyons told the Lowell Sun. "My friends told me [the Hoyts] don't want the big name, they want the big heart. If that's the least that I can provide, I'm happy." This will be the seventh Boston Marathon for Lyons, 44, who has run for the Hoyt Foundation marathon team since 2008, with a best of 4:15:29, which he ran in 2010. Lyons does have some experience running with Rick, 53. Since January, the two have completed a few shorter local road races and gone on training runs together, according to the Lowell Sun. If Rick isn’t available, Lyons puts sandbags into the wheelchair to simulate his weight. Although Dick Hoyt, 74, won’t be running, he won’t absent from the marathon. He’s the race’s grand marshal, and will ride in a pace car ahead of the lead runners. The Hoyt’s story, chronicled by Runner’s World in 2007, has inspired many. Since 1977 when Rick asked Dick to push him through a 5-mile race, the father-son duo has completed more than 1,100 races, including Ironman triathlons. “Dick will continue to be at the head of the field, leading 30,000 runners on their trek to Boston,” Tom Grilk, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, said in a press release. “Dick and Rick Hoyt will forever be synonymous with the Boston Marathon and the sport of running.” Now, Lyons’ name will be attached, too. Once Dick decided not to run, Lyons was an easy choice for the Hoyts. "Bryan will be out there, and he'll do his best, we know that," Dick Hoyt told the Lowell Sun. "He's a great athlete, a great person, and the type of person that we want to be pushing Rick. And Rick wants Bryan to be the one to do it." Section Two – Life Lessons Using an External Brain – Outro That’s it my friends.  Episode 4-310 in the can.  We’ll see what happens over the weekend.  I may do a race report or not.  It’s a lot of work to write something that I am proud of.  You don’t really know the appropriate theme until the race has been run, so you can’t prepare that much. I’ve got the Groton Road Race coming up on the 26th and we’ve still got shirts if you want to register.  We’d love to have you.  Then I’m going in to get my heart fixed.  Then…it will be summer time and the living will be easy. I was out in California this past week.  I flew out Saturday and came back on the redeye Tuesday night.  I was in Huntington Beach.  You may or may not know that Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA. This is one of the centers of the surfing culture from Southern California. There are surf shops and beach cruiser bikes and classic cars cruising in circles.   It’s a surfer vibe. Sunday I was wandering around the resort, killing some time before dinner and ended up going into a surf shop, where they sell shirts, baggy shorts and flip flops to the tourists.  There were a couple young guys lounging behind the counter.  They were your surfer dude types.  Being me, I figured I’d chat them up. I say “You guys look tired and bored.” To which the one guy replies, “Yeah, we’re the surf instructors but they make us work in here.” And the other dude says, “Yeah, man, Long night, ya know?” I nod, as if I can commiserate. He thinks I don’t understand.  “I was up all night man, you know those Spanish girls…” I try to act like that’s something I can relate to as I stand there in my business suit and mid-life crisis look. He still thinks I don’t get it and says, “Ya know, man? The 6-2?” I agree and move on, wondering what the hell ‘the 6-2’ means. I tell the story to the guys I’m with and we come up with all sorts of theories around body type ratios and start-stop times.  We Google it but the urban dictionary, while having some fairly unsettling definitions, doesn’t quite fit. We spend the next couple days asking people and not getting any good answers.  I go back to the shop but the dudes aren’t working. At dinner that night I can see that the busboy is clearly a surfer dude cut from the same cloth.  I call him over and tell him my story in a conspiratorial and hushed way, finishing with the big question.  “What does ‘the 6-2’ mean? He says “Well bro, it’s kinda hard to explain…” I say “Just give it your best shot…” He continues. “Well it just mean he was tappin that shit all night long…” The mystery was solved.  That’s all it meant. There were not ratios or timing or measurements involved. Now you know.  You’ve got early access to some surf slang. I can see the ultra runners using this one.  How was the middle 50 miles?  “It was the 6-2, bro, all trail, all night…” With that I will leave you to your own adventures.  Don’t wait.  Step put the door and do it today.  There will never be a good or convenient time to do epic stuff. Enjoy your race. I’ll see you out there. Closing comments  

Folks, I am re-releasing episode 4-310 where I interviewed Bryan Lions so we could all hear his voice and listen to his story. Chris,   ... The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-310 – Bryan Lyons on Pushing Rick in 2015 (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4310.mp3] Link Intro Bumper: Hello my friends, this is Chris your host and this is the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-310.  Welcome.  We are in our final days of taper leading into the Boston Marathon.  I'm ready.  I'm right on my target race weight, I'm strong in the legs and I've done it a few times before. I'm starting from the back this year in the last charity corral.  It will take me awhile to get to the starting line and it will be crowded.  Looks like we're getting decent weather, cool and rainy.  That's actually my favorite racing weather. One of my friends from the running club is getting a limo to take a bunch of us out to Hopkinton on Monday morning.  There's no checked bags from Hopkinton anymore so we'll have to navigate the cool, wet weather on the morning with some throw away stuff.  There will be a wind.  I don't know yet if it's a head wind on not but as far back in the pack as I am there's lots of shelter if you know what I mean. I don't know if I'll be carrying my phone or not.  I'd love to be unplugged but I don't know how to get it into Boston otherwise without being separated from it for a day.  It turns out this new iPhone6 fits perfectly into one of those ½ size snack baggies and you can use the phone through the plastic. Today we have the great privilege to speak with Bryon Lyons who is taking over for Dick Hoyt in Pushing Rick this year.  It's a long one, but's that's ok.  I think we cover some good ground. In the first section I'm going to muse on this year's Boston from my perspective, as is my annual tradition. In the second section we'll talk about how to use an external brain to get important stuff done. I'm good to go for Monday.  I have a red Team Hoyt singlet that I'll probably put a long sleeve shirt on underneath because of the weather.  It's also got some rough bits that I'd like to keep off my nipples! I still need to swing by Whole Foods and pick up some Hammer Gels for the race.  I tried to cook up my own energy gels from organic peanut butter and cocoa powder but it was a disaster.  It was like when you give a dog a spoonful of peanut butter and their mouth gets all stuck.  I'll have to keep working on that.  Damn near choked me to death on my last couple long runs. We might go long today, but I'll keep my comments short. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Tapering into Boston Voices of reason – the interviews Bryan Lyons From “Team Hoyt Racing at Boston With a Different Look For the first time since 1980, Dick Hoyt won't run behind his son. But Bryan Lyons, a longtime supporter and runner, takes up the cause. By Liam Boylan-Pett; April 9, 2015 Rick and Dick Hoyt with Bryan Lyons Bryan Lyons (left, bib number 33864) at the 2014 Boston Marathon with Dick and Rick Hoyt. In 2014, Dick Hoyt completed the Boston Marathon for the 32nd time—each year pushing his son Rick, who's a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, in a custom-racing wheelchair. After last year's race, Dick wanted to retire. Rick, however, wanted to cover the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston again. He's going to—this year with a new running partner. Dr. Bryan Lyons, a dentist in Billerica, Massachusetts, and a family friend of the Hoyts, will push Rick in the 119th running of Boston. “It was sort of shocking for [Dick] to ask me,” Lyons told the Lowell Sun. "My friends told me [the Hoyts] don't want the big name, they want the big heart. If that's the least that I can provide, I'm happy." This will be the seventh Boston Marathon for Lyons, 44, who has run for the Hoyt Foundation marathon team since 2008, with a best of 4:15:29, which he ran in 2010. Lyons does have some experience running with Rick, 53. Since January, the two have completed a few shorter local road races and gone on training runs together, according to the Lowell Sun. If Rick isn't available, Lyons puts sandbags into the wheelchair to simulate his weight. Although Dick Hoyt, 74, won't be running, he won't absent from the marathon. He's the race's grand marshal, and will ride in a pace car ahead of the lead runners. The Hoyt's story, chronicled by Runner's World in 2007, has inspired many. Since 1977 when Rick asked Dick to push him through a 5-mile race, the father-son duo has completed more than 1,100 races, including Ironman triathlons. “Dick will continue to be at the head of the field, leading 30,000 runners on their trek to Boston,” Tom Grilk, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, said in a press release. “Dick and Rick Hoyt will forever be synonymous with the Boston Marathon and the sport of running.” Now, Lyons' name will be attached, too. Once Dick decided not to run, Lyons was an easy choice for the Hoyts. "Bryan will be out there, and he'll do his best, we know that," Dick Hoyt told the Lowell Sun. "He's a great athlete, a great person, and the type of person that we want to be pushing Rick. And Rick wants Bryan to be the one to do it." Section Two – Life Lessons Using an External Brain – Outro That's it my friends.  Episode 4-310 in the can.  We'll see what happens over the weekend.  I may do a race report or not.  It's a lot of work to write something that I am proud of.  You don't really know the appropriate theme until the race has been run, so you can't prepare that much. I've got the Groton Road Race coming up on the 26th and we've still got shirts if you want to register.  We'd love to have you.  Then I'm going in to get my heart fixed.  Then…it will be summer time and the living will be easy. I was out in California this past week.  I flew out Saturday and came back on the redeye Tuesday night.  I was in Huntington Beach.  You may or may not know that Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA. This is one of the centers of the surfing culture from Southern California. There are surf shops and beach cruiser bikes and classic cars cruising in circles.   It's a surfer vibe. Sunday I was wandering around the resort, killing some time before dinner and ended up going into a surf shop, where they sell shirts, baggy shorts and flip flops to the tourists.  There were a couple young guys lounging behind the counter.  They were your surfer dude types.  Being me, I figured I'd chat them up. I say “You guys look tired and bored.” To which the one guy replies, “Yeah, we're the surf instructors but they make us work in here.” And the other dude says, “Yeah, man, Long night, ya know?” I nod, as if I can commiserate. He thinks I don't understand.  “I was up all night man, you know those Spanish girls…” I try to act like that's something I can relate to as I stand there in my business suit and mid-life crisis look. He still thinks I don't get it and says, “Ya know, man? The 6-2?” I agree and move on, wondering what the hell ‘the 6-2' means. I tell the story to the guys I'm with and we come up with all sorts of theories around body type ratios and start-stop times.  We Google it but the urban dictionary, while having some fairly unsettling definitions, doesn't quite fit. We spend the next couple days asking people and not getting any good answers.  I go back to the shop but the dudes aren't working. At dinner that night I can see that the busboy is clearly a surfer dude cut from the same cloth.  I call him over and tell him my story in a conspiratorial and hushed way, finishing with the big question.  “What does ‘the 6-2' mean? He says “Well bro, it's kinda hard to explain…” I say “Just give it your best shot…” He continues. “Well it just mean he was tappin that shit all night long…” The mystery was solved.  That's all it meant. There were not ratios or timing or measurements involved. Now you know.  You've got early access to some surf slang. I can see the ultra runners using this one.  How was the middle 50 miles?  “It was the 6-2, bro, all trail, all night…” With that I will leave you to your own adventures.  Don't wait.  Step put the door and do it today.  There will never be a good or convenient time to do epic stuff. Enjoy your race. I'll see you out there. Closing comments  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-430 – Amanda Conditioning Versus Form for Injury Prevention  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4430.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-430 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Here we are, still in the apocalypse.  Hope everyone is doing ok. I’m cycling between busyness, weirdness, sadness and gratitude. How are you doing?  This week was Patriot’s Day and would have been the Boston Marathon.  Weather was good for it too.  My buddies went out Sunday and ran a bit of the course, but I demurred.  I took Ollie and did a 17ish mile long trail loop around my house.  I just felt like I needed that.  Took me about 3 hours.  Ollie was exhausted and slept all day Monday.  Before you call the SPCA on me, I stay on the trails with him and he’s only got to keep up with my casual trial pace – so other than the 3 hours it’s a low effort affair for him – literally a walk in the woods.   He sleeps most days while I’m working. I’ve been getting him out on base building runs about 3 days a week and I take him with me.  These are all in the trails behind my house and we typically do 7ish miles or 1:20ish and that takes the edge off of both of us for a day.  On the days when I’m not running, I get up early and take him for a walk of the 1 mile loop in the woods.  He really enjoys this, and it gives him a chance to vent some energy.  He’s going to go nuts when I start traveling again. Today we chat with Amanda about injury diagnosis and prevention.  She’s got an interesting take on how runners should focus on strengthening their core primarily to run better.  In Section one I’ll give you a quick primer on how to build your own core routine.  It’s not rocket science.  Or, if you prefer an amusing malaphor,  ‘It’s not rocket surgery…’  In section two, by popular demand we’ll check in on our apocalypse friends who we left stuck on a barn roof.  I have to thank you folks for forcing me to keep the story going.  I’m very good at 1500 word pictures.  Not so practiced at stringing them together into cohesive stories.  Here’s what I plan to do.  I’m going to take this storyline out of the RunRunLive podcast and move it to another place.  Maybe I’ll set up a podcast feed for it.  But, mostly I just want to figure out what the bigger narrative is and see if I can pursue that.  Thanks for the help and stay tuned for details. Today would have been the Groton Road Race.  We had potentially postponed it to the fall, but we met this week and decided to cancel until next year.  It’s the right thing to do.  I went out with Frank and Brian and we ran the old 10k course, then ran the regular 10k course, for the most part.  The word ‘Apocalypse’ is a Greek word that apart from our current usage originally meant revelation, uncovering, and discovery.  And I think that’s a lesson for us here.  As cheesy as it sounds this is an opportunity for you and I to take a deep breath, to uncover and discover, to realign with our families and ourselves.  Take it easy on yourselves though.  I’m finding myself feeling guilty for not getting more done.  There is no reason for that.  Celebrate your wins.  There’s always going to be an infinite number of things you don’t get done.  Do the best you can.  Make progress.  You can’t achieve perfection.  Just make progress.  Do the best you can.  As we settle into this change, remember it takes 20+ days to burn in a new habit.  What better questions can you be asking?  What better things can you be doing?  What small habits of kindess, empathy and thoughtfulness can you use this episode of discovery to begin or learn? We’re all stuck on our roofs with a hungry lion prowling, aren’t we? On with the show.   About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations) … 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 – Core -   Voices of reason – the conversation Amanda Regnier Hi Chris, Thank you very much for having me on your podcast yesterday - it was fun!  As requested, I have attached a photo of myself.  In terms of a bio: I am a Calgary based strength and conditioning coach, with a specialization in endurance running.  Although I have competed at a national and international level in triathlon, I am not a natural athlete.  Being naturally un-athletic has inspired me to take a deep dive into the science behind endurance performance, to coach myself and my athletes to reach their full potential.  As new science becomes available, I like to share this through various platforms such as my website runningwithregnier.com in the "Running Science" section, social media (@RUNNINGWITHREGNIER on instagram), live presentations in the community and my podcast "Performance Running Podcast" available on iTunes and Spotify. Amanda Regnier MSc. Strength and Conditioning, C.S.C.S Endurance Performance Specalist/ Coach Section two – After the Apocalypse #4  –   Outro Well, my friends, you have fixed your core strength and your knee feels better and you have limped to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-430.  I’ve got nothing on the calendar race-wise now, which I find utterly disturbing.  I’ve still got my eye on a July race.  I think the next 2-3 weeks will resolve some things.   I wouldn’t be surprised if they canceled the Boston race or changed it to be just the elites.  My nutrition project is going fairly well.  I’m cooking more and I’m off the beer and bread.  I haven’t dropped a ton of weight but I’m feeling healthier. I’m about 10 pounds lighter.  I’m off the beer.  I have good energy and no real aches or pains.  I’ll give you a couple of simple healthy cooking tips, although I have no right to do so.  I have a big cast iron skillet that I use.  The company that makes those, by the way is Lodge and they are in Tennessee a couple miles from Tim’s house.   It is great for simple, 1-pot meals.  You can take any vegetable.  Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and make a nice, filling sauté.  First, heat that pan up pretty high, put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in, dice up a couple garlic cloves and some onion.  Cook those, while stirring until they turn translucent. Will make your house smell great.  Throw your veggies in cover for a couple minutes.  Pour in a cup of broth, shake on some kosher salt, add a couple shots of soy sauce and you’ve got the same veggies you would get from a Chinese restaurant in the US.  You can even eat them with rice.  I’ll give you another, even simpler, cooking hack.  Spices.  Yep.  You can use the same basic spices to make anything taste better.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re making.  If you’ve got any friends from southern Asia have them spice shop for you.  Let’s say you have chicken, doesn’t matter if it’s wings or breasts or whatever.  Take a teaspoon of the good salt, a teaspoon of pepper, a teaspoon of paprika and, let’s say some cumin.  It doesn’t’ matter, you will figure out the ratios, the spices and the amounts that fit your pallet.  I tend to go  heavy on the cayenne pepper.  Take all these spices and combine them. If you happen to have a mortar and pestle, that’s the perfect tool to crush them all together.   Did you know the mortar and pestle is one of the oldest human tools?  Goes all the way back to the stone age.  Mortar comes from the Latin mortarium and is a receptacle for pounding.   Same word gives you the mortar you put on bricks and the mortar board you wear to graduation, if graduation wasn’t canceled. Pestle, uninterestingly, comes from the Latin pistilium, and simply means a tool for pounding. And unfortunately has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘pistil’ which is the reproductive organ of a plant, nor any of the P-words we use for reproductive organs.  Pestle isn’t even related to ‘pistol’, even though I think it should be, ‘pistol’, they think originated from the name of a town in Italy where they apparently made pistols in medieval times.  With all the several thousand bags of crap my wife has carted home from the Christmas Tree shop over the years, ironically I don’t own a pestle, or a mortar.  So I used a small bowl and the head off a small wooden hammer that I brought back from a vacation to Ocean City any years ago and was originally used to  violate soft shelled crabs.  Soft shelled crabs, by the way, are typically very spicy.  You grind your chosen spices together.  Put your chicken or whatever else it is you want to spice into a bowl or bag.  Pour in a glug of olive oil.  Throw in your ground spices.  Mix thoroughly.  Bake in the oven.  That’s it. Sweet tasty food without any fattening cheese sauce from a bottle that any dummy with a pestle can make. Do you feel more capable of facing the apocalypse now?  OK then,  I’ll see you out there. (Outro bumper) You’re not getting off that easy. There are 20 tracks on Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.  Here’s Number 9 – Called Casino.  All music can be found at their website   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-430 – Amanda Conditioning Versus Form for Injury Prevention  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4430.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-430 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Here we are, still in the apocalypse.  Hope everyone is doing ok. I'm cycling between busyness, weirdness, sadness and gratitude. How are you doing?  This week was Patriot's Day and would have been the Boston Marathon.  Weather was good for it too.  My buddies went out Sunday and ran a bit of the course, but I demurred.  I took Ollie and did a 17ish mile long trail loop around my house.  I just felt like I needed that.  Took me about 3 hours.  Ollie was exhausted and slept all day Monday.  Before you call the SPCA on me, I stay on the trails with him and he's only got to keep up with my casual trial pace – so other than the 3 hours it's a low effort affair for him – literally a walk in the woods.   He sleeps most days while I'm working. I've been getting him out on base building runs about 3 days a week and I take him with me.  These are all in the trails behind my house and we typically do 7ish miles or 1:20ish and that takes the edge off of both of us for a day.  On the days when I'm not running, I get up early and take him for a walk of the 1 mile loop in the woods.  He really enjoys this, and it gives him a chance to vent some energy.  He's going to go nuts when I start traveling again. Today we chat with Amanda about injury diagnosis and prevention.  She's got an interesting take on how runners should focus on strengthening their core primarily to run better.  In Section one I'll give you a quick primer on how to build your own core routine.  It's not rocket science.  Or, if you prefer an amusing malaphor,  ‘It's not rocket surgery…'  In section two, by popular demand we'll check in on our apocalypse friends who we left stuck on a barn roof.  I have to thank you folks for forcing me to keep the story going.  I'm very good at 1500 word pictures.  Not so practiced at stringing them together into cohesive stories.  Here's what I plan to do.  I'm going to take this storyline out of the RunRunLive podcast and move it to another place.  Maybe I'll set up a podcast feed for it.  But, mostly I just want to figure out what the bigger narrative is and see if I can pursue that.  Thanks for the help and stay tuned for details. Today would have been the Groton Road Race.  We had potentially postponed it to the fall, but we met this week and decided to cancel until next year.  It's the right thing to do.  I went out with Frank and Brian and we ran the old 10k course, then ran the regular 10k course, for the most part.  The word ‘Apocalypse' is a Greek word that apart from our current usage originally meant revelation, uncovering, and discovery.  And I think that's a lesson for us here.  As cheesy as it sounds this is an opportunity for you and I to take a deep breath, to uncover and discover, to realign with our families and ourselves.  Take it easy on yourselves though.  I'm finding myself feeling guilty for not getting more done.  There is no reason for that.  Celebrate your wins.  There's always going to be an infinite number of things you don't get done.  Do the best you can.  Make progress.  You can't achieve perfection.  Just make progress.  Do the best you can.  As we settle into this change, remember it takes 20+ days to burn in a new habit.  What better questions can you be asking?  What better things can you be doing?  What small habits of kindess, empathy and thoughtfulness can you use this episode of discovery to begin or learn? We're all stuck on our roofs with a hungry lion prowling, aren't we? On with the show.   About Zero ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer is the leading national nonprofit with the mission to end prostate cancer. ZERO advances research, improves the lives of men and families, and inspires action. Link to my ZERO page: (for Donations) … 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 – Core -   Voices of reason – the conversation Amanda Regnier Hi Chris, Thank you very much for having me on your podcast yesterday - it was fun!  As requested, I have attached a photo of myself.  In terms of a bio: I am a Calgary based strength and conditioning coach, with a specialization in endurance running.  Although I have competed at a national and international level in triathlon, I am not a natural athlete.  Being naturally un-athletic has inspired me to take a deep dive into the science behind endurance performance, to coach myself and my athletes to reach their full potential.  As new science becomes available, I like to share this through various platforms such as my website runningwithregnier.com in the "Running Science" section, social media (@RUNNINGWITHREGNIER on instagram), live presentations in the community and my podcast "Performance Running Podcast" available on iTunes and Spotify. Amanda Regnier MSc. Strength and Conditioning, C.S.C.S Endurance Performance Specalist/ Coach Section two – After the Apocalypse #4  –   Outro Well, my friends, you have fixed your core strength and your knee feels better and you have limped to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-430.  I've got nothing on the calendar race-wise now, which I find utterly disturbing.  I've still got my eye on a July race.  I think the next 2-3 weeks will resolve some things.   I wouldn't be surprised if they canceled the Boston race or changed it to be just the elites.  My nutrition project is going fairly well.  I'm cooking more and I'm off the beer and bread.  I haven't dropped a ton of weight but I'm feeling healthier. I'm about 10 pounds lighter.  I'm off the beer.  I have good energy and no real aches or pains.  I'll give you a couple of simple healthy cooking tips, although I have no right to do so.  I have a big cast iron skillet that I use.  The company that makes those, by the way is Lodge and they are in Tennessee a couple miles from Tim's house.   It is great for simple, 1-pot meals.  You can take any vegetable.  Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and make a nice, filling sauté.  First, heat that pan up pretty high, put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in, dice up a couple garlic cloves and some onion.  Cook those, while stirring until they turn translucent. Will make your house smell great.  Throw your veggies in cover for a couple minutes.  Pour in a cup of broth, shake on some kosher salt, add a couple shots of soy sauce and you've got the same veggies you would get from a Chinese restaurant in the US.  You can even eat them with rice.  I'll give you another, even simpler, cooking hack.  Spices.  Yep.  You can use the same basic spices to make anything taste better.  It doesn't matter whether you're making.  If you've got any friends from southern Asia have them spice shop for you.  Let's say you have chicken, doesn't matter if it's wings or breasts or whatever.  Take a teaspoon of the good salt, a teaspoon of pepper, a teaspoon of paprika and, let's say some cumin.  It doesn't' matter, you will figure out the ratios, the spices and the amounts that fit your pallet.  I tend to go  heavy on the cayenne pepper.  Take all these spices and combine them. If you happen to have a mortar and pestle, that's the perfect tool to crush them all together.   Did you know the mortar and pestle is one of the oldest human tools?  Goes all the way back to the stone age.  Mortar comes from the Latin mortarium and is a receptacle for pounding.   Same word gives you the mortar you put on bricks and the mortar board you wear to graduation, if graduation wasn't canceled. Pestle, uninterestingly, comes from the Latin pistilium, and simply means a tool for pounding. And unfortunately has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘pistil' which is the reproductive organ of a plant, nor any of the P-words we use for reproductive organs.  Pestle isn't even related to ‘pistol', even though I think it should be, ‘pistol', they think originated from the name of a town in Italy where they apparently made pistols in medieval times.  With all the several thousand bags of crap my wife has carted home from the Christmas Tree shop over the years, ironically I don't own a pestle, or a mortar.  So I used a small bowl and the head off a small wooden hammer that I brought back from a vacation to Ocean City any years ago and was originally used to  violate soft shelled crabs.  Soft shelled crabs, by the way, are typically very spicy.  You grind your chosen spices together.  Put your chicken or whatever else it is you want to spice into a bowl or bag.  Pour in a glug of olive oil.  Throw in your ground spices.  Mix thoroughly.  Bake in the oven.  That's it. Sweet tasty food without any fattening cheese sauce from a bottle that any dummy with a pestle can make. Do you feel more capable of facing the apocalypse now?  OK then,  I'll see you out there. (Outro bumper) You're not getting off that easy. There are 20 tracks on Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.  Here's Number 9 – Called Casino.  All music can be found at their website   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-385 – Brian Burke's Running Adventures (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4385.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-385.  This is Chris, your host.  Who am I?  I don't really know.  But, I'm working on it.  And I'm hopeful.  In this podcast we talk about endurance sports and other complimentary topics that can help you find succor in your life.  We have been doing it for 10+ years now.  It's been a fine ride. Been quite a spring so far hasn't it?  Boston was epic.  I got a lot of positive feedback on the race report.  Thank you.  I took a little extra time putting my thoughts together there so I'm glad it resonated.  I wanted to tell a good story and see if I could put you in it, so you could live the story with me.  Particularly rewarding for me was to hear from others that were in the race and have them say “You nailed it!” and forward the post to their friends.  Eric is putting together a video from what he could reclaim form the race and he's going to use part of my audio to support the video story.  His camera is waterproof, but it was raining so hard the water got into the microphone and essentially muted it.  I recovered fine from the race.  No problems. Got busy trying to make up for all the bad eating and drinking I had been holding at bay during the training cycle! Last weekend we held our 27th Groton Road Race.  We got a bit of rain, but it was very successful.  We had good numbers this year, the shirt was great, and people seemed to really enjoy the earlier starting times.  The cooler temps made for some good race times.  I ‘ran' the race on Saturday this year, really just jogged it.  But, good enough to get my name in the results to keep my 27-year streak going.  We stopped to pick up trash and other things.  Even after I led a crew to clean up the course the previous weekend, there is always a few fresh beer cans that we have to police up.  Teresa set a PR in the 10K this year.  She ran it in 53 minutes.  That beats my official time of the day before.  Good for her.  It is great to be young. I've launched into my training cycle for the 100 miler this week after a couple light recovery weeks.  I'll be running 3 days of middle distance during the week then back-to-back distance on the weekends.  All of it on trails.  I've been getting up this week and heading out into the trails early.  I take Buddy the Extremely old Wonder Dog for the first 2 miles than I head back out.  It's beautiful in the trails in the morning.  The sun comes up around 5:40 and I've been getting out by 6:00.  Really nice.  You should try it.  Today we have a conversation with Brian Burk who is a an ultra-runner with many adventures to his credit and is also a writer.  In section one I am going to read you an old post on how to recover from a marathon because I thought that might be timely for people.  In section two I'm going to talk about future narratives and red blood cells.  A bit of the old vinny-vin-vino.  … I've been exploring a meditation site called ‘Calm'.  They have a free 7-day beginners program where the guided sessions are about 10 minutes long.  A lot of it is exposition, i.e. instruction, but it's a good basic introduction to breathing meditation.  is particularly good.  Or at least I found it resonated.  It addresses the ability to let go of the need to do something.  It's primarily a phone app, but I went to the website instead.  As an extra-bonus of the web site they have a looping white noise track that is pretty good for concentration enhancement that plays automatically. But, I digress.  I recommend you find a quiet place and listen to the day 5 session.  (Ironically I stopped to take some quick notes so I wouldn't forget to tell you about it!) We all have our lists and impending deadlines and these things tend to push us through life by creating tension that drives us to do stuff.  But that causes us to rush through life without looking out the window to see what is going on within and without.  This session explains how to shut that rush to do things down and how that gives you a healthier perspective.  And ‘perspective' is the correct word.  Because, through focus you can observe the scurrying of the mind to get things done, and without judgement, know it for what it is.  You gain an awareness that you don't have to fill every moment with something.  That there is a value of non-doing.  Through practice you learn to give yourself permission to pause.  Learn how to give yourself permission to pause.  But not now! We have to get… 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 – Recovery after a marathon- http://runrunlive.com/9-steps-to-recovery-after-a-marathon Voices of reason – the conversation Burk Brian Burk ULTRAMarathon DISTANCE RUNNER Brian's running adventure started in 2000 stationed on top of the world, at Thule Air Base, Greenland he ran 1200 miles.  As a member of the Air Force Special Operations Command the worlds events around Sept 11th distracted him from his running.  In 2005 he ran his first marathon while stationed in the United Kingdom. Since that time with a lot of help and inspiration from the running community he has raced distances from 5k up to and including three 100 Mile races and nine 24 hour events.  Some of Brian's achievements and personal bests are: Marathon 3hr 53m 47s Umstead 100 miler, 21hr 36m 36s Graveyard 100 miler solo 23hr 05m 05s Grand Canyon Rim2Rim2Rim 19hrs 30m JFK50 Miler: 9hrs 36m 27s With a passion for writing Brian has had two features published in a national running magazine, on various running blogs and on his own at briansrunningadventures.com.  Brian's first novel, Running to Leadville, a fictional story about running the Leadville Trail 100 has been well received by runners and non-runners alike.  His second book 26.2 Tips to run your best MARATHON, will help you shave time off your race results with running any faster.  You can follow Brian on Twitter @cledawgs  Instagram @cledawgs and Facebook at Brians Running Adventures.   Section two – The importanceof narrating the future – http://runrunlive.com/the-importance-of-communicating-a-future-narrative   Outro My friends you have stumbled through the finisher chute of episode 4-385 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Time to get something to eat, rest those feet and treat those blisters. We switched from winter to summer up here.  I went out at lunch for 6 miles of easy road work yesterday and it was in the high 80's Fahrenheit.  I wanted to see how it felt.  I tried to convince my body that the heat wasn't uncomfortable or even unknown, just a new thing, or a remembered thing to run with.  It wasn't bad.  My Plantar Fasciitis is flaring up right now.  I think it's a combination of things, but I have to keep an eye on it.  Make sure it doesn't' go chronic on me.  I have a couple back to back long runs this weekend in the trails and we'll see how it feels out the other end of that.  Have another podcast tip for you… With these longer runs I have a need for some long-form content.  I listened to a great interview of Irish poet ”.  This is one of those podcasts where you have to read the notes and see if the topic or person is really something you want to stick in your head.  Some of it is not for me.  But the interview of Michael Longley was chock full of wisdom.  Nuggets like “self-importance engraves its own headstone”, and “art and poetry require a certain insouciance”.  The episode is called “ the vitality of ordinary things”.  Maybe it was the heat, but I very much enjoyed the wisdom when I was out on my lunch run yesterday. Ok my friends, I have to go, but remember you have my permission to pause and when you pause to remember the magic in ordinary things.  And thank you all for the compliments on my Boston piece.  As the poet says, ‘It's ok to accept compliments, but don't inhale them.” I'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-385 – Brian Burke’s Running Adventures (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4385.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-385.  This is Chris, your host.  Who am I?  I don’t really know.  But, I’m working on it.  And I’m hopeful.  In this podcast we talk about endurance sports and other complimentary topics that can help you find succor in your life.  We have been doing it for 10+ years now.  It’s been a fine ride. Been quite a spring so far hasn’t it?  Boston was epic.  I got a lot of positive feedback on the race report.  Thank you.  I took a little extra time putting my thoughts together there so I’m glad it resonated.  I wanted to tell a good story and see if I could put you in it, so you could live the story with me.  Particularly rewarding for me was to hear from others that were in the race and have them say “You nailed it!” and forward the post to their friends.  Eric is putting together a video from what he could reclaim form the race and he’s going to use part of my audio to support the video story.  His camera is waterproof, but it was raining so hard the water got into the microphone and essentially muted it.  I recovered fine from the race.  No problems. Got busy trying to make up for all the bad eating and drinking I had been holding at bay during the training cycle! Last weekend we held our 27th Groton Road Race.  We got a bit of rain, but it was very successful.  We had good numbers this year, the shirt was great, and people seemed to really enjoy the earlier starting times.  The cooler temps made for some good race times.  I ‘ran’ the race on Saturday this year, really just jogged it.  But, good enough to get my name in the results to keep my 27-year streak going.  We stopped to pick up trash and other things.  Even after I led a crew to clean up the course the previous weekend, there is always a few fresh beer cans that we have to police up.  Teresa set a PR in the 10K this year.  She ran it in 53 minutes.  That beats my official time of the day before.  Good for her.  It is great to be young. I’ve launched into my training cycle for the 100 miler this week after a couple light recovery weeks.  I’ll be running 3 days of middle distance during the week then back-to-back distance on the weekends.  All of it on trails.  I’ve been getting up this week and heading out into the trails early.  I take Buddy the Extremely old Wonder Dog for the first 2 miles than I head back out.  It’s beautiful in the trails in the morning.  The sun comes up around 5:40 and I’ve been getting out by 6:00.  Really nice.  You should try it.  Today we have a conversation with Brian Burk who is a an ultra-runner with many adventures to his credit and is also a writer.  In section one I am going to read you an old post on how to recover from a marathon because I thought that might be timely for people.  In section two I’m going to talk about future narratives and red blood cells.  A bit of the old vinny-vin-vino.  … I’ve been exploring a meditation site called ‘Calm’.  They have a free 7-day beginners program where the guided sessions are about 10 minutes long.  A lot of it is exposition, i.e. instruction, but it’s a good basic introduction to breathing meditation.  is particularly good.  Or at least I found it resonated.  It addresses the ability to let go of the need to do something.  It’s primarily a phone app, but I went to the website instead.  As an extra-bonus of the web site they have a looping white noise track that is pretty good for concentration enhancement that plays automatically. But, I digress.  I recommend you find a quiet place and listen to the day 5 session.  (Ironically I stopped to take some quick notes so I wouldn’t forget to tell you about it!) We all have our lists and impending deadlines and these things tend to push us through life by creating tension that drives us to do stuff.  But that causes us to rush through life without looking out the window to see what is going on within and without.  This session explains how to shut that rush to do things down and how that gives you a healthier perspective.  And ‘perspective’ is the correct word.  Because, through focus you can observe the scurrying of the mind to get things done, and without judgement, know it for what it is.  You gain an awareness that you don’t have to fill every moment with something.  That there is a value of non-doing.  Through practice you learn to give yourself permission to pause.  Learn how to give yourself permission to pause.  But not now! We have to get… 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 – Recovery after a marathon- http://runrunlive.com/9-steps-to-recovery-after-a-marathon Voices of reason – the conversation Burk Brian Burk ULTRAMarathon DISTANCE RUNNER Brian’s running adventure started in 2000 stationed on top of the world, at Thule Air Base, Greenland he ran 1200 miles.  As a member of the Air Force Special Operations Command the worlds events around Sept 11th distracted him from his running.  In 2005 he ran his first marathon while stationed in the United Kingdom. Since that time with a lot of help and inspiration from the running community he has raced distances from 5k up to and including three 100 Mile races and nine 24 hour events.  Some of Brian’s achievements and personal bests are: Marathon 3hr 53m 47s Umstead 100 miler, 21hr 36m 36s Graveyard 100 miler solo 23hr 05m 05s Grand Canyon Rim2Rim2Rim 19hrs 30m JFK50 Miler: 9hrs 36m 27s With a passion for writing Brian has had two features published in a national running magazine, on various running blogs and on his own at briansrunningadventures.com.  Brian’s first novel, Running to Leadville, a fictional story about running the Leadville Trail 100 has been well received by runners and non-runners alike.  His second book 26.2 Tips to run your best MARATHON, will help you shave time off your race results with running any faster.  You can follow Brian on Twitter @cledawgs  Instagram @cledawgs and Facebook at Brians Running Adventures.   Section two – The importanceof narrating the future – http://runrunlive.com/the-importance-of-communicating-a-future-narrative   Outro My friends you have stumbled through the finisher chute of episode 4-385 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Time to get something to eat, rest those feet and treat those blisters. We switched from winter to summer up here.  I went out at lunch for 6 miles of easy road work yesterday and it was in the high 80’s Fahrenheit.  I wanted to see how it felt.  I tried to convince my body that the heat wasn’t uncomfortable or even unknown, just a new thing, or a remembered thing to run with.  It wasn’t bad.  My Plantar Fasciitis is flaring up right now.  I think it’s a combination of things, but I have to keep an eye on it.  Make sure it doesn’t’ go chronic on me.  I have a couple back to back long runs this weekend in the trails and we’ll see how it feels out the other end of that.  Have another podcast tip for you… With these longer runs I have a need for some long-form content.  I listened to a great interview of Irish poet ”.  This is one of those podcasts where you have to read the notes and see if the topic or person is really something you want to stick in your head.  Some of it is not for me.  But the interview of Michael Longley was chock full of wisdom.  Nuggets like “self-importance engraves its own headstone”, and “art and poetry require a certain insouciance”.  The episode is called “ the vitality of ordinary things”.  Maybe it was the heat, but I very much enjoyed the wisdom when I was out on my lunch run yesterday. Ok my friends, I have to go, but remember you have my permission to pause and when you pause to remember the magic in ordinary things.  And thank you all for the compliments on my Boston piece.  As the poet says, ‘It’s ok to accept compliments, but don’t inhale them.” I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-364 – Steve Spear – Across the USA  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4364.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening my friends.  Are you out on that early morning trail?  Or maybe the warm sunshine of a lunch-time trot?  Perhaps the star filled purity of a speedwork session at the track at night?  Wherever, whenever, you may be, Hello my friends and welcome to Episode 4-364 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we chat with Steve Spear, not Steve Speirs of the 100 pushups app who we interviewed in episode 108 of the podcast, must've been the winter of 2008-2009.   BTW all those old episodes are on my website at RunRunLive.com.  I'm going to go listen to some of them myself and see if there isn't something interesting that I can curate for the members feed.  It's bit surreal listening to yourself from the past.  Time truly is a river. Today we are also going to squeeze in the 2017 Boston Marathon race report.  I think.  It's not the most exciting story ever told but it has become a tradition now.  I think this will be the 9th Boston report that we have shared together.  We started with my 10th Boston back in 2008.  What a long strange trip it's been. Anyhow – since the race report is long – I'll just jump right into our interview with Steve Spear who ran across the USA to help get clean water to families in Africa.  You'll hear me asking about how he did this because unlike Pete Kostelnik Steve ran the cross country route at a reasonable pace of 5 days a week and 35 miles a day.  I could see myself doing that.  