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The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-462 – Eddy – Fit over 50  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4461.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-462 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we're going to focus on self-awareness and being in the now and how that helps you deal with hard things and also helps you work with what you've got. I have not run a step since we last spoke.  My new strategy is to actually rest my knee and see if that helps. Not sure why that wasn't my first strategy…  But, we all have to go through these thing sin our own ways.  The knee doesn't hurt and there is no loss of mobility or anything.  Every once in awhile I'll feel a twinge when I'm walking Ollie or doing something weight bearing – but in general I'm feeling strong, healthy and happy.  I've got a nice cadence going of lift, bike, swim – with a longer ride on the weekend.  I'm really enjoying the summer days and the work from home.  At 5 o'clock when the work whistle blows I can leave my office, jump on my bike and go for a ride or head down to the pond and go for a swim or head over to the gym for a weights session.  It's a very nice rhythm. It strikes me that I have found this rhythm partly by circumstance, the external factors of the plague and my knee being injured, but also by meeting the universe where it is. Meaning, because of my mindset practices I've somehow turned a this into a quite pleasant situation.  I'm at the point now where I'm in good enough practice in all three routines, weights, bike and swim, that I look forward to it and can get a good, hard workout in.  I'm particularly happy about the swimming.  Like I said before, I wasn't too confident because swimming has always been hard for me.  But, I seem to have cracked the code when I trained for that Olympic tri a couple years ago.  Apparently, I retained that stroke knowledge.  It frankly, amazes me that I can just wander out into the pond after not swimming for 3 years and knock out a satisfying 1,000 meter swim.  I can't imagine what people think when this old dude rolls up at the public beach, puts on goggles, wades into the water and disappears over the horizon.  Most years I wouldn't swim in that pond in August because it gets too warm, but with all the rain it's stayed temperate.   Anyhow, summary is I'm in a good place, keeping the weight off and staying fit. This week we will talk with Eddy who I ran into on YouTube.  He's a retied guy trying to build a social media empire.  He did a 5K a day for 30 days video that I loved, so we talk about that and some other stuff. In section one I'm going to give you a primer on how to start lifting weights if your strength curious.  In section two I'm going to talk about awareness.  And how awareness allows us to choose how we make our way in this world. I'll tell you a story.  I needed a haircut this week.  Even though I don't have much hair anymore, I like to keep it short and comfy, especially in the summer. So I went over to SuperCuts.  They said I had to wait 10-15 minutes.  So I sat down in a chair to wait.  It was very busy in there.  Apparently we are in the back-to-school season and the place was full of kids acting like kids.  People were coming in and out. The hair cutters were keeping up their chatter as they do. It was a bit of an imbroglio. Imbroglio is one of my fun words I use to let people know how much I love words.  It is basically an Italian nominalization – which means to turn a verb into a noun.  It's a version of the English word embroil.  So, basically an intricate mess with a lot of moving pieces.  Anyhow, it was a bit of a noisy imbroglio in the SuperCuts.  I decided, since I hadn't done my mediation yet, this would be an excellent use of the 10-minute wait.  You might say, ‘why would you try to meditate in a noisy, busy place in an uncomfortable chair?' And the answer is, why not?  What's different for the noise in my own head and this noise of the store? Noise is noise.  Meditation is not the cessation of noise.  It is the observation of noise, the awareness of noise.  I used to practice this form of peace when I traveled.  It works great in a busy airport or airplane.  Or to get to sleep in a strange place.  You picture yourself, or more appropriately observe yourself sitting in the environment.  You visualize a clear shell or forcefield around you.  All of the noise and chaos is outside the shell.  You observe the noise and chaos, but you let it go. You are aware of it's externality.  Then you focus on your breathing.  And you relax into your beautiful, shell of peace within the chaos. When the lady called my name early it took me a few moments to come out of it.  I was deeply relaxed.  I had to shake it off to get my hair cut. Because, if you can only achieve mindfulness in a comfy quiet room with a statue of the buddha surrounded by candles, you've probably got work to do. 