I'll stick the race report in after that and we'll call it a day.  My Friday's have become increasingly pressed for time but I'll persevere! I took Tuesday, Wednesday off last week after the race.  I dug my old steel Fuji out, sprayed some petrochemicals on the chain and gears, pumped up the tires and went for a ride Thursday out to the rail trail.  That felt nice.  I went for a run in the woods in the drizzle and dark with Teresa on Friday for an hour and felt fine.  It was nice to run with her.  Kinda cool getting to talk in a relatively neutral setting. Saturday I met up with the running club to pick up litter on the Groton Road Race course.  Sunday I got to join the club run in the morning and it was good to not have to worry about a long workout.  The marathon gave me a lot of stress this year and I'm happy to have it in my rearview mirror.  Tuesday morning I got up and went for a run in the woods.  It was grey and overcast and easing into a patient drizzle.  I brought Buddy, the old Wonder dog for the first 20- minutes or so then went back out and did another hour.  There is something so peaceful and centering for me to run this loop.  Right outside my front door. Right on the other side of my vegetable garden is the trail head.  Buddy and I cut these trails.  There was nothing here except bulldozer roads and animal tracks when we moved in.  It was slated to be house lots.  Over the years it became conservation land instead.  Now, my house is the last on the cul-de-sac with conservation land on three sides.  The woods have not yet exploded in green.  We are in the April showers phase.  But, you can sense the arboreal tension in the woods.  Like a pensive skeleton waiting, on edge for the new leaves to burst forth.  Hen turkeys, with beautiful sheens of reflecting feathers dart across the trail looking for the perfect place to raise this year's brood.  Wood ducks bob on the gun-metal grey undulations of the pond.  All are ready.  We see the grey skeleton of winter.  They sense the green wealth of spring.  … Met the club on Saturday to pick up trash on the Groton Road Race course.  We spent a few hours and got 2 full truckloads of litter off the roads.  I suppose the most interesting thing I found was a plastic sandwich baggie with “Black Plague” and skull and crossbones written on it with a sharpie.  What do you think?  Some parent with a nerdy kid and questionable sense of humor making lunch?  Or more probably an empty bag of a high-powered weed?  Or, you never know, I'm now patient zero of the zombie apocalypse like I always assumed I'd be. Mostly it was Bud Light cans.  And flavored vodka nips.  The engineer in me wants to plot the beer can and vodka bottle distribution, do a regression analysis and lead an intervention to someone's door in Groton.  Or just wait at the liquor store with an officer and some handcuffs.  I guess if you are drinking on the way to work every day littering is pretty low on your list of worries.  But, like spring, the road is clean and ready for the racers.  We're going to have a great day.  I'm no longer Race Director so I think I may actually run the 10K! That's the way life is.  Life is change.  Life is winter.  Life is spring.  As Oprah says, we aren't getting older, we're evolving! 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 yet another Blue Apron or Hello Fresh ad.  As a matter of fact, stop being lazy and go shop for your own food.  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. I'll also remind you that I have started raising money for team Hoyt for my 2017 Boston Marathon.  I would appreciate any help you can give.   The fundraiser is on Crowdrise (so I don't have to touch any of the money) it goes straight to the Hoyts and supports acquiring equipment and supporting others who want to participate like the Hoyts do.  … 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. Yes, we are still working on setting up the separate podcast feed for the member's content.  Most recently I recorded and uploaded the first chapter of the zombie novel I've been writing for 30 years.  Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – nada Voices of reason – the conversation Steve Spear Chicago Tribune article about Spear's 2013 run across the U.S.:  Daily Herald article about the 52k Spear ran last year for his 52nd birthday in 2016:  World Vision article about Spear's transition from charity runner to World Vision staff member:  Information about the Global 6k for Water Spear is planning forMay 6th:   About Steve Spear In 2013 Steve Spear, Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, ran from LA to NY to bring clean water to children and families in Africa. Steve roughly averaged a marathon a day for 150 days straight. His run took him through 10 pair of running shoes and 14 states.  Steve Spear is an honors graduate of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO. He led at senior levels at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL for over 15 years in a variety of pioneering efforts. As a Team World Vision Volunteer Running Ambassador Steve has completed numerous marathons, ultra marathons, a 2013 transcontinental run from LA to NY and personally raised over $500,000 for clean water in Africa. Steve and his wife Frances, of 28 years, have two grown children and reside in Carol Stream, IL.  About the Global 6k for Water Steve Spear, Running Ambassador at World Vision is encouraging runners and churches around the U.S. to take part in the Global 6k for Water. 6 kilometers is the average distance that people in the developing world walk for water — water that is often contaminated with life-threatening diseases. From fast runners to leisurely walkers, thousands of people will unite around the globe and run 6km to bring clean water to communities in need. Each participant's registration of $50 goes to World Vision's Water Initiatives. After you register you will receive a World Vision Global 6K for Water t-shirt, race bib, and medal in the mail. Map out a 6km route in your neighborhood or attend a bigger gathering at a host site on Saturday, May 6th, 2017. More information is available at:  Section two Boston Race Report - Outro Ok my friends, you have run slowly across the country and through the hills of Newton to the end of episode 4-364 of the RunRunLive Podcast. I'm running the Groton Road Race this weekend and the, just like that, it will be May already!  I've got to peel off some time to get my vegetable garden started!  I've been trying to get my old motorcycle on the road.  I got it registered but ran into a bit of a snag last night.  I put a new battery in an n no power! Now I'm going to have to chase around the wiring diagram with my multimeter and see if it's a fuse or a short or a ground… sigh… I'm not really designed with the patience for that.  I went and gave blood this week.  They've been pestering me but I needed to get through the marathon first.  My vital signs are all fantastic.  I had to do the mind control thing to jack my HR up over 50 for the nurse so I could avoid the red flags.  It took a awhile but they were able to get my blood out of me.  They have this sound track of 70's pop music that they play and it is a bit surreal.  I hear those songs and I remember specific situations, where I was.  For example building a fort in the rafters of my father's garage with my buddy Dave as pre-teens listening to “Ricky don't lose that number” by Steely Dan on the portable FM radio on a warm summer day in 1974.  Us with our Mad Magazines and Farah Faucett posters.  Now I've got to figure out what I want to do with this glorious summer laying before me like an unwrapped gift.  So far all I've committed is to climb some mountains with Teresa.  But, soon enough I'll get the itch.  I do love trail running.  I think I'll do some more of that.  What's next?  I don't know.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with my life forever.  There's no silver bullets.  Sometimes you have the opportunity to choose epic and worthy things that in some way define you and in other ways demonstrate a worthy path to endeavors to the world.  Sometimes circumstances knock you sideways and that unchosen path becomes the worthy thing.  Every day, every mile, you get up.  Whether your plan for that day works or something else happens you grind on with as much aplomb and reason as you can.  Then you get up and do it again.  Someday the crumbs of your life might lead someone else to something worthy for them.  And that's it, my friends.  Whether you think you are a leader or even an exemplar, people are watching you, the universe is watching you, get up and get it done today. And I'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-364 – Steve Spear – Across the USA  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4364.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening my friends.  Are you out on that early morning trail?  Or maybe the warm sunshine of a lunch-time trot?  Perhaps the star filled purity of a speedwork session at the track at night?  Wherever, whenever, you may be, Hello my friends and welcome to Episode 4-364 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we chat with Steve Spear, not Steve Speirs of the 100 pushups app who we interviewed in episode 108 of the podcast, must’ve been the winter of 2008-2009.   BTW all those old episodes are on my website at RunRunLive.com.  I’m going to go listen to some of them myself and see if there isn’t something interesting that I can curate for the members feed.  It’s bit surreal listening to yourself from the past.  Time truly is a river. Today we are also going to squeeze in the 2017 Boston Marathon race report.  I think.  It’s not the most exciting story ever told but it has become a tradition now.  I think this will be the 9th Boston report that we have shared together.  We started with my 10th Boston back in 2008.  What a long strange trip it’s been. Anyhow – since the race report is long – I’ll just jump right into our interview with Steve Spear who ran across the USA to help get clean water to families in Africa.  You’ll hear me asking about how he did this because unlike Pete Kostelnik Steve ran the cross country route at a reasonable pace of 5 days a week and 35 miles a day.  I could see myself doing that.  I’ll stick the race report in after that and we’ll call it a day.  My Friday’s have become increasingly pressed for time but I’ll persevere! I took Tuesday, Wednesday off last week after the race.  I dug my old steel Fuji out, sprayed some petrochemicals on the chain and gears, pumped up the tires and went for a ride Thursday out to the rail trail.  That felt nice.  I went for a run in the woods in the drizzle and dark with Teresa on Friday for an hour and felt fine.  It was nice to run with her.  Kinda cool getting to talk in a relatively neutral setting. Saturday I met up with the running club to pick up litter on the Groton Road Race course.  Sunday I got to join the club run in the morning and it was good to not have to worry about a long workout.  The marathon gave me a lot of stress this year and I’m happy to have it in my rearview mirror.  Tuesday morning I got up and went for a run in the woods.  It was grey and overcast and easing into a patient drizzle.  I brought Buddy, the old Wonder dog for the first 20- minutes or so then went back out and did another hour.  There is something so peaceful and centering for me to run this loop.  Right outside my front door. Right on the other side of my vegetable garden is the trail head.  Buddy and I cut these trails.  There was nothing here except bulldozer roads and animal tracks when we moved in.  It was slated to be house lots.  Over the years it became conservation land instead.  Now, my house is the last on the cul-de-sac with conservation land on three sides.  The woods have not yet exploded in green.  We are in the April showers phase.  But, you can sense the arboreal tension in the woods.  Like a pensive skeleton waiting, on edge for the new leaves to burst forth.  Hen turkeys, with beautiful sheens of reflecting feathers dart across the trail looking for the perfect place to raise this year’s brood.  Wood ducks bob on the gun-metal grey undulations of the pond.  All are ready.  We see the grey skeleton of winter.  They sense the green wealth of spring.  … Met the club on Saturday to pick up trash on the Groton Road Race course.  We spent a few hours and got 2 full truckloads of litter off the roads.  I suppose the most interesting thing I found was a plastic sandwich baggie with “Black Plague” and skull and crossbones written on it with a sharpie.  What do you think?  Some parent with a nerdy kid and questionable sense of humor making lunch?  Or more probably an empty bag of a high-powered weed?  Or, you never know, I’m now patient zero of the zombie apocalypse like I always assumed I’d be. Mostly it was Bud Light cans.  And flavored vodka nips.  The engineer in me wants to plot the beer can and vodka bottle distribution, do a regression analysis and lead an intervention to someone’s door in Groton.  Or just wait at the liquor store with an officer and some handcuffs.  I guess if you are drinking on the way to work every day littering is pretty low on your list of worries.  But, like spring, the road is clean and ready for the racers.  We’re going to have a great day.  I’m no longer Race Director so I think I may actually run the 10K! That’s the way life is.  Life is change.  Life is winter.  Life is spring.  As Oprah says, we aren’t getting older, we’re evolving! 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 yet another Blue Apron or Hello Fresh ad.  As a matter of fact, stop being lazy and go shop for your own food.  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. I’ll also remind you that I have started raising money for team Hoyt for my 2017 Boston Marathon.  I would appreciate any help you can give.   The fundraiser is on Crowdrise (so I don’t have to touch any of the money) it goes straight to the Hoyts and supports acquiring equipment and supporting others who want to participate like the Hoyts do.  … 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. Yes, we are still working on setting up the separate podcast feed for the member’s content.  Most recently I recorded and uploaded the first chapter of the zombie novel I’ve been writing for 30 years.  Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – nada Voices of reason – the conversation Steve Spear Chicago Tribune article about Spear's 2013 run across the U.S.:  Daily Herald article about the 52k Spear ran last year for his 52nd birthday in 2016:  World Vision article about Spear's transition from charity runner to World Vision staff member:  Information about the Global 6k for Water Spear is planning forMay 6th:   About Steve Spear In 2013 Steve Spear, Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, ran from LA to NY to bring clean water to children and families in Africa. Steve roughly averaged a marathon a day for 150 days straight. His run took him through 10 pair of running shoes and 14 states.  Steve Spear is an honors graduate of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO. He led at senior levels at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL for over 15 years in a variety of pioneering efforts. As a Team World Vision Volunteer Running Ambassador Steve has completed numerous marathons, ultra marathons, a 2013 transcontinental run from LA to NY and personally raised over $500,000 for clean water in Africa. Steve and his wife Frances, of 28 years, have two grown children and reside in Carol Stream, IL.  About the Global 6k for Water Steve Spear, Running Ambassador at World Vision is encouraging runners and churches around the U.S. to take part in the Global 6k for Water. 6 kilometers is the average distance that people in the developing world walk for water — water that is often contaminated with life-threatening diseases. From fast runners to leisurely walkers, thousands of people will unite around the globe and run 6km to bring clean water to communities in need. Each participant's registration of $50 goes to World Vision's Water Initiatives. After you register you will receive a World Vision Global 6K for Water t-shirt, race bib, and medal in the mail. Map out a 6km route in your neighborhood or attend a bigger gathering at a host site on Saturday, May 6th, 2017. More information is available at:  Section two Boston Race Report - Outro Ok my friends, you have run slowly across the country and through the hills of Newton to the end of episode 4-364 of the RunRunLive Podcast. I’m running the Groton Road Race this weekend and the, just like that, it will be May already!  I’ve got to peel off some time to get my vegetable garden started!  I’ve been trying to get my old motorcycle on the road.  I got it registered but ran into a bit of a snag last night.  I put a new battery in an n no power! Now I’m going to have to chase around the wiring diagram with my multimeter and see if it’s a fuse or a short or a ground… sigh… I’m not really designed with the patience for that.  I went and gave blood this week.  They’ve been pestering me but I needed to get through the marathon first.  My vital signs are all fantastic.  I had to do the mind control thing to jack my HR up over 50 for the nurse so I could avoid the red flags.  It took a awhile but they were able to get my blood out of me.  They have this sound track of 70’s pop music that they play and it is a bit surreal.  I hear those songs and I remember specific situations, where I was.  For example building a fort in the rafters of my father’s garage with my buddy Dave as pre-teens listening to “Ricky don’t lose that number” by Steely Dan on the portable FM radio on a warm summer day in 1974.  Us with our Mad Magazines and Farah Faucett posters.  Now I’ve got to figure out what I want to do with this glorious summer laying before me like an unwrapped gift.  So far all I’ve committed is to climb some mountains with Teresa.  But, soon enough I’ll get the itch.  I do love trail running.  I think I’ll do some more of that.  What’s next?  I don’t know.  I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my life forever.  There’s no silver bullets.  Sometimes you have the opportunity to choose epic and worthy things that in some way define you and in other ways demonstrate a worthy path to endeavors to the world.  Sometimes circumstances knock you sideways and that unchosen path becomes the worthy thing.  Every day, every mile, you get up.  Whether your plan for that day works or something else happens you grind on with as much aplomb and reason as you can.  Then you get up and do it again.  Someday the crumbs of your life might lead someone else to something worthy for them.  And that’s it, my friends.  Whether you think you are a leader or even an exemplar, people are watching you, the universe is watching you, get up and get it done today. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-356 – Talking Communities with Kevin Gwin of the Extra Mile  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4356.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hey there!  It's a new year! I know we lost a lot of celebrities in 2016, but you and I made it, right?  So welcome to a new year.  And welcome to the extra-mile edition of the RunRunLive Podcast.  That's right I grabbed our friend Kevin Gwin away from his Beatles albums and Galloway chatter to talk to me about communities of runners and how the world has changed since we started doing this a decade ago.  How was your 2016?  Glass half-full or tank half-empty?  I'm going to quote my favorite race ‘A' goal.  “I didn't die!”  The rest is gravy I guess! Let's see what I can remember… I think we started the year running the Hangover Classic 10k on January first and jumping in the ocean.  Then in January didn't trundle the wife off to Phoenix for a quick vacation that included the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon and a bunch of cool sight-seeing? Did I not run a bunch of the local races leading up to Boston?  Like Derry and Stu's and Eastern States?  Did I not Have a great training cycle? The best in 5 years right?  Then we ran Boston and learned that lesson about going out too fast that somehow never gets learned.  But, we checked off our 18th Boston, didn't die and raised some coin for the Hoyts.  Do I seem to remember capping off 10 years of Race Directorship of the Groton Road Race?  The race and the club managed to survive my term and handed it off to someone even more capable! There might have been a couple weeks in May where all that caught up with me and I slowed down with a small case of pneumonia, but you can't get rainbows without rain.  I jumped out of that rough patch by running the Grand Canyon with my newly graduated Daughter.  How cool is that for a bucket list checkoff? The summer was a bit doldrum filled, but I capped it off with another nice vacation to Chicago, yes I did see a Cubs Game in Wrigley Field.  Apparently my good karma rubbed off on those fellows later in the year. I shook off the heat and placed in that trail marathon in Indy.  I returned to my old friend the Wapack Trail for a long outing in the rocks on Labor Day.  Then I turned around and spanked that Spartan Beast a couple weeks later, making a fair amount of young people cry.   Somewhere in there I lost 15 pounds and showed up for the Portland Marathon lean and light.  I got lucky with the weather and requalified.  I joined my club for the Ayer 5k tradition on Thanksgiving and our end-of-season shindig at the Mill Cities Relay.  This past Saturday I ran the 4th edition of my very own made up marathon and I'll tell you about that later.  Goodreads tells me I read 27 books.  I know I wrote at least 52 articles.  I pushed out 26 podcasts.  I trained almost every day.  Pretty good year, right?  Was it perfect?  Was it filled with challenges and accidents and side turns?  Of course, it was.  If everything is smooth sailing and your life isn't filled with challenges you're not living, you're waiting to die. I don't know if any of that stuff would be considered worthy, or good or bad.  I try very hard not to waste time keeping score.  It's simpler.  Get up and do stuff.  Do what you can do.  I have a sign by y desk that reminds me that consistency and practice are a reasonable substitute for genius, it says; “Work the Process.” Anyway, today we talk with Kevin.  In section one I'll talk a bit about breathing.  I was thinking about this topic this week and wanted to poke at it a bit. In section two I'll probably pull some more nuggets out of the Drucker book I've just finished.  (that would count as number one for 2017, if I was keeping score!) … BeforeI let you go I'll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  We 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. I'll also remind you that I have started raising money for team Hoyt for my 2017 Boston Marathon.  I would appreciate any help you can give.   The fundraiser is on Crowdrise (so I don't have to touch any of the money) it goes straight to the Hoyts and supports acquiring equipment and supporting others who want to participate like the Hoyts do.  My family and I go over to my Mom's for Christmas Eve.  I was driving around in the truck with Buddy doing errands on Saturday and she called me to see what time I was planning to come.  I asked her who else was coming, because I had some nieces and nephews I was trying to get presents to. And she must have thought I was qualifying the gathering because she said “It's not the number of people who show up, Chris, it's the quality of the people who show up.” There ya go.  Happy New Year. On with the show. 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. Yes, we are still working on setting up the separate podcast feed for the member's content.  Most recently I recorded and uploaded the first chapter of the zombie novel I've been writing for 30 years.  Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Breathing - Voices of reason – the conversation Kevin Gwin from the ExtraMile Podcast The Extra Mile Podcast is a podcast for runners of all abilities from any part of the globe. In this podcast we encourage runners, no matter what their ability, to get in touch and send us their audio updates to tell us about their training, their races, or even if they've just taken up running. We welcome everyone in to our online community. Some runners choose to record themselves out on a run, whilst others like to record in the comfort of their own home. Whichever suits you, why not record us a message and let us know how your running is going? You can use your computer, your MP3 player or any type of audio digital recording device to record something and email  it in to us, we really would love to hear from you. This podcast is listened to by many runners around the globe who often take the show out on their training runs and just love to hear about how other runners are doing - a bit like having a group virtual running buddies to keep them company. Thanks for visiting the site and we hope you'll add your voice to our growing global community of runners on the Extra Mile Podcast! The Extra Mile Podcast-GALLOWAY EDITION is a podcast for runners of ALLabilities who want to learn everything they can about theGalloway RUN/WALK/RUNtraining method right from Jeff ! This podcast will Run/Walk you right through Jeff's 30 week marathon training schedule and gently get you to the finish line of your fall marathon "INJURYFREE"!!! Section two The Effective Executive - http://runrunlive.com/the-effective-executive-peter-e-drucker Outro Alrighty my friends.  New year, new lease on life, right?  Blank slate for us.  You my friend have diaphragmatically breathed your way through the end of Episode 4-356 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Strange cadence to the holidays this year.  It seems like everyone disappeared for 2 weeks on the business side.  I was trying to make calls and I couldn't get a response out of anyone.  Now this week they are all emerging from the woodwork with a corresponding urgency! As of Monday I'm back on my clean eating wagon.  It feels good.  My goal is to see if I can get down to 165 pounds for the Boston marathon.  It's ironic that the government BMI tables have always told me I should be between 155 and 165 for my height.  I always thought that was bull.  At that weight I'm going to be somewhere in the 6-7% body fat.  Should be able to see some of those ab muscles I've never seen! I'm healthy and my training is going well.  Coach has me in the build-2 stage, which means I'll start ramping up the volume and working in some intensity.  I did one last idiotic thing to close out the year, well, actually two things.  I hosted the 4th annual Groton Marathon.  We made it more official this year.  We set up the clock and had people ‘register'.  We got some blank buttons with the club logo on them. I Left a piece of notebook paper on the tailgate of my truck and had people sign in their name, distance and make up a bib number.  The official bibs were the buttons.  I gave them a sharpie to write their numbers on the button.  Of course, given the geekiness of runners I didn't just get numbers.  I got two pi's, a mu, a natural logarithm and a tally mark five.  Then I had them write down their finishing time when they were done. So we could get results.  I handed out handmade holiday ornaments as medals.  I got about 24 people to come out and run various differences.  The ½ was very popular.  Two other guys joined me for the full.  Given the shape I was in it was probably about 4-6 miles more than I should have been running – but we got it done, finishing up around 4:09.  It hovered just below freezing for the whole day. I guess the lesson here is you don't need to be a $150 Rock n Roll event to get out and have fun with your buddies.  Because of the odd way the holidays fell, the Hangover Classic was the next day.  I ran the 5K with Teresa and we all jumped in the Atlantic, as is our tradition.  It was interesting running the day after a marathon.  I just stretched out and let my legs do what they wanted.  I survived.  Now I'm back on the plan and ramping up for Boston.  It's good to have a compass point to steer towards.  On a different note, Buddy the old Wonder dog is doing ok.  He can't run much anymore because his his back hips are very weak now.  He's not in any pain, he just has trouble getting up and down.  He still climbs the stairs and jumps up in the bed.  He's still perfectly mobile, but I think his running days are over.  He's started his new career as a lap dog to keep the girls warm at night.  Not a bad gig. … We had a warm day with rain this week and it washed most of the snow and ice from the trails.  I was able to get out for a run.  Out behind the pond I found a cell phone in the ground.  I brought it home.  It was a droid in an Otter case and it still had a charge on it.  It was locked so I couldn't tell whose it was.  I brought it home and put it on the charge.  It rang a couple times, but I couldn't get to it in time.  I ended up dropping it at the police station.  I hope the owner thinks to call down there.  I feel like I should put a sign up on the trail that says “I found your cell phone and left it with the Police.” I also tried to give blood.  Funny story.  The Red Cross were sending me desperate emails.  I tried to make an appointment on their website, but my experience is that making an appointment really has no impact on the process.  It's not the most organized process. Of course the lady is taking my HR and I tell her it's going to be low, but she enters it and the system flags it, and she has to call a doctor to get it overridden.  Crazy right?  I sometimes feel like we get penalized for being healthy. Then they hook me up, she can't find a vein, because, I guess I ‘m a bit grissley.  She fishes around, calls the other guy over, he fishes around, they finally find some blood flow and get me going.  Couple minutes later the next person wanders by and notices that I've dried up.  She fishes around for awhile, then they give up.  They unhook me and I'm done. That's it. They don't get a bag of blood. I get a bottle of water, a t-shirt, a Dunkies gift card and a bruise.  So, I'm not complaining but there's an hour and a half of my life I think we could make better use of! Anybody else have this challenge?  Seems like a process that could use a bit of effectiveness consulting, eh? … So my friends. Here we are in 2017.  Ten years in.  Remember when you were a kid and 10 years seemed like such a long wait?  Now it's the blink of an eye. It's up to you to slow it down.  You have to grab time by the tail and hold on tight, or as Ferrris said, you might miss it. We tend to get caught up and tied up by all the things undone, piled up and leering at us.  I think you have to actively counter that.  Especially in these early days of the calendar when we're all thinking about goals and list and priorities.  I leave you with one of the sentiments from my daily practice. Focus on executing today, living now, being present in today's tasks and let the outcomes take care of themselves. And.. I'll see you out there in a healthy, prosperous and joy filled 2017. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-356 – Talking Communities with Kevin Gwin of the Extra Mile  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4356.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hey there!  It’s a new year! I know we lost a lot of celebrities in 2016, but you and I made it, right?  So welcome to a new year.  And welcome to the extra-mile edition of the RunRunLive Podcast.  That’s right I grabbed our friend Kevin Gwin away from his Beatles albums and Galloway chatter to talk to me about communities of runners and how the world has changed since we started doing this a decade ago.  How was your 2016?  Glass half-full or tank half-empty?  I’m going to quote my favorite race ‘A’ goal.  “I didn’t die!”  The rest is gravy I guess! Let’s see what I can remember… I think we started the year running the Hangover Classic 10k on January first and jumping in the ocean.  Then in January didn’t trundle the wife off to Phoenix for a quick vacation that included the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon and a bunch of cool sight-seeing? Did I not run a bunch of the local races leading up to Boston?  Like Derry and Stu’s and Eastern States?  Did I not Have a great training cycle? The best in 5 years right?  Then we ran Boston and learned that lesson about going out too fast that somehow never gets learned.  But, we checked off our 18th Boston, didn’t die and raised some coin for the Hoyts.  Do I seem to remember capping off 10 years of Race Directorship of the Groton Road Race?  The race and the club managed to survive my term and handed it off to someone even more capable! There might have been a couple weeks in May where all that caught up with me and I slowed down with a small case of pneumonia, but you can’t get rainbows without rain.  I jumped out of that rough patch by running the Grand Canyon with my newly graduated Daughter.  How cool is that for a bucket list checkoff? The summer was a bit doldrum filled, but I capped it off with another nice vacation to Chicago, yes I did see a Cubs Game in Wrigley Field.  Apparently my good karma rubbed off on those fellows later in the year. I shook off the heat and placed in that trail marathon in Indy.  I returned to my old friend the Wapack Trail for a long outing in the rocks on Labor Day.  Then I turned around and spanked that Spartan Beast a couple weeks later, making a fair amount of young people cry.   Somewhere in there I lost 15 pounds and showed up for the Portland Marathon lean and light.  I got lucky with the weather and requalified.  I joined my club for the Ayer 5k tradition on Thanksgiving and our end-of-season shindig at the Mill Cities Relay.  This past Saturday I ran the 4th edition of my very own made up marathon and I’ll tell you about that later.  Goodreads tells me I read 27 books.  I know I wrote at least 52 articles.  I pushed out 26 podcasts.  I trained almost every day.  Pretty good year, right?  Was it perfect?  Was it filled with challenges and accidents and side turns?  Of course, it was.  If everything is smooth sailing and your life isn’t filled with challenges you’re not living, you’re waiting to die. I don’t know if any of that stuff would be considered worthy, or good or bad.  I try very hard not to waste time keeping score.  It’s simpler.  Get up and do stuff.  Do what you can do.  I have a sign by y desk that reminds me that consistency and practice are a reasonable substitute for genius, it says; “Work the Process.” Anyway, today we talk with Kevin.  In section one I’ll talk a bit about breathing.  I was thinking about this topic this week and wanted to poke at it a bit. In section two I’ll probably pull some more nuggets out of the Drucker book I’ve just finished.  (that would count as number one for 2017, if I was keeping score!) … BeforeI let you go I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  We 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. I’ll also remind you that I have started raising money for team Hoyt for my 2017 Boston Marathon.  I would appreciate any help you can give.   The fundraiser is on Crowdrise (so I don’t have to touch any of the money) it goes straight to the Hoyts and supports acquiring equipment and supporting others who want to participate like the Hoyts do.  My family and I go over to my Mom’s for Christmas Eve.  I was driving around in the truck with Buddy doing errands on Saturday and she called me to see what time I was planning to come.  I asked her who else was coming, because I had some nieces and nephews I was trying to get presents to. And she must have thought I was qualifying the gathering because she said “It’s not the number of people who show up, Chris, it’s the quality of the people who show up.” There ya go.  Happy New Year. On with the show. 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. Yes, we are still working on setting up the separate podcast feed for the member’s content.  Most recently I recorded and uploaded the first chapter of the zombie novel I’ve been writing for 30 years.  Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Breathing - Voices of reason – the conversation Kevin Gwin from the ExtraMile Podcast The Extra Mile Podcast is a podcast for runners of all abilities from any part of the globe. In this podcast we encourage runners, no matter what their ability, to get in touch and send us their audio updates to tell us about their training, their races, or even if they've just taken up running. We welcome everyone in to our online community. Some runners choose to record themselves out on a run, whilst others like to record in the comfort of their own home. Whichever suits you, why not record us a message and let us know how your running is going? You can use your computer, your MP3 player or any type of audio digital recording device to record something and email  it in to us, we really would love to hear from you. This podcast is listened to by many runners around the globe who often take the show out on their training runs and just love to hear about how other runners are doing - a bit like having a group virtual running buddies to keep them company. Thanks for visiting the site and we hope you'll add your voice to our growing global community of runners on the Extra Mile Podcast! The Extra Mile Podcast-GALLOWAY EDITION is a podcast for runners of ALLabilities who want to learn everything they can about theGalloway RUN/WALK/RUNtraining method right from Jeff ! This podcast will Run/Walk you right through Jeff's 30 week marathon training schedule and gently get you to the finish line of your fall marathon "INJURYFREE"!!! Section two The Effective Executive - http://runrunlive.com/the-effective-executive-peter-e-drucker Outro Alrighty my friends.  New year, new lease on life, right?  Blank slate for us.  You my friend have diaphragmatically breathed your way through the end of Episode 4-356 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Strange cadence to the holidays this year.  It seems like everyone disappeared for 2 weeks on the business side.  I was trying to make calls and I couldn’t get a response out of anyone.  Now this week they are all emerging from the woodwork with a corresponding urgency! As of Monday I’m back on my clean eating wagon.  It feels good.  My goal is to see if I can get down to 165 pounds for the Boston marathon.  It’s ironic that the government BMI tables have always told me I should be between 155 and 165 for my height.  I always thought that was bull.  At that weight I’m going to be somewhere in the 6-7% body fat.  Should be able to see some of those ab muscles I’ve never seen! I’m healthy and my training is going well.  Coach has me in the build-2 stage, which means I’ll start ramping up the volume and working in some intensity.  I did one last idiotic thing to close out the year, well, actually two things.  I hosted the 4th annual Groton Marathon.  We made it more official this year.  We set up the clock and had people ‘register’.  We got some blank buttons with the club logo on them. I Left a piece of notebook paper on the tailgate of my truck and had people sign in their name, distance and make up a bib number.  The official bibs were the buttons.  I gave them a sharpie to write their numbers on the button.  Of course, given the geekiness of runners I didn’t just get numbers.  I got two pi’s, a mu, a natural logarithm and a tally mark five.  Then I had them write down their finishing time when they were done. So we could get results.  I handed out handmade holiday ornaments as medals.  I got about 24 people to come out and run various differences.  The ½ was very popular.  Two other guys joined me for the full.  Given the shape I was in it was probably about 4-6 miles more than I should have been running – but we got it done, finishing up around 4:09.  It hovered just below freezing for the whole day. I guess the lesson here is you don’t need to be a $150 Rock n Roll event to get out and have fun with your buddies.  Because of the odd way the holidays fell, the Hangover Classic was the next day.  I ran the 5K with Teresa and we all jumped in the Atlantic, as is our tradition.  It was interesting running the day after a marathon.  I just stretched out and let my legs do what they wanted.  I survived.  Now I’m back on the plan and ramping up for Boston.  It’s good to have a compass point to steer towards.  On a different note, Buddy the old Wonder dog is doing ok.  He can’t run much anymore because his his back hips are very weak now.  He’s not in any pain, he just has trouble getting up and down.  He still climbs the stairs and jumps up in the bed.  He’s still perfectly mobile, but I think his running days are over.  He’s started his new career as a lap dog to keep the girls warm at night.  Not a bad gig. … We had a warm day with rain this week and it washed most of the snow and ice from the trails.  I was able to get out for a run.  Out behind the pond I found a cell phone in the ground.  I brought it home.  It was a droid in an Otter case and it still had a charge on it.  It was locked so I couldn’t tell whose it was.  I brought it home and put it on the charge.  It rang a couple times, but I couldn’t get to it in time.  I ended up dropping it at the police station.  I hope the owner thinks to call down there.  I feel like I should put a sign up on the trail that says “I found your cell phone and left it with the Police.” I also tried to give blood.  Funny story.  The Red Cross were sending me desperate emails.  I tried to make an appointment on their website, but my experience is that making an appointment really has no impact on the process.  It’s not the most organized process. Of course the lady is taking my HR and I tell her it’s going to be low, but she enters it and the system flags it, and she has to call a doctor to get it overridden.  Crazy right?  I sometimes feel like we get penalized for being healthy. Then they hook me up, she can’t find a vein, because, I guess I ‘m a bit grissley.  She fishes around, calls the other guy over, he fishes around, they finally find some blood flow and get me going.  Couple minutes later the next person wanders by and notices that I’ve dried up.  She fishes around for awhile, then they give up.  They unhook me and I’m done. That’s it. They don’t get a bag of blood. I get a bottle of water, a t-shirt, a Dunkies gift card and a bruise.  So, I’m not complaining but there’s an hour and a half of my life I think we could make better use of! Anybody else have this challenge?  Seems like a process that could use a bit of effectiveness consulting, eh? … So my friends. Here we are in 2017.  Ten years in.  Remember when you were a kid and 10 years seemed like such a long wait?  Now it’s the blink of an eye. It’s up to you to slow it down.  You have to grab time by the tail and hold on tight, or as Ferrris said, you might miss it. We tend to get caught up and tied up by all the things undone, piled up and leering at us.  I think you have to actively counter that.  Especially in these early days of the calendar when we’re all thinking about goals and list and priorities.  I leave you with one of the sentiments from my daily practice. Focus on executing today, living now, being present in today’s tasks and let the outcomes take care of themselves. And.. I’ll see you out there in a healthy, prosperous and joy filled 2017. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-338 – Sandra the Organic Runner Mom  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4338.mp3] Link epi4338.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to episode 4-338 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  In today's episode we are going to have a chat with Sandra the Organic Runner Mom.  I met her up at the ES20 and decided to have her on the talk about some of the goings on in the organic farming space she habituates.  It's a good chat.  In section one talk about how to roll your fitness into a B race when you're a race goes sideways. In section two I have another piece I wrote for one of my work related blogs when they asked me what my advice to my 22 year old self would be.  Ironically I saw her at the Boston marathon.  She tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘hi' as she was cruising past me late in the race.  That wasn't hard to do at the pace I was going at that point! I'm tired.  This time of year is super busy for me – as I'm sure it is for you as well.  I have just rolled out of a 7 –day stretch that include getting my ass kicked at the Boston Marathon, a quick trip to Atlanta on business then pulling off the 25th annual Groton Road Race over the weekend.  I had to drop my little one off at the airport at the crack of dawn Monday morning and get back to my home office for a 3 hours of conference calls starting at 7:00 AM with Europe.  My wife pulled a bit of a fast one on me by announcing Sunday night, after I was already well into my celebratory cups at the race wrap-up cookout, that I'd be taking my daughter to the airport in the morning.  I've got this week to catch up on some things and then I'm into 6 weeks of travel and it won't let up until the middle of June, if ever.  It's good to be needed.  Yes, as you have guessed, we had a tough day at Boston.  It was a little warm for me, there was a bit of a head wind, but I went for it anyhow and ended up sprinting right into the wall with a classic, textbook, Boston-bonk.  I couldn't recover and ended up doing the death shuffle in for a 20 minute positive split.  But, as painful as it was I was not terribly disappointed.  I trained very well.  I respected the race. It just won this time, as it has done many times before.  It's a tough, unforgiving race.  I'll try to write up a full race report this week. We had awesome weather for Groton.  We had a good year which no major crises.  Great for me to ‘go out on top'.  It really is something when you see how organized we are and how well we pull off an event of that size with a dozen or so volunteer directors.  We got some new members this week for our RunRunLive members only feed where I produce some extra audio content.  Last week, based on member feedback I started working on a series about the podcasts that I listen to.  I don't know why anyone would want to listen to that, but since they are members they get to tell me what to do! I also worked with one of my virtual assistants to add an annual membership option and that should be working now.  You asked for an annual option, so I got it added. I'm doing this membership option so I don't have to bug you with commercials, sponsors and ads. Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. (I've got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you're a member it's all about you! Become a member I'd like to welcome new members Duane, Cheryl and Bill.   … For the Groton Road Race we set up on Saturday.  We have the party rental stuff delivered and we set up the field with fencing and such.  We pick up the water and the ice.  We do a lot of miscellaneous running around.  We set up the gym and sort through the shirts for registration.  Sunday morning is race day.  I host a 6:00AM run of the course.  This I can keep my streak going.  A trick I learned from Dave McGillivray.  I actual register and pay.  Sometimes I'll wear my number.  Usually it's a half dozen or so of the race directors who show up.  We walk over to the starting line say a few words and go run the course.  This weekend it was beautiful.  With the sun just coming up over the hills and meadows of spring time Groton it was stunning.  My friend Brian and I led the pack and just had an easy run of the course.  It's so peaceful and serene in the crisp morning air.  Then we get changed up and go to work to pull of the race.  I keep my time so I can be entered into the official results.  I stopped my watch at 49:36 for the 10K run.  One of our RunRunLive members Duane came up from PA to run the race and say ‘hi'.  I was checking the results online this morning and his time is posted as… you guessed it… 49:36!  How about that?  Karma.  I am blessed and lucky. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Rolling your Fitness Forward to your B race - http://runrunlive.com/rolling-your-fitness-forward-to-your-b-race Voices of reason – the conversation Sandra LaFlamme – http://organicrunnermom.com/ Meet Organic Runner Mom Hi! I'm Organic Runner Mom! I found running back in high school when I used to run before crew practice. It was common for us to have to run from boathouse row in Philadelphia to “The Three Angels” and back as a warm-up before getting into our shells for the real workout. Someone once called me “gazelle” during one of these runs perhaps because of my ridiculously awkward, skinny long legs but perhaps more so because they could see how freeing running could be for me. I rowed all through high school and college at Colby College in Maine and then met my husband, a rower too at Bates College! I used to be a rower but when my husband and I moved back to New Hampshire so he could join the family business, Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs in 2000 running became my new passion! Being a runner has taken me on a journey of self-discovery and made me a stronger individual both inside and out. As a runner I am inspired and motivated by all of the amazing endurance athletes that I meet. Since I discovered my love for running I have met many new friends and have continued to set new goals for myself. I always have big dreams and love a new challenge. I am now a half marathon runner, marathon runner (2 time Boston Marathon Finisher, soon to be 3 time finisher!), trail runner, and mountain runner. Several injuries (tendonitis and a back injury) have led me to discover triathlons. Most recently I completed my first Half Ironman and the Timberman Ironman 70.3. I love sharing my athletic pursuits with you as well as training tips, nutrition tips, recipes, and lots of motivation. I hope you will join me often on my blog here and that you will share your stories and inspirations too. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. –Rachel Carson Section two Advice to my 22-year-old self - http://runrunlive.com/address-to-my-22-year-old-self Outro That's it friends, members, we have made it to the end of yet another fully certified organic RunRunLive Podcast.  Thanks for being along for the ride.  Thanks for being a friend.  Next week we'll chat with John Mangan the Irish ultra runner who ran around the world and he's now walking around the world.  Interesting dude. I had issued a public service announcement about the RunRunLive podcast feed.  I wasn't getting updates on my podcruncher app.  I called Libsyn and they said everything was cool but “did you know you have two instances of RunRunLive on iTunes?” Yes, I know – the second one is an older feed that goes through Feedburner that I've been telling people to switch off of for a year now.  I could tell you again, but if you're hearing my voice you figured it out.  I went in and deleted that feed and permanently redirected it – (That sounds painful).  The Duh! Moment for me was when I realized that I was pointing to the wrong feed in iTunes with my PodCruncher app! Doh! You can get the show from iTunes, from the Libsyn feed directly or just download the files from my website. All roads lead to RunRunLive. Except Feedburner. That turns in on itself like a snake eating its tail.  With the marathon over and the road race done - what now?  What am I going to focus on?  I'm thinking about running the Vermont City Marathon on Memorial Day – May 30th.  I hate to let my fitness go to waste.  I felt really strong going into Boston and I think I have a decent performance in me, I just need the right venue.  I've been at this for a long time.  I think I've found some balance but the tradeoff is that I'm not as manically focused on my running goals anymore.  I just want to feel that joy that we get on those crisp mornings with the sun peaking over the hills and birds chirping.  You know, the peaceful epiphany stuff that I love, out on the trails thinking about stuff and thangs. Closing comments That's 10 years, or maybe 11 that I was the race director of the Groton road races.  That's close to 20,000 runners of all ages I helped give an opportunity to get over our courses and across our finish line. To put that in perspective, that's about how many men Hannibal crossed the Alps with to conquer Rome.  But he also had 40 war elephants.  We don't have any elephants.  But, still, that's a generation of runners I had some small impact on.  That's pretty cool.  I'm a grateful guy.  We had all 25 T-shirts strung up across registration.  That is impressive.  Now you're talking 2-3 generations of local runners we've touched.  We are all very fortunate. Many times we look at these things and we fret over what we could have done.  We wring our hands over the opportunities lost.  We beat ourselves up because we didn't make some goal or achieve some thing to make our mark higher.  We are a chronically unsatisfied bunch.  It's really all in the value of the action taken, whatever that action was, the movement that starts a person.  Because each movement has the opportunity to take hold and create compound movement both physical and metaphysical.  That snowball effect is how our small actions can win the world in the balance.  It's the butterfly's wingbeat each time we move. So keep moving my friends, and I'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-338 – Sandra the Organic Runner Mom  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4338.mp3] Link epi4338.mp3 MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Hello and welcome to episode 4-338 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  In today’s episode we are going to have a chat with Sandra the Organic Runner Mom.  I met her up at the ES20 and decided to have her on the talk about some of the goings on in the organic farming space she habituates.  It’s a good chat.  In section one talk about how to roll your fitness into a B race when you’re a race goes sideways. In section two I have another piece I wrote for one of my work related blogs when they asked me what my advice to my 22 year old self would be.  Ironically I saw her at the Boston marathon.  She tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘hi’ as she was cruising past me late in the race.  That wasn’t hard to do at the pace I was going at that point! I’m tired.  This time of year is super busy for me – as I’m sure it is for you as well.  I have just rolled out of a 7 –day stretch that include getting my ass kicked at the Boston Marathon, a quick trip to Atlanta on business then pulling off the 25th annual Groton Road Race over the weekend.  I had to drop my little one off at the airport at the crack of dawn Monday morning and get back to my home office for a 3 hours of conference calls starting at 7:00 AM with Europe.  My wife pulled a bit of a fast one on me by announcing Sunday night, after I was already well into my celebratory cups at the race wrap-up cookout, that I’d be taking my daughter to the airport in the morning.  I’ve got this week to catch up on some things and then I’m into 6 weeks of travel and it won’t let up until the middle of June, if ever.  It’s good to be needed.  Yes, as you have guessed, we had a tough day at Boston.  It was a little warm for me, there was a bit of a head wind, but I went for it anyhow and ended up sprinting right into the wall with a classic, textbook, Boston-bonk.  I couldn’t recover and ended up doing the death shuffle in for a 20 minute positive split.  But, as painful as it was I was not terribly disappointed.  I trained very well.  I respected the race. It just won this time, as it has done many times before.  It’s a tough, unforgiving race.  I’ll try to write up a full race report this week. We had awesome weather for Groton.  We had a good year which no major crises.  Great for me to ‘go out on top’.  It really is something when you see how organized we are and how well we pull off an event of that size with a dozen or so volunteer directors.  We got some new members this week for our RunRunLive members only feed where I produce some extra audio content.  Last week, based on member feedback I started working on a series about the podcasts that I listen to.  I don’t know why anyone would want to listen to that, but since they are members they get to tell me what to do! I also worked with one of my virtual assistants to add an annual membership option and that should be working now.  You asked for an annual option, so I got it added. I’m doing this membership option so I don’t have to bug you with commercials, sponsors and ads. Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. (I’ve got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you’re a member it’s all about you! Become a member I’d like to welcome new members Duane, Cheryl and Bill.   … For the Groton Road Race we set up on Saturday.  We have the party rental stuff delivered and we set up the field with fencing and such.  We pick up the water and the ice.  We do a lot of miscellaneous running around.  We set up the gym and sort through the shirts for registration.  Sunday morning is race day.  I host a 6:00AM run of the course.  This I can keep my streak going.  A trick I learned from Dave McGillivray.  I actual register and pay.  Sometimes I’ll wear my number.  Usually it’s a half dozen or so of the race directors who show up.  We walk over to the starting line say a few words and go run the course.  This weekend it was beautiful.  With the sun just coming up over the hills and meadows of spring time Groton it was stunning.  My friend Brian and I led the pack and just had an easy run of the course.  It’s so peaceful and serene in the crisp morning air.  Then we get changed up and go to work to pull of the race.  I keep my time so I can be entered into the official results.  I stopped my watch at 49:36 for the 10K run.  One of our RunRunLive members Duane came up from PA to run the race and say ‘hi’.  I was checking the results online this morning and his time is posted as… you guessed it… 49:36!  How about that?  Karma.  I am blessed and lucky. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Rolling your Fitness Forward to your B race - http://runrunlive.com/rolling-your-fitness-forward-to-your-b-race Voices of reason – the conversation Sandra LaFlamme – http://organicrunnermom.com/ Meet Organic Runner Mom Hi! I’m Organic Runner Mom! I found running back in high school when I used to run before crew practice. It was common for us to have to run from boathouse row in Philadelphia to “The Three Angels” and back as a warm-up before getting into our shells for the real workout. Someone once called me “gazelle” during one of these runs perhaps because of my ridiculously awkward, skinny long legs but perhaps more so because they could see how freeing running could be for me. I rowed all through high school and college at Colby College in Maine and then met my husband, a rower too at Bates College! I used to be a rower but when my husband and I moved back to New Hampshire so he could join the family business, Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs in 2000 running became my new passion! Being a runner has taken me on a journey of self-discovery and made me a stronger individual both inside and out. As a runner I am inspired and motivated by all of the amazing endurance athletes that I meet. Since I discovered my love for running I have met many new friends and have continued to set new goals for myself. I always have big dreams and love a new challenge. I am now a half marathon runner, marathon runner (2 time Boston Marathon Finisher, soon to be 3 time finisher!), trail runner, and mountain runner. Several injuries (tendonitis and a back injury) have led me to discover triathlons. Most recently I completed my first Half Ironman and the Timberman Ironman 70.3. I love sharing my athletic pursuits with you as well as training tips, nutrition tips, recipes, and lots of motivation. I hope you will join me often on my blog here and that you will share your stories and inspirations too. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. –Rachel Carson Section two Advice to my 22-year-old self - http://runrunlive.com/address-to-my-22-year-old-self Outro That’s it friends, members, we have made it to the end of yet another fully certified organic RunRunLive Podcast.  Thanks for being along for the ride.  Thanks for being a friend.  Next week we’ll chat with John Mangan the Irish ultra runner who ran around the world and he’s now walking around the world.  Interesting dude. I had issued a public service announcement about the RunRunLive podcast feed.  I wasn’t getting updates on my podcruncher app.  I called Libsyn and they said everything was cool but “did you know you have two instances of RunRunLive on iTunes?” Yes, I know – the second one is an older feed that goes through Feedburner that I’ve been telling people to switch off of for a year now.  I could tell you again, but if you’re hearing my voice you figured it out.  I went in and deleted that feed and permanently redirected it – (That sounds painful).  The Duh! Moment for me was when I realized that I was pointing to the wrong feed in iTunes with my PodCruncher app! Doh! You can get the show from iTunes, from the Libsyn feed directly or just download the files from my website. All roads lead to RunRunLive. Except Feedburner. That turns in on itself like a snake eating its tail.  With the marathon over and the road race done - what now?  What am I going to focus on?  I’m thinking about running the Vermont City Marathon on Memorial Day – May 30th.  I hate to let my fitness go to waste.  I felt really strong going into Boston and I think I have a decent performance in me, I just need the right venue.  I’ve been at this for a long time.  I think I’ve found some balance but the tradeoff is that I’m not as manically focused on my running goals anymore.  I just want to feel that joy that we get on those crisp mornings with the sun peaking over the hills and birds chirping.  You know, the peaceful epiphany stuff that I love, out on the trails thinking about stuff and thangs. Closing comments That’s 10 years, or maybe 11 that I was the race director of the Groton road races.  That’s close to 20,000 runners of all ages I helped give an opportunity to get over our courses and across our finish line. To put that in perspective, that’s about how many men Hannibal crossed the Alps with to conquer Rome.  But he also had 40 war elephants.  We don’t have any elephants.  But, still, that’s a generation of runners I had some small impact on.  That’s pretty cool.  I’m a grateful guy.  We had all 25 T-shirts strung up across registration.  That is impressive.  Now you’re talking 2-3 generations of local runners we’ve touched.  We are all very fortunate. Many times we look at these things and we fret over what we could have done.  We wring our hands over the opportunities lost.  We beat ourselves up because we didn’t make some goal or achieve some thing to make our mark higher.  We are a chronically unsatisfied bunch.  It’s really all in the value of the action taken, whatever that action was, the movement that starts a person.  Because each movement has the opportunity to take hold and create compound movement both physical and metaphysical.  That snowball effect is how our small actions can win the world in the balance.  It’s the butterfly’s wingbeat each time we move. So keep moving my friends, and I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/ Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-337 – Addiction Counseling with Greg Milbourne  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4337.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-337 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we are going to continue our exploration of the relationship between addiction and endurance sports with longtime friend of the show Greg.  I recorded this interview a few weeks ago the same week I spoke with Nate so I was using that discussion as a starting point with Greg to till new ground. In section one I'll give you my Boston Marathon 2016 walk through.  In section two I'll give you a post I wrote on innovation that has a business slant but you folks are smart enough to tease out how it all applies to your personal lives as well.  Remember no Harry's razors ads here, because then my kids don't get to go to school. That's right.  One of the companies I was on the leadership team of sold a good sized deal to Gillette who makes those expensive razor blades everyone is trying to disintermediate.  If we hadn't sold that deal, I wouldn't get my bonus and my kids would be street urchins now.  That's why we're Ad free and listener supported – to keep my kids off the street.  To keep the lights on we have created members' only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (I'm working on my Eastern States Race report this week, and something funny for Eric) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. (I've got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you're a member it's all about you! I'd like to welcome new members Ken, Rebecca, Foti and Greg for helping keep the kids off the street over here at RunRunLive. The Boston piece in this show is a bit long so I'll keep my intro comments brief.  I'm in my taper for Boston.  I knocked out my last real workout on Sunday with a 9 mile pace run that was again right where I need to be.  The weather looks decent.  Now I just have to have a good day. I'm trying to eat clean and relatively lightly this week.  I'm locked down.  I've got no travel until next week and I've got enough projects to keep me busy.  It's still very stressful to sit around and try to stay calm.  … So, It's time to line up for Boston again.  When this episode drops it will be Friday before the Patriot's Day.   20 years ago I started running again and ran my first Boston Marathon.  It had its way with me that first year.  It taught me a lesson about what the marathon distance expects from a runner.  Boston expects even more. When I first started running Boston it was still mostly a local affair.  We had our fans and acolytes among the serious runners of the world but it was a still a local race and a local tradition.  When the rest of the world didn't really care much about city marathons we had a deeply embedded heroic culture and mythology that was already a century old.  We grew up with the marathon in our lives. Boston shaped the long distance road running culture in Boston and New England.  The spring and fall race calendar revolved around it.  You were either training for Boston or training to qualify for Boston.  Seasons of training and racing that had a nice and comfortable cadence. Some things have changed, but things always change in this world.  It's still the greatest marathon in the world.  And it's still our marathon. Over the last couple years Boston has become a bit of a white whale for me.  But I'm working on that.  I know I can't keep doing it forever and the new standards and new qualification windows really force it uncomfortably into my life. I'm completely grateful to have had the privilege of this old race in my life.  I'm grateful to have been able to meet the great men and women who have written their stories there.  Time is a river and you can never step in the same water twice, but I'm happy to have gotten my feet wet when I had the chance.  On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Boston 2016 Walkthrough - Voices of reason – the conversation Greg Millbourne – As a psychologist, a father, a husband, a runner, a former Army officer and a former country manager of an American business in Russia, I bring a varied and eclectic style to my work. Trained in marital, family and child therapy, I have worked with clients from childhood into retirement and enjoy the diversity of seeing people at all stages of their life and development. My goal is to maximize happiness and reduce anxiety and the impediments to truly enjoying your life. To do so, I am happy to see individuals, couples or families, and look forward to seeing you! Section two What is innovation - Outro That's it my friends, let the credits roll as we gracefully taper our way out of Episode 4-337 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  With any luck this episode will drop on the Friday before Boston.  Remember, Boston, being the special, on-of-a-kind unicorn that it is, is held on Monday.  That's Monday the 18th.  Then I have to turn my cranky old self around and pull off the Groton Road Race the following weekend.   I'm starting back into a fairly heavy travel schedule so that should keep me busy.  After Boston I've got my Grand Canyon adventure planned for the middle of May.  And I told Coach I'd run the Portland Marathon with him in the fall.  But, I really don't have any athletic goals for the summer.  I'd consider a trail 50K if I could find an interesting one.  I want to get off the roads and I've never raced the 50K distance – so that would be something new for me.  I think that's what my future agenda is going to skew towards – new and interesting stuff.  You can still support my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston.  The links are in the show notes.  April 24th is the Groton Road Race. You can runit virtually if you're not in the area – or show up and say hi - just go to .  We took a crew out Saturday and cleaned all the trash up on one section of the 10k to make it pretty for you.  … I'm a bit stressed out this week, because, you know, beyond all of this I still have a job and a family and a home and an old dog to take care of!  I took Buddy to the vet and they thought he was fine.  I have a regularly scheduled appointment in June and we'll decide whether we want to remove the big fatty tumor in the ‘armpit' of his back leg that seems to be impinging on his range of motion.  He's happy.  He still gets out.  Ironically this week as I'm laying low into Boston he'll get plenty of walks around the neighborhood.  Hey, if all he can do is give hugs, that's ok with us.    … Closing comments Who out there has seen the original Batman movie?  I'm not talking about Michael Keaton.  I'm talking about the campy one they made from the TV show in 1966.  In one of the scenes they have Batman (played by Adam West) trying to get rid of a bomb.  The bomb is one of those ones like in the cartoons.  A cannon ball shaped thing with a fuse burning.  Batman has the bomb in his hands and is running around the piers on the waterfront trying to get rid of it. The gag is that every time he goes to throw it in off the pier there is something in the way.  Like a boat or a flock of ducks.  So he's running around with this smoking bomb that he can't get rid of.  I had a workout like that last week.  Coach scheduled a little tune up workout of 3 sets of 3 X 200 meters all out with 20 second rest between reps and 3 minutes between sets.  It's basically a lactic acid buffering workout.  Fine tuning for the race. Compared to what I have been doing it's an easy workout, maybe 3-4 miles total even with the warm up and cool down.  I was working from home and of course the day got away from me and it was getting into the afternoon before I got ready to go.  I was coming off a delayed flight from Chicago the night before and was a bit jet lagged. I figured I'd head down to the track and knock it out.  I drove down to the track and much to my surprise and frustration there was a track meet in progress!  Who do these people think they are using my track! I had to go to plan B.  I figured I'd just knock them out in my neighborhood.  But, of course, my neighborhood doesn't have the 200's marked off.  I had to go back to my desk and program this workout into my Garmin.  It took a few minutes to do this, because the workout is a bit detailed in structure.  Then I synced it to my watch and headed out. I ran about a 2K warm up and hit the button to start the first 200.  I'm going all out on these, 99% effort, which for my neighbors I'm sure looked like I was having some sort of fit in the road.  Now, I've done enough track work to know how far approximately 200 meters is.  I got to that point and the watch didn't go off.  Now I'm thinking, “Did I enter 200M into the watch or 300M?” Because there's a big difference there for this workout. I turn around and do another one back to where I started and now I'm pretty sure the distance is wrong.  No problem I'll check the watch and see what it says.  The only problem is that in order to do that I have to stop the workout in process.  Crap.  I stop the workout and start editing it on the watch and I still can't tell what it says because the watch has converted everything to miles and even though I'm a smart guy I don't know how to convert 200 or 300 meters to .19 blah blah miles.  So, I have to change the watch default to metric and then see that I indeed programmed 300m instead of 200m.  That's not going to work. Back to the house.  Log back into Garmin Connect. Fix the workout.  Re-sync.  Back out the door. The actual workout really wasn't that bad, but it fought me all day, it was a test of wills and I wasn't going to let it win.  In the end this easy 30 -40 minute workout probably chewed up 2 hours of my afternoon. Just like Adam West trying to get rid of that smoking bomb. I'll see you out there.   So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-337 – Addiction Counseling with Greg Milbourne  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4337.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-337 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we are going to continue our exploration of the relationship between addiction and endurance sports with longtime friend of the show Greg.  I recorded this interview a few weeks ago the same week I spoke with Nate so I was using that discussion as a starting point with Greg to till new ground. In section one I’ll give you my Boston Marathon 2016 walk through.  In section two I’ll give you a post I wrote on innovation that has a business slant but you folks are smart enough to tease out how it all applies to your personal lives as well.  Remember no Harry’s razors ads here, because then my kids don’t get to go to school. That’s right.  One of the companies I was on the leadership team of sold a good sized deal to Gillette who makes those expensive razor blades everyone is trying to disintermediate.  If we hadn’t sold that deal, I wouldn’t get my bonus and my kids would be street urchins now.  That’s why we’re Ad free and listener supported – to keep my kids off the street.  To keep the lights on we have created members’ only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (I’m working on my Eastern States Race report this week, and something funny for Eric) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. (I’ve got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you’re a member it’s all about you! I’d like to welcome new members Ken, Rebecca, Foti and Greg for helping keep the kids off the street over here at RunRunLive. The Boston piece in this show is a bit long so I’ll keep my intro comments brief.  I’m in my taper for Boston.  I knocked out my last real workout on Sunday with a 9 mile pace run that was again right where I need to be.  The weather looks decent.  Now I just have to have a good day. I’m trying to eat clean and relatively lightly this week.  I’m locked down.  I’ve got no travel until next week and I’ve got enough projects to keep me busy.  It’s still very stressful to sit around and try to stay calm.  … So, It’s time to line up for Boston again.  When this episode drops it will be Friday before the Patriot’s Day.   20 years ago I started running again and ran my first Boston Marathon.  It had its way with me that first year.  It taught me a lesson about what the marathon distance expects from a runner.  Boston expects even more. When I first started running Boston it was still mostly a local affair.  We had our fans and acolytes among the serious runners of the world but it was a still a local race and a local tradition.  When the rest of the world didn’t really care much about city marathons we had a deeply embedded heroic culture and mythology that was already a century old.  We grew up with the marathon in our lives. Boston shaped the long distance road running culture in Boston and New England.  The spring and fall race calendar revolved around it.  You were either training for Boston or training to qualify for Boston.  Seasons of training and racing that had a nice and comfortable cadence. Some things have changed, but things always change in this world.  It’s still the greatest marathon in the world.  And it’s still our marathon. Over the last couple years Boston has become a bit of a white whale for me.  But I’m working on that.  I know I can’t keep doing it forever and the new standards and new qualification windows really force it uncomfortably into my life. I’m completely grateful to have had the privilege of this old race in my life.  I’m grateful to have been able to meet the great men and women who have written their stories there.  Time is a river and you can never step in the same water twice, but I’m happy to have gotten my feet wet when I had the chance.  On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Boston 2016 Walkthrough - Voices of reason – the conversation Greg Millbourne – As a psychologist, a father, a husband, a runner, a former Army officer and a former country manager of an American business in Russia, I bring a varied and eclectic style to my work. Trained in marital, family and child therapy, I have worked with clients from childhood into retirement and enjoy the diversity of seeing people at all stages of their life and development. My goal is to maximize happiness and reduce anxiety and the impediments to truly enjoying your life. To do so, I am happy to see individuals, couples or families, and look forward to seeing you! Section two What is innovation - Outro That’s it my friends, let the credits roll as we gracefully taper our way out of Episode 4-337 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  With any luck this episode will drop on the Friday before Boston.  Remember, Boston, being the special, on-of-a-kind unicorn that it is, is held on Monday.  That’s Monday the 18th.  Then I have to turn my cranky old self around and pull off the Groton Road Race the following weekend.   I’m starting back into a fairly heavy travel schedule so that should keep me busy.  After Boston I’ve got my Grand Canyon adventure planned for the middle of May.  And I told Coach I’d run the Portland Marathon with him in the fall.  But, I really don’t have any athletic goals for the summer.  I’d consider a trail 50K if I could find an interesting one.  I want to get off the roads and I’ve never raced the 50K distance – so that would be something new for me.  I think that’s what my future agenda is going to skew towards – new and interesting stuff.  You can still support my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston.  The links are in the show notes.  April 24th is the Groton Road Race. You can runit virtually if you’re not in the area – or show up and say hi - just go to .  We took a crew out Saturday and cleaned all the trash up on one section of the 10k to make it pretty for you.  … I’m a bit stressed out this week, because, you know, beyond all of this I still have a job and a family and a home and an old dog to take care of!  I took Buddy to the vet and they thought he was fine.  I have a regularly scheduled appointment in June and we’ll decide whether we want to remove the big fatty tumor in the ‘armpit’ of his back leg that seems to be impinging on his range of motion.  He’s happy.  He still gets out.  Ironically this week as I’m laying low into Boston he’ll get plenty of walks around the neighborhood.  Hey, if all he can do is give hugs, that’s ok with us.    … Closing comments Who out there has seen the original Batman movie?  I’m not talking about Michael Keaton.  I’m talking about the campy one they made from the TV show in 1966.  In one of the scenes they have Batman (played by Adam West) trying to get rid of a bomb.  The bomb is one of those ones like in the cartoons.  A cannon ball shaped thing with a fuse burning.  Batman has the bomb in his hands and is running around the piers on the waterfront trying to get rid of it. The gag is that every time he goes to throw it in off the pier there is something in the way.  Like a boat or a flock of ducks.  So he’s running around with this smoking bomb that he can’t get rid of.  I had a workout like that last week.  Coach scheduled a little tune up workout of 3 sets of 3 X 200 meters all out with 20 second rest between reps and 3 minutes between sets.  It’s basically a lactic acid buffering workout.  Fine tuning for the race. Compared to what I have been doing it’s an easy workout, maybe 3-4 miles total even with the warm up and cool down.  I was working from home and of course the day got away from me and it was getting into the afternoon before I got ready to go.  I was coming off a delayed flight from Chicago the night before and was a bit jet lagged. I figured I’d head down to the track and knock it out.  I drove down to the track and much to my surprise and frustration there was a track meet in progress!  Who do these people think they are using my track! I had to go to plan B.  I figured I’d just knock them out in my neighborhood.  But, of course, my neighborhood doesn’t have the 200’s marked off.  I had to go back to my desk and program this workout into my Garmin.  It took a few minutes to do this, because the workout is a bit detailed in structure.  Then I synced it to my watch and headed out. I ran about a 2K warm up and hit the button to start the first 200.  I’m going all out on these, 99% effort, which for my neighbors I’m sure looked like I was having some sort of fit in the road.  Now, I’ve done enough track work to know how far approximately 200 meters is.  I got to that point and the watch didn’t go off.  Now I’m thinking, “Did I enter 200M into the watch or 300M?” Because there’s a big difference there for this workout. I turn around and do another one back to where I started and now I’m pretty sure the distance is wrong.  No problem I’ll check the watch and see what it says.  The only problem is that in order to do that I have to stop the workout in process.  Crap.  I stop the workout and start editing it on the watch and I still can’t tell what it says because the watch has converted everything to miles and even though I’m a smart guy I don’t know how to convert 200 or 300 meters to .19 blah blah miles.  So, I have to change the watch default to metric and then see that I indeed programmed 300m instead of 200m.  That’s not going to work. Back to the house.  Log back into Garmin Connect. Fix the workout.  Re-sync.  Back out the door. The actual workout really wasn’t that bad, but it fought me all day, it was a test of wills and I wasn’t going to let it win.  In the end this easy 30 -40 minute workout probably chewed up 2 hours of my afternoon. Just like Adam West trying to get rid of that smoking bomb. I’ll see you out there.   So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-336 – Varsity Punk Director Anthony Solorzano  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4336.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-336 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I’m squeezing this one in on an off week to help out my interviewee today, Anthony Solorzano, (sounds like a character from a Quintin Tarantino film), but he’s a lifelong runner, with a passion, who is making, or has actually made a movie called Varsity Punks.  His Kickstarter campaign to put the finishing touches on this new cross country team themed movie ends on April 13th.  I figured with a little extra midnight oil I could get this episode up in time before that kickstarter closes.  If you want some good swag and want to help Anthony bring a running-themed feature length film to market go now and kick some cash his way.  I’m not getting any kickbacks, I just like the idea of bringing the discussion around running as a real sport out into the open!  I try to help people when I can.  It’s karma.  So, yeah, we’re talking to Anthony today about his movie.  Go watch the trailer – it’s cool – the links are in the notes.  If I can swing it you’ll get 3 podcasts in three weeks – plus all the good stuff I’m putting into the members section. In the first section I’m going to talk about why sometimes your training is always hard and why it’s ok.  In the second section I wax counter-culturally about passion.  What I’m not going to give you are any advertisements.  No Harry’s razors, no Audible and no Stamps.com.  Actually, while we’re on the topic, I think you should go to the post office.  The public post is one of the great enablers of civilized society.  Yeah it’s slow and everyone is grumpy but that’s why you should go down there.  Think of the great impact you and your positive attitude can have on those poor, lost souls standing in line!  If you bought your stamps online you’d be denying them your bright light. Those confused old people using pennies to buy stamps ae the greatest generation.  They are the defenders of democracy and the western world.  You should go get to know them. Get thee to the post office!  Go when it’s busy.  Stop along the way and bring coffee and donuts.  Strike up conversations, make friends and make someone’s day.  Life’s not just about the miserly squeezing of pennies and minutes.  Treat it like a safari, and adventure.    We are Ad free and listener supported.  To keep it that way we have created members’ only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (You have to check out the zombie story I put out last week... It’s awesome) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. (I’ve got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you’re a member it’s all about you! I’d like to thank Eric and Keating and Cliff and Judith for paying the dealer this week.  I asked for feedback and Eric said I’m not funny anymore.  I used to be funny.  So I’ll tell you some jokes:  Clean jokes for your kids.  For all you teachers and coaches.  The first one is for trail runners.  Q: How do crazy runners go through the forest? A: They take the psycho path. No didn’t like that one?  This next one I may converted from a blonde joke…Q: Why did the Labrador retriever jog backwards? A: She wanted to gain weight! And here’s one the 3-5 year-olds will think is hilarious… Q: Did you hear about the race between the lettuce and the tomato? A: The lettuce was a "head" but the tomato was running to "ketchup"!  … I kicked ass in the Eastern States 20 miler a couple weeks ago as my last tune up for Boston.  I came in at 5-10 seconds a mile faster than my goal pace even though it was my 2nd 20 miler inside of 7 days and I had to make a 2-minute potty stop at mile 7.  My Heart rate was a bit high and I had a little power loss at mile 16-18 but my legs were strong and I finished strong.  All the lights are green for Boston.  We just have to get decent weather and I have to figure out how to navigate around the 14-16,000 runners between where I’m starting and my pace group.  My number is 28766 if you want to track me. Now I’m in my taper.  That doesn’t mean I’ll stop training it just means I’ll switch to race specific training like shorter speed work, strength and stretching.  I also have to reign the diet in to see if I can cut 5-10 pounds for the race.  I was a wrestler in high school – so I know how to drop weight. I’ve been pretty hard on myself for not being able to make this qualification time.  I could have knocked this time out without too much struggle in 2011 before I ran (heh heh) into a couple of wee health challenges.  But, I suppose, if you look at the age-graded curve with the new qualification times you could make a case that if I succeed this year it will be an age-graded PR for me by 3-5 minutes.  I don’t know. I try not to get too wrapped around the axle on this sort of mental gymnastics.  It’s all a bit self-serving.  Anyone who wants to say ‘hi’ on marathon weekend, that’s typically a challenge for me because I’m pretty busy and I like to lay low before the race.  I usually go into the expo on Saturday Morning to get my stuff.   My club has a hotel room at the finish if you want to stop by and have a shower or an adult beverage I’ll be there.  Fair warning though – given my starting coral I may not be rolling in until after 4:00!  It’s ironic that we are almost back to the traditional noon start we used to have for the race! Crazy days!  Everything is going too well.  Must be a crises coming! … Getting ready to talk with Anthony this week I did some reminiscing about my stint on my prep school cross country team.  I’m fairly confident that my time on a New England Prep School team was probably different than Anthony’s time running in high school in East LA.  Who knows, maybe there are more similarities than differences?  I only ran for my last 2 years.  I joined up because the captains of the wrestling team were also the captains of the cross country team.  We had a pretty small team.  But I made the varsity team.  I was the 5th man.  This is the slow guy that you need to fill out the team for scoring purposes.  The top 5 guys get scored in the meets.  I would finish in the middle of the pack.  I was probably running in the low 6-minute mile range.  Story of my life – steady and mediocre! I hated the races.  Our courses were short and mostly off-road.  Some of them had obstacles like steeplechase.  Like fallen trees, steep hills – stuff like that but also a lot of athletic fields.  Most of the courses in our league were 2 miles or less – so it was pretty much an all-out anaerobic effort.  Those short races hurt like hell. They’d line us up across some soccer field or something in separate corals by team, maybe a couple hundred feet of starting line – all spread out.  Then invariably after 100 meters or so they’d slam you into a single path trail. Everyone would have to come off the line in a dead sprint to get to the trail first and box the other guys out.  Yeah, it was like the hunger games.  But, I loved the practices.  We’d go out as a team on these long runs all around Groton.  Out on the back roads and through the woods. It was awesome.  I learned a lot about training and running. We used to ride to away meets in a school van.  Because our team was so small we could fit in one van.  Our coach would drive.  He was a kindly guy who was also the Trigonometry teacher.  Oddly enough he smoked a pipe.  Hey it was the 70’s.  The pipe tobacco he liked was called “Borkum Riff” and I remember that smell as he smoked his pipe in the van on the way to the meet.  Sports were never a priority for me.  I am so glad that the prep school I went to forced you to do competitive sports.  If they hadn’t I might never have learned what little I was capable of.  It isn’t about winning, or being a champion.  It’s about learning. Learning what you’re capable of.  Learning how to be a member of a team.  Learning how to suffer for that team. Make sure you and your kids and your community have that opportunity to learn. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips It’s supposed to hurt sometimes -   Voices of reason – the conversation Anthony – “Varsity Punks” Yes! The first link below takes you to our Kickstarter campaign (which ends early April) and has the first trailer to Varsity Punks, as well as a lot of the pertinent info. I was hoping you'd be able to squeeze in Anthony shortly before the end of the Kickstarter but late April would absolutely work.    I also included a few other links. I specifically recommend the KCET article.            What is Varsity Punks? An independent feature film in the making! It’s a fun high school movie about belonging, portrayed with authentic teenage moments and inspiring sports drama. Genre: Coming-Of-Age Sports Comedy Setting: Present-day San Gabriel Valley Estimated Running Time: 100 min. Logline: When star quarterback, AJ Montoya, breaks his hand, his only hope is to team up with his longtime rivals – the cross country team, a group of nerds and misfits with potential for high school glory! Production Update: (as of Nov. 2015) We are currently in post-production. That means we are done shooting and now it’s time to put the movie together through editing, color correction, music and sound design. You can expect a completed film early in 2016. Where Can I See It? Some time around Spring/Summer 2016   Section two 5 myths about finding your true passion - Outro Friends and members, runners and cavaliers, you have giggled, guffawed and snickered your way to the end of Episode 4-336 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Now go do something useful.  When this podcast drops I’ll be around 10 days out from Boston.  I’m still not injured or broken.  I’m a little heavy but my legs are strong.  Coach has me doing pace runs and shorter track stuff to ‘freshen the legs’.  The hay is in the barn and it’s almost time to dance with the devil.  Did you see Neely from last week’s interview was on the cover of that famous running magazine this month?  I swear those guys follow me around just to poach my good ideas!    A couple reminders before I let you go.  You can still support my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston.  The links are in the show notes.  April 24th is our 25th anniversary Groton Road Race. We’ve set up the virtual race if you want join from afar – just go to – Hope to see you there.  It’s been a great privilege for me to be able to work with the race.  I figure everyone already knows by now but I have 3 books that you can get on Amazon.  First is called “The Mid-Packer’s Lament” a collection of running stories, some of them quite funny, (Eric), “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy” is a second collection stories, some of them quite funny and my latest “MarathonBQ” outlines the program and all the tricks and tips I used to qualify for Boston when I was a puppy – and that one is on Audible as well and isn’t funny at all.  More jokes here…These are a little edgier…you might want to tell them to your 10 year-olds. Q: What do you get when you run in front of a car? A: TIRED Q: Q: What do you get when you run behind a car? A: EXHAUSTED Q: What do you do when a golden retriever throws a pin at you? A: Run! She's got a hand grenade in her mouth.  … I’m looking forward to Boston and Groton.  As I get older I’m learning to enjoy these great sign-post moments in my life.  I stop the smell the roses more.  I can’t tell if that is the blunting of my own passions or the sanguinity of self-awareness. Zen Runner did a bit a few weeks ago about bucket list items.  I was looking at the things that people came up with and wondering about my own list.  Which is another strange thing we do – compare the things we’ve accomplished or more appropriately collected with other people.  People were listing things like run a marathon or an ultra or maybe qualify for Boston…things like that.  And it kind of struck me that while I’ve been going about my business I’ve collected a lot of souvenirs and memories.  I’ve been graced and for that I am grateful. Run a marathon? How about more than 50? Qualify for Boston? Yup. Write a book? Uh huh 3 of em. Ultra? Sure.  Start a business, yessir.  Triathlons? Yup.  Mountain bike ultras? Done.  Be a race director? Affirmative.  Read the classics? Most of em. Stay married and raise a couple of functional adults. Present and accounted for.  See the world? A good chunk of it. Interestingly, I never sat down and said ‘these are the things that I want to accomplish’.  This was an organic mélange of little projects that interested me at the time.  A portfolio of hobbies, passions and necessities.  I’m not done.  Not by a long shot.  I’ve got a list of cool stuff in my back pocket that I’m going to shoehorn into this world one way or another.  Like the marquee on a B movie “The Adventure Continues (dot dot dot)”. It’s not a contest.  There is no score on the polished granite marker that lays in the grass above your withered corpse.  Yesterday, today, tomorrow; it’s all the same.  Do what interests you.  Don’t keep score. Keep swinging away until the bat falls from your hands. And I’ll see you out there. Closing comments   So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-336 – Varsity Punk Director Anthony Solorzano  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4336.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-336 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I'm squeezing this one in on an off week to help out my interviewee today, Anthony Solorzano, (sounds like a character from a Quintin Tarantino film), but he's a lifelong runner, with a passion, who is making, or has actually made a movie called Varsity Punks.  His Kickstarter campaign to put the finishing touches on this new cross country team themed movie ends on April 13th.  I figured with a little extra midnight oil I could get this episode up in time before that kickstarter closes.  If you want some good swag and want to help Anthony bring a running-themed feature length film to market go now and kick some cash his way.  I'm not getting any kickbacks, I just like the idea of bringing the discussion around running as a real sport out into the open!  I try to help people when I can.  It's karma.  So, yeah, we're talking to Anthony today about his movie.  Go watch the trailer – it's cool – the links are in the notes.  If I can swing it you'll get 3 podcasts in three weeks – plus all the good stuff I'm putting into the members section. In the first section I'm going to talk about why sometimes your training is always hard and why it's ok.  In the second section I wax counter-culturally about passion.  What I'm not going to give you are any advertisements.  No Harry's razors, no Audible and no Stamps.com.  Actually, while we're on the topic, I think you should go to the post office.  The public post is one of the great enablers of civilized society.  Yeah it's slow and everyone is grumpy but that's why you should go down there.  Think of the great impact you and your positive attitude can have on those poor, lost souls standing in line!  If you bought your stamps online you'd be denying them your bright light. Those confused old people using pennies to buy stamps ae the greatest generation.  They are the defenders of democracy and the western world.  You should go get to know them. Get thee to the post office!  Go when it's busy.  Stop along the way and bring coffee and donuts.  Strike up conversations, make friends and make someone's day.  Life's not just about the miserly squeezing of pennies and minutes.  Treat it like a safari, and adventure.    We are Ad free and listener supported.  To keep it that way we have created members' only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (You have to check out the zombie story I put out last week... It's awesome) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. (I've got episodes 4329 – 4335 up – in pieces - already) We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you're a member it's all about you! I'd like to thank Eric and Keating and Cliff and Judith for paying the dealer this week.  I asked for feedback and Eric said I'm not funny anymore.  I used to be funny.  So I'll tell you some jokes:  Clean jokes for your kids.  For all you teachers and coaches.  The first one is for trail runners.  Q: How do crazy runners go through the forest? A: They take the psycho path. No didn't like that one?  This next one I may converted from a blonde joke…Q: Why did the Labrador retriever jog backwards? A: She wanted to gain weight! And here's one the 3-5 year-olds will think is hilarious… Q: Did you hear about the race between the lettuce and the tomato? A: The lettuce was a "head" but the tomato was running to "ketchup"!  … I kicked ass in the Eastern States 20 miler a couple weeks ago as my last tune up for Boston.  I came in at 5-10 seconds a mile faster than my goal pace even though it was my 2nd 20 miler inside of 7 days and I had to make a 2-minute potty stop at mile 7.  My Heart rate was a bit high and I had a little power loss at mile 16-18 but my legs were strong and I finished strong.  All the lights are green for Boston.  We just have to get decent weather and I have to figure out how to navigate around the 14-16,000 runners between where I'm starting and my pace group.  My number is 28766 if you want to track me. Now I'm in my taper.  That doesn't mean I'll stop training it just means I'll switch to race specific training like shorter speed work, strength and stretching.  I also have to reign the diet in to see if I can cut 5-10 pounds for the race.  I was a wrestler in high school – so I know how to drop weight. I've been pretty hard on myself for not being able to make this qualification time.  I could have knocked this time out without too much struggle in 2011 before I ran (heh heh) into a couple of wee health challenges.  But, I suppose, if you look at the age-graded curve with the new qualification times you could make a case that if I succeed this year it will be an age-graded PR for me by 3-5 minutes.  I don't know. I try not to get too wrapped around the axle on this sort of mental gymnastics.  It's all a bit self-serving.  Anyone who wants to say ‘hi' on marathon weekend, that's typically a challenge for me because I'm pretty busy and I like to lay low before the race.  I usually go into the expo on Saturday Morning to get my stuff.   My club has a hotel room at the finish if you want to stop by and have a shower or an adult beverage I'll be there.  Fair warning though – given my starting coral I may not be rolling in until after 4:00!  It's ironic that we are almost back to the traditional noon start we used to have for the race! Crazy days!  Everything is going too well.  Must be a crises coming! … Getting ready to talk with Anthony this week I did some reminiscing about my stint on my prep school cross country team.  I'm fairly confident that my time on a New England Prep School team was probably different than Anthony's time running in high school in East LA.  Who knows, maybe there are more similarities than differences?  I only ran for my last 2 years.  I joined up because the captains of the wrestling team were also the captains of the cross country team.  We had a pretty small team.  But I made the varsity team.  I was the 5th man.  This is the slow guy that you need to fill out the team for scoring purposes.  The top 5 guys get scored in the meets.  I would finish in the middle of the pack.  I was probably running in the low 6-minute mile range.  Story of my life – steady and mediocre! I hated the races.  Our courses were short and mostly off-road.  Some of them had obstacles like steeplechase.  Like fallen trees, steep hills – stuff like that but also a lot of athletic fields.  Most of the courses in our league were 2 miles or less – so it was pretty much an all-out anaerobic effort.  Those short races hurt like hell. They'd line us up across some soccer field or something in separate corals by team, maybe a couple hundred feet of starting line – all spread out.  Then invariably after 100 meters or so they'd slam you into a single path trail. Everyone would have to come off the line in a dead sprint to get to the trail first and box the other guys out.  Yeah, it was like the hunger games.  But, I loved the practices.  We'd go out as a team on these long runs all around Groton.  Out on the back roads and through the woods. It was awesome.  I learned a lot about training and running. We used to ride to away meets in a school van.  Because our team was so small we could fit in one van.  Our coach would drive.  He was a kindly guy who was also the Trigonometry teacher.  Oddly enough he smoked a pipe.  Hey it was the 70's.  The pipe tobacco he liked was called “Borkum Riff” and I remember that smell as he smoked his pipe in the van on the way to the meet.  Sports were never a priority for me.  I am so glad that the prep school I went to forced you to do competitive sports.  If they hadn't I might never have learned what little I was capable of.  It isn't about winning, or being a champion.  It's about learning. Learning what you're capable of.  Learning how to be a member of a team.  Learning how to suffer for that team. Make sure you and your kids and your community have that opportunity to learn. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips It's supposed to hurt sometimes -   Voices of reason – the conversation Anthony – “Varsity Punks” Yes! The first link below takes you to our Kickstarter campaign (which ends early April) and has the first trailer to Varsity Punks, as well as a lot of the pertinent info. I was hoping you'd be able to squeeze in Anthony shortly before the end of the Kickstarter but late April would absolutely work.    I also included a few other links. I specifically recommend the KCET article.            What is Varsity Punks? An independent feature film in the making! It's a fun high school movie about belonging, portrayed with authentic teenage moments and inspiring sports drama. Genre: Coming-Of-Age Sports Comedy Setting: Present-day San Gabriel Valley Estimated Running Time: 100 min. Logline: When star quarterback, AJ Montoya, breaks his hand, his only hope is to team up with his longtime rivals – the cross country team, a group of nerds and misfits with potential for high school glory! Production Update: (as of Nov. 2015) We are currently in post-production. That means we are done shooting and now it's time to put the movie together through editing, color correction, music and sound design. You can expect a completed film early in 2016. Where Can I See It? Some time around Spring/Summer 2016   Section two 5 myths about finding your true passion - Outro Friends and members, runners and cavaliers, you have giggled, guffawed and snickered your way to the end of Episode 4-336 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Now go do something useful.  When this podcast drops I'll be around 10 days out from Boston.  I'm still not injured or broken.  I'm a little heavy but my legs are strong.  Coach has me doing pace runs and shorter track stuff to ‘freshen the legs'.  The hay is in the barn and it's almost time to dance with the devil.  Did you see Neely from last week's interview was on the cover of that famous running magazine this month?  I swear those guys follow me around just to poach my good ideas!    A couple reminders before I let you go.  You can still support my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston.  The links are in the show notes.  April 24th is our 25th anniversary Groton Road Race. We've set up the virtual race if you want join from afar – just go to – Hope to see you there.  It's been a great privilege for me to be able to work with the race.  I figure everyone already knows by now but I have 3 books that you can get on Amazon.  First is called “The Mid-Packer's Lament” a collection of running stories, some of them quite funny, (Eric), “The Mid-Packer's Guide to the Galaxy” is a second collection stories, some of them quite funny and my latest “MarathonBQ” outlines the program and all the tricks and tips I used to qualify for Boston when I was a puppy – and that one is on Audible as well and isn't funny at all.  More jokes here…These are a little edgier…you might want to tell them to your 10 year-olds. Q: What do you get when you run in front of a car? A: TIRED Q: Q: What do you get when you run behind a car? A: EXHAUSTED Q: What do you do when a golden retriever throws a pin at you? A: Run! She's got a hand grenade in her mouth.  … I'm looking forward to Boston and Groton.  As I get older I'm learning to enjoy these great sign-post moments in my life.  I stop the smell the roses more.  I can't tell if that is the blunting of my own passions or the sanguinity of self-awareness. Zen Runner did a bit a few weeks ago about bucket list items.  I was looking at the things that people came up with and wondering about my own list.  Which is another strange thing we do – compare the things we've accomplished or more appropriately collected with other people.  People were listing things like run a marathon or an ultra or maybe qualify for Boston…things like that.  And it kind of struck me that while I've been going about my business I've collected a lot of souvenirs and memories.  I've been graced and for that I am grateful. Run a marathon? How about more than 50? Qualify for Boston? Yup. Write a book? Uh huh 3 of em. Ultra? Sure.  Start a business, yessir.  Triathlons? Yup.  Mountain bike ultras? Done.  Be a race director? Affirmative.  Read the classics? Most of em. Stay married and raise a couple of functional adults. Present and accounted for.  See the world? A good chunk of it. Interestingly, I never sat down and said ‘these are the things that I want to accomplish'.  This was an organic mélange of little projects that interested me at the time.  A portfolio of hobbies, passions and necessities.  I'm not done.  Not by a long shot.  I've got a list of cool stuff in my back pocket that I'm going to shoehorn into this world one way or another.  Like the marquee on a B movie “The Adventure Continues (dot dot dot)”. It's not a contest.  There is no score on the polished granite marker that lays in the grass above your withered corpse.  Yesterday, today, tomorrow; it's all the same.  Do what interests you.  Don't keep score. Keep swinging away until the bat falls from your hands. And I'll see you out there. Closing comments   So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-335 – Neely Spence Gracey Breaks out at Boston!  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4335.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-335 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Bear with me, we are going to get to the great show including a piece on the re-emergence of effort based training in the poplar zeitgeist and a really good interview with Neely Spence Gracey who is making her professional marathon debut at Boston this year.  And I'm capping it off with a super-thoughtful post on mistakes not to make in life that is just in time for graduation season. But – before that -This week I've got another milestone announcement for you.  I've been toying with this idea for years and I finally got the breathing room to put it into action.  When I looked at the value of this podcast to you over the last 8 years and 300+ episodes it is in the content, meaning the words and the interviews, and the audio I create from them.  That's my value add in the process.  The revelation I had is that even though I am perfectly capable of it, there is no unique or differentiating value to me twiddling with my website or editing the audio or the countless other admin tasks that something like this takes. So I asked myself, “Hey, Myself, how can I do less of that stuff and more of the good stuff?” and the answer was to automate the rote stuff.  I had some down time at the beginning of this year and pulled together a great team of virtual assistants to do some of the time consuming production work for me.  We're about 3 episodes in and it's working fairly well.  The next phase of this project to automate is now ready.  I had my website redone to support a membership option.  I wanted to give people who had the ability to and wanted to a chance to help me cover the costs of all this stuff without having to resort to cheesy commercials or half-hearted sponsorships.  I also didn't want to take anything away or put existing stuff behind a paywall.  Bottom line – there's a membership option to get extra cool stuff and support the content but we're not charging for or taking away any of the existing content or archival content. Here's the pitch… Remember RunRunLive is and always has been free and listener supported.  To keep it that way we now are offering members' only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (This week I put up my Stu's 30k race report! ) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro's, Outro's, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3's you can download and listen to at any time. We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you're a member it's all about you! On top of that, consider how much it costs: $4.99 a month. That's roughly the price of a couple Expresso Luv Gu gels a month. And unlike GU, we won't give you a sugar overdose or rot your teeth. So not only will you be part of the RunRunLive community and be getting cool extras, you'll also be healthier and happier. But the real value is that you will be helping this community continue to provide the content you love.  And as a member you can directly influence the stories we tell, the research we do and the people we interview.  We're all in this together. So if you like what we're doing here at RunRunLive, please consider becoming a member. Membership is cheap, for a monthly donation that breaks down to roughly around the price of 1/25th of a pair of running shoes each month you can help keep RunRunLive free and independent. Go to my website and click on the subscribe button. … I'm glad to say my training is still going well.  I had another big build week that capped off with a 3 hour long run.  I'm in a good place mentally and physically because instead of ruing the run I was quite looking forward to it. I queued up my favorite podcasts and ran 4 loops of my home 5 mile loop.  Another good sign was when I got to the last loop I realized I'd be about 10 minutes short so I decided to run up to the top of the telephone tower hill –the driveway is on the course.  So, yeah, 18 or so miles into the run I decide to throw in another big hill to make up some time.  Then when I got to the end of the run, near my house I had the 3 hours but was about a 1/3 of a mile short of 20 so I kept going for another 3 minutes to get the 20.  Wasn't sore or chafed or damaged at all after.  All very good signs. This weekend I'm racing one of my favorites – the Eastern States 20 Miler.  Coach has gone easy on me so I can have fresher legs going into it and treat it as a pacing exercise. I'm confident I can negative split it and beat my target marathon goal pace.  It's a flatter course, but there's always some wind coming off the ocean.  It will be a good test and I'm looking forward to it. Then I taper into Boston.  I got my bib number and coral placement and I'm all the way in the back and that is going to be a challenge.  I've got 4,000 charity runners to get around to get my BQ.  That's probably worth 4-5 minutes of race time before I can break free.  I'm so far back this year that I'm considering just waiting before I cross the start mat and giving everyone a 10 -20 minute head start. Whatever happens it will be an adventure. … I've always said that training well does not guarantee your race time. Training well only gives you the opportunity.  Doing the work is not a guarantee of success. Doing the work is how you buy the ticket to get to the starting line with the potential to have a good or even a great day. There was a baseball movie in the 90's called “Major League”.  The storyline was a team of reprobates, misfits and has-beens comes together to beat everyone's expectations and win.  One of the characters was the has-been pitcher Eddie Harris (played by actor Chelcie Ross).  I think about Eddie Harris when I'm racing now.  He had lost his power and speed but he managed to strike people out with the tricks and veteran guile.  That's where I am now.  I don't have the power or speed.  I can't recover as fast.  I can't afford to skip any of the ancillary activities like strength training and stretching.  I can't skip workouts and expect to just ‘show up and race'.  But, I know my machine.  I know how to race.  I've got the confidence and poise to coax good performances.  And I'm ok with that.   On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Effort based training - Voices of reason – the conversation Neely Spencer Gracey – Elite Marathoner Eight time division II national cross country champion and professional runner… Runner's World article ->   Email: getrunning@outlook.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/neelyruns Twitter: @neelysgracey Instagram: NeelySGracey Garmin Connect: neelysgracey Map My Run: neelysgracey PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Runner-up at USATF Club XC Nationals 2011 4th at the BUPA Grand Prix Edinburgh, Scotland 2012 Runner-up at USATF 5k Road Champs 2012 Third at USATF 10k Road Champs 2012 USATF Athlete of the Week 11/14/12 Chiba Japan Bronze Medal Ekiden Relay Team 2012 First ever American Zatopek 10k Champ 2012 5th at USATF XC Nationals 2013 Top American and first non-African (13th) at the World XC Champs 2013 5th at USATF 5k Road Champs 2013 Queen of the Mountain and 6th overall at MRR 2014 5th and top non-African at Campaccio IAAF XC 2015 Runner-Up at Gasparilla Half Marathon 2015 (Olympic Trials qualifier) Section two 9 Mistakes you don't have to make - Outro My friends, members or not, you have reached the end of yet another free and listener supported RunRunLive Podcast – Episode 4-335 has made its successful professional debut. The coming 3-4 weeks are just going to be a blur for me and it's going to carry through May and into June.  I've got a multi-day meeting in Chicago next week.  Then April 18th is the Boston Marathon and I'm in the best shape and have the most confidence in my training that I have had for about 5 years.  You'd think that would make me less nervous.  Just the opposite.  When you haven't trained well there's no stress because there is no expectation. I have trained well and now all I can do is screw it up!  There will be some full on sleepless nights and psychotic episodes over the next couple weeks! April 24th is our 25th anniversary Groton Road Race. We've set up the virtual race if you want join from afar – just go to – Hope to see you there. Rolling into May I've got a multiple conferences and meetings in New Orleans, Atlanta and Phoenix.  I'll be on the road a lot and looking to run the canyon while I'm in Phoenix.  Not sure what my next goal will be.  I'm feeling a bit achy from road racing.  Whatever it is it won't be road racing!  Unless, of course I blow my qualifier try at Boston.  Then I might have to lift that heavy bag of training to my shoulders again, but I'm getting good at that.  I got some pushback on my dog joke from last time.  Apparently the goldens and labs were insulted by my comments. I apologize for that, but I never would have thought they had the mental capacity to be insulted.  I'll try to be my sensitive. … Closing comments Buddy woke up limping around the house today.  He has something wrong with a front paw and I'm going to take him to the vet in a bit.  I want them to look at that other fatty lump on his hip and maybe get that taken out because it seems to be really getting in the way of his running.  We're a pair of old guys limping around the house complaining about aches and pains.  I don't have any muscle or tendonitis problems this cycle.  Coach gives me enough rest and I've been attentive to my yoga and core strengthening.  I do have some goof pain.  I caught a toes in the dark on the trail one night.  I was emerging from the trail into a parking lot and the snow plows had pushed an unexpected piece of curbing into the path.  I came down on my palm and tore a nice hole.  Palms don't heal well.  Then coach gave me a recovery bike spin workout.  It was one of those nice days so I took Fuji-san off the fluid trainer, pumped up the tires, greased all the moving bits and headed for the rail trail.  In the process I had to swap the skewer on the back wheel because the trainer requires a specific skewer – it's the rod through the axles that has a quick release lever on it.   Well, I must not have clamped the back wheel on well enough.  There I was in traffic, balancing at a stop sign, I stood up in the peddles to go and the back wheel comes out of the frame and seizes.  Of course I'm clipped in so I do that embarrassing death roll into the bushes.  I took a piece of gravel and tore a nice hole in my knee! Fast forward a couple days and I'm out running in Los Angeles.  I decide to try to make it to the beach and turn my 1 hour run into a 2 hour run.  Now since it was only supposed to be a 1 hour run I didn't put any lube on.  It's hot for me in LA so I was sweating and I wore all the skin off of a part of my body that sticks out.   There I was last week.  In the best shape of my life and no running injuries, and I managed to manufacture a hole in my hand, a hole in my knee and a super uncomfortable bit of personal chafing. So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-335 – Neely Spence Gracey Breaks out at Boston!  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4335.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-335 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Bear with me, we are going to get to the great show including a piece on the re-emergence of effort based training in the poplar zeitgeist and a really good interview with Neely Spence Gracey who is making her professional marathon debut at Boston this year.  And I’m capping it off with a super-thoughtful post on mistakes not to make in life that is just in time for graduation season. But – before that -This week I’ve got another milestone announcement for you.  I’ve been toying with this idea for years and I finally got the breathing room to put it into action.  When I looked at the value of this podcast to you over the last 8 years and 300+ episodes it is in the content, meaning the words and the interviews, and the audio I create from them.  That’s my value add in the process.  The revelation I had is that even though I am perfectly capable of it, there is no unique or differentiating value to me twiddling with my website or editing the audio or the countless other admin tasks that something like this takes. So I asked myself, “Hey, Myself, how can I do less of that stuff and more of the good stuff?” and the answer was to automate the rote stuff.  I had some down time at the beginning of this year and pulled together a great team of virtual assistants to do some of the time consuming production work for me.  We’re about 3 episodes in and it’s working fairly well.  The next phase of this project to automate is now ready.  I had my website redone to support a membership option.  I wanted to give people who had the ability to and wanted to a chance to help me cover the costs of all this stuff without having to resort to cheesy commercials or half-hearted sponsorships.  I also didn’t want to take anything away or put existing stuff behind a paywall.  Bottom line – there’s a membership option to get extra cool stuff and support the content but we’re not charging for or taking away any of the existing content or archival content. Here’s the pitch… Remember RunRunLive is and always has been free and listener supported.  To keep it that way we now are offering members’ only content. By signing up for a membership, you will get… Access To Exclusive Members Only audio Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! (This week I put up my Stu’s 30k race report! ) Exclusive Access to Individual Audio Segments from all Shows Intro’s, Outro’s, Section One running tips, Section Two life hacks and Featured Interviews – all available as stand-alone MP3’s you can download and listen to at any time. We will consider other benefits as they are requested by you, because when you’re a member it’s all about you! On top of that, consider how much it costs: $4.99 a month. That’s roughly the price of a couple Expresso Luv Gu gels a month. And unlike GU, we won’t give you a sugar overdose or rot your teeth. So not only will you be part of the RunRunLive community and be getting cool extras, you’ll also be healthier and happier. But the real value is that you will be helping this community continue to provide the content you love.  And as a member you can directly influence the stories we tell, the research we do and the people we interview.  We’re all in this together. So if you like what we’re doing here at RunRunLive, please consider becoming a member. Membership is cheap, for a monthly donation that breaks down to roughly around the price of 1/25th of a pair of running shoes each month you can help keep RunRunLive free and independent. Go to my website and click on the subscribe button. … I’m glad to say my training is still going well.  I had another big build week that capped off with a 3 hour long run.  I’m in a good place mentally and physically because instead of ruing the run I was quite looking forward to it. I queued up my favorite podcasts and ran 4 loops of my home 5 mile loop.  Another good sign was when I got to the last loop I realized I’d be about 10 minutes short so I decided to run up to the top of the telephone tower hill –the driveway is on the course.  So, yeah, 18 or so miles into the run I decide to throw in another big hill to make up some time.  Then when I got to the end of the run, near my house I had the 3 hours but was about a 1/3 of a mile short of 20 so I kept going for another 3 minutes to get the 20.  Wasn’t sore or chafed or damaged at all after.  All very good signs. This weekend I’m racing one of my favorites – the Eastern States 20 Miler.  Coach has gone easy on me so I can have fresher legs going into it and treat it as a pacing exercise. I’m confident I can negative split it and beat my target marathon goal pace.  It’s a flatter course, but there’s always some wind coming off the ocean.  It will be a good test and I’m looking forward to it. Then I taper into Boston.  I got my bib number and coral placement and I’m all the way in the back and that is going to be a challenge.  I’ve got 4,000 charity runners to get around to get my BQ.  That’s probably worth 4-5 minutes of race time before I can break free.  I’m so far back this year that I’m considering just waiting before I cross the start mat and giving everyone a 10 -20 minute head start. Whatever happens it will be an adventure. … I’ve always said that training well does not guarantee your race time. Training well only gives you the opportunity.  Doing the work is not a guarantee of success. Doing the work is how you buy the ticket to get to the starting line with the potential to have a good or even a great day. There was a baseball movie in the 90’s called “Major League”.  The storyline was a team of reprobates, misfits and has-beens comes together to beat everyone’s expectations and win.  One of the characters was the has-been pitcher Eddie Harris (played by actor Chelcie Ross).  I think about Eddie Harris when I’m racing now.  He had lost his power and speed but he managed to strike people out with the tricks and veteran guile.  That’s where I am now.  I don’t have the power or speed.  I can’t recover as fast.  I can’t afford to skip any of the ancillary activities like strength training and stretching.  I can’t skip workouts and expect to just ‘show up and race’.  But, I know my machine.  I know how to race.  I’ve got the confidence and poise to coax good performances.  And I’m ok with that.   On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Effort based training - Voices of reason – the conversation Neely Spencer Gracey – Elite Marathoner Eight time division II national cross country champion and professional runner… Runner’s World article ->   Email: getrunning@outlook.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/neelyruns Twitter: @neelysgracey Instagram: NeelySGracey Garmin Connect: neelysgracey Map My Run: neelysgracey PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS Runner-up at USATF Club XC Nationals 2011 4th at the BUPA Grand Prix Edinburgh, Scotland 2012 Runner-up at USATF 5k Road Champs 2012 Third at USATF 10k Road Champs 2012 USATF Athlete of the Week 11/14/12 Chiba Japan Bronze Medal Ekiden Relay Team 2012 First ever American Zatopek 10k Champ 2012 5th at USATF XC Nationals 2013 Top American and first non-African (13th) at the World XC Champs 2013 5th at USATF 5k Road Champs 2013 Queen of the Mountain and 6th overall at MRR 2014 5th and top non-African at Campaccio IAAF XC 2015 Runner-Up at Gasparilla Half Marathon 2015 (Olympic Trials qualifier) Section two 9 Mistakes you don’t have to make - Outro My friends, members or not, you have reached the end of yet another free and listener supported RunRunLive Podcast – Episode 4-335 has made its successful professional debut. The coming 3-4 weeks are just going to be a blur for me and it’s going to carry through May and into June.  I’ve got a multi-day meeting in Chicago next week.  Then April 18th is the Boston Marathon and I’m in the best shape and have the most confidence in my training that I have had for about 5 years.  You’d think that would make me less nervous.  Just the opposite.  When you haven’t trained well there’s no stress because there is no expectation. I have trained well and now all I can do is screw it up!  There will be some full on sleepless nights and psychotic episodes over the next couple weeks! April 24th is our 25th anniversary Groton Road Race. We’ve set up the virtual race if you want join from afar – just go to – Hope to see you there. Rolling into May I’ve got a multiple conferences and meetings in New Orleans, Atlanta and Phoenix.  I’ll be on the road a lot and looking to run the canyon while I’m in Phoenix.  Not sure what my next goal will be.  I’m feeling a bit achy from road racing.  Whatever it is it won’t be road racing!  Unless, of course I blow my qualifier try at Boston.  Then I might have to lift that heavy bag of training to my shoulders again, but I’m getting good at that.  I got some pushback on my dog joke from last time.  Apparently the goldens and labs were insulted by my comments. I apologize for that, but I never would have thought they had the mental capacity to be insulted.  I’ll try to be my sensitive. … Closing comments Buddy woke up limping around the house today.  He has something wrong with a front paw and I’m going to take him to the vet in a bit.  I want them to look at that other fatty lump on his hip and maybe get that taken out because it seems to be really getting in the way of his running.  We’re a pair of old guys limping around the house complaining about aches and pains.  I don’t have any muscle or tendonitis problems this cycle.  Coach gives me enough rest and I’ve been attentive to my yoga and core strengthening.  I do have some goof pain.  I caught a toes in the dark on the trail one night.  I was emerging from the trail into a parking lot and the snow plows had pushed an unexpected piece of curbing into the path.  I came down on my palm and tore a nice hole.  Palms don’t heal well.  Then coach gave me a recovery bike spin workout.  It was one of those nice days so I took Fuji-san off the fluid trainer, pumped up the tires, greased all the moving bits and headed for the rail trail.  In the process I had to swap the skewer on the back wheel because the trainer requires a specific skewer – it’s the rod through the axles that has a quick release lever on it.   Well, I must not have clamped the back wheel on well enough.  There I was in traffic, balancing at a stop sign, I stood up in the peddles to go and the back wheel comes out of the frame and seizes.  Of course I’m clipped in so I do that embarrassing death roll into the bushes.  I took a piece of gravel and tore a nice hole in my knee! Fast forward a couple days and I’m out running in Los Angeles.  I decide to try to make it to the beach and turn my 1 hour run into a 2 hour run.  Now since it was only supposed to be a 1 hour run I didn’t put any lube on.  It’s hot for me in LA so I was sweating and I wore all the skin off of a part of my body that sticks out.   There I was last week.  In the best shape of my life and no running injuries, and I managed to manufacture a hole in my hand, a hole in my knee and a super uncomfortable bit of personal chafing. So, yeah, the universe is in balance… – and l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-334 – Nate and the Relationship between Alcohol and Running  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4334.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-334 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  This is a milestone podcast.  With this episode I have caught up to Steve who is currently on episode 334 of Pheddipidations!  See? Consistency! Tourtoise and the hare and all that.  Great to have you along with me today on this sweet, sweet spring adventure up here in New England.  Welcome and thank you for taking the time to download this podcast and listen to it.  Maybe you're out on your run and you can feel your heart beating, breath in your lungs and your feet hitting the ground.  Maybe you're in your car with the slow thrum of the road vibrating through your body.  Maybe you're at work pretending to be interested in that thing that you to keep the bailiff away from your door.  Whatever it is – I've got a fantastic show for you today.  (See how I used hyperbole there? I'm telling you it's fantastic to hypnotize you into thinking that way.  I have no idea if it's fantastic or not.  I'm mean really that would mean it's so good it can only be considered as a fantasy.  If that's true you should probably upgrade your fantasies) Words have power.  Thoughts have power.  The power to teach, to console to salve the wounds of a soul.  Don't discount the power of words.  Words are the manifestation of thought and thought is the precursor to action.  Sorry – meandered a bit off track there.  Anyhow – My training has been going fantastic! Heh heh.  I am right where I need to be for Boston.  Everyone stop right now and pray for good weather.  Work with me here.  I want mid-40's, overcast, with maybe a slight misty drizzle and a 5 mph tail wind.  I finished off another build cycle of 50 mile weeks that culminated in a really good showing at Stu's 30k last Sunday.  At the end of a cycle, on tired legs, on a difficult course I ran a disciplined negative spilt.  I laid low for the first 8-9 miles then raced the second half.  It was a real confidence builder.  I felt like I knew what I was doing and was in control the whole way.  I closed it hard and ended up averaging spot-on my qualifying pace.  Today we chat with Nate who you may recognize as ‘Nate from Harrisburg' from the Extramile Podcast.  I had a couple of conversations recently about the relationship between running and Alcohol and I wanted to explore it more with people who know more than I do.  Nate is a counselor who has worked with addiction and also a runner so I thought this would be a good place to start.  I don't claim to have any expertise here.  I know I have been affected by addiction and I'm sure many of you have as well.  I'm not here to minimize the topic or glorify it.  I just wanted to have a thoughtful conversations about it.  I wish I could do more, but for better or worse today Nate and I have a conversation around alcohol and running.  In the first section I'm going to talk about how to program workouts into your running watch.  In the second section I'll ramble on about some other, general, random crap like I usually do. … I had a really good race last weekend.  I ran well and disciplined and my body showed glimpses of race fitness and ability that I haven't seen in a while.  I've been here before.  Approaching the peak of a solid, long, committed training cycle. I remember those days when I crossed the finish line fists raised in glorious triumph.  I do remember being this strong and healthy before and how tenuous and slippery the foothold is on those peaks.  We remember the glorious days, the big successes the big victories.  But we don't remember the hard work that went into making those triumphs possible.  The long days and hard efforts and continuous, insistent, focused work that got us to those peaks – those fade into a dreary montage and all we remember is a summary.  We remember that we are capable of these great things.  But we forget that we need to do the work that goes into attaining them. The meal is remembered the recipe is lost.  The same is true for failure.  We remember the pain of falling down but we forget the thousands of choices that led to it.  When you crest the big hill and unexpectedly find there is a flatter bit of road and the going gets easier.  It's easy to relax and fall prey to an entropy of spirit.  Whether the slope is steep and your breathing labored or you find yourself moving with strength and ease the work is always there.  Remember to smile when you find that ease and congratulate yourself for climbing to this point.  But remember that the work that is done in the times of ease is the work that leads to success in the times of strain.  The trick is to hold the smiles in one hand and the work in the other and keep moving forward. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips How to program workouts into your Garmin -   Voices of reason – the conversation Nate Wagner My name is Nate Wagner. I live in Harrisburg, PA with my wife and two girls. I am a licensed therapist at Cornerstone Counseling. I enjoy running half and full marathons. I help clients get their lives back from addiction and marital difficulties. Have any questions or if I can help in any way, please reach out to me on twitter @natewagner08 Running blog:  Section two Selling Change- http://runrunlive.com/selling-change Outro - Closing comments MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Well, my friends, it might be time to crack open a celebratory cold one, or reconsider that, but either way, you can celebrate reaching the end of episode 4334 of the RunRunLive podcast. Have you noticed the new editing?  This will be the 2nd podcast with entirely outsourced content editing. Anyone have any quality issues let me know. I'm moving into my final race build cycles for the Boston marathon.  I'm right on track . Very comfortable with my speed and fitness after Stu's last week.  I am working on a race report for Stu's – stay tuned for that.  My next race is The Eastern States 20 Miler March 26th.  It's on a Saturday this year because of Easter.  That will be my last pace run before Boston.  I'm right on track.  I'd like to thank all my friends who have contributed to my Team Hoyt fund for Boston.  I can still use your help if you can – I would appreciate it. I'm still planning to run the in-and-out of the Grand Canyon on Thursday May 19th – whether you're too chicken to join me or not! The Groton Road Race is April 24th and with the nice weather it looks like we're going to have a good year.  We set up a virtual race option, so no matter where you live you can sign up and run and we'll send you one of our super nice 25th anniversary shirts.  Just go to GrotonRoadRace.com  Next week I have a great interview with Neely Gracey who is an pro-elite runner.  She's just at the beginning of her career, knocked out a sub-70 ½ at Philly and is making her debut at Boston this year.  It was a super interesting talk.  The next time you folks feel like saying something smarmy about Millennials you should listen to Neely. … We've been far too serious today.  To take you out I'm going to give you a joke you can tell to your dog.  You can try telling it your cat, but this joke has not been cat tested.  It doesn't work with dogs that have short attention spans, like Jack Russells, or dogs that just aren't very bright like Labs and Goldens, and it definitely won't work with deaf dogs.  The good thing about dogs is that you could tell them this joke as many times as you want and it's still going to be funny.  I don't know about you, but I talk to my dog.  For his part, Buddy acts interested when I talk to him.  He also does emotional mirroring – meaning that he senses from my tone of voice and my emotional state the essence of what I'm talking about and he projects the appropriate matching emotion of interest, concern, or hugs. When you're telling the joke you have to address the dog like you're talking directly to the dog, taking them into your confidence.  When I do this Buddy will essentially ‘lean in' to the conversation which make the punch line hilarious.  I made up this Joke to share with Buddy how annoying some of his interaction with me are.  Ok, Ready?  Got your dog's interest. Right. A border collie, a Persian cat and a llama walk into a bar. They walk up to the bar tender. The bartender leans in close, and says… “Bark!” … It's funny because the dog jumps about a foot in the air every time.  Tell your dog a joke – and l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-334 – Nate and the Relationship between Alcohol and Running  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4334.mp3] Link Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-334 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  This is a milestone podcast.  With this episode I have caught up to Steve who is currently on episode 334 of Pheddipidations!  See? Consistency! Tourtoise and the hare and all that.  Great to have you along with me today on this sweet, sweet spring adventure up here in New England.  Welcome and thank you for taking the time to download this podcast and listen to it.  Maybe you’re out on your run and you can feel your heart beating, breath in your lungs and your feet hitting the ground.  Maybe you’re in your car with the slow thrum of the road vibrating through your body.  Maybe you’re at work pretending to be interested in that thing that you to keep the bailiff away from your door.  Whatever it is – I’ve got a fantastic show for you today.  (See how I used hyperbole there? I’m telling you it’s fantastic to hypnotize you into thinking that way.  I have no idea if it’s fantastic or not.  I’m mean really that would mean it’s so good it can only be considered as a fantasy.  If that’s true you should probably upgrade your fantasies) Words have power.  Thoughts have power.  The power to teach, to console to salve the wounds of a soul.  Don’t discount the power of words.  Words are the manifestation of thought and thought is the precursor to action.  Sorry – meandered a bit off track there.  Anyhow – My training has been going fantastic! Heh heh.  I am right where I need to be for Boston.  Everyone stop right now and pray for good weather.  Work with me here.  I want mid-40’s, overcast, with maybe a slight misty drizzle and a 5 mph tail wind.  I finished off another build cycle of 50 mile weeks that culminated in a really good showing at Stu’s 30k last Sunday.  At the end of a cycle, on tired legs, on a difficult course I ran a disciplined negative spilt.  I laid low for the first 8-9 miles then raced the second half.  It was a real confidence builder.  I felt like I knew what I was doing and was in control the whole way.  I closed it hard and ended up averaging spot-on my qualifying pace.  Today we chat with Nate who you may recognize as ‘Nate from Harrisburg’ from the Extramile Podcast.  I had a couple of conversations recently about the relationship between running and Alcohol and I wanted to explore it more with people who know more than I do.  Nate is a counselor who has worked with addiction and also a runner so I thought this would be a good place to start.  I don’t claim to have any expertise here.  I know I have been affected by addiction and I’m sure many of you have as well.  I’m not here to minimize the topic or glorify it.  I just wanted to have a thoughtful conversations about it.  I wish I could do more, but for better or worse today Nate and I have a conversation around alcohol and running.  In the first section I’m going to talk about how to program workouts into your running watch.  In the second section I’ll ramble on about some other, general, random crap like I usually do. … I had a really good race last weekend.  I ran well and disciplined and my body showed glimpses of race fitness and ability that I haven’t seen in a while.  I’ve been here before.  Approaching the peak of a solid, long, committed training cycle. I remember those days when I crossed the finish line fists raised in glorious triumph.  I do remember being this strong and healthy before and how tenuous and slippery the foothold is on those peaks.  We remember the glorious days, the big successes the big victories.  But we don’t remember the hard work that went into making those triumphs possible.  The long days and hard efforts and continuous, insistent, focused work that got us to those peaks – those fade into a dreary montage and all we remember is a summary.  We remember that we are capable of these great things.  But we forget that we need to do the work that goes into attaining them. The meal is remembered the recipe is lost.  The same is true for failure.  We remember the pain of falling down but we forget the thousands of choices that led to it.  When you crest the big hill and unexpectedly find there is a flatter bit of road and the going gets easier.  It’s easy to relax and fall prey to an entropy of spirit.  Whether the slope is steep and your breathing labored or you find yourself moving with strength and ease the work is always there.  Remember to smile when you find that ease and congratulate yourself for climbing to this point.  But remember that the work that is done in the times of ease is the work that leads to success in the times of strain.  The trick is to hold the smiles in one hand and the work in the other and keep moving forward. On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips How to program workouts into your Garmin -   Voices of reason – the conversation Nate Wagner My name is Nate Wagner. I live in Harrisburg, PA with my wife and two girls. I am a licensed therapist at Cornerstone Counseling. I enjoy running half and full marathons. I help clients get their lives back from addiction and marital difficulties. Have any questions or if I can help in any way, please reach out to me on twitter @natewagner08 Running blog:  Section two Selling Change- http://runrunlive.com/selling-change Outro - Closing comments MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Well, my friends, it might be time to crack open a celebratory cold one, or reconsider that, but either way, you can celebrate reaching the end of episode 4334 of the RunRunLive podcast. Have you noticed the new editing?  This will be the 2nd podcast with entirely outsourced content editing. Anyone have any quality issues let me know. I’m moving into my final race build cycles for the Boston marathon.  I’m right on track . Very comfortable with my speed and fitness after Stu’s last week.  I am working on a race report for Stu’s – stay tuned for that.  My next race is The Eastern States 20 Miler March 26th.  It’s on a Saturday this year because of Easter.  That will be my last pace run before Boston.  I’m right on track.  I’d like to thank all my friends who have contributed to my Team Hoyt fund for Boston.  I can still use your help if you can – I would appreciate it. I’m still planning to run the in-and-out of the Grand Canyon on Thursday May 19th – whether you’re too chicken to join me or not! The Groton Road Race is April 24th and with the nice weather it looks like we’re going to have a good year.  We set up a virtual race option, so no matter where you live you can sign up and run and we’ll send you one of our super nice 25th anniversary shirts.  Just go to GrotonRoadRace.com  Next week I have a great interview with Neely Gracey who is an pro-elite runner.  She’s just at the beginning of her career, knocked out a sub-70 ½ at Philly and is making her debut at Boston this year.  It was a super interesting talk.  The next time you folks feel like saying something smarmy about Millennials you should listen to Neely. … We’ve been far too serious today.  To take you out I’m going to give you a joke you can tell to your dog.  You can try telling it your cat, but this joke has not been cat tested.  It doesn’t work with dogs that have short attention spans, like Jack Russells, or dogs that just aren’t very bright like Labs and Goldens, and it definitely won’t work with deaf dogs.  The good thing about dogs is that you could tell them this joke as many times as you want and it’s still going to be funny.  I don’t know about you, but I talk to my dog.  For his part, Buddy acts interested when I talk to him.  He also does emotional mirroring – meaning that he senses from my tone of voice and my emotional state the essence of what I’m talking about and he projects the appropriate matching emotion of interest, concern, or hugs. When you’re telling the joke you have to address the dog like you’re talking directly to the dog, taking them into your confidence.  When I do this Buddy will essentially ‘lean in’ to the conversation which make the punch line hilarious.  I made up this Joke to share with Buddy how annoying some of his interaction with me are.  Ok, Ready?  Got your dog’s interest. Right. A border collie, a Persian cat and a llama walk into a bar. They walk up to the bar tender. The bartender leans in close, and says… “Bark!” … It’s funny because the dog jumps about a foot in the air every time.  Tell your dog a joke – and l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-330 – Passer-by and telling stories (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4330.mp3]Link epi4330.mp3Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> https://www.crowdrise.com/teamhoytbostonmarath/fundraiser/christopherrussellMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello and welcome to episode 4-330 of the RunRunLive Podcast. This week I have a chat with Matt about his experience recording the MarathonBQ audio book for Audible. I haven't got the green light from audible yet. They are still processing the finished product – which is a good sign because if they have issues with audio production they get right back to you. I was interested in chatting with Matt about what it was like to be on his side of the table recording my words and about the conversational story telling medium that podcasting has become. Podcast have become, or maybe they always were, the glue in community building. There's really not much of a leap between you and I talking right now and the shaman telling stories as the firelight dances on the puebla walls in prehistory. It's a human thing. In Section One we're going to discuss how to come back from having the flu in the middle of your training cycle. In Section two we'll talk about the good and bad of setting big hairy goals. I raced the Rock n Roll Phoenix marathon last Sunday. As a story telling experiment I journaled my thoughts the morning before the race, the day after and then two days after. I'm going to drop them in here to see if it gives you some insight into the runner's mind. …It's 6:00 AM local time. I'm in a nice Renaissance hotel on East Adams Street about 6 blocks from the start line. The race starts at 7:50 for some odd reason. I'll leave here around 6:30 – 6:45 and jog over for my warm up. It looks to be about ½ a mile. When this podcast drops we will know the results of this race. Right now we do not. I stand once more staring into the abyss that is long distance running.I've been suffering from taper madness for the better part of two weeks. I have been terrified of this race all week. My friends look to me and shake their heads. How can YOU be terrified of a race? Haven't you done this 50 times? Didn't you write a book about this?That doesn't keep my mind from running around in circles like a cage of rabid weasels. I sit here in the stench of menthol that rises from my old legs and I am fine. The test is here and the waiting is over. Now all that is left is a few hours of honest suffering. Status? I got in a few great weeks of speed training in the fall with some decent mileage. I broke out of that schedule in December to run some races. I switched to a couple weeks of long tempo and some decent core work to tune up for this race. I have no injuries and nothing is bothering me. On a scale of 1 -10 I feel like I'm about a 7.5 in terms of fitness. I feel a bit heavy but I've stayed off the scale. The gym at work flooded just days after it opened from the remodeling. Instead of step-ups runs I closed out my training with some shorter fartlek runs. In some of these I saw signs of life. I tapered well, if not a bit too deeply but I wanted to make sure my legs were fresh for this effort. I sit here in this hotel with my wife gently snoring behind me and it is almost time to go. I've got my old wine-soaked Hokas, short shorts, my Squannacook singlet and a Boston Marathon hat. I'll carry a bottle of UCan in one hand and some gels and endurolytes in the other. It's 46 degrees and clear. The road stretches out before me. It's time to step into the arena. …Monday morning – A bed and Breakfast outside Sedona, AZ. My legs ache. My quads especially. I'm up early because of the time change and also because of the unsettling ache in my legs. I don't know if that's an honest ache from the effort in the race or my legs got pummeled from the awful form I betrayed in those last few miles.I had nothing yesterday. Nothing. If I was my coach I'd wonder about mental commitment and whether I was just failing to embrace effort. But that wasn't it. I wasn't even close to the point where I would have to call on some deeper strength to tip the scales. I wasn't even close. I warmed up well. I fueled. I was slotted comfortably in Corral #1. It was a small race for a city marathon. Like most of these Rock n Roll races the masses run the 1/2. We were out and running free right off the line. The course was wide city streets and no hassles with crowding at all. I fell into my race strategy and discipline right away. I was running within earshot of Eric the 3:30 pacer. He was pushing a 7:55ish pace that would give us 90 seconds of buffer for the high miles. I haven't downloaded the data yet but it felt like a low to mid-zone 3 effort. The weather was mid 40's with a slight breeze as the sun came up. I wasn't working too hard but I did notice the sweat dripping from my hat by mile 4. You have to pay attention to that in a desert race because you can get dehydrated before you know it. I was sucking on my bottle of UCan and my energy was nice and level. At the 10k I took a couple seconds to fish out an endurolyte salt pill to stay ahead of the electrolyte loss – Another thing you have to watch in the desert. Mile 10 was a long barely perceptible uphill pull and I noticed my effort level going up a bit. I kept noticing my legs weren't feeling so great. Especially my quads and the little uphill had them protesting. I tried relaxing out my stride but I couldn't figure out how to clear the fatigue. That's what it was. Fatigue. Not cramps, fatigue. Like that feeling you get when you've done 20 weighted walking lunges and you have to do 5 more. That burning fatigue. Around 11.5 miles I knew my goal was not going to be met on this day. I thanked the pacer and wished everyone good luck and tried to find a comfortable running pace. The rest of the race played out like so many bad marathons I have run. Slower and slower paces. More and longer walk breaks. Your classic 15 min positive split. And those last few miles hurt. My legs were cooked. I'm feeling it today. When you look around for things to blame, for excuses you talk about injuries or fueling or weather. For a mid-packer all those things are 5-percenters. All those things might be worth 5-10 minutes in your goal time. The only thing that really makes a difference in your racing is training. I don't think the volume and intensity of my training was lacking but I think the consistency and the timing was bad. I was all over the place with my training in December and raced too much. I feel guilty when I fail at these races. It's been such a long time since my last good race in 2011. That was over 15 marathons ago. I remember that day and the fact that it really wasn't that hard of an effort. It was coming off a decent winter of training but nothing special. I had the world in my hands that day at Boston. It's so far away now I wonder if that was really me. I wonder if that me even exists anymore. I wonder what the point is. I feel like a pretender. Maybe it's time to take up golf. Maybe this sport has taught me all it can. On my desk at home is a charity entry for the greatest marathon in the world. When I get home I'll fill it out and send it in without the qualification time. I'll join my friends for my 18th spring run up to the great race. On April 18th I'll be standing on Main Street in Hopkinton. I'll bring with me the best training cycle I am capable of. I'll lose the weight. I'll work the legs. I'll do exactly what my coach tells me. It's on to Boston. On with the show! Section one - Running TipsComing back from the flu - http://runrunlive.com/coming-back-from-the-fluVoices of reason – the conversationMatt – Passers-by http://passersby.libsyn.com/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/passers-by-passers-by-podcast/id1037890127?mt=2Matthew McDonough is a Podcaster and father hailing from Michigan. Matthew hosts the Passers-by Podcast, the podcast where a random guest comes on and tells their story. Section twoThe peril of the big goal - http://runrunlive.com/the-power-and-peril-of-setting-big-goalsOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Well, my friends, apparently you have failed on you r time goal but you have successfully made it to the end of episode 4-330 of the RunRunLive podcast. I'm going to drop one more journal entry on you and we'll head for the exits. I'm still looking for contributions for my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston 2016 if you can spare a dime. Registration for the Groton Road Race is open. April 24th 2016. Come up and say ‘hi' – it's our 25th anniversary. Wednesday Morning. Navajo Casino. Sitting in the coffee café listening to Dire Straits and waiting for the sun and my wife to get up. On a call this morning I was asked about the race. “When did you know?” “How did it go down?” “How are you feeling now?” “What are your plans now?” I'm quite at peace with my race and in general. That was somewhere around my 51st marathon. I would guess 75-80% of them have gone like this. Where I went in wondering what my fitness was and found out that it wasn't what I thought. It's a bit of a bell curve when you get enough races under your belt. And I mean races. Not the meandering parades that is becoming more and more the norm. For me a race means that I'm going to run my best time on that day with the fitness I have. If I'm racing I'm racing for time and the measuring stick I use is the Boston qualification standard. It doesn't mean completing the 26.2 miles for the sake of a party and a pat on the back. But that's a whole other conversation. My point is; when you're racing a small percent of the time you are going to show up and have a great day. On those days it comes easily and you run above and beyond your training. Another small percent of the time you get the truly awful performance where you pull a muscle or have a cramp and the whole thing collapses into an ugly death march to the finish. On these days you run below the capabilities of your training. For the majority of my races it has just been work. Where the work starts early and the weight of the effort wears you down. It is not your day. You slow down and take the disappointment because it is what you have on that day. You end up asking those questions and trying to figure out what went wrong. Like your performances the majority of the fault lies not in the long tail items of weather, sleep, nutrition or any of the other thousands of influencers on performance. The majority of your race performance is due to your training. Your training has the largest influence on how you perform on that day. Thus, my training was bad. Not bad in the sense that I didn't get enough volume or intensity. Bad in the sense that my timing was poor, I raced too much and I wasn't consistent or focused. I didn't peak well and I wasted all those miles. How do I feel? What do I do next? I was emotionally wrapped up in this race because I've been chasing this time for 5 years now and it's starting to weigh on me. I also like to make races emotionally important to me because I find that urgency helps me focus my energy. It helps to ‘care deeply' about the results. It helps to take that attitude into a race. It makes me less likely to give up. I do understand that it's just a race. I do understand that it is not a judgment on me as a person and I don't take it personally. One race doesn't weigh on my self-worth. Emotionally, in my animal brain I get the disappointment, frustration and anger, but detached in my big brain I see it not as failure but as another data point from which to learn and improve. That being said I want to make promises that I can keep. It is always a challenging game in life to dangle that carrot far enough in front that you have to stretch and grow to reach it but not too far in front that you create a wash and rinse cycle of false expectations and failure. We're on to Boston. And we'll see you out there. …Tuesday Morning I got up early to watch the sun rise over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular. Really something. I decided I at least needed to run a little bit of the trail down into the canyon. The Bright Angel trail head was right behind our cabin. It was 18 degrees out, which I wasn't expecting. I put on 5 shirts under the finisher's jacket from the race. I had tossed my cloth gloves during the race so I had to wear my dress gloves. The long switch backs clinging to the cliff face were covered in a packed snow. It wasn't too bad. I was bit worried it would be sheer ice and all I had were the wine soaked Hokas – not really trail shoes. The descent was easy and I just kept my stride short and steady. I passed through rock tunnels and past petroglyphs high on the canyon walls. I decide to turn around after less than two miles because I didn't want to get in trouble with the wrong shoes, no water, no food and my quads still sore from the marathon. Even so it was probably 1,000 feet of drop. Turning around and heading back up I was forced into a run-hike cadence almost immediately. The canyon rim is at about the same altitude as Denver and the air is pretty thin. I had to step aside to let a couple of mule trains pass. As I was pushing up out of the trail the day hikers were starting their descents and stepped aside with wide eyed wonder to see me churning up the path towards them. They apparently thought I had run up from the bottom. You look at something like the canyon that was worn down over millions of years of patient effort by the Colorado River and plate tectonics. Man can dig holes and move dirt with tractors but rain and melting snow can move continents with patient ablation. I thought about my life and my running and how happy I was to be that 53 year old guy running up out of the canyon on an icy trail to the astonishment of travelers. Maybe it's that same patient, consistent work that will allow us all to leave behind immense and beautiful works of art, each in our own way. My advice to you today is to just keep doing what you're doing. Don't worry about the results. Don't worry if no one except the mule deer and jack rabbit know and notice and – l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-330 – Passer-by and telling stories (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4330.mp3]Link epi4330.mp3Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> https://www.crowdrise.com/teamhoytbostonmarath/fundraiser/christopherrussellMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello and welcome to episode 4-330 of the RunRunLive Podcast. This week I have a chat with Matt about his experience recording the MarathonBQ audio book for Audible. I haven’t got the green light from audible yet. They are still processing the finished product – which is a good sign because if they have issues with audio production they get right back to you. I was interested in chatting with Matt about what it was like to be on his side of the table recording my words and about the conversational story telling medium that podcasting has become. Podcast have become, or maybe they always were, the glue in community building. There’s really not much of a leap between you and I talking right now and the shaman telling stories as the firelight dances on the puebla walls in prehistory. It’s a human thing. In Section One we’re going to discuss how to come back from having the flu in the middle of your training cycle. In Section two we’ll talk about the good and bad of setting big hairy goals. I raced the Rock n Roll Phoenix marathon last Sunday. As a story telling experiment I journaled my thoughts the morning before the race, the day after and then two days after. I’m going to drop them in here to see if it gives you some insight into the runner’s mind. …It’s 6:00 AM local time. I’m in a nice Renaissance hotel on East Adams Street about 6 blocks from the start line. The race starts at 7:50 for some odd reason. I’ll leave here around 6:30 – 6:45 and jog over for my warm up. It looks to be about ½ a mile. When this podcast drops we will know the results of this race. Right now we do not. I stand once more staring into the abyss that is long distance running.I’ve been suffering from taper madness for the better part of two weeks. I have been terrified of this race all week. My friends look to me and shake their heads. How can YOU be terrified of a race? Haven’t you done this 50 times? Didn’t you write a book about this?That doesn’t keep my mind from running around in circles like a cage of rabid weasels. I sit here in the stench of menthol that rises from my old legs and I am fine. The test is here and the waiting is over. Now all that is left is a few hours of honest suffering. Status? I got in a few great weeks of speed training in the fall with some decent mileage. I broke out of that schedule in December to run some races. I switched to a couple weeks of long tempo and some decent core work to tune up for this race. I have no injuries and nothing is bothering me. On a scale of 1 -10 I feel like I’m about a 7.5 in terms of fitness. I feel a bit heavy but I’ve stayed off the scale. The gym at work flooded just days after it opened from the remodeling. Instead of step-ups runs I closed out my training with some shorter fartlek runs. In some of these I saw signs of life. I tapered well, if not a bit too deeply but I wanted to make sure my legs were fresh for this effort. I sit here in this hotel with my wife gently snoring behind me and it is almost time to go. I’ve got my old wine-soaked Hokas, short shorts, my Squannacook singlet and a Boston Marathon hat. I’ll carry a bottle of UCan in one hand and some gels and endurolytes in the other. It’s 46 degrees and clear. The road stretches out before me. It’s time to step into the arena. …Monday morning – A bed and Breakfast outside Sedona, AZ. My legs ache. My quads especially. I’m up early because of the time change and also because of the unsettling ache in my legs. I don’t know if that’s an honest ache from the effort in the race or my legs got pummeled from the awful form I betrayed in those last few miles.I had nothing yesterday. Nothing. If I was my coach I’d wonder about mental commitment and whether I was just failing to embrace effort. But that wasn’t it. I wasn’t even close to the point where I would have to call on some deeper strength to tip the scales. I wasn’t even close. I warmed up well. I fueled. I was slotted comfortably in Corral #1. It was a small race for a city marathon. Like most of these Rock n Roll races the masses run the 1/2. We were out and running free right off the line. The course was wide city streets and no hassles with crowding at all. I fell into my race strategy and discipline right away. I was running within earshot of Eric the 3:30 pacer. He was pushing a 7:55ish pace that would give us 90 seconds of buffer for the high miles. I haven’t downloaded the data yet but it felt like a low to mid-zone 3 effort. The weather was mid 40’s with a slight breeze as the sun came up. I wasn’t working too hard but I did notice the sweat dripping from my hat by mile 4. You have to pay attention to that in a desert race because you can get dehydrated before you know it. I was sucking on my bottle of UCan and my energy was nice and level. At the 10k I took a couple seconds to fish out an endurolyte salt pill to stay ahead of the electrolyte loss – Another thing you have to watch in the desert. Mile 10 was a long barely perceptible uphill pull and I noticed my effort level going up a bit. I kept noticing my legs weren’t feeling so great. Especially my quads and the little uphill had them protesting. I tried relaxing out my stride but I couldn’t figure out how to clear the fatigue. That’s what it was. Fatigue. Not cramps, fatigue. Like that feeling you get when you’ve done 20 weighted walking lunges and you have to do 5 more. That burning fatigue. Around 11.5 miles I knew my goal was not going to be met on this day. I thanked the pacer and wished everyone good luck and tried to find a comfortable running pace. The rest of the race played out like so many bad marathons I have run. Slower and slower paces. More and longer walk breaks. Your classic 15 min positive split. And those last few miles hurt. My legs were cooked. I’m feeling it today. When you look around for things to blame, for excuses you talk about injuries or fueling or weather. For a mid-packer all those things are 5-percenters. All those things might be worth 5-10 minutes in your goal time. The only thing that really makes a difference in your racing is training. I don’t think the volume and intensity of my training was lacking but I think the consistency and the timing was bad. I was all over the place with my training in December and raced too much. I feel guilty when I fail at these races. It’s been such a long time since my last good race in 2011. That was over 15 marathons ago. I remember that day and the fact that it really wasn’t that hard of an effort. It was coming off a decent winter of training but nothing special. I had the world in my hands that day at Boston. It’s so far away now I wonder if that was really me. I wonder if that me even exists anymore. I wonder what the point is. I feel like a pretender. Maybe it’s time to take up golf. Maybe this sport has taught me all it can. On my desk at home is a charity entry for the greatest marathon in the world. When I get home I’ll fill it out and send it in without the qualification time. I’ll join my friends for my 18th spring run up to the great race. On April 18th I’ll be standing on Main Street in Hopkinton. I’ll bring with me the best training cycle I am capable of. I’ll lose the weight. I’ll work the legs. I’ll do exactly what my coach tells me. It’s on to Boston. On with the show! Section one - Running TipsComing back from the flu - http://runrunlive.com/coming-back-from-the-fluVoices of reason – the conversationMatt – Passers-by http://passersby.libsyn.com/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/passers-by-passers-by-podcast/id1037890127?mt=2Matthew McDonough is a Podcaster and father hailing from Michigan. Matthew hosts the Passers-by Podcast, the podcast where a random guest comes on and tells their story. Section twoThe peril of the big goal - http://runrunlive.com/the-power-and-peril-of-setting-big-goalsOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Well, my friends, apparently you have failed on you r time goal but you have successfully made it to the end of episode 4-330 of the RunRunLive podcast. I’m going to drop one more journal entry on you and we’ll head for the exits. I’m still looking for contributions for my Team Hoyt campaign for Boston 2016 if you can spare a dime. Registration for the Groton Road Race is open. April 24th 2016. Come up and say ‘hi’ – it’s our 25th anniversary. Wednesday Morning. Navajo Casino. Sitting in the coffee café listening to Dire Straits and waiting for the sun and my wife to get up. On a call this morning I was asked about the race. “When did you know?” “How did it go down?” “How are you feeling now?” “What are your plans now?” I’m quite at peace with my race and in general. That was somewhere around my 51st marathon. I would guess 75-80% of them have gone like this. Where I went in wondering what my fitness was and found out that it wasn’t what I thought. It’s a bit of a bell curve when you get enough races under your belt. And I mean races. Not the meandering parades that is becoming more and more the norm. For me a race means that I’m going to run my best time on that day with the fitness I have. If I’m racing I’m racing for time and the measuring stick I use is the Boston qualification standard. It doesn’t mean completing the 26.2 miles for the sake of a party and a pat on the back. But that’s a whole other conversation. My point is; when you’re racing a small percent of the time you are going to show up and have a great day. On those days it comes easily and you run above and beyond your training. Another small percent of the time you get the truly awful performance where you pull a muscle or have a cramp and the whole thing collapses into an ugly death march to the finish. On these days you run below the capabilities of your training. For the majority of my races it has just been work. Where the work starts early and the weight of the effort wears you down. It is not your day. You slow down and take the disappointment because it is what you have on that day. You end up asking those questions and trying to figure out what went wrong. Like your performances the majority of the fault lies not in the long tail items of weather, sleep, nutrition or any of the other thousands of influencers on performance. The majority of your race performance is due to your training. Your training has the largest influence on how you perform on that day. Thus, my training was bad. Not bad in the sense that I didn’t get enough volume or intensity. Bad in the sense that my timing was poor, I raced too much and I wasn’t consistent or focused. I didn’t peak well and I wasted all those miles. How do I feel? What do I do next? I was emotionally wrapped up in this race because I’ve been chasing this time for 5 years now and it’s starting to weigh on me. I also like to make races emotionally important to me because I find that urgency helps me focus my energy. It helps to ‘care deeply’ about the results. It helps to take that attitude into a race. It makes me less likely to give up. I do understand that it’s just a race. I do understand that it is not a judgment on me as a person and I don’t take it personally. One race doesn’t weigh on my self-worth. Emotionally, in my animal brain I get the disappointment, frustration and anger, but detached in my big brain I see it not as failure but as another data point from which to learn and improve. That being said I want to make promises that I can keep. It is always a challenging game in life to dangle that carrot far enough in front that you have to stretch and grow to reach it but not too far in front that you create a wash and rinse cycle of false expectations and failure. We’re on to Boston. And we’ll see you out there. …Tuesday Morning I got up early to watch the sun rise over the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular. Really something. I decided I at least needed to run a little bit of the trail down into the canyon. The Bright Angel trail head was right behind our cabin. It was 18 degrees out, which I wasn’t expecting. I put on 5 shirts under the finisher’s jacket from the race. I had tossed my cloth gloves during the race so I had to wear my dress gloves. The long switch backs clinging to the cliff face were covered in a packed snow. It wasn’t too bad. I was bit worried it would be sheer ice and all I had were the wine soaked Hokas – not really trail shoes. The descent was easy and I just kept my stride short and steady. I passed through rock tunnels and past petroglyphs high on the canyon walls. I decide to turn around after less than two miles because I didn’t want to get in trouble with the wrong shoes, no water, no food and my quads still sore from the marathon. Even so it was probably 1,000 feet of drop. Turning around and heading back up I was forced into a run-hike cadence almost immediately. The canyon rim is at about the same altitude as Denver and the air is pretty thin. I had to step aside to let a couple of mule trains pass. As I was pushing up out of the trail the day hikers were starting their descents and stepped aside with wide eyed wonder to see me churning up the path towards them. They apparently thought I had run up from the bottom. You look at something like the canyon that was worn down over millions of years of patient effort by the Colorado River and plate tectonics. Man can dig holes and move dirt with tractors but rain and melting snow can move continents with patient ablation. I thought about my life and my running and how happy I was to be that 53 year old guy running up out of the canyon on an icy trail to the astonishment of travelers. Maybe it’s that same patient, consistent work that will allow us all to leave behind immense and beautiful works of art, each in our own way. My advice to you today is to just keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t worry about the results. Don’t worry if no one except the mule deer and jack rabbit know and notice and – l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-329 – Rachel Shuck - Beating the New Year's Diet (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4329.mp3]Link epi4329.mp3Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> https://www.crowdrise.com/teamhoytbostonmarath/fundraiser/christopherrussellMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello and welcome to the New Year. 2016. And also welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-329. For you new people who just fired up their holiday-gift-technology and are stumbling around looking for content to listen to, welcome as well. We've been cranking out podcasts together here since the summer of 2007, I think. On this… I guess you could call it a ‘show'…we chat about amateur endurance sports from the viewpoint of a participant. I'm not a coach. I'm not an elite. I am a student of long distance running and training and I do have a bit of a passion for it. I also try to be a good story teller, because I think that's a basic human skill that we all need to cultivate and practice. We also try to summarize some useful life lesson notes that we come across – to give us something to think about while we're out running and receptive to new ideas. I don't really get wrapped up in the New Year stuff. You won't get a ‘best of' or ‘top 10 things' type of update from me. That kind of retrospective has really become journalistically cliché. Don't you think? It's a bit lazy and disingenuous. It's like everyone who creates content is thinking to themselves “I just want to go to this party with my friends, thank goodness I don't have to create any real content this week. I'll just whip up a post summarizing last year.” Anyhow, I can't tell your how many miles I ran or rode or swam last year. I don't really keep a log anymore. I'm just at that point in my endurance sports career where the past isn't that relevant and I'd rather just focus on this week and next week and today. That being said, you should probably keep a log!This week we are going to chat with Rachel who I have worked with on nutrition over the last couple years. I started getting those stupid New Year's diet ads and thought we'd try to talk some sense instead. In part one I'm going to finish my ‘preparing for a hard training cycle' series with a piece on Base Building. In section two I'm going to talk about adventure and the portfolio life. It's been a busy couple of weeks since we last talked. The Sunday after Christmas myself and some others ran the internationally famous Groton Marathon. Made headlines around the world. Got a nice personal note from the Queen and a congratulatory phone call from Vladmir Putin. I and 3 other guys finished the whole 26.2. It was a bit of a rainy morning, but not uncomfortable for running. We had great support from my club. Probably a dozen people came out to run the first half with us and we had 8 water stops set up. We ran a casual pace and I felt fine, a little tired in the high miles, but that's normal. We ended up finishing just around 4 hours, even with all the breaks. Then we had a wonderful ice storm that put 3 inches of snow and ice on my driveway. I guess winter finally showed up. In a ‘perfect storm' situation, the gym at worked was closed for renovation and I dropped my club membership so I had the unusual situation for me of having to skip a workout due to weather! Sheesh! New Year's morning we went up to Salisbury to run the Hangover Classic. I treated it as a pace run and was able to run fairly comfortable at MP -30 for the 10k nice even splits. And, of course, then we jumped in the Atlantic for our New Year's plunge. It wasn't bad this year because the water temperature was about the same as the air temperature, about 37, somehow less shocking. …I do have one good story from that race. When I was getting ready to take my plunge, after finishing the 10k there was a guy on his hands and knees crawling out of the surf. He was an old guy, just in baggy shorts, no shirt, slowly crawling out of the ocean after his plunge. The thing about Salisbury Beach is that there's a tidal shelf that drops off to 4-6 feet deep, but then it's shallow into the beach. At low tide the shelf is close to the surf line and you can just dive into the ocean. At high tide you have to wade out through the shallows to get to a point deep enough to dive in. Veterans of this race typically prefer the low tide years because you can dive in and pop back out without having to wade through 20-30 feet of freezing ocean water. This year was a high-tide year so this old guy was crawling out of the shallows back to the beach. Standing there, our immediate reaction was “this guy's in trouble” and we tensed up in anticipation of some beach heroics. But, his friend was there and assured us that all was fine and that this guy was 80 year's old and did the race every year. Sure enough when he got shallow enough he stood up and smiled. I gave him a round of applause. And that's why I'll never place in my age group in a race in New England. On with the show! Section one - Running TipsPart Four– Base Building – http://runrunlive.com/base-building-in-anticipation-of-a-hard-training-cycleVoices of reason – the conversationRachel Shuck Next Level Nutrition - http://flygirlsforever.com/Rachel Shuck is a board certified nutrition coach and author of the health book The “Shucking” Truth as well as supplemental cookbooks and meal plans. She is certified with the International Sports Science Association and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association, as well as holding a master's degree in Spanish Education. Her personal journey began running 5k's and has progressed into marathons. Along her decade long path of coaching runners she found a true passion for teaching people proper nutrition to fuel for optimal performance. Rachel's articles have been featured in Mind Body Green and she has been featured on local news shows covering health and fitness and has filmed several videos for the Livestrong website.It's no secret – a healthy body is a happy body. Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you can do. Not only will you feel great, you will look great and inspire others to take care of themselves in the process. As a mother of two teenagers, I know how important eating right and exercising are for not just you, but the whole family. We have the power to influence the health and well-being of our loved ones and create a healthy lifestyle for future generations.I have experience teaching nutrition classes, group exercise classes and coaching runners. I coach people on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle, which includes learning to eat right for life and developing the proper mindset to want to do that. Long term success is the ultimate goal. Hiring a coach or trainer can strengthen your health, take your athletic performance to the next level, guide you in making the correct food choices, and improve your confidence and outlook on life. As a board certified nutritional coach, I'm knowledgeable in how food affects your performance. So if you want to live a stronger and more confident life, I've got the training and the expertise to help you every step of the way.Contact Me @ 417-766-1404E-mail Me @ rachelshuck@nextlevelnutrition.fitnessWant to run farther, faster, and injury free? Sign up for my Newsletter and get 6 Smoothie Recipes to:• Reduce Muscle Soreness• Speed Recovery• Aid Muscle Repair • Support Immune Function After a Long RunNext Level Nutrition - http://flygirlsforever.com/Section two – Adventure & the portfolio life - http://runrunlive.com/the-adventure-of-a-portfolio-lifeOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/That's it baby! You have noshed your way through the vegetable strewn garden of episode 4-329 of the RunRunLive Podcast. How ya feel? I'm tired. Too many 7:00 AM calls this week. I did make a nice bean salad last night after my workout. What's a bean salad? Well…let me tell you about it…You can get your beans one of two ways. First you can buy them dry and uncooked. I like black beans and pinto beans. Super cheap to buy. Rinse the dry beans then fill a container of some sort up with water and soak them over night. You want an over-sized container because they are going to absorb the water and swell up. (I put them in a glass decanter once and that didn't end well for the beans or the decanter.)When you're ready, rinse them off and toss them in a slow cooker with fresh water. I use my rice cooker. Drain the water and you now have cooked beans. Put them in the fridge.Now you can skip all of this by buying canned beans which are already cooked. But, it's important to note that this is one of those weekend or offline activities. The whole process takes a couple days but your direct involvement involves dumping beans in a bowl a couple times and poking a button with one of your fingers over the course of that time – probably less than 5 minutes including the cleaning up. The beans are a good raw material for all sorts of quick dishes now, one of which is bean salad. Since you rinsed and soaked the beans, they won't make you gassy. Combine your beans with diced peppers, onions, cucumbers, even some corn, cilantro and dump in some lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir it up and stick it in the fridge. Now you have a filling, high-protein, tasty, grab and go meal. You get the idea. This week I also kicked off my fundraising campaign for Team Hoyt for this year's Boston Marathon. I've included the links and a video in the show notes for you. Would be very thankful for your support. Anything helps. Really I don't bug you folks with advertising and other useless crap. Team Hoyt is representative of all that's good about our sport and community and I don't have to raise money for them. I chose to fund raise for them. So do the right thing and pitch in. I'm in the first week of my taper for the Phoenix Marathon on the 17th. I usually like to go in to races over-prepared. I like to train so well that the results are never in doubt. I'm not so sure about this one. I've got good base and I've got some of my speed back. On paper I should be able to hit my goal pace but I feel like I'm on the edge. I figure it's now or never. I'm focusing on going in with fresh legs and good general health. I've switched my focus to more core strength for a couple weeks and less volume and intensity. It will be an adventure. Registration is open for the Groton Road Race, the 3rd Sunday in April as always and this is our 25th year. Come up and join us. I'm passing the race director baton after this year – so another chapter closes. There's local hotels so why not fly up to New England and spend the weekend? Spend some time with us? http://www.grotonroadrace.com/Next episode I'm trying to get Matt, the gentleman who read my MarathonBQ book into audio for me on. I'm interested in his perspective, as a bit of an outsider, in producing the work. And, yes, at the end of the week, about the same time this podcast drops, I'm pushing the MarathoBQ audio book up to Audible. We'll see if they accept it or not! I'm quite excited about it primarily because it means I successfully completed a project from start to finish that involved collaborating with someone and not just doing all the work myself! …I finally went to see the new Star Wars movie this week. I liked it. It was definitely a continuation of the original 1977 movie. Same characters. Same look and feel. Very good. I saw the original in 1977/78 in the theatre. That was so long ago I don't think I went with my wife I think I went with my Mom! I was excited to see the new one but all through the holidays I just couldn't coordinate with my family or it was sold out and I was getting that sinking feeling that I would end up watching this on my living room couch six months from now on the small screen with the dog barking in one ear and someone else screaming in the other. This week I wasn't traveling. My kids planned to go and see the 4:00 PM showing, I couldn't make that. I had a call at 4:00. I just thought to myself, “screw it. I'm going by myself” and I went online and reserved a great seat for the 6:30 showing. I show up at the theatre and find my wife and kids sitting in the back row. They decide to have dinner instead of going to the 4:00 show. Story of my life. Filled with irony. I can't schedule anything to save my life but I show up and they're already in the theatre. Of course I still had to sit by myself in that really good seat down front, in the middle, but that's the way it goes. Enjoy your 2016, wherever you are, even if it's a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away – l'll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-329 – Rachel Shuck - Beating the New Year’s Diet (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4329.mp3]Link epi4329.mp3Team Hoyt Boston 2016 Campaign -> https://www.crowdrise.com/teamhoytbostonmarath/fundraiser/christopherrussellMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello and welcome to the New Year. 2016. And also welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-329. For you new people who just fired up their holiday-gift-technology and are stumbling around looking for content to listen to, welcome as well. We’ve been cranking out podcasts together here since the summer of 2007, I think. On this… I guess you could call it a ‘show’…we chat about amateur endurance sports from the viewpoint of a participant. I’m not a coach. I’m not an elite. I am a student of long distance running and training and I do have a bit of a passion for it. I also try to be a good story teller, because I think that’s a basic human skill that we all need to cultivate and practice. We also try to summarize some useful life lesson notes that we come across – to give us something to think about while we’re out running and receptive to new ideas. I don’t really get wrapped up in the New Year stuff. You won’t get a ‘best of’ or ‘top 10 things’ type of update from me. That kind of retrospective has really become journalistically cliché. Don’t you think? It’s a bit lazy and disingenuous. It’s like everyone who creates content is thinking to themselves “I just want to go to this party with my friends, thank goodness I don’t have to create any real content this week. I’ll just whip up a post summarizing last year.” Anyhow, I can’t tell your how many miles I ran or rode or swam last year. I don’t really keep a log anymore. I’m just at that point in my endurance sports career where the past isn’t that relevant and I’d rather just focus on this week and next week and today. That being said, you should probably keep a log!This week we are going to chat with Rachel who I have worked with on nutrition over the last couple years. I started getting those stupid New Year’s diet ads and thought we’d try to talk some sense instead. In part one I’m going to finish my ‘preparing for a hard training cycle’ series with a piece on Base Building. In section two I’m going to talk about adventure and the portfolio life. It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last talked. The Sunday after Christmas myself and some others ran the internationally famous Groton Marathon. Made headlines around the world. Got a nice personal note from the Queen and a congratulatory phone call from Vladmir Putin. I and 3 other guys finished the whole 26.2. It was a bit of a rainy morning, but not uncomfortable for running. We had great support from my club. Probably a dozen people came out to run the first half with us and we had 8 water stops set up. We ran a casual pace and I felt fine, a little tired in the high miles, but that’s normal. We ended up finishing just around 4 hours, even with all the breaks. Then we had a wonderful ice storm that put 3 inches of snow and ice on my driveway. I guess winter finally showed up. In a ‘perfect storm’ situation, the gym at worked was closed for renovation and I dropped my club membership so I had the unusual situation for me of having to skip a workout due to weather! Sheesh! New Year’s morning we went up to Salisbury to run the Hangover Classic. I treated it as a pace run and was able to run fairly comfortable at MP -30 for the 10k nice even splits. And, of course, then we jumped in the Atlantic for our New Year’s plunge. It wasn’t bad this year because the water temperature was about the same as the air temperature, about 37, somehow less shocking. …I do have one good story from that race. When I was getting ready to take my plunge, after finishing the 10k there was a guy on his hands and knees crawling out of the surf. He was an old guy, just in baggy shorts, no shirt, slowly crawling out of the ocean after his plunge. The thing about Salisbury Beach is that there’s a tidal shelf that drops off to 4-6 feet deep, but then it’s shallow into the beach. At low tide the shelf is close to the surf line and you can just dive into the ocean. At high tide you have to wade out through the shallows to get to a point deep enough to dive in. Veterans of this race typically prefer the low tide years because you can dive in and pop back out without having to wade through 20-30 feet of freezing ocean water. This year was a high-tide year so this old guy was crawling out of the shallows back to the beach. Standing there, our immediate reaction was “this guy’s in trouble” and we tensed up in anticipation of some beach heroics. But, his friend was there and assured us that all was fine and that this guy was 80 year’s old and did the race every year. Sure enough when he got shallow enough he stood up and smiled. I gave him a round of applause. And that’s why I’ll never place in my age group in a race in New England. On with the show! Section one - Running TipsPart Four– Base Building – http://runrunlive.com/base-building-in-anticipation-of-a-hard-training-cycleVoices of reason – the conversationRachel Shuck Next Level Nutrition - http://flygirlsforever.com/Rachel Shuck is a board certified nutrition coach and author of the health book The “Shucking” Truth as well as supplemental cookbooks and meal plans. She is certified with the International Sports Science Association and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association, as well as holding a master’s degree in Spanish Education. Her personal journey began running 5k’s and has progressed into marathons. Along her decade long path of coaching runners she found a true passion for teaching people proper nutrition to fuel for optimal performance. Rachel’s articles have been featured in Mind Body Green and she has been featured on local news shows covering health and fitness and has filmed several videos for the Livestrong website.It’s no secret – a healthy body is a happy body. Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you can do. Not only will you feel great, you will look great and inspire others to take care of themselves in the process. As a mother of two teenagers, I know how important eating right and exercising are for not just you, but the whole family. We have the power to influence the health and well-being of our loved ones and create a healthy lifestyle for future generations.I have experience teaching nutrition classes, group exercise classes and coaching runners. I coach people on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle, which includes learning to eat right for life and developing the proper mindset to want to do that. Long term success is the ultimate goal. Hiring a coach or trainer can strengthen your health, take your athletic performance to the next level, guide you in making the correct food choices, and improve your confidence and outlook on life. As a board certified nutritional coach, I’m knowledgeable in how food affects your performance. So if you want to live a stronger and more confident life, I’ve got the training and the expertise to help you every step of the way.Contact Me @ 417-766-1404E-mail Me @ rachelshuck@nextlevelnutrition.fitnessWant to run farther, faster, and injury free? Sign up for my Newsletter and get 6 Smoothie Recipes to:• Reduce Muscle Soreness• Speed Recovery• Aid Muscle Repair • Support Immune Function After a Long RunNext Level Nutrition - http://flygirlsforever.com/Section two – Adventure & the portfolio life - http://runrunlive.com/the-adventure-of-a-portfolio-lifeOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/That’s it baby! You have noshed your way through the vegetable strewn garden of episode 4-329 of the RunRunLive Podcast. How ya feel? I’m tired. Too many 7:00 AM calls this week. I did make a nice bean salad last night after my workout. What’s a bean salad? Well…let me tell you about it…You can get your beans one of two ways. First you can buy them dry and uncooked. I like black beans and pinto beans. Super cheap to buy. Rinse the dry beans then fill a container of some sort up with water and soak them over night. You want an over-sized container because they are going to absorb the water and swell up. (I put them in a glass decanter once and that didn’t end well for the beans or the decanter.)When you’re ready, rinse them off and toss them in a slow cooker with fresh water. I use my rice cooker. Drain the water and you now have cooked beans. Put them in the fridge.Now you can skip all of this by buying canned beans which are already cooked. But, it’s important to note that this is one of those weekend or offline activities. The whole process takes a couple days but your direct involvement involves dumping beans in a bowl a couple times and poking a button with one of your fingers over the course of that time – probably less than 5 minutes including the cleaning up. The beans are a good raw material for all sorts of quick dishes now, one of which is bean salad. Since you rinsed and soaked the beans, they won’t make you gassy. Combine your beans with diced peppers, onions, cucumbers, even some corn, cilantro and dump in some lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir it up and stick it in the fridge. Now you have a filling, high-protein, tasty, grab and go meal. You get the idea. This week I also kicked off my fundraising campaign for Team Hoyt for this year’s Boston Marathon. I’ve included the links and a video in the show notes for you. Would be very thankful for your support. Anything helps. Really I don’t bug you folks with advertising and other useless crap. Team Hoyt is representative of all that’s good about our sport and community and I don’t have to raise money for them. I chose to fund raise for them. So do the right thing and pitch in. I’m in the first week of my taper for the Phoenix Marathon on the 17th. I usually like to go in to races over-prepared. I like to train so well that the results are never in doubt. I’m not so sure about this one. I’ve got good base and I’ve got some of my speed back. On paper I should be able to hit my goal pace but I feel like I’m on the edge. I figure it’s now or never. I’m focusing on going in with fresh legs and good general health. I’ve switched my focus to more core strength for a couple weeks and less volume and intensity. It will be an adventure. Registration is open for the Groton Road Race, the 3rd Sunday in April as always and this is our 25th year. Come up and join us. I’m passing the race director baton after this year – so another chapter closes. There’s local hotels so why not fly up to New England and spend the weekend? Spend some time with us? http://www.grotonroadrace.com/Next episode I’m trying to get Matt, the gentleman who read my MarathonBQ book into audio for me on. I’m interested in his perspective, as a bit of an outsider, in producing the work. And, yes, at the end of the week, about the same time this podcast drops, I’m pushing the MarathoBQ audio book up to Audible. We’ll see if they accept it or not! I’m quite excited about it primarily because it means I successfully completed a project from start to finish that involved collaborating with someone and not just doing all the work myself! …I finally went to see the new Star Wars movie this week. I liked it. It was definitely a continuation of the original 1977 movie. Same characters. Same look and feel. Very good. I saw the original in 1977/78 in the theatre. That was so long ago I don’t think I went with my wife I think I went with my Mom! I was excited to see the new one but all through the holidays I just couldn’t coordinate with my family or it was sold out and I was getting that sinking feeling that I would end up watching this on my living room couch six months from now on the small screen with the dog barking in one ear and someone else screaming in the other. This week I wasn’t traveling. My kids planned to go and see the 4:00 PM showing, I couldn’t make that. I had a call at 4:00. I just thought to myself, “screw it. I’m going by myself” and I went online and reserved a great seat for the 6:30 showing. I show up at the theatre and find my wife and kids sitting in the back row. They decide to have dinner instead of going to the 4:00 show. Story of my life. Filled with irony. I can’t schedule anything to save my life but I show up and they’re already in the theatre. Of course I still had to sit by myself in that really good seat down front, in the middle, but that’s the way it goes. Enjoy your 2016, wherever you are, even if it’s a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away – l’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-322 – Geoff Smith -1984 & 85 Boston Marathon Champ(Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4322.mp3]Link epi4322.mp3MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello there my strange running friends. How are you? I’m great. Fantastic. Nothing to complain about. Full of joy and abundance. Which, if I’m honest with you, takes a lot of work. It’s officially the end of summer in New England. The nights are clear and cold. The mornings are crisp like a fresh, clean blanket. The sun sets later and comes up later, noticeably each day. When I was a youth in school I would hate this time of year. School starting meant the end of a summers’ long and languid lethargy. The weather would turn but not enough to be interesting. There wouldn’t be any snow to sled on or build with for weeks. The days would be short, dim, cold, windy, rainy and filled with work. Now, Buddy and I, in, perhaps the autumn of our own times feel somehow reborn into the crispness of fall. He roams the house wild eyed and vocal beseeching me to get up, get out and seize the leaf covered forest trails - for that is where we live if only for another year, another day, another fine afternoon or another run. We pad through the fall forests with the leaves crunching underfoot on the dry trail. The underbrush and weeds spent and brown hanging with their last offering of seeds to be blown on the wind to settle another generation. Only the wild asters weighed down by their purple froth brighten the trail. The bees harry them with suicidal intensity and a lack of humor that is to be avoided by the cautious runner. We run, man and dog, weaving through the trees with the sharp afternoon sun lancing through at us from an acute angle like a photgrapher’s darkroom light. The motes of dust swirling in our mists and settling in our wake. The tang of wild grapes bites at the air and brings a smile to my heart. The apple trees in the orchard hang thick with fruit. Man and dog. Brothers on the road and trail. Buddy still gets along fairly well for an 80 year old. Like all of us he thinks he can do more than he can. He talks me into it and then he regrets it the next day. With the cool weather he feels a need to get out and play and move. What I often hear when I check in from on the road is “Your dog is crazy!” It’s been a long autumn. I’ve traveled every week that I can remember. I’m doing ok. I’m getting my runs in for the most part and feel fairly strong. I’ve started to play with speed work and I’ll talk about that a bit today. You can’t just throw the switch. You have to build into the speed work when you’ve been away for a while. I’ve got a long chat with Geoff Smith today. Geoff won the 1984 and the 1985 Boston Marathon. If you know about the history of the race you may know that these were hard times for the Boston Marathon. It was founded by the BAA in 1896 as an amateur race. The prize was always a simple olive wreath. It was serious race, for serious runners and serious runners were thought to be the amateurs who ran for the love of the race. Geoff was the last person to win the Boston Marathon before there was prize money. He did it for love. The pressure of other big-city races offering prize money threatened to relegate Boston to a quaint artifact of the 19th century. A local financial institution stepped in and kept the race alive as they transitioned to a prize money structure. I didn’t know Geoff was living locally until I got a tweet from him asking me to retweet one of his races. This chat gave me a chance to talk about what is for me, the golden age of US marathoning. I’ll also chat a bit about the power of self-awareness. I’ve been feeling a bit pressed these last few weeks with the level of travel and the amount of stuff I’m trying to do. I also am thinking of mortality as I see my running partner struggle with age. This time of year is a bit of a whirlwind for all of us. The leisure of the summer passes abruptly into the intensity of the school year. Work gets crazy. Personal commitments pile up. People get over-tired. The kids bring home the first good crop of viruses to mix into the social fray. And so we find ourselves in October tired and sick and bubbling with stress. We have strategies to cope but our armor gets dinged from the continuous hits. The car needs work, the house needs repair the kids need new equipment and a ride to practice. We feel out of control and driven mad, losing that grip we thought we had on life. But, my friends, you are not alone. Don’t let circumstance drive you crazy. There is nothing in the environment that you can’t choose to live with and work with and, yes, even enjoy. Just take that time to close your eyes and take one long, deep breath. Exhale the stress and smile at the next person you see. They may need it more than you do. On with the show!Section one - Running TipsEasing into Speed Work - http://runrunlive.com/easing-into-speed-workVoices of reason – the conversationGeoff Smith Boston Marathon Winner 1984 & 1985https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Smith_(athlete)http://www.runnersworld.com/races/geoff-smiths-tough-1985-boston-marathon-winhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/11/24/geoff-smith-finding-his-way-back-course/LyFubdvtqyokYV9aws3KMO/story.html1980 and 1984 British Olympian.1980 British 10K Track Champion.1982 Providence College Athlete of the Year.1984 and 1985 Boston Marathon Champion. Personal Records800 meters 1.511500 meters 3.401 Mile 3.552 Mile 8.235K 13.2210K 27.42Half Marathon 61.39Marathon 2.09.08 • Smith's best time in the marathon was 2:09:08, when he finished 2nd to Rod Dixon in the New York City Marathon in 1983. Smith only lost by nine seconds.• Smith was a senior at Providence College when he won the 1984 Boston Marathon.• Both of Smith's wins at Boston were by strong margins. His 1984 win was by over four minutes.• Competed in the Olympics for Great Britain in the 1980 10000m race and the 1984 marathon• Works as a middle school teacher and lives in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts as of 2004.[1]• Has not run at the Boston Marathon since 1990• Worked as a firefighter for ten years in the United Kingdom after his high school graduation. Entered Providence College in 1980 at the age of 26.• Ran a 3:55 mile in Wales in 1982• Was the last person to win the Boston Marathon before the race organizers began giving out prize money to the winners.[2]• Stopped running in the early 1990s having suffered hip problems since birth. Had both hips replaced and has started running again in June 2013. Is coaching local runners South of Boston.AchievementsYear Competition Venue Position Event NotesRepresenting United Kingdom 1980 Olympic GamesMoscow, Soviet Union7th (Q) 10000 m 30:00.011983 New York City MarathonNew York, United States2nd Marathon 2:09:081984 Boston MarathonBoston, United States1st Marathon 2:10:341984 Olympic GamesLos Angeles, United States— Marathon DNF 1985 Boston MarathonBoston, United States1st Marathon 2:14:051987 World ChampionshipsRome, Italy— Marathon DNF   Well summer is over. Now it is time to think of fall running. We have a great new event on Shrewsbury street. Worcester. An Oktoberfest 5k October 11th www.of5k.com Our main charity is “Genesis Club an Accredited Mental Health program that provides education, employment, housing and wellness services to those in recovery Join me and let's make Shrewsbury Street rock. RACE INFONEW BEDFORD SANTA RUN OVERVIEWDate: Saturday December 12, 2015Youth Run Start: 12:30 p.m. for ages 14 and under.Santa Run 5K Start: 1:00 p.m.Start Location: TBD (Near Union Street) Thanks Geoff Smith Section two – Self-awareness – the smartest person in the roomhttp://runrunlive.com/the-power-of-self-awarenessOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Feeling faster? Feeling more self-aware? Feeling like you have made it to the end of episode 4-322? Yes you have. If you’re in the New England area consider Geoff’s Santa run. That sounds like fun. And you get a Santa suit. Believe it or not we had our first Groton Road Race meeting. April is just around the corner. It will be our 25th anniversary. Wow. This old dog has run every one. It’s my swan song race too. I’ll be passing the baton over to another race director. I’ve learned a lot in my tenure. I’m grateful for the tribe that kept this race a grand and glorious spring ritual for my old home town. I’m testing myself a bit with some speed work. But I feel strong. I think my plan of a January qualification race with the Groton Marathon as a last long run is a pretty good idea. I’d love to get some of you out for the Groton Marathon. This is a self-supported 26.2 mile run that we invented for December because there weren’t any good races around the holidays and we wanted to get a marathon in. Let me think on that some more. I’d prefer not to have to spend any money on it but maybe I can put up a web-page and make it official enough to have it recognized by the Maniacs or something. I’ll probably run Boston. I’m not qualified but these things have a way of working out for me. If I get the privilege of running it again this year, and God help me, I can’t how many I’ve run, I’m going to use my talents to do something really big for the charity and the community and the sport. The more I work through my self-awareness process, the more I find myself thinking that I’ve been playing a small game. I know people see me form the outside and maybe see untapped intellect and wonder why I haven’t done more. At least that’s what I wonder. I think that we all can do more than we think. I read a book by fellow runner Bill Dowis this week and his narrative is similar to my own and so many others and maybe yours. The narrative is that we are muddling along with our lives, doing ok, and somehow, somewhere, sometime find endurance sports. It catches us by surprise. It catches us by the shirt collar, slaps us in the face, stares deeply into our souls and says “you are capable of more than you think!” I think YOU are capable of more than YOU think. I beginning to know I am. I’m not talking about running a marathon. I’m talking about finding something in your life that you don’t think you can do and going after it with ferocity and hard work. Not being afraid to fail and not being afraid to succeed. Go into that thing with only one object – to learn about yourself and what you’re capable of. And maybe you’ll be surprised. And I’ll see you out there. http://wapack.freeservers.com/MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-322 – Geoff Smith -1984 & 85 Boston Marathon Champ(Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4322.mp3]Link epi4322.mp3MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Hello there my strange running friends. How are you? I'm great. Fantastic. Nothing to complain about. Full of joy and abundance. Which, if I'm honest with you, takes a lot of work. It's officially the end of summer in New England. The nights are clear and cold. The mornings are crisp like a fresh, clean blanket. The sun sets later and comes up later, noticeably each day. When I was a youth in school I would hate this time of year. School starting meant the end of a summers' long and languid lethargy. The weather would turn but not enough to be interesting. There wouldn't be any snow to sled on or build with for weeks. The days would be short, dim, cold, windy, rainy and filled with work. Now, Buddy and I, in, perhaps the autumn of our own times feel somehow reborn into the crispness of fall. He roams the house wild eyed and vocal beseeching me to get up, get out and seize the leaf covered forest trails - for that is where we live if only for another year, another day, another fine afternoon or another run. We pad through the fall forests with the leaves crunching underfoot on the dry trail. The underbrush and weeds spent and brown hanging with their last offering of seeds to be blown on the wind to settle another generation. Only the wild asters weighed down by their purple froth brighten the trail. The bees harry them with suicidal intensity and a lack of humor that is to be avoided by the cautious runner. We run, man and dog, weaving through the trees with the sharp afternoon sun lancing through at us from an acute angle like a photgrapher's darkroom light. The motes of dust swirling in our mists and settling in our wake. The tang of wild grapes bites at the air and brings a smile to my heart. The apple trees in the orchard hang thick with fruit. Man and dog. Brothers on the road and trail. Buddy still gets along fairly well for an 80 year old. Like all of us he thinks he can do more than he can. He talks me into it and then he regrets it the next day. With the cool weather he feels a need to get out and play and move. What I often hear when I check in from on the road is “Your dog is crazy!” It's been a long autumn. I've traveled every week that I can remember. I'm doing ok. I'm getting my runs in for the most part and feel fairly strong. I've started to play with speed work and I'll talk about that a bit today. You can't just throw the switch. You have to build into the speed work when you've been away for a while. I've got a long chat with Geoff Smith today. Geoff won the 1984 and the 1985 Boston Marathon. If you know about the history of the race you may know that these were hard times for the Boston Marathon. It was founded by the BAA in 1896 as an amateur race. The prize was always a simple olive wreath. It was serious race, for serious runners and serious runners were thought to be the amateurs who ran for the love of the race. Geoff was the last person to win the Boston Marathon before there was prize money. He did it for love. The pressure of other big-city races offering prize money threatened to relegate Boston to a quaint artifact of the 19th century. A local financial institution stepped in and kept the race alive as they transitioned to a prize money structure. I didn't know Geoff was living locally until I got a tweet from him asking me to retweet one of his races. This chat gave me a chance to talk about what is for me, the golden age of US marathoning. I'll also chat a bit about the power of self-awareness. I've been feeling a bit pressed these last few weeks with the level of travel and the amount of stuff I'm trying to do. I also am thinking of mortality as I see my running partner struggle with age. This time of year is a bit of a whirlwind for all of us. The leisure of the summer passes abruptly into the intensity of the school year. Work gets crazy. Personal commitments pile up. People get over-tired. The kids bring home the first good crop of viruses to mix into the social fray. And so we find ourselves in October tired and sick and bubbling with stress. We have strategies to cope but our armor gets dinged from the continuous hits. The car needs work, the house needs repair the kids need new equipment and a ride to practice. We feel out of control and driven mad, losing that grip we thought we had on life. But, my friends, you are not alone. Don't let circumstance drive you crazy. There is nothing in the environment that you can't choose to live with and work with and, yes, even enjoy. Just take that time to close your eyes and take one long, deep breath. Exhale the stress and smile at the next person you see. They may need it more than you do. On with the show!Section one - Running TipsEasing into Speed Work - http://runrunlive.com/easing-into-speed-workVoices of reason – the conversationGeoff Smith Boston Marathon Winner 1984 & 1985https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Smith_(athlete)http://www.runnersworld.com/races/geoff-smiths-tough-1985-boston-marathon-winhttps://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/11/24/geoff-smith-finding-his-way-back-course/LyFubdvtqyokYV9aws3KMO/story.html1980 and 1984 British Olympian.1980 British 10K Track Champion.1982 Providence College Athlete of the Year.1984 and 1985 Boston Marathon Champion. Personal Records800 meters 1.511500 meters 3.401 Mile 3.552 Mile 8.235K 13.2210K 27.42Half Marathon 61.39Marathon 2.09.08 • Smith's best time in the marathon was 2:09:08, when he finished 2nd to Rod Dixon in the New York City Marathon in 1983. Smith only lost by nine seconds.• Smith was a senior at Providence College when he won the 1984 Boston Marathon.• Both of Smith's wins at Boston were by strong margins. His 1984 win was by over four minutes.• Competed in the Olympics for Great Britain in the 1980 10000m race and the 1984 marathon• Works as a middle school teacher and lives in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts as of 2004.[1]• Has not run at the Boston Marathon since 1990• Worked as a firefighter for ten years in the United Kingdom after his high school graduation. Entered Providence College in 1980 at the age of 26.• Ran a 3:55 mile in Wales in 1982• Was the last person to win the Boston Marathon before the race organizers began giving out prize money to the winners.[2]• Stopped running in the early 1990s having suffered hip problems since birth. Had both hips replaced and has started running again in June 2013. Is coaching local runners South of Boston.AchievementsYear Competition Venue Position Event NotesRepresenting United Kingdom 1980 Olympic GamesMoscow, Soviet Union7th (Q) 10000 m 30:00.011983 New York City MarathonNew York, United States2nd Marathon 2:09:081984 Boston MarathonBoston, United States1st Marathon 2:10:341984 Olympic GamesLos Angeles, United States— Marathon DNF 1985 Boston MarathonBoston, United States1st Marathon 2:14:051987 World ChampionshipsRome, Italy— Marathon DNF   Well summer is over. Now it is time to think of fall running. We have a great new event on Shrewsbury street. Worcester. An Oktoberfest 5k October 11th www.of5k.com Our main charity is “Genesis Club an Accredited Mental Health program that provides education, employment, housing and wellness services to those in recovery Join me and let's make Shrewsbury Street rock. RACE INFONEW BEDFORD SANTA RUN OVERVIEWDate: Saturday December 12, 2015Youth Run Start: 12:30 p.m. for ages 14 and under.Santa Run 5K Start: 1:00 p.m.Start Location: TBD (Near Union Street) Thanks Geoff Smith Section two – Self-awareness – the smartest person in the roomhttp://runrunlive.com/the-power-of-self-awarenessOutro - Closing commentsMarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Feeling faster? Feeling more self-aware? Feeling like you have made it to the end of episode 4-322? Yes you have. If you're in the New England area consider Geoff's Santa run. That sounds like fun. And you get a Santa suit. Believe it or not we had our first Groton Road Race meeting. April is just around the corner. It will be our 25th anniversary. Wow. This old dog has run every one. It's my swan song race too. I'll be passing the baton over to another race director. I've learned a lot in my tenure. I'm grateful for the tribe that kept this race a grand and glorious spring ritual for my old home town. I'm testing myself a bit with some speed work. But I feel strong. I think my plan of a January qualification race with the Groton Marathon as a last long run is a pretty good idea. I'd love to get some of you out for the Groton Marathon. This is a self-supported 26.2 mile run that we invented for December because there weren't any good races around the holidays and we wanted to get a marathon in. Let me think on that some more. I'd prefer not to have to spend any money on it but maybe I can put up a web-page and make it official enough to have it recognized by the Maniacs or something. I'll probably run Boston. I'm not qualified but these things have a way of working out for me. If I get the privilege of running it again this year, and God help me, I can't how many I've run, I'm going to use my talents to do something really big for the charity and the community and the sport. The more I work through my self-awareness process, the more I find myself thinking that I've been playing a small game. I know people see me form the outside and maybe see untapped intellect and wonder why I haven't done more. At least that's what I wonder. I think that we all can do more than we think. I read a book by fellow runner Bill Dowis this week and his narrative is similar to my own and so many others and maybe yours. The narrative is that we are muddling along with our lives, doing ok, and somehow, somewhere, sometime find endurance sports. It catches us by surprise. It catches us by the shirt collar, slaps us in the face, stares deeply into our souls and says “you are capable of more than you think!” I think YOU are capable of more than YOU think. I beginning to know I am. I'm not talking about running a marathon. I'm talking about finding something in your life that you don't think you can do and going after it with ferocity and hard work. Not being afraid to fail and not being afraid to succeed. Go into that thing with only one object – to learn about yourself and what you're capable of. And maybe you'll be surprised. And I'll see you out there. http://wapack.freeservers.com/MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - http://www.marathonbq.com/qualify-for-the-boston-marathon-in-14-weeks/Http://www.marathonbq.comhttp://runrunlive.com/my-books

It was a perfect day for a run in New England.  Presented by the Squannacook River Runners, this is the 24th running of the Groton Road Race.   Being a runner feels different for me now. The universe is undergoing entropy…and I’m a part of that universe. I can’t go home again, but I can get back to where I once belonged…even if, when I get there…I’m not the same runner I used to be.  That’s okay, that’s a good thing.   These people, this race, that feeling of being a participant in something great and fun… it’s so much of what I’ve missed about running.  Happiness is feeling accepted…it’s being with others who live their lives to the top.  It’s the charm, the spell or the mojo of a moment in time.   I had a fantastic time at the Groton Road Race, aka “The Mojo au Groton”.  It was great to get together with Deb, Doug, Donna, Kathy, Jay, John, and Jack.    “Start, Finish and Have Fun”. Is there a better way to describe the purpose of a road race? Medals and prizes, trophies and awards are wonderful to achieve, but at the core of it: the reason to run a race should have this higher purpose.   Links:   Intervals between episodes and the complete conversation with Coach Jeff can be heard over at   Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse    Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at “The Curra Road” was composed by Ger Wolfe at   The song “Feels Like Coming Home” was performed by Jetta.   Intervals between episodes can be found at   In Vino Veritas with at   Track my return to the road at and .   ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported monthly through the kind financial support of fellow runners who clicked on the ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT button at SteveRunner.com to subscribe to Amazon Payments or Paypal to send me a dollar a month for my podcasting efforts.      Thank you:   Vera, Ryan, Chaise, Gordon, Scott, Mike, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Cheryl, Ron, Mark, Martha, Greg, Tim, Bill, David, Doug, Vance, Marcelo, Roberto, Zaki, Norm, Simon, Janice, Andrew, Pam, Rob, Trey, Steve, Angie, Lynn, Nancy, Eric, Jim, Joe, Martin, Tom, David, Pierre, Andrea, Dave, Desiree, Jens, Claudia, Jill, Elizabeth, Pat, Marc, Chris, Dino, Michael, Clay, Matthew, Terence, Tom, Louis, Toni, Margaret, Janina, Joe, Fred, Joerg, Erik, Wendee, Evelyn, Nicolas, John, Christiane, Katie, Brad and Jim.   {}   Follow me on: Blog: Stream:   Apple App:   Android App:   Support: Health: Running: RunKeeper.SteveRunner.com Video: YouTube.SteveRunner.com    

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-312 – Randy Pierce – Mountains, Dogs and Inspiration (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4312.mp3] Link epi4312.mp3 Intro Bumper: Chris Russell, a man barely alive…Heh, heh.  Yes I am old enough to have watched the 6 million dollar man when it premiered in 1977.   Well Hello my friends.  Welcome to Episode 4-312 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  This is Chris, your host, and I’m glad to see you.  Won’t you come in, grab a towel and sit with me for a bit while you cool down from your exertions of the week? It’s been a busy spring for me.  At the end of April I capped a worthy training cycle by running my 17th Boston Marathon.  6 Days later I fulfilled my role as titular figurehead (i.e. Race Director) at the 24th annual Groton Road Race.  Last week I spent a couple days in the hospital to have a special bionic powers installed.   I prefer to think of it as an upgrade rather than a patch.  They didn’t fix a bug in my heart, they upgraded me to Chris 3.0.  Now I’ve got super powers, similar to Peter Parker, or Steve Austin.   This week I rolled out to Phoenix at the crack of dawn Monday for a conference, bopped over to Denver to meet a guy for dinner last night and grabbed the Red Eye back to Boston.  (It was on the way).  As I write this I realize how ridiculously busy that sounds, and I was a bit tired this week, but it’s not unusual for me, as you know by now, I run pretty fast in my life, so to speak.  There’s nothing here that coffee, running, meditation and denial can’t fix.  I don’t want to make this about me, but I guess some of you might be interested in the exercise induced A-fib that I have/had and the procedure to have it fixed.  From what I’ve learned this condition, or this related family of conditions, where athletes develop anomalies in their heart beats, is very common.   Typically they treat it with drugs and tell you to stop being such a type A butt-head, but there’s a whole range of pharmacological and surgical solutions as well.   In my particular case the A-fib manifested when I went long or hard, basically any time I loaded my heart.  It developed over the course of 2-3 years and got worse enough for me to figure out something was up and I got a real diagnosis in January.   It manifests as an irregular heart beat in my case and in exercise this means you lose efficiency and power.  The worst case scenario is that your blood pools in the heart chamber causing clots and stroke.   It is caused by anomalous electrical signals that originate in the sheathing of the pipes of the upper right chamber of the heart, in my case.  The procedure that I had is known as cryoablation.  They snake a catheter up through the big arteries in your groin into that chamber of your heart.  I suppose it’s a bit invasive but they don’t crack your chest open, which is a plus.   When they get the catheter into that chamber of the heart they use a balloon with liquid nitrogen in it to ‘ablate’, in this case freeze the tissue where the pipes come in.  In this way they create a dam of scare tissue that block the signals from getting into the heart muscles and, best case scenario, cure the A-fib.  So…yeah…that’s what I did last week.  They did all the blood tests, ekg and Catscan on Monday and then I went in Thursday morning for the procedure.  I was a bit of an anomaly myself in the hospital.  Those hospitals, as it turns out, are chock full of sick people.   The nice nurses got me naked and shaved me up.  My wife finally got to have my back hair shaved like she’s been trying to get me to do for years.  I don’t remember it, but when I woke up they had given me the personal manscape as well.   I know in the mens’ magazines this is sexy, but on me it’s like Golum on a bad hair day.  The entire area where they went into the groin artery was shaved up leaving Mr.s Happy with cute little Furor mustache.   I was under for the procedure.  Out like a light switch.  I woke up in the afternoon, a bit groggy, but apparently successfully upgraded.  They said everything went well except that I was a bit fibrous in the core and they had trouble feeding the catheter up.  My abdomen is still sore a week later.  I had to spend the night in the hospital.  I had my wits about me and was up and about by early Thursday afternoon so I was left trapped in a room in a hospital full of sick people with really bad food options and a lot of free time on my hands!  I cleared all my email and got caught up on work stuff and watched Netflix.  I can put up with anything as long as there is good Wi-Fi.  Meanwhile a parade of smiling nurses came into my room and asked “Do you mind if I look at your groin?”  To which I’d reply, “Knock yourself out!”  It’s the most attention my groin has gotten in decades.  Friday Morning they processed me out.  They told me not to run for a week or to lift anything heavy.  The concern is not for the heart but for the insertion site.  They don’t want you rupturing that groin artery because it will bleed a lot.   They also put me on blood thinners.  The good news is that I won’t get a clot but I could very well die in a messy shaving accident.  What’s the punch line?  I held off running until Thursday morning because my abdomen was still sore and I didn’t want to push it.  I walked a bunch through the week.   Thursday morning in Phoenix I put my heart rate strap on and set out with not a small amount of trepidation (that’s a big word that means ‘fear’).  Yeah, I was, as much as I ever am, afraid of what might happen.  How would my heart react?  Would I pop my groin and bleed out in the gutter? I know it’s silly but you have these crazy thoughts, right?  Fear isn’t rational.   I walked a 5 minute war up then brought my HR up into Z2 for 15 minutes and it was quite comfortable.  After 20 minutes in I threw in a little Z3/Z4 surge and the heart didn’t flip.  I was able to bring it up and bring it down without anything weird happening.   Very encouraging data.  We won’t really know until I go long or do a significant long tempo run.  But, all in good time.   To quote the late, great Hunter Thompson, “It got pretty weird, but it never got weird enough for me!”  We have a great show for you today.  I have a great chat with Randy who is a blind runner from my area who talks about his inspirational summiting of all the peaks above 4,000 feet in the NH White Mountains with his guide dog, some of it in the winter!  He also ran Boston this year and we have a number of mutual friends in the local running community.   In section one I tackled the question “What would I do if I had to create a good runner from scratch?”  The script I wrote for this piece is in outline form and I recorded it in a hotel room in Phoenix so it is a bit more conversational than my usual prose.  The second section is a rant about why I can’t get a decent salad conveniently in the world.  But – of course I’ve got my vegetable garden in too. And it is springtime in New England.  I built a new raised bed and used my compost in it.  The soil is a bit ‘young’ but I’m going to try growing beans in it.  Beans will grow in anything.   I also built a potato box, which should prove an interesting experiment.  And I’ve moved my raspberries around and should have a bumper berry crop.  I managed to prune my fruit trees so we’ll see if I can actually get some fruit this year.   The hops are up and going crazy already.  I’ve got some lettuce and cabbagy things in and some herbs seeded.  And I’ve got my chipmunk traps up.  With any luck I’ll be having fruit and veg from my own garden a month or so from now.  On with the show! Section one - Running Tips How to create a runner from scratch -  http://runrunlive.com/back-to-basics-how-to-become-a-runner-from-scratch Voices of reason – the interviews Randy Pierce As for links well our website is a pretty solid overview of many of the accomplishments and undertakings: www.2020visionquest.org The In the media highlights plenty of reference material on Running, Tough Mudders, hiking and beyond. Meanwhile a couple of video clips on our documentary link will highlight still more for you. If you wish to understand more reference from the year long progression to the Boston marathon then I’ll call out a few specific links.Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my running my first Marathon (Cox Providence 2014) and in that year I’ve had quite the journey including a national Championship in my division (B1) and most recently Boston. Post Boston Reflection: http://2020visionquest.org/Blog/2015/04/the-power-of-purpose-as-boston-strong-goes-quinn-strong/ Pre-Boston Celebration with links to key past articles like “Qualifying for Quinn” http://2020visionquest.org/Blog/2015/04/celebrating-the-2015-boston-marathon/ That probably will flood you with photos and information aplenty to be ready but let me know if you would like more still. Section Two – Life Lessons I just want a decent salad! -  http://runrunlive.com/all-i-want-is-a-decent-salad Outro Alright my friends, it’s Friday, I’m working on 3 hours of sleep and losing altitude fast, but we have made it to the conclusion of episode 4-312. Congratulations. Now let’s move it to the exit before I fall asleep on you.  Now that I’ve got the green light I have to figure out how to spin up my running again.  My next event is a ½ marathon in the middle of June called the Mayflower Brewery Half Marathon in Plymouth Mass.   And then the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of the summer.  If anyone wants to join that we still have legs available – it’s relay and it will be an adventure.   I’ll be setting up a fundraising page for that and looking for help. … As you may have figured out I read a lot.  And I don’t just read within my areas of expertise.  Yes, I read business books and running books but I also read fiction, biographies, science fiction, short stories and any other topic that I find interesting in the moment.  I would offer this up to you as a life lesson.  Study things you know nothing about.  I’m always pleased by the connections I can make between topics that are on the surface not related. But, my friends, everything is related.  Feed your brain a varied diet and you will see the connections.  So…Watch what I do next…I am going to draw a connection between picking up beautiful women, sales processes and tantric sex.  How about that.  And I’m going to do it without garnering an explicit rating. Feel’s a bit like a dangerous high-wire act but what’s life without risks? I should note, not that you’re going to believe me, but, this is all an academic exercise for me, I’m not in the middle of some bizarre midlife crisis where I jet off to the Caribbean with my secretary.  I don’t actually even have a secretary.  Although I do dig the Caribbean. Great SCUBA diving.  The connection between sales process and pick up technique should be obvious.  In both cases you have to have a methodology to approach the target, get their interest by demonstrating high social (or professional) value, build attraction through a push-pull process of demonstrating interest but also challenging.  When you build enough trust you can test compliance and naturally move towards a close.  Simple right?  It is amazing how much a sales cycle and a pickup cycle have in common.  But how do I tie in tantric sex? Here we go.   In all three examples the first thing that you are told to focus on is letting go of the result.  If you are focused on the end result of the process it clouds your ability to execute the process and it prevents you from being in the present moment.   For a sales cycle this means you have to let go of the desire to close the business.  For the pickup artist this means you have to let go of your desire to get the woman.  And for the Tantric sex you likewise reset your focus on the ‘now’ and not any particular climactic event.   If you think about it there is an underlying life lesson here.  The ability to live in the present moment and be present to your partners, whether business or social, is your ability to add value and connect. But you can only do that if you are willing to let go of the end result.  My friends, we spend so much time in our lives rushing from one thing to the next, from one goal to the next, from one result to the next that we forget that every moment in itself is truth and purity.  Are you free-wheeling peripatetically downhill to a frenzied end?   Maybe you need to take the time to be present, especially in your interactions with the people in your life?  Don’t forget about right now, this moment, and appreciate it.   And If I happen to run into you I will be sure to appreciate it and see you out there.  Closing comments Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-312 – Randy Pierce – Mountains, Dogs and Inspiration (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4312.mp3] Link epi4312.mp3 Intro Bumper: Chris Russell, a man barely alive…Heh, heh.  Yes I am old enough to have watched the 6 million dollar man when it premiered in 1977.   Well Hello my friends.  Welcome to Episode 4-312 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  This is Chris, your host, and I'm glad to see you.  Won't you come in, grab a towel and sit with me for a bit while you cool down from your exertions of the week? It's been a busy spring for me.  At the end of April I capped a worthy training cycle by running my 17th Boston Marathon.  6 Days later I fulfilled my role as titular figurehead (i.e. Race Director) at the 24th annual Groton Road Race.  Last week I spent a couple days in the hospital to have a special bionic powers installed.   I prefer to think of it as an upgrade rather than a patch.  They didn't fix a bug in my heart, they upgraded me to Chris 3.0.  Now I've got super powers, similar to Peter Parker, or Steve Austin.   This week I rolled out to Phoenix at the crack of dawn Monday for a conference, bopped over to Denver to meet a guy for dinner last night and grabbed the Red Eye back to Boston.  (It was on the way).  As I write this I realize how ridiculously busy that sounds, and I was a bit tired this week, but it's not unusual for me, as you know by now, I run pretty fast in my life, so to speak.  There's nothing here that coffee, running, meditation and denial can't fix.  I don't want to make this about me, but I guess some of you might be interested in the exercise induced A-fib that I have/had and the procedure to have it fixed.  From what I've learned this condition, or this related family of conditions, where athletes develop anomalies in their heart beats, is very common.   Typically they treat it with drugs and tell you to stop being such a type A butt-head, but there's a whole range of pharmacological and surgical solutions as well.   In my particular case the A-fib manifested when I went long or hard, basically any time I loaded my heart.  It developed over the course of 2-3 years and got worse enough for me to figure out something was up and I got a real diagnosis in January.   It manifests as an irregular heart beat in my case and in exercise this means you lose efficiency and power.  The worst case scenario is that your blood pools in the heart chamber causing clots and stroke.   It is caused by anomalous electrical signals that originate in the sheathing of the pipes of the upper right chamber of the heart, in my case.  The procedure that I had is known as cryoablation.  They snake a catheter up through the big arteries in your groin into that chamber of your heart.  I suppose it's a bit invasive but they don't crack your chest open, which is a plus.   When they get the catheter into that chamber of the heart they use a balloon with liquid nitrogen in it to ‘ablate', in this case freeze the tissue where the pipes come in.  In this way they create a dam of scare tissue that block the signals from getting into the heart muscles and, best case scenario, cure the A-fib.  So…yeah…that's what I did last week.  They did all the blood tests, ekg and Catscan on Monday and then I went in Thursday morning for the procedure.  I was a bit of an anomaly myself in the hospital.  Those hospitals, as it turns out, are chock full of sick people.   The nice nurses got me naked and shaved me up.  My wife finally got to have my back hair shaved like she's been trying to get me to do for years.  I don't remember it, but when I woke up they had given me the personal manscape as well.   I know in the mens' magazines this is sexy, but on me it's like Golum on a bad hair day.  The entire area where they went into the groin artery was shaved up leaving Mr.s Happy with cute little Furor mustache.   I was under for the procedure.  Out like a light switch.  I woke up in the afternoon, a bit groggy, but apparently successfully upgraded.  They said everything went well except that I was a bit fibrous in the core and they had trouble feeding the catheter up.  My abdomen is still sore a week later.  I had to spend the night in the hospital.  I had my wits about me and was up and about by early Thursday afternoon so I was left trapped in a room in a hospital full of sick people with really bad food options and a lot of free time on my hands!  I cleared all my email and got caught up on work stuff and watched Netflix.  I can put up with anything as long as there is good Wi-Fi.  Meanwhile a parade of smiling nurses came into my room and asked “Do you mind if I look at your groin?”  To which I'd reply, “Knock yourself out!”  It's the most attention my groin has gotten in decades.  Friday Morning they processed me out.  They told me not to run for a week or to lift anything heavy.  The concern is not for the heart but for the insertion site.  They don't want you rupturing that groin artery because it will bleed a lot.   They also put me on blood thinners.  The good news is that I won't get a clot but I could very well die in a messy shaving accident.  What's the punch line?  I held off running until Thursday morning because my abdomen was still sore and I didn't want to push it.  I walked a bunch through the week.   Thursday morning in Phoenix I put my heart rate strap on and set out with not a small amount of trepidation (that's a big word that means ‘fear').  Yeah, I was, as much as I ever am, afraid of what might happen.  How would my heart react?  Would I pop my groin and bleed out in the gutter? I know it's silly but you have these crazy thoughts, right?  Fear isn't rational.   I walked a 5 minute war up then brought my HR up into Z2 for 15 minutes and it was quite comfortable.  After 20 minutes in I threw in a little Z3/Z4 surge and the heart didn't flip.  I was able to bring it up and bring it down without anything weird happening.   Very encouraging data.  We won't really know until I go long or do a significant long tempo run.  But, all in good time.   To quote the late, great Hunter Thompson, “It got pretty weird, but it never got weird enough for me!”  We have a great show for you today.  I have a great chat with Randy who is a blind runner from my area who talks about his inspirational summiting of all the peaks above 4,000 feet in the NH White Mountains with his guide dog, some of it in the winter!  He also ran Boston this year and we have a number of mutual friends in the local running community.   In section one I tackled the question “What would I do if I had to create a good runner from scratch?”  The script I wrote for this piece is in outline form and I recorded it in a hotel room in Phoenix so it is a bit more conversational than my usual prose.  The second section is a rant about why I can't get a decent salad conveniently in the world.  But – of course I've got my vegetable garden in too. And it is springtime in New England.  I built a new raised bed and used my compost in it.  The soil is a bit ‘young' but I'm going to try growing beans in it.  Beans will grow in anything.   I also built a potato box, which should prove an interesting experiment.  And I've moved my raspberries around and should have a bumper berry crop.  I managed to prune my fruit trees so we'll see if I can actually get some fruit this year.   The hops are up and going crazy already.  I've got some lettuce and cabbagy things in and some herbs seeded.  And I've got my chipmunk traps up.  With any luck I'll be having fruit and veg from my own garden a month or so from now.  On with the show! Section one - Running Tips How to create a runner from scratch -  http://runrunlive.com/back-to-basics-how-to-become-a-runner-from-scratch Voices of reason – the interviews Randy Pierce As for links well our website is a pretty solid overview of many of the accomplishments and undertakings: www.2020visionquest.org The In the media highlights plenty of reference material on Running, Tough Mudders, hiking and beyond. Meanwhile a couple of video clips on our documentary link will highlight still more for you. If you wish to understand more reference from the year long progression to the Boston marathon then I'll call out a few specific links.Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my running my first Marathon (Cox Providence 2014) and in that year I've had quite the journey including a national Championship in my division (B1) and most recently Boston. Post Boston Reflection: http://2020visionquest.org/Blog/2015/04/the-power-of-purpose-as-boston-strong-goes-quinn-strong/ Pre-Boston Celebration with links to key past articles like “Qualifying for Quinn” http://2020visionquest.org/Blog/2015/04/celebrating-the-2015-boston-marathon/ That probably will flood you with photos and information aplenty to be ready but let me know if you would like more still. Section Two – Life Lessons I just want a decent salad! -  http://runrunlive.com/all-i-want-is-a-decent-salad Outro Alright my friends, it's Friday, I'm working on 3 hours of sleep and losing altitude fast, but we have made it to the conclusion of episode 4-312. Congratulations. Now let's move it to the exit before I fall asleep on you.  Now that I've got the green light I have to figure out how to spin up my running again.  My next event is a ½ marathon in the middle of June called the Mayflower Brewery Half Marathon in Plymouth Mass.   And then the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of the summer.  If anyone wants to join that we still have legs available – it's relay and it will be an adventure.   I'll be setting up a fundraising page for that and looking for help. … As you may have figured out I read a lot.  And I don't just read within my areas of expertise.  Yes, I read business books and running books but I also read fiction, biographies, science fiction, short stories and any other topic that I find interesting in the moment.  I would offer this up to you as a life lesson.  Study things you know nothing about.  I'm always pleased by the connections I can make between topics that are on the surface not related. But, my friends, everything is related.  Feed your brain a varied diet and you will see the connections.  So…Watch what I do next…I am going to draw a connection between picking up beautiful women, sales processes and tantric sex.  How about that.  And I'm going to do it without garnering an explicit rating. Feel's a bit like a dangerous high-wire act but what's life without risks? I should note, not that you're going to believe me, but, this is all an academic exercise for me, I'm not in the middle of some bizarre midlife crisis where I jet off to the Caribbean with my secretary.  I don't actually even have a secretary.  Although I do dig the Caribbean. Great SCUBA diving.  The connection between sales process and pick up technique should be obvious.  In both cases you have to have a methodology to approach the target, get their interest by demonstrating high social (or professional) value, build attraction through a push-pull process of demonstrating interest but also challenging.  When you build enough trust you can test compliance and naturally move towards a close.  Simple right?  It is amazing how much a sales cycle and a pickup cycle have in common.  But how do I tie in tantric sex? Here we go.   In all three examples the first thing that you are told to focus on is letting go of the result.  If you are focused on the end result of the process it clouds your ability to execute the process and it prevents you from being in the present moment.   For a sales cycle this means you have to let go of the desire to close the business.  For the pickup artist this means you have to let go of your desire to get the woman.  And for the Tantric sex you likewise reset your focus on the ‘now' and not any particular climactic event.   If you think about it there is an underlying life lesson here.  The ability to live in the present moment and be present to your partners, whether business or social, is your ability to add value and connect. But you can only do that if you are willing to let go of the end result.  My friends, we spend so much time in our lives rushing from one thing to the next, from one goal to the next, from one result to the next that we forget that every moment in itself is truth and purity.  Are you free-wheeling peripatetically downhill to a frenzied end?   Maybe you need to take the time to be present, especially in your interactions with the people in your life?  Don't forget about right now, this moment, and appreciate it.   And If I happen to run into you I will be sure to appreciate it and see you out there.  Closing comments Http://www.marathonbq.com http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-311 – Boston Marathon 2015 Wrap-up (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4311.mp3] Link Intro Bumper: Hello, Hello and Hello, my friends.  Wow! A busy couple weeks since we last spoke.  This time of year always makes me think about whether or not we have too many balls in the air.  I’m really torn between whether having so many project going on at the same time is a bad thing or a good thing.  I think it’s a little bit of both.  Having a lot going on forces you to focus on those things that are really important.  But, when you do that you let other things slide and someone in your universe is bound to suffer.  The other thing that I don’t like is when my life gets so full of activity that all the slack time is taken away.  It means that any new or cool opportunity that floats by necessarily has to be neglected in the wash. Since we last talked I ran the Boston marathon.  I had a good day and I’ll give you the brief version of the race report in the first section today.  I also got coach on the phone to talk about the race and my training because I think there’s a bunch of take-aways and learning form this one.  I managed to fundraise successfully for Team Hoyt.  I did not catch Bryan and Rick.  Even though it looks like Bryan had your typical first Boston experience he had too much of a head start on me.  I made up 45 minutes on him but that wasn’t enough! In the second section I answer a question about how to stay in a healthy lifestyle when you travel for business.  Someone had asked the question in one of the LinkedIn groups I’m a member of – so I thought I’d give it some inspection.  The other major event I was involved in was the Groton Road Race.  We pulled it off with no casualties and had another good day.  We had a big change this year where we ran the 10K and the 5K simultaneously on the same course.  It seemed to work out, we’ll see what the feedback is.  I ran the course in the morning and it really is a beautiful course on a spring morning with the sun coming up over the hills. The cows and barns throwing long shadows in the pastures.  The old farm tractors resting in agricultural repose on the big hill up Common Street.  The quiet punctuated by spring-busy birds and the occasional wild turkey call. It’s close to a spiritual experience for me. In the intervening week between Boston and Groton I did a couple bike rides and some yoga work.  I took Fuji-san my old road bike out on Wednesday and felt pretty strong.  I was able to get down into areo and feel comfortable.  On Friday I had a blast when I took my 29er out into the woods for the first time in a long time.  I thought that I might not be able to ride the technical trails after so much time away from it.  I had alswo forgotten how much fun it is hopping rocks and climbing and ripping though the mud-holes with my mountain-bike.  I had a blast! This time of year is busy.  Busy for me.  Busy for you.  But that busyness can also be a time of joy and creativeness.  Instead of lying around waiting for inspiration (literally ‘to be injected with spirits’) you are forced to do the job.  And when you are forced to do the work the inspiration appears.  The creativity appears. Don’t be afraid of doing the work.  Don’t be afraid of having too many things to do because as you start to execute on them the inspiration will come to you and the creative will find you when you embrace the work. On with the show. Section one - Running Tips Boston Marathon 2015 Voices of reason – the interviews Coach Jeff Kline from PRSFit Home page Facebook page Patagonia Expedition link Podcast on aerobic base Section Two – Life Lessons Following a healthy lifestyle on the road.   Outro So my friends that’s a wrap of all the busy work I’ve been doing in the last few weeks.  We have swept it all carefully into the collective dustbin of Episode 4-311. Next week I’m going in for my heart procedure.  They tell me I’ll have to take a week off from training but that I’ll be back to normal after that.  I’m curious to know what normal is.  If the procedure works what kind of shape am I in with this big base I’ve built up?  How much of a leap would it be for me to get my speed back on top of that?  How much of my speed will come back?  It’s new ground to be tilled in this adventure we call life. I’ve got two races scheduled on the calendar.  The first one is a ½ marathon with my running club buddies down on Cape Cod in July.  The second, and certainly more auspicious, is the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August.  This is the oldest relay in America.  It’s a bucket list item.  I’ll be fundraising for a Portland cancer clinic and I plan to wrap some sort of mid-life crisis adventure around the race. I’d also really like to run the Wapack Trail race this year which is the following weekend.  Depending on how I feel after the procedure I might take a swing at a qualifier, but I’ve been pushing the road work for close to 2 year’s straight now and the little voices in my head tell me I should probably switch sports this summer for a change of pace.  A quick note on the ‘how to qualify for Boston’ e-book that I wrote.  I’m probably going to pull it off of Amazon and market it directly instead.  I started writing a book plan for agents and publishers and realized that I had more social reach than they do.  It would be silly for me to give up control and profits to them.  Why not do it myself?  If any of you want a copy just shoot me an email and I’ll give you one in trade for a charity donation or a review.  You’re my friends and I love it when you read my work.   Breaking news! I acquired the domain “Qualifyforboston.com”  I’m going to take a shot at building out a niche website and monetizing it.  If any of you know how to do that – please help me out! Since May is going to have some downtime in it for me I’m going to take a cue from Zen runner and try to write a blog post every day in my business blog, just to see if it makes a ripple and to experience the discipline.  I think the value of these ‘every day’ streaks whether it’s running, reading, writing or meditating is the transformational power.  The repetition actually changes the way your brain works and you gain some great insights.  The repetition reprograms the brain and takes advantage of the neuro-plasticity. I’ll probably try to get the miracle morning routine kick started for that as well.  Last thing I want is too much free time.  Idleness for me is indeed the devil’s workshop. Another project I’m working on is setting up a mastermind.  A mastermind is a group of 4-7  like minded individuals that meets or has a weekly call to help each other solve problems, make progress towards goals and learn.  Here’s the offer; if you are a business person who wants to join my mastermind group shoot me an email.  I’m looking for entrepreneurial and goal-oriented people that are willing to trust and share and help people.  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.  This isn’t about running.  This is about business. Finally, I want to talk about struggle.  I see every day on social media, especially this time of year, people who are working through tremendous struggles.  And I know it’s hard to realize when you’re in a struggle, but these are the best times.  These times of struggle are what you will remember as defining moments in your life.  These are the things you will look back on as having outsized impact on your life’s trajectory.  That is why we create struggles for ourselves when we don’t have any.  We take on a race or a new job or a big project or a taxing relationship issue. Why? Because the truth is we strive on struggle.  It brings out the best in us.  But you have to know this when you are inside the struggle.  You have to, at least in some small corner of your mind, realize that this time of struggle is an opportunity to define yourself.   And the way you define yourself in the middle of a struggle is the way you react to it.  How you deal with it.  You don’t have to be strong, but you do have to be honest and good.  That might manifest as strength and bravery or it might manifest as empathy and leadership.  When you are inside the storm it’s hard to imagine.  But it’s the struggles that define us – that’s the good stuff.  That’s what brings out the best in us. And as you, my friends, are struggling down the road, I’ll see you out there.   Closing comments  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-311 – Boston Marathon 2015 Wrap-up (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4311.mp3] Link Intro Bumper: Hello, Hello and Hello, my friends.  Wow! A busy couple weeks since we last spoke.  This time of year always makes me think about whether or not we have too many balls in the air.  I'm really torn between whether having so many project going on at the same time is a bad thing or a good thing.  I think it's a little bit of both.  Having a lot going on forces you to focus on those things that are really important.  But, when you do that you let other things slide and someone in your universe is bound to suffer.  The other thing that I don't like is when my life gets so full of activity that all the slack time is taken away.  It means that any new or cool opportunity that floats by necessarily has to be neglected in the wash. Since we last talked I ran the Boston marathon.  I had a good day and I'll give you the brief version of the race report in the first section today.  I also got coach on the phone to talk about the race and my training because I think there's a bunch of take-aways and learning form this one.  I managed to fundraise successfully for Team Hoyt.  I did not catch Bryan and Rick.  Even though it looks like Bryan had your typical first Boston experience he had too much of a head start on me.  I made up 45 minutes on him but that wasn't enough! In the second section I answer a question about how to stay in a healthy lifestyle when you travel for business.  Someone had asked the question in one of the LinkedIn groups I'm a member of – so I thought I'd give it some inspection.  The other major event I was involved in was the Groton Road Race.  We pulled it off with no casualties and had another good day.  We had a big change this year where we ran the 10K and the 5K simultaneously on the same course.  It seemed to work out, we'll see what the feedback is.  I ran the course in the morning and it really is a beautiful course on a spring morning with the sun coming up over the hills. The cows and barns throwing long shadows in the pastures.  The old farm tractors resting in agricultural repose on the big hill up Common Street.  The quiet punctuated by spring-busy birds and the occasional wild turkey call. It's close to a spiritual experience for me. In the intervening week between Boston and Groton I did a couple bike rides and some yoga work.  I took Fuji-san my old road bike out on Wednesday and felt pretty strong.  I was able to get down into areo and feel comfortable.  On Friday I had a blast when I took my 29er out into the woods for the first time in a long time.  I thought that I might not be able to ride the technical trails after so much time away from it.  I had alswo forgotten how much fun it is hopping rocks and climbing and ripping though the mud-holes with my mountain-bike.  I had a blast! This time of year is busy.  Busy for me.  Busy for you.  But that busyness can also be a time of joy and creativeness.  Instead of lying around waiting for inspiration (literally ‘to be injected with spirits') you are forced to do the job.  And when you are forced to do the work the inspiration appears.  The creativity appears. Don't be afraid of doing the work.  Don't be afraid of having too many things to do because as you start to execute on them the inspiration will come to you and the creative will find you when you embrace the work. On with the show. Section one - Running Tips Boston Marathon 2015 Voices of reason – the interviews Coach Jeff Kline from PRSFit Home page Facebook page Patagonia Expedition link Podcast on aerobic base Section Two – Life Lessons Following a healthy lifestyle on the road.   Outro So my friends that's a wrap of all the busy work I've been doing in the last few weeks.  We have swept it all carefully into the collective dustbin of Episode 4-311. Next week I'm going in for my heart procedure.  They tell me I'll have to take a week off from training but that I'll be back to normal after that.  I'm curious to know what normal is.  If the procedure works what kind of shape am I in with this big base I've built up?  How much of a leap would it be for me to get my speed back on top of that?  How much of my speed will come back?  It's new ground to be tilled in this adventure we call life. I've got two races scheduled on the calendar.  The first one is a ½ marathon with my running club buddies down on Cape Cod in July.  The second, and certainly more auspicious, is the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August.  This is the oldest relay in America.  It's a bucket list item.  I'll be fundraising for a Portland cancer clinic and I plan to wrap some sort of mid-life crisis adventure around the race. I'd also really like to run the Wapack Trail race this year which is the following weekend.  Depending on how I feel after the procedure I might take a swing at a qualifier, but I've been pushing the road work for close to 2 year's straight now and the little voices in my head tell me I should probably switch sports this summer for a change of pace.  A quick note on the ‘how to qualify for Boston' e-book that I wrote.  I'm probably going to pull it off of Amazon and market it directly instead.  I started writing a book plan for agents and publishers and realized that I had more social reach than they do.  It would be silly for me to give up control and profits to them.  Why not do it myself?  If any of you want a copy just shoot me an email and I'll give you one in trade for a charity donation or a review.  You're my friends and I love it when you read my work.   Breaking news! I acquired the domain “Qualifyforboston.com”  I'm going to take a shot at building out a niche website and monetizing it.  If any of you know how to do that – please help me out! Since May is going to have some downtime in it for me I'm going to take a cue from Zen runner and try to write a blog post every day in my business blog, just to see if it makes a ripple and to experience the discipline.  I think the value of these ‘every day' streaks whether it's running, reading, writing or meditating is the transformational power.  The repetition actually changes the way your brain works and you gain some great insights.  The repetition reprograms the brain and takes advantage of the neuro-plasticity. I'll probably try to get the miracle morning routine kick started for that as well.  Last thing I want is too much free time.  Idleness for me is indeed the devil's workshop. Another project I'm working on is setting up a mastermind.  A mastermind is a group of 4-7  like minded individuals that meets or has a weekly call to help each other solve problems, make progress towards goals and learn.  Here's the offer; if you are a business person who wants to join my mastermind group shoot me an email.  I'm looking for entrepreneurial and goal-oriented people that are willing to trust and share and help people.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you.  This isn't about running.  This is about business. Finally, I want to talk about struggle.  I see every day on social media, especially this time of year, people who are working through tremendous struggles.  And I know it's hard to realize when you're in a struggle, but these are the best times.  These times of struggle are what you will remember as defining moments in your life.  These are the things you will look back on as having outsized impact on your life's trajectory.  That is why we create struggles for ourselves when we don't have any.  We take on a race or a new job or a big project or a taxing relationship issue. Why? Because the truth is we strive on struggle.  It brings out the best in us.  But you have to know this when you are inside the struggle.  You have to, at least in some small corner of your mind, realize that this time of struggle is an opportunity to define yourself.   And the way you define yourself in the middle of a struggle is the way you react to it.  How you deal with it.  You don't have to be strong, but you do have to be honest and good.  That might manifest as strength and bravery or it might manifest as empathy and leadership.  When you are inside the storm it's hard to imagine.  But it's the struggles that define us – that's the good stuff.  That's what brings out the best in us. And as you, my friends, are struggling down the road, I'll see you out there.   Closing comments  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-309 – Bryan Lyons on Pushing Rick Hoyt in 2015 (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4310.mp3] Link epi4310.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Hello my friends, this is Chris your host and this is the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-310.  Welcome.  We are in our final days of taper leading into the Boston Marathon.  I’m ready.  I’m right on my target race weight, I’m strong in the legs and I’ve done it a few times before.   I’m starting from the back this year in the last charity corral.  It will take me awhile to get to the starting line and it will be crowded.  Looks like we’re getting decent weather, cool and rainy.  That’s actually my favorite racing weather.   One of my friends from the running club is getting a limo to take a bunch of us out to Hopkinton on Monday morning.  There’s no checked bags from Hopkinton anymore so we’ll have to navigate the cool, wet weather on the morning with some throw away stuff.  There will be a wind.  I don’t know yet if it’s a head wind on not but as far back in the pack as I am there’s lots of shelter if you know what I mean.   I don’t know if I’ll be carrying my phone or not.  I’d love to be unplugged but I don’t know how to get it into Boston otherwise without being separated from it for a day.  It turns out this new iPhone6 fits perfectly into one of those ½ size snack baggies and you can use the phone through the plastic. Today we have the great privilege to speak with Bryon Lyons who is taking over for Dick Hoyt in Pushing Rick this year.  It’s a long one, but’s that’s ok.  I think we cover some good ground.  In the first section I’m going to muse on this year’s Boston from my perspective, as is my annual tradition.   In the second section we’ll talk about how to use an external brain to get important stuff done.  I’m good to go for Monday.  I have a red Team Hoyt singlet that I’ll probably put a long sleeve shirt on underneath because of the weather.  It’s also got some rough bits that I’d like to keep off my nipples!   I still need to swing by Whole Foods and pick up some Hammer Gels for the race.  I tried to cook up my own energy gels from organic peanut butter and cocoa powder but it was a disaster.  It was like when you give a dog a spoonful of peanut butter and their mouth gets all stuck.  I’ll have to keep working on that.  Damn near choked me to death on my last couple long runs.   We might go long today, but I’ll keep my comments short.   On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips Tapering into Boston http://runrunlive.com/boston-taper-time Voices of reason – the interviews Bryan Lyons  From Runners World  “Team Hoyt Racing at Boston With a Different Look For the first time since 1980, Dick Hoyt won’t run behind his son. But Bryan Lyons, a longtime supporter and runner, takes up the cause. By Liam Boylan-Pett; April 9, 2015 Rick and Dick Hoyt with Bryan Lyons Bryan Lyons (left, bib number 33864) at the 2014 Boston Marathon with Dick and Rick Hoyt. In 2014, Dick Hoyt completed the Boston Marathon for the 32nd time—each year pushing his son Rick, who’s a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, in a custom-racing wheelchair. After last year’s race, Dick wanted to retire. Rick, however, wanted to cover the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston again. He’s going to—this year with a new running partner. Dr. Bryan Lyons, a dentist in Billerica, Massachusetts, and a family friend of the Hoyts, will push Rick in the 119th running of Boston. “It was sort of shocking for [Dick] to ask me,” Lyons told the Lowell Sun. "My friends told me [the Hoyts] don't want the big name, they want the big heart. If that's the least that I can provide, I'm happy." This will be the seventh Boston Marathon for Lyons, 44, who has run for the Hoyt Foundation marathon team since 2008, with a best of 4:15:29, which he ran in 2010. Lyons does have some experience running with Rick, 53. Since January, the two have completed a few shorter local road races and gone on training runs together, according to the Lowell Sun. If Rick isn’t available, Lyons puts sandbags into the wheelchair to simulate his weight. Although Dick Hoyt, 74, won’t be running, he won’t absent from the marathon. He’s the race’s grand marshal, and will ride in a pace car ahead of the lead runners. The Hoyt’s story, chronicled by Runner’s World in 2007, has inspired many. Since 1977 when Rick asked Dick to push him through a 5-mile race, the father-son duo has completed more than 1,100 races, including Ironman triathlons. “Dick will continue to be at the head of the field, leading 30,000 runners on their trek to Boston,” Tom Grilk, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, said in a press release. “Dick and Rick Hoyt will forever be synonymous with the Boston Marathon and the sport of running.” Now, Lyons’ name will be attached, too. Once Dick decided not to run, Lyons was an easy choice for the Hoyts. "Bryan will be out there, and he'll do his best, we know that," Dick Hoyt told the Lowell Sun. "He's a great athlete, a great person, and the type of person that we want to be pushing Rick. And Rick wants Bryan to be the one to do it."  Section Two – Life Lessons Using an External Brain –  http://runrunlive.com/the-power-of-the-external-brain Outro That’s it my friends.  Episode 4-310 in the can.  We’ll see what happens over the weekend.  I may do a race report or not.  It’s a lot of work to write something that I am proud of.  You don’t really know the appropriate theme until the race has been run, so you can’t prepare that much.   I’ve got the Groton Road Race coming up on the 26th and we’ve still got shirts if you want to register.  We’d love to have you.  Then I’m going in to get my heart fixed.  Then…it will be summer time and the living will be easy.   I was out in California this past week.  I flew out Saturday and came back on the redeye Tuesday night.  I was in Huntington Beach.  You may or may not know that Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA. This is one of the centers of the surfing culture from Southern California.   There are surf shops and beach cruiser bikes and classic cars cruising in circles.   It’s a surfer vibe.   Sunday I was wandering around the resort, killing some time before dinner and ended up going into a surf shop, where they sell shirts, baggy shorts and flip flops to the tourists.  There were a couple young guys lounging behind the counter.  They were your surfer dude types.  Being me, I figured I’d chat them up.   I say “You guys look tired and bored.”  To which the one guy replies, “Yeah, we’re the surf instructors but they make us work in here.” And the other dude says, “Yeah, man, Long night, ya know?” I nod, as if I can commiserate.  He thinks I don’t understand.  “I was up all night man, you know those Spanish girls…” I try to act like that’s something I can relate to as I stand there in my business suit and mid-life crisis look. He still thinks I don’t get it and says, “Ya know, man? The 6-2?”  I agree and move on, wondering what the hell ‘the 6-2’ means.   I tell the story to the guys I’m with and we come up with all sorts of theories around body type ratios and start-stop times.  We Google it but the urban dictionary, while having some fairly unsettling definitions, doesn’t quite fit.   We spend the next couple days asking people and not getting any good answers.  I go back to the shop but the dudes aren’t working.  At dinner that night I can see that the busboy is clearly a surfer dude cut from the same cloth.  I call him over and tell him my story in a conspiratorial and hushed way, finishing with the big question.  “What does ‘the 6-2’ mean?  He says “Well bro, it’s kinda hard to explain…” I say “Just give it your best shot…” He continues. “Well it just mean he was tappin that shit all night long…” The mystery was solved.  That’s all it meant. There were not ratios or timing or measurements involved.   Now you know.  You’ve got early access to some surf slang. I can see the ultra runners using this one.  How was the middle 50 miles?  “It was the 6-2, bro, all trail, all night…”  With that I will leave you to your own adventures.  Don’t wait.  Step put the door and do it today.  There will never be a good or convenient time to do epic stuff.  Enjoy your race.  I’ll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-309 – Bryan Lyons on Pushing Rick Hoyt in 2015 (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4310.mp3] Link epi4310.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Hello my friends, this is Chris your host and this is the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-310.  Welcome.  We are in our final days of taper leading into the Boston Marathon.  I'm ready.  I'm right on my target race weight, I'm strong in the legs and I've done it a few times before.   I'm starting from the back this year in the last charity corral.  It will take me awhile to get to the starting line and it will be crowded.  Looks like we're getting decent weather, cool and rainy.  That's actually my favorite racing weather.   One of my friends from the running club is getting a limo to take a bunch of us out to Hopkinton on Monday morning.  There's no checked bags from Hopkinton anymore so we'll have to navigate the cool, wet weather on the morning with some throw away stuff.  There will be a wind.  I don't know yet if it's a head wind on not but as far back in the pack as I am there's lots of shelter if you know what I mean.   I don't know if I'll be carrying my phone or not.  I'd love to be unplugged but I don't know how to get it into Boston otherwise without being separated from it for a day.  It turns out this new iPhone6 fits perfectly into one of those ½ size snack baggies and you can use the phone through the plastic. Today we have the great privilege to speak with Bryon Lyons who is taking over for Dick Hoyt in Pushing Rick this year.  It's a long one, but's that's ok.  I think we cover some good ground.  In the first section I'm going to muse on this year's Boston from my perspective, as is my annual tradition.   In the second section we'll talk about how to use an external brain to get important stuff done.  I'm good to go for Monday.  I have a red Team Hoyt singlet that I'll probably put a long sleeve shirt on underneath because of the weather.  It's also got some rough bits that I'd like to keep off my nipples!   I still need to swing by Whole Foods and pick up some Hammer Gels for the race.  I tried to cook up my own energy gels from organic peanut butter and cocoa powder but it was a disaster.  It was like when you give a dog a spoonful of peanut butter and their mouth gets all stuck.  I'll have to keep working on that.  Damn near choked me to death on my last couple long runs.   We might go long today, but I'll keep my comments short.   On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips Tapering into Boston http://runrunlive.com/boston-taper-time Voices of reason – the interviews Bryan Lyons  From Runners World  “Team Hoyt Racing at Boston With a Different Look For the first time since 1980, Dick Hoyt won't run behind his son. But Bryan Lyons, a longtime supporter and runner, takes up the cause. By Liam Boylan-Pett; April 9, 2015 Rick and Dick Hoyt with Bryan Lyons Bryan Lyons (left, bib number 33864) at the 2014 Boston Marathon with Dick and Rick Hoyt. In 2014, Dick Hoyt completed the Boston Marathon for the 32nd time—each year pushing his son Rick, who's a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, in a custom-racing wheelchair. After last year's race, Dick wanted to retire. Rick, however, wanted to cover the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston again. He's going to—this year with a new running partner. Dr. Bryan Lyons, a dentist in Billerica, Massachusetts, and a family friend of the Hoyts, will push Rick in the 119th running of Boston. “It was sort of shocking for [Dick] to ask me,” Lyons told the Lowell Sun. "My friends told me [the Hoyts] don't want the big name, they want the big heart. If that's the least that I can provide, I'm happy." This will be the seventh Boston Marathon for Lyons, 44, who has run for the Hoyt Foundation marathon team since 2008, with a best of 4:15:29, which he ran in 2010. Lyons does have some experience running with Rick, 53. Since January, the two have completed a few shorter local road races and gone on training runs together, according to the Lowell Sun. If Rick isn't available, Lyons puts sandbags into the wheelchair to simulate his weight. Although Dick Hoyt, 74, won't be running, he won't absent from the marathon. He's the race's grand marshal, and will ride in a pace car ahead of the lead runners. The Hoyt's story, chronicled by Runner's World in 2007, has inspired many. Since 1977 when Rick asked Dick to push him through a 5-mile race, the father-son duo has completed more than 1,100 races, including Ironman triathlons. “Dick will continue to be at the head of the field, leading 30,000 runners on their trek to Boston,” Tom Grilk, Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, said in a press release. “Dick and Rick Hoyt will forever be synonymous with the Boston Marathon and the sport of running.” Now, Lyons' name will be attached, too. Once Dick decided not to run, Lyons was an easy choice for the Hoyts. "Bryan will be out there, and he'll do his best, we know that," Dick Hoyt told the Lowell Sun. "He's a great athlete, a great person, and the type of person that we want to be pushing Rick. And Rick wants Bryan to be the one to do it."  Section Two – Life Lessons Using an External Brain –  http://runrunlive.com/the-power-of-the-external-brain Outro That's it my friends.  Episode 4-310 in the can.  We'll see what happens over the weekend.  I may do a race report or not.  It's a lot of work to write something that I am proud of.  You don't really know the appropriate theme until the race has been run, so you can't prepare that much.   I've got the Groton Road Race coming up on the 26th and we've still got shirts if you want to register.  We'd love to have you.  Then I'm going in to get my heart fixed.  Then…it will be summer time and the living will be easy.   I was out in California this past week.  I flew out Saturday and came back on the redeye Tuesday night.  I was in Huntington Beach.  You may or may not know that Huntington Beach is known as Surf City USA. This is one of the centers of the surfing culture from Southern California.   There are surf shops and beach cruiser bikes and classic cars cruising in circles.   It's a surfer vibe.   Sunday I was wandering around the resort, killing some time before dinner and ended up going into a surf shop, where they sell shirts, baggy shorts and flip flops to the tourists.  There were a couple young guys lounging behind the counter.  They were your surfer dude types.  Being me, I figured I'd chat them up.   I say “You guys look tired and bored.”  To which the one guy replies, “Yeah, we're the surf instructors but they make us work in here.” And the other dude says, “Yeah, man, Long night, ya know?” I nod, as if I can commiserate.  He thinks I don't understand.  “I was up all night man, you know those Spanish girls…” I try to act like that's something I can relate to as I stand there in my business suit and mid-life crisis look. He still thinks I don't get it and says, “Ya know, man? The 6-2?”  I agree and move on, wondering what the hell ‘the 6-2' means.   I tell the story to the guys I'm with and we come up with all sorts of theories around body type ratios and start-stop times.  We Google it but the urban dictionary, while having some fairly unsettling definitions, doesn't quite fit.   We spend the next couple days asking people and not getting any good answers.  I go back to the shop but the dudes aren't working.  At dinner that night I can see that the busboy is clearly a surfer dude cut from the same cloth.  I call him over and tell him my story in a conspiratorial and hushed way, finishing with the big question.  “What does ‘the 6-2' mean?  He says “Well bro, it's kinda hard to explain…” I say “Just give it your best shot…” He continues. “Well it just mean he was tappin that shit all night long…” The mystery was solved.  That's all it meant. There were not ratios or timing or measurements involved.   Now you know.  You've got early access to some surf slang. I can see the ultra runners using this one.  How was the middle 50 miles?  “It was the 6-2, bro, all trail, all night…”  With that I will leave you to your own adventures.  Don't wait.  Step put the door and do it today.  There will never be a good or convenient time to do epic stuff.  Enjoy your race.  I'll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-307 – The Continuing Adventures of Wendy Nail (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4307.mp3] Link epi4307.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Well, my friends, here we are, Late Friday afternoon and time to publish another episode of the long running Podcast series RunRunLive…A serial magazine series sponsored by the Cialis and the History Channel about the trials and tribulations of Yaks farming on the north eastern permafrost… No? Ok, It’s not sponsored by anyone except the neurotically charged neurons of my cranial sphere.  And mostly we talk about distance running and endurance sports and we talk to members of our community about their adventures and transformations and epiphanies.   And at 25 words with 4 conjunctions that, my friends, is a sentence Vladmir Nabokov would be proud of.  Just got back from running 1:45 outside on the roads.  That’s two outside runs for the week! I’m killing it!  Heh heh… My training is going good and bad.  On the good side I’m getting the miles in.  On the bad side my AFib is really getting annoying.   Let me ‘splain…I’m not a doctor, so I’m going to dumb it down to my level.  If you look at your heart it’s a big manual pump.  It’s got these four chambers to it.  Each one of these chambers is like a Turkey baster, you squeeze it and it squirts blood out one side, you let go and it reflates and draws blood in the other side.   There’s a one-way valve on each side of each chamber, just a simple flap valve, like in the back of your toilet.  Leading into and out of these turkey-basters are four big pipes.  These pipes return blood and carry blood away.  These are the pipes that get clogged up when you hear about people getting ‘bypasses’.   The thing is, in order to squeeze and release those turkey basters your heart muscles contract and relax.  The trick is that they have to contract and release in the right sequence or the blood doesn’t move around well.    What’s going on in my Afib is that erroneous electrical signals are cascading down the sheathing material around these pipes and causing my heart muscles to get the turkey basters out of synch.  This is exercise induced and only happens when I push hard and towards the end of my runs.   What it feels like is a loss of power.  If I look at my heart rate monitor it will read max, like I’m doing wind sprints.  But it’s not really my heart beating too fast or at max, it’s my heart reacting to these bogus electrical signals and doing the funky chicken.   When I think about it, now that I know what it is, I can trace it back a few years, but it only got noticeable in the last year or so.   In its current form it’s just sucking the joy out of my running.  What I love about running is that point when you get warmed up, deep into a workout and can push the gas pedal down and transcend the workout.  Right now, when I get to that point, the engine sputters and coughs. It has removed the ‘flow state’ or the ‘runner’s high’ state from my workouts.  Which makes them more like work and less like the flights of fancy that I love.  But, all is not lost.  I’ve scheduled myself to go in for a procedure called ‘Cryo-ablation’ where they snake a device up the veins through your groin, into your heart and freeze a ring of scar tissue into those four big pipes.  That ring of scaring blocks the spurious signals from getting to your heart and all is well.  They say it works 80% of the time and I’m a perfect candidate.  But, like Mark Twain was fond of saying, “There’s liars, damn liars and statistics.” The other alternative is that I could just learn to run slow and short.  But I don’t think I’m ready or wired for that.  Let’s face it. In the grand scheme of things I’m a super fortunate, super blessed guy.  I have nothing to complain about and I really mean that.   Besides, I’ve got you right?  And who’s going to hold off the zombie hoards if I have to take it easy?  Today on this show of shows we have the continuing adventures of Wendy Nail who we talked to a few episodes back about barefoot running.  This time around we talk about her international adventures and how running is enjoyed all over the world.  In the first article on running related topics I’m going to share some insight on my experience training for the hills of the Boston Marathon.  In the second article on life lessons I’m going to talk about how to deal with our hard-wired negativity bias.   I’m not looking for you to give money to squarespace, dollar shave club or audible, and I don’t need any iTunes reviews, but I do still need help with my team Hoyt campaign for the 2015 Boston marathon.   I don’t have a problem asking for support because Rick and Dick have given more to our community and sport than we could ever return.  These guys have a statue in Hopkinton for heaven’s sake! They’re the real deal.  Help me help them.  Go to my crowdrise page, it’s in the show notes and on the RunRunLive website – or I may let the zombie hoards eat you.  On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips The Hills of Boston http://runrunlive.com/hill-training-for-flatlanders Voices of reason – the interviews Wendy Nail    Section two – Life Skills Can vs Can’t and the negativity bias. http://runrunlive.com/can-or-cant Outro Well, well, my Campneros, another RunRunLive podcast driven to the ground and put in the pen with the rest of the free-range steers – Episode 4-307 done and dusted.  I found out that my sister is listening to the podcast.  Which, honestly kinda freaks me out.  I’ve always told you that this avatar is just one of the me’s out there.  But since you’re listening, hey, it must be weird for you to hear Dad’s voice come out of me every so often?  I hear it.  You must too.  And remember: “Russell kids are the smartest and best at everything.” Right?  Heh, is there anything as weird as shared family history?  I mean weird- good mostly, but it really gets under your skin in a way nothing else can.  Also this week I had a weird interaction with one of the guys I work with.  I also keep I nice tall wall between this avatar and that work avatar.  But, I was so brimming with pride last week I told him about the new book I released.  I gave him a copy with the understanding that he would spread it around, the last thing I need is to be in a business situation and have someone say “But Chris, you had time to write a book…”  Anyhow, this gentleman is a creative and he sends me back an email that says, and I quote,  All I can say is… WOW. What a great book, Chris. I who never run or jog anywhere, salute you! Not only is your writing style a treat to read, but your whole attitude toward running and the philosophical POV you bring to the subject is outstanding. I think this writing is better than 90% of the pros. Congratulations on a real achievement! Then he says to me today, why didn’t you quit your job years ago and become a writer?  Which I answered the same way I always do.  Because I’m smart enough to know the difference between a profession and a hobby.  But, is that my Dad talking?  Am I just afraid?  Probably a rational dose of all those things.   Yes the MarathonBQ book is up on Kindle for your enjoyment, but any listeners of the show who want an e-copy I’ll give you one if you a) contribute to the Hoyt fund or b) promise to write up a review.   It’s been on the Times best seller list for two weeks now.  Spielberg, Tarantino and Scorsese are fighting over the move rights.  Harison Ford was going to play the ‘old’ me but he crashed his plane last week so they had to switch to Timothy Robbins.  Of course Ryan Gosling is already under contract to play the young me.  Frankly he’s not as smoldering sexy as the young me, but he might pass.  In my dreams… We are coming up on the Groton Road Race on the 26th and everything is coming together.  Got some big changes this year and I’m sure there will be some chaos! I set up a virtual race option if you want to run it remotely.  The shirt is super nice and we’ll ship it to you.  As a matter of fact I’m going to go run a 10K in every shirt before we ship them.  And the women’s smalls chafe quite a bit.   That bit I did today on can vs can’t really resonated when I posted it up on my site.  I got a storm of positive responses and shares. Which is strange because I sort of hacked it together in a bunch of small time blocks, between things, over the course of the week.   I learned early that you never know what is going to synch with people.  It’s not my responsibility to judge what’s worthy.  It’s my privilege to create, to let muses have their way.   Folks – get out there.  Wipe those winter blues from your smock and get out there.  Lace ‘em up and go on adventures.  Have some fun.  People are watching you and you can influence the world for the better.  As you are pursuing your adventures and good works, I’ll be there too, I’ll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-307 – The Continuing Adventures of Wendy Nail (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4307.mp3] Link epi4307.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Well, my friends, here we are, Late Friday afternoon and time to publish another episode of the long running Podcast series RunRunLive…A serial magazine series sponsored by the Cialis and the History Channel about the trials and tribulations of Yaks farming on the north eastern permafrost… No? Ok, It's not sponsored by anyone except the neurotically charged neurons of my cranial sphere.  And mostly we talk about distance running and endurance sports and we talk to members of our community about their adventures and transformations and epiphanies.   And at 25 words with 4 conjunctions that, my friends, is a sentence Vladmir Nabokov would be proud of.  Just got back from running 1:45 outside on the roads.  That's two outside runs for the week! I'm killing it!  Heh heh… My training is going good and bad.  On the good side I'm getting the miles in.  On the bad side my AFib is really getting annoying.   Let me ‘splain…I'm not a doctor, so I'm going to dumb it down to my level.  If you look at your heart it's a big manual pump.  It's got these four chambers to it.  Each one of these chambers is like a Turkey baster, you squeeze it and it squirts blood out one side, you let go and it reflates and draws blood in the other side.   There's a one-way valve on each side of each chamber, just a simple flap valve, like in the back of your toilet.  Leading into and out of these turkey-basters are four big pipes.  These pipes return blood and carry blood away.  These are the pipes that get clogged up when you hear about people getting ‘bypasses'.   The thing is, in order to squeeze and release those turkey basters your heart muscles contract and relax.  The trick is that they have to contract and release in the right sequence or the blood doesn't move around well.    What's going on in my Afib is that erroneous electrical signals are cascading down the sheathing material around these pipes and causing my heart muscles to get the turkey basters out of synch.  This is exercise induced and only happens when I push hard and towards the end of my runs.   What it feels like is a loss of power.  If I look at my heart rate monitor it will read max, like I'm doing wind sprints.  But it's not really my heart beating too fast or at max, it's my heart reacting to these bogus electrical signals and doing the funky chicken.   When I think about it, now that I know what it is, I can trace it back a few years, but it only got noticeable in the last year or so.   In its current form it's just sucking the joy out of my running.  What I love about running is that point when you get warmed up, deep into a workout and can push the gas pedal down and transcend the workout.  Right now, when I get to that point, the engine sputters and coughs. It has removed the ‘flow state' or the ‘runner's high' state from my workouts.  Which makes them more like work and less like the flights of fancy that I love.  But, all is not lost.  I've scheduled myself to go in for a procedure called ‘Cryo-ablation' where they snake a device up the veins through your groin, into your heart and freeze a ring of scar tissue into those four big pipes.  That ring of scaring blocks the spurious signals from getting to your heart and all is well.  They say it works 80% of the time and I'm a perfect candidate.  But, like Mark Twain was fond of saying, “There's liars, damn liars and statistics.” The other alternative is that I could just learn to run slow and short.  But I don't think I'm ready or wired for that.  Let's face it. In the grand scheme of things I'm a super fortunate, super blessed guy.  I have nothing to complain about and I really mean that.   Besides, I've got you right?  And who's going to hold off the zombie hoards if I have to take it easy?  Today on this show of shows we have the continuing adventures of Wendy Nail who we talked to a few episodes back about barefoot running.  This time around we talk about her international adventures and how running is enjoyed all over the world.  In the first article on running related topics I'm going to share some insight on my experience training for the hills of the Boston Marathon.  In the second article on life lessons I'm going to talk about how to deal with our hard-wired negativity bias.   I'm not looking for you to give money to squarespace, dollar shave club or audible, and I don't need any iTunes reviews, but I do still need help with my team Hoyt campaign for the 2015 Boston marathon.   I don't have a problem asking for support because Rick and Dick have given more to our community and sport than we could ever return.  These guys have a statue in Hopkinton for heaven's sake! They're the real deal.  Help me help them.  Go to my crowdrise page, it's in the show notes and on the RunRunLive website – or I may let the zombie hoards eat you.  On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips The Hills of Boston http://runrunlive.com/hill-training-for-flatlanders Voices of reason – the interviews Wendy Nail    Section two – Life Skills Can vs Can't and the negativity bias. http://runrunlive.com/can-or-cant Outro Well, well, my Campneros, another RunRunLive podcast driven to the ground and put in the pen with the rest of the free-range steers – Episode 4-307 done and dusted.  I found out that my sister is listening to the podcast.  Which, honestly kinda freaks me out.  I've always told you that this avatar is just one of the me's out there.  But since you're listening, hey, it must be weird for you to hear Dad's voice come out of me every so often?  I hear it.  You must too.  And remember: “Russell kids are the smartest and best at everything.” Right?  Heh, is there anything as weird as shared family history?  I mean weird- good mostly, but it really gets under your skin in a way nothing else can.  Also this week I had a weird interaction with one of the guys I work with.  I also keep I nice tall wall between this avatar and that work avatar.  But, I was so brimming with pride last week I told him about the new book I released.  I gave him a copy with the understanding that he would spread it around, the last thing I need is to be in a business situation and have someone say “But Chris, you had time to write a book…”  Anyhow, this gentleman is a creative and he sends me back an email that says, and I quote,  All I can say is… WOW. What a great book, Chris. I who never run or jog anywhere, salute you! Not only is your writing style a treat to read, but your whole attitude toward running and the philosophical POV you bring to the subject is outstanding. I think this writing is better than 90% of the pros. Congratulations on a real achievement! Then he says to me today, why didn't you quit your job years ago and become a writer?  Which I answered the same way I always do.  Because I'm smart enough to know the difference between a profession and a hobby.  But, is that my Dad talking?  Am I just afraid?  Probably a rational dose of all those things.   Yes the MarathonBQ book is up on Kindle for your enjoyment, but any listeners of the show who want an e-copy I'll give you one if you a) contribute to the Hoyt fund or b) promise to write up a review.   It's been on the Times best seller list for two weeks now.  Spielberg, Tarantino and Scorsese are fighting over the move rights.  Harison Ford was going to play the ‘old' me but he crashed his plane last week so they had to switch to Timothy Robbins.  Of course Ryan Gosling is already under contract to play the young me.  Frankly he's not as smoldering sexy as the young me, but he might pass.  In my dreams… We are coming up on the Groton Road Race on the 26th and everything is coming together.  Got some big changes this year and I'm sure there will be some chaos! I set up a virtual race option if you want to run it remotely.  The shirt is super nice and we'll ship it to you.  As a matter of fact I'm going to go run a 10K in every shirt before we ship them.  And the women's smalls chafe quite a bit.   That bit I did today on can vs can't really resonated when I posted it up on my site.  I got a storm of positive responses and shares. Which is strange because I sort of hacked it together in a bunch of small time blocks, between things, over the course of the week.   I learned early that you never know what is going to synch with people.  It's not my responsibility to judge what's worthy.  It's my privilege to create, to let muses have their way.   Folks – get out there.  Wipe those winter blues from your smock and get out there.  Lace ‘em up and go on adventures.  Have some fun.  People are watching you and you can influence the world for the better.  As you are pursuing your adventures and good works, I'll be there too, I'll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-306 – Jed's Life Changes (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4306.mp3] Link epi4306.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Holy Moley and welcome to episode 4-306 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Man it's cold! I As I write this we haven't been above freezing for a month and have had 6 feet of snow up here!  I like winter as much as the next guy but I'm getting a bit weary of the continuous Blizzard-cane that is New England.  Since we talked last I did take trip to Atlanta and got some nice long runs in in Buckhead.  I came back from dinner one night and said ‘to heck with it, I'm heading out!'  and ran from Buckhead all the way up Peachtree to midtown.  I was out for a nice 1:45 minutes which is about a ½ marathon for me at an easy pace.   Everybody else was walking around in winter coats and hats and I was chugging along down the sidewalk in shorts.   Up here where I live I've been banished to the treadmill.  It's 12:00 noon when I'm writing this and it's a sunny 10 degrees F with a nice stiff breeze.  I have to put on so many clothes to run in that it's like a whole load of laundry.   It's super dangerous with the roads narrowed by drifting snow and the banks so high the drivers can't see over them.  You just have to pull out and pray.  Yes I've been doing a bunch of treadmill running.  That's why I have a gym membership! Believe it or not, I ran over three hours on the treadmill last Sunday.  It's crazy.   Buddy's going bonkers.  I think he's ready to revolt.  As Maryro says he's gone ‘shack whacky'! But the days are getting longer.  It will only be a couple weeks and we'll be back out in the woods splashing through the melting mud and breathing in the good earth.  So, my friends, I see you sitting on the couch in your pajamas in front of a warm fire eating a large jar of Nutella with a spoon.  You have to cut that out because we're only months away from Beach season! Get up! Let's go!  In today's show we have another guest interview.  Longtime friend of the show Greg Milbourne has an interview with one of his running friends Jed Carman.   Jed had one of those near death exercise experiences that we all fear and turned it into fuel for his life.   There's a lot to be learned from this conversation.  Why does it take a big impact occurrence like this to get us to see how lucky we are and get us to really appreciate a life?  This life is right there in front of you today (as you sit in your pajamas feeling sorry for yourself eating Nutella).  We don't have to wait for the firm touch of fate to shake us out of our reveries.  Greg and I have been corresponding since the beginning of the RunRunLive podcast many years ago. And since he's a mental health professional, I'm pretty sure it's part of some long term study on manic depressives.   In the running stuff section I'm going take a deep dive into some of the finer, veteran points on hydration and fueling.  In the deep thinking section I'm going to talk about fierce conversations.  Should be a great show.  We are 7 week's out or so from the Boston Marathon.  I've decided not to run another marathon in the intervening time. Too much going on.  I'm not going to be the fastest runner but I'm going to have a hell of a base built up.   I have signed up for the Eastern States 20 Miler put on by Don Allison, who we've spoken to on the show a couple times.  They fixed the bridge and we'll be back to running the old course that starts in Maine, runs the length of New Hampshire and ends in Mass.  Love that route.  Let's see if I can stay within myself and run it strongly.  Nice people among you have been trickling in donations for my Team Hoyt campaign.  Keep it up! I have some ground to make up to make my goal.  It matters.  I give you my stunning good looks and brilliance, you give me donations for my Hoyt campaign, and Frankly, I think you're coming out ahead on this deal!   It's hard to walk in the snow when it's this deep.  I had to dig a trench for the dog to get out and do his thing.  I had to dig a tunnel to my wood pile.  I had to dig a tunnel around the house so the Oil guy could deliver.  I'm hoping all this shoveling is good for conditioning.  The good news is that the zombies get stuck and you can just whack ‘em on the head with the snow shovel.  On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips Hydration Deep Dive http://runrunlive.com/race-hydration-deep-dive Voices of reason – the interviews Jed Carman  Interviewed by Greg Milbourne.  Articles about Jed http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sportsdoc/Believing-in-a-way-back-Returning-to-running-after-a-spinal-cord-injury.html Speech by Jed http://youtu.be/Zz9gHfDOhMc   Section two – Life Skills Fierce Conversations http://runrunlive.com/fierce-conversations Outro Put that Nutella down.  We're at the end of another RunRunLive Podcast! This has been episode 4-306.  If you want to join us for the Groton Road Race on April 26th this year, but are unfortunately waylaid in some unfortunate place like Nome Alaska or Murmansk, it's ok.  I have set up a virtual race category so you can register, run with us in spirit and send us your time for the results.  We'll send you a bib and one of our super-popular ‘wearable art' shirts, that are by popular demand on a high quality tech shirt this year.   The web site has all the details www.GrotonRoadRace.com And if you're thinking, ‘aww, shucks, Chris, you're just shilling shirts.' Then you're missing the point.  You need to go find a local race that you can get involved in.  It's a privilege and an honor to be able to work with the community and the high-quality people of the race committee to bring this wonderful event out each spring.  It's an opportunity for us to create something that we can be proud of that supports the things that we believe passionately in.   And that's all I have to say about that.  Speaking of giving back I've got a present for you.  I want to give you a copy of my new book.  It's called MarathonBQ and it's my manifesto on qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon over the last 20 years.   I'm proud of this book and I want you to read it and enjoy it.  Here's the deal.  If you want a copy you can either join my email list, Make a donation to my Hoyt fund or leave me a book review on Amazon Kindle.  If you think that's something you'd be interested in doing shoot me an email and I will send you a copy.  Simple as that.   You can see all the details at my lovely website www.MarathonBQ.com.  Rules of thumb To take you out I want to geek out a little about ‘rules of thumb'.   Our lives are filled with rules of thumb.  An apple a day.  8 hours of sleep.  8 glasses of water a day.  20 mile long runs.  The 10% rule.  These are all rules of thumb to give you a ball park answers to complex problems.  You have to be careful because rules of thumb are not specific to you as an individual.  In optimization science rules of thumb are called heuristics.  People make up heuristics to simplify complex problems.  For any specific individual for example, “What is the optimal amount of sleep I should get?” is actually a very personal and complex answer that changes with time and health and age.  It's too hard to solve so we default to the rule of thumb of 8 hours.   Our brains build heuristics, or gravitate to existing heuristics to find short cut solutions to these complex problems.  Heuristics are valid solution approaches.  They don't find perfect solutions or the best solution but they get an answer quickly and it's usually a feasible answer. It works.  It's the 80% fit.  It's the ‘good enough'.  Mixed in with these heuristics are old wives' tales masquerading as rules of thumb.  They seem to make sense but there's no evidence either way.  Don't go out in the rain, you'll catch a cold.  I don't know if that's true or not but I love running in the rain.  My wife is full of these old wives' tales, (heh heh), parading as rules of thumb that she inherited from her mother and were passed down from witch doctors in the forest 50,000 years ago.   My point is that when we are spouting these rules of thumb and similar tall tales we announce them as fact and that can get you in trouble as an athlete.  What works for everybody may not work for you.  You need to test out those assumptions on your own machine and see what works and adjust accordingly.  Or, to summarize, as they used to say in the 60's “Question Authority” – in all its forms.  And as you are considering whether or not what you always believed to be true may or may not be I'll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-306 – Jed’s Life Changes (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4306.mp3] Link epi4306.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Holy Moley and welcome to episode 4-306 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Man it’s cold! I As I write this we haven’t been above freezing for a month and have had 6 feet of snow up here!  I like winter as much as the next guy but I’m getting a bit weary of the continuous Blizzard-cane that is New England.  Since we talked last I did take trip to Atlanta and got some nice long runs in in Buckhead.  I came back from dinner one night and said ‘to heck with it, I’m heading out!’  and ran from Buckhead all the way up Peachtree to midtown.  I was out for a nice 1:45 minutes which is about a ½ marathon for me at an easy pace.   Everybody else was walking around in winter coats and hats and I was chugging along down the sidewalk in shorts.   Up here where I live I’ve been banished to the treadmill.  It’s 12:00 noon when I’m writing this and it’s a sunny 10 degrees F with a nice stiff breeze.  I have to put on so many clothes to run in that it’s like a whole load of laundry.   It’s super dangerous with the roads narrowed by drifting snow and the banks so high the drivers can’t see over them.  You just have to pull out and pray.  Yes I’ve been doing a bunch of treadmill running.  That’s why I have a gym membership! Believe it or not, I ran over three hours on the treadmill last Sunday.  It’s crazy.   Buddy’s going bonkers.  I think he’s ready to revolt.  As Maryro says he’s gone ‘shack whacky’! But the days are getting longer.  It will only be a couple weeks and we’ll be back out in the woods splashing through the melting mud and breathing in the good earth.  So, my friends, I see you sitting on the couch in your pajamas in front of a warm fire eating a large jar of Nutella with a spoon.  You have to cut that out because we’re only months away from Beach season! Get up! Let’s go!  In today’s show we have another guest interview.  Longtime friend of the show Greg Milbourne has an interview with one of his running friends Jed Carman.   Jed had one of those near death exercise experiences that we all fear and turned it into fuel for his life.   There’s a lot to be learned from this conversation.  Why does it take a big impact occurrence like this to get us to see how lucky we are and get us to really appreciate a life?  This life is right there in front of you today (as you sit in your pajamas feeling sorry for yourself eating Nutella).  We don’t have to wait for the firm touch of fate to shake us out of our reveries.  Greg and I have been corresponding since the beginning of the RunRunLive podcast many years ago. And since he’s a mental health professional, I’m pretty sure it’s part of some long term study on manic depressives.   In the running stuff section I’m going take a deep dive into some of the finer, veteran points on hydration and fueling.  In the deep thinking section I’m going to talk about fierce conversations.  Should be a great show.  We are 7 week’s out or so from the Boston Marathon.  I’ve decided not to run another marathon in the intervening time. Too much going on.  I’m not going to be the fastest runner but I’m going to have a hell of a base built up.   I have signed up for the Eastern States 20 Miler put on by Don Allison, who we’ve spoken to on the show a couple times.  They fixed the bridge and we’ll be back to running the old course that starts in Maine, runs the length of New Hampshire and ends in Mass.  Love that route.  Let’s see if I can stay within myself and run it strongly.  Nice people among you have been trickling in donations for my Team Hoyt campaign.  Keep it up! I have some ground to make up to make my goal.  It matters.  I give you my stunning good looks and brilliance, you give me donations for my Hoyt campaign, and Frankly, I think you’re coming out ahead on this deal!   It’s hard to walk in the snow when it’s this deep.  I had to dig a trench for the dog to get out and do his thing.  I had to dig a tunnel to my wood pile.  I had to dig a tunnel around the house so the Oil guy could deliver.  I’m hoping all this shoveling is good for conditioning.  The good news is that the zombies get stuck and you can just whack ‘em on the head with the snow shovel.  On with the Show!  Section one - Running Tips Hydration Deep Dive http://runrunlive.com/race-hydration-deep-dive Voices of reason – the interviews Jed Carman  Interviewed by Greg Milbourne.  Articles about Jed http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sportsdoc/Believing-in-a-way-back-Returning-to-running-after-a-spinal-cord-injury.html Speech by Jed http://youtu.be/Zz9gHfDOhMc   Section two – Life Skills Fierce Conversations http://runrunlive.com/fierce-conversations Outro Put that Nutella down.  We’re at the end of another RunRunLive Podcast! This has been episode 4-306.  If you want to join us for the Groton Road Race on April 26th this year, but are unfortunately waylaid in some unfortunate place like Nome Alaska or Murmansk, it’s ok.  I have set up a virtual race category so you can register, run with us in spirit and send us your time for the results.  We’ll send you a bib and one of our super-popular ‘wearable art’ shirts, that are by popular demand on a high quality tech shirt this year.   The web site has all the details www.GrotonRoadRace.com And if you’re thinking, ‘aww, shucks, Chris, you’re just shilling shirts.’ Then you’re missing the point.  You need to go find a local race that you can get involved in.  It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to work with the community and the high-quality people of the race committee to bring this wonderful event out each spring.  It’s an opportunity for us to create something that we can be proud of that supports the things that we believe passionately in.   And that’s all I have to say about that.  Speaking of giving back I’ve got a present for you.  I want to give you a copy of my new book.  It’s called MarathonBQ and it’s my manifesto on qualifying for and running the Boston Marathon over the last 20 years.   I’m proud of this book and I want you to read it and enjoy it.  Here’s the deal.  If you want a copy you can either join my email list, Make a donation to my Hoyt fund or leave me a book review on Amazon Kindle.  If you think that’s something you’d be interested in doing shoot me an email and I will send you a copy.  Simple as that.   You can see all the details at my lovely website www.MarathonBQ.com.  Rules of thumb To take you out I want to geek out a little about ‘rules of thumb’.   Our lives are filled with rules of thumb.  An apple a day.  8 hours of sleep.  8 glasses of water a day.  20 mile long runs.  The 10% rule.  These are all rules of thumb to give you a ball park answers to complex problems.  You have to be careful because rules of thumb are not specific to you as an individual.  In optimization science rules of thumb are called heuristics.  People make up heuristics to simplify complex problems.  For any specific individual for example, “What is the optimal amount of sleep I should get?” is actually a very personal and complex answer that changes with time and health and age.  It’s too hard to solve so we default to the rule of thumb of 8 hours.   Our brains build heuristics, or gravitate to existing heuristics to find short cut solutions to these complex problems.  Heuristics are valid solution approaches.  They don’t find perfect solutions or the best solution but they get an answer quickly and it’s usually a feasible answer. It works.  It’s the 80% fit.  It’s the ‘good enough’.  Mixed in with these heuristics are old wives’ tales masquerading as rules of thumb.  They seem to make sense but there’s no evidence either way.  Don’t go out in the rain, you’ll catch a cold.  I don’t know if that’s true or not but I love running in the rain.  My wife is full of these old wives’ tales, (heh heh), parading as rules of thumb that she inherited from her mother and were passed down from witch doctors in the forest 50,000 years ago.   My point is that when we are spouting these rules of thumb and similar tall tales we announce them as fact and that can get you in trouble as an athlete.  What works for everybody may not work for you.  You need to test out those assumptions on your own machine and see what works and adjust accordingly.  Or, to summarize, as they used to say in the 60’s “Question Authority” – in all its forms.  And as you are considering whether or not what you always believed to be true may or may not be I’ll see you out there.  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-305 – SheriAnne’s Adventures (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4305.mp3] Link epi4305.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Buenas Dias! Mi Amigos.  I told you that early in my career I did a couple projects in Chihuahua Mexico, right?  That was before it got a bit dicey with the los drugos down there.  More innocent times.  So we made it to February!  Old Man Winter has shown up with a vengeance up here in New England.  It’s ok, I like winter.  Or at least I can deal with it when it’s really only a couple months out of the year.   That’s one of the joys of living here is that you get 4 real seasons, but not enough of each to make them annoying.  Makes us flexible and tough.   Since we last talked it’s been snowing almost every other day.  Last weekend we got a cool 2-day blizzard that dumped 3 feet of snow.  Since it was cold too, zero degrees Fahrenheit, it was that fluffy snow that is great for winter sports and fairly easy to move, but we got a lot of it.  It’s over Buddy’s head and he’s confined to a short path in the front yard.  He’s got cabin fever and is quite bothersome.  I took him for a walk during the blizzard but it was over his head and up to my thighs so we could only break trail for a couple hundred feet before we had to turn around.  I’ve been having to get most of my runs in on the treadmill which is not optimal.  After we last talked I ran the Derry 16 miler and felt pretty good.  The weather was good at just around freezing.  I took it super easy and ran/walked the big hills then closed it nicely in the last 5k.  I ended up running around 2:17 and felt pretty strong.  That capped a 53 mile week for me on 4 runs.  The following weekend I went out for a 3 hour easy run.  I took it super easy and did loops around my house.  I felt like I could keep going at the end so my base is good and strong.  It’s a bit dismal with the snow and cold and darkness but you know how it is; the only way out is forward.   Besides, the cold weather slows the zombies down.   Thanks to those of you who threw me some donations for my Team Hoyt campaign for Running the Boston Marathon this year – I appreciate it.   Those of you who haven’t, now’s a good time.  I still need your help.  I’m only ¼ way to my goal.  Come on now, I don’t ask you folks to buy t-shirts, I don’t give a rat’s ass if you give me a review on iTunes or vote for me in whatever podcast awards are the thing of the day.  This isn’t a commercial venture for me, it’s a creative hobby.  So, cough up the cabbage and we’ll call it even…quid pro quo Clarice…quid pro quo. Today we have a most excellent show for you.  I interview SherAnne Nelson who is the captain of a team that is going to take on the Patagonia Expedition Race next year which is a super hairy race in South America.  It’s a run-bike-paddle-mountain climbing survival type thing.  Hard core.   I feel like I could have done a better job with SheriAnne. I feel like I should have asked, “Are you nuts? Leavingyoru comfy life and family for this misadventure? How do you feel about that?“ but I didn’t.   Even with my love of a good adventure, I’d be terrified.  I haven’t been traveling and that always makes me a little itchy.  But I’m getting a lot done, in between angsty episodes of over eating and over sleeping...But the days are getting longer and I’m hitting the road next week.  In section one I wrote a bit of a tongue in cheek piece about some of the myths surrounding marathon running that we have to watch out for.  In section two we’ll talk about the philosophy of time.  So, keep on shoveling, but don’t shovel straight lines because as we all know evil spirits love straight lines and will follow them right to your door.  Shovel crooked lines.  It will confuse the walking dead too.  On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Five Dangerous Marathon Myths http://runrunlive.com/5-dangerous-marathon-myths Voices of reason – the interviews SheriAnne Nelson Here are the links to follow our team.  Facebook - http://bit.ly/usateamprsfit Twitter - http://bit.ly/1usateamprsfit Tool Kit - http://bit.ly/prsfittoolkit YouTube - http://bit.ly/prsfityoutube Website - http://bit.ly/usateampatagonia Google+ - http://bit.ly/prsfitgoogleplus First and foremost I am a mom of 3 young beautiful children. I am a Fitness and Nutrition Coach that believes in helping people realized their untapped potential. I believe too many people go through life wondering if, and wishing they could do something magnificent. Everyone's "magnificent something" is different, mine just happens to be epic adventures.  Everything I do, I think about my children and the example I am setting for them. Setting goals is critical to being successful in life and I love to set big goals that make my heart beat a little faster and make me wonder if it is possible because I love nothing more than busting past that mental barrier. Anything is possible. What I bring to the 2016 Patagonia Expedition Race Team is the desire to succeed. Once I set a goal I will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. The hope and inspiration that I bring to others when sticking through the thick and thin of an event brings me great pleasure. Not only do I want to accomplish my goals for me but for everyone else watching me. I want to be the name that comes off of people's lips when they say, "I didn't quit because of you." The other attribute I will bring to the team is the ability to solve problems under pressure. I deal best when there is pressure, I have the ability to compartmentalize the situation and accomplish what needs to happen in order to move on. I have the ability to keep people calm and focused on the situation at hand. Athletic accomplishments: Collegiate Runner - 10K PR 36:30, 5K XC - 17:22, IMAZ '12 10:16 (PR) 3rd, Kona '13 10:33 30th, IMAZ '13 10:21 3rd, IMMT '14 10:37 6th, IMAZ '14 10:41 5th Qualified 2x for 70.3 Worlds, raced '14 IM70.3WC 5:05, Ultra 50 miler 3x with a 10:50 PR, Marathon PR 3:14, multiple Boston qualifier, 70.3 PR is 4:46 Here is my ZERO page http://www.zeroprostatecancerendurance.org/prsfit/sheriannenelson Happy shoveling :) Live well. SheriAnne Nelson Fitness and Nutrition Coach KonaMom.com CoachSheriAnne.com Section two – Life Skills “Time” http://runrunlive.com/time Outro Hey folks we have shoveled a crooked path to the conclusion of yet another RunRunLive Podcast.  Episode 4-305 in the can!   I think we’re short on time so I’ll keep it brief.  When it gets really cold out I like to wear a balaclava.  Unfortunately a couple years ago I lost my balaclava.  Maybe one of you could knit me one?  I hate to buy one because I we only need it 2 or 3 days a year and I know as soon as I get another one I’ll find the old one.   My wife in her Yogi Berra moments, (not the picnic basket bear – the catcher with a proclivity for malapropisms) always asks me if I’m wearing my baklava – which gives me a hilarious visual of having my head wrapped in Greek pastry.   The new book is getting typeset into a beautiful e-book by a nice gentleman in Pakistan – should be able to ship some promo copies next week.  I have to get it converted to Kindle too so I can post it up on Amazon.   And remember If you haven’t donated a couple bucks to my Hoyt cause – now’s a good time!  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell We’ve got the Groton Road Race coming together for April 26th this year.  I’m working to set up a virtual race category so folks can run it remotely.  We’ll send you one of the super sweet tech shirts that we’re putting our ‘wearable art’ on this year.  http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ I was talking with my daughter last week.  She had started a new job and was complaining that she didn’t sleep well because she had too many things going on in her head.  This is another version of the Tetris problem.   You lie awake at night going over all the things you have to worry about and trying to fit them together in a way that makes sense.  Your brain is working on that puzzle and can’t sleep until it gets resolution.  The way to address this problem is to get out a piece of paper or the equivalent handful of electrons, and write down all the things that are on your mind.  You purpose here is not to solve the Tetris problem.  Your purpose here is to capture all the bits so your subconscious knows that they are in safe keeping.   You do this before you go to bed and it allows your brain to take a break and sleep.  So sleep tight, and I’ll see you out there.  Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-305 – SheriAnne's Adventures (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4305.mp3] Link epi4305.mp3 Intro Bumper: https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell Buenas Dias! Mi Amigos.  I told you that early in my career I did a couple projects in Chihuahua Mexico, right?  That was before it got a bit dicey with the los drugos down there.  More innocent times.  So we made it to February!  Old Man Winter has shown up with a vengeance up here in New England.  It's ok, I like winter.  Or at least I can deal with it when it's really only a couple months out of the year.   That's one of the joys of living here is that you get 4 real seasons, but not enough of each to make them annoying.  Makes us flexible and tough.   Since we last talked it's been snowing almost every other day.  Last weekend we got a cool 2-day blizzard that dumped 3 feet of snow.  Since it was cold too, zero degrees Fahrenheit, it was that fluffy snow that is great for winter sports and fairly easy to move, but we got a lot of it.  It's over Buddy's head and he's confined to a short path in the front yard.  He's got cabin fever and is quite bothersome.  I took him for a walk during the blizzard but it was over his head and up to my thighs so we could only break trail for a couple hundred feet before we had to turn around.  I've been having to get most of my runs in on the treadmill which is not optimal.  After we last talked I ran the Derry 16 miler and felt pretty good.  The weather was good at just around freezing.  I took it super easy and ran/walked the big hills then closed it nicely in the last 5k.  I ended up running around 2:17 and felt pretty strong.  That capped a 53 mile week for me on 4 runs.  The following weekend I went out for a 3 hour easy run.  I took it super easy and did loops around my house.  I felt like I could keep going at the end so my base is good and strong.  It's a bit dismal with the snow and cold and darkness but you know how it is; the only way out is forward.   Besides, the cold weather slows the zombies down.   Thanks to those of you who threw me some donations for my Team Hoyt campaign for Running the Boston Marathon this year – I appreciate it.   Those of you who haven't, now's a good time.  I still need your help.  I'm only ¼ way to my goal.  Come on now, I don't ask you folks to buy t-shirts, I don't give a rat's ass if you give me a review on iTunes or vote for me in whatever podcast awards are the thing of the day.  This isn't a commercial venture for me, it's a creative hobby.  So, cough up the cabbage and we'll call it even…quid pro quo Clarice…quid pro quo. Today we have a most excellent show for you.  I interview SherAnne Nelson who is the captain of a team that is going to take on the Patagonia Expedition Race next year which is a super hairy race in South America.  It's a run-bike-paddle-mountain climbing survival type thing.  Hard core.   I feel like I could have done a better job with SheriAnne. I feel like I should have asked, “Are you nuts? Leavingyoru comfy life and family for this misadventure? How do you feel about that?“ but I didn't.   Even with my love of a good adventure, I'd be terrified.  I haven't been traveling and that always makes me a little itchy.  But I'm getting a lot done, in between angsty episodes of over eating and over sleeping...But the days are getting longer and I'm hitting the road next week.  In section one I wrote a bit of a tongue in cheek piece about some of the myths surrounding marathon running that we have to watch out for.  In section two we'll talk about the philosophy of time.  So, keep on shoveling, but don't shovel straight lines because as we all know evil spirits love straight lines and will follow them right to your door.  Shovel crooked lines.  It will confuse the walking dead too.  On with the Show! Section one - Running Tips Five Dangerous Marathon Myths http://runrunlive.com/5-dangerous-marathon-myths Voices of reason – the interviews SheriAnne Nelson Here are the links to follow our team.  Facebook - http://bit.ly/usateamprsfit Twitter - http://bit.ly/1usateamprsfit Tool Kit - http://bit.ly/prsfittoolkit YouTube - http://bit.ly/prsfityoutube Website - http://bit.ly/usateampatagonia Google+ - http://bit.ly/prsfitgoogleplus First and foremost I am a mom of 3 young beautiful children. I am a Fitness and Nutrition Coach that believes in helping people realized their untapped potential. I believe too many people go through life wondering if, and wishing they could do something magnificent. Everyone's "magnificent something" is different, mine just happens to be epic adventures.  Everything I do, I think about my children and the example I am setting for them. Setting goals is critical to being successful in life and I love to set big goals that make my heart beat a little faster and make me wonder if it is possible because I love nothing more than busting past that mental barrier. Anything is possible. What I bring to the 2016 Patagonia Expedition Race Team is the desire to succeed. Once I set a goal I will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. The hope and inspiration that I bring to others when sticking through the thick and thin of an event brings me great pleasure. Not only do I want to accomplish my goals for me but for everyone else watching me. I want to be the name that comes off of people's lips when they say, "I didn't quit because of you." The other attribute I will bring to the team is the ability to solve problems under pressure. I deal best when there is pressure, I have the ability to compartmentalize the situation and accomplish what needs to happen in order to move on. I have the ability to keep people calm and focused on the situation at hand. Athletic accomplishments: Collegiate Runner - 10K PR 36:30, 5K XC - 17:22, IMAZ '12 10:16 (PR) 3rd, Kona '13 10:33 30th, IMAZ '13 10:21 3rd, IMMT '14 10:37 6th, IMAZ '14 10:41 5th Qualified 2x for 70.3 Worlds, raced '14 IM70.3WC 5:05, Ultra 50 miler 3x with a 10:50 PR, Marathon PR 3:14, multiple Boston qualifier, 70.3 PR is 4:46 Here is my ZERO page http://www.zeroprostatecancerendurance.org/prsfit/sheriannenelson Happy shoveling :) Live well. SheriAnne Nelson Fitness and Nutrition Coach KonaMom.com CoachSheriAnne.com Section two – Life Skills “Time” http://runrunlive.com/time Outro Hey folks we have shoveled a crooked path to the conclusion of yet another RunRunLive Podcast.  Episode 4-305 in the can!   I think we're short on time so I'll keep it brief.  When it gets really cold out I like to wear a balaclava.  Unfortunately a couple years ago I lost my balaclava.  Maybe one of you could knit me one?  I hate to buy one because I we only need it 2 or 3 days a year and I know as soon as I get another one I'll find the old one.   My wife in her Yogi Berra moments, (not the picnic basket bear – the catcher with a proclivity for malapropisms) always asks me if I'm wearing my baklava – which gives me a hilarious visual of having my head wrapped in Greek pastry.   The new book is getting typeset into a beautiful e-book by a nice gentleman in Pakistan – should be able to ship some promo copies next week.  I have to get it converted to Kindle too so I can post it up on Amazon.   And remember If you haven't donated a couple bucks to my Hoyt cause – now's a good time!  https://www.crowdrise.com/TeamHoytBoston2015/fundraiser/christopherrussell We've got the Groton Road Race coming together for April 26th this year.  I'm working to set up a virtual race category so folks can run it remotely.  We'll send you one of the super sweet tech shirts that we're putting our ‘wearable art' on this year.  http://www.grotonroadrace.com/ I was talking with my daughter last week.  She had started a new job and was complaining that she didn't sleep well because she had too many things going on in her head.  This is another version of the Tetris problem.   You lie awake at night going over all the things you have to worry about and trying to fit them together in a way that makes sense.  Your brain is working on that puzzle and can't sleep until it gets resolution.  The way to address this problem is to get out a piece of paper or the equivalent handful of electrons, and write down all the things that are on your mind.  You purpose here is not to solve the Tetris problem.  Your purpose here is to capture all the bits so your subconscious knows that they are in safe keeping.   You do this before you go to bed and it allows your brain to take a break and sleep.  So sleep tight, and I'll see you out there.  Closing comments http://runrunlive.com/my-books  

Running the Groton Road Race was like running with an old friend I had never actually met, with one friend I had met before and another I’ve known for years through the running community of which I am a part. This was our pack.  Not in the lead, nor all the way at the back…but a pack of three friends running 6.2 miles through a beautiful colonial New England town.   Alett, John and I could have run at our own pace; we could have run with the goal of setting our own PR’s and attacking the course to the very best of our abilities…but for the three of us, good conversation and camaraderie was the goal for the day…and we ran together as friends, fellow runners…and most of all, as a pack. Links: http://runnewengland.blogspot.com/ http://www.runrunlive.com/ http://4feetrunning.blogspot.com/ http://grotonroadrace.com/ On Twitter: @petfxr @johnvaughn @painternik @misterfonzie @cyktrussell “A Dogs Purpose” By W. Bruce Cameron  Happenings: June 16th: Liberty Loco –http://arunningskeptic.blogspot.com  Whip it, Whip it social! (Networking this is): http://neilbearse.com ONLY IF YOU LIKE IT: Phedippidations is supported every month through the very kind and sincerely generous financial support of 16 fellow runners: Jan, Chaise, Andie, Gordon, Scott, Mike, David, Jeff, Colin, Jason, Diane, Greg, Jim, Maddy, Tim and Bill: THANK YOU! {http://donate.steverunner.com} Follow me on:  Blog: http://steverunnerblog.com Twitter: http://twitter.steverunner.com Facebook: http://facebook.steverunner.com Plus: http://plus.steverunner.com Pinterest: http://pinterest.steverunner.com Stream: http://stitcher.steverunner.com Jux: http://jux.steverunner.com Apple App: http://iapp.steverunner.com Android App: http://android.steverunner.com