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 – Weightlifting -   … Eddy Hope Health & Lifestyle Advocate Hi, I'm Eddy and this channel is devoted to Health & Lifestyle. After careers in the Royal Air Force and then as a Police Officer, I took early retirement in 2016 at aged 50. I did this as I felt that my health and general happiness came before the pursuit of perceived career success, or financial status. In March 2021 I was also diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, which undiagnosed, has had a profound impact throughout my life and those around me. I now live in Tyneside (UK), with my two gorgeous border collie dogs Lilly and Setu. In this channel I hope to inspire you with ideas and provide the tools to improve your physical and mental health, your relationships, spend more time in the outdoors, get involved in volunteering and much more and all of this without the need to spend a lot of money.   Section Two – Awareness -   Outro Ok my friends we are aware of and have observed that we have arrived at the end of episode 4-462 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Awesome sauce. I got a couple nice notes this week.  One from Jim, who commented on the presentation I made to my work group.  I got recognized in this week's team call for helping people stay on their fitness routines.  I had another email from Brian who is running Boston this year and has watched that 2018 video of Eric and I running in the storm a bunch of times and told me it gave him inspiration. As much as I love to feed my own overblown narciscism, my point is not that it makes me happy to get good feedback.  My point is, like I told Eddy, you never know who you are going impact.  It may be 20 minutes of throw-away musing on your part but once you let it loose on the world it may find the person who needs it and resonate with them.  Don't ever underestimate your own power and impact. Lean in.  Let you light shine.  Meet the universe where it is. I was supposed to go down and pace Dave in his 24 hour race last weekend, but he ran headlong into a 3-day heat wave and pulled the plug at 100K.  He made the decision early and waved me off.  Over Labor Day I'm going to volunteer for the .  By the way, we're having the Wapack Trail Race this year on Sept 5th. Come on up and run 18 miles of technical single track.  One of my favorite races on one of my favorite trails.  Links in the show notes.  I do intend to go down to Bird in Hand and stumble around the half with the extra milers the weekend after Labor Day here in the states.  Yvonne, that's my wife, Yvonne and I are going to wrap a road trip around it and poke around Amish country.  Does that make me officially old?  Then I've got to figure out where I'm going to walk the Boston Marathon in October.  I'm leaning heavily towards connecting with the ZERO for Prostate cancer people and doing it for Tom.  It's a small thing, and it feels self-promotional, but, hey, lean in and listen to the universe when it talks to you! Ollie news is all good. We had our first training session with K9 training up in Nashua and it went really well.  He's doing great.  One lesson and he's already walking on the slack leash and not pulling at all.  This morning I walked him out to the garden, told him to stay, went inside the garden to water my Columbian tomatoes and pick some produce and he stayed the whole time, waited patiently for me to come back out.  I took him for a walk in the woods yesterday and he was slack leash the whole time.  Even on the down hills which keeps me from having to dig in on my heels and stress my knee.  Really happy with this training.  Can't wait to start running again and get him to run on a slack leash. One of the current supply chain problems is dog food.  I can't get his Eukanuba dog food.  Last couple times I've had to get something similar, but not quite right.  Currently he's eating the “Large Breed Puppy” category of food.  Hopefully this won't turn him into an Irish Wolfhound puppy.  I had our old friend Dirt Dawg present to my fitness team on mindfulness this week.  I really admire Mike's work as a high school principal and how he's able to lead a purpose driven life.  He said something that struck a chord.  Teach what you need to learn.  Teach what you need to learn.  I see Mike from the outside as a purpose driven ultrarunner who has figured out how to stay mindful in a high-stress environment.  Mike sees himself as needed to learn, and practice these very traits.  And that is part of his practice.  He teaches what he needs to learn so that he can not only help his kids and his peers but also as part of his self-awareness practice.  And that's what I want you to think about this week as you go about your life.  The reason I'm here talking to you is that I needed to teach what I needed to learn.  It is part of my practice to talk about these things.  The practice is not because we have it figured out.  The practice is precisely because we don't have it figured out.  We teach what we need to learn.  And, as we are teaching what we need to learn, 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 4-460 – Larisa on Burnout  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4460.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-460 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Here we are in July – moving into August of 2021.  We've turned the corner on summer and the days are already getting shorter up here in New England.  What's the update?  I have more doctor's appointments than an 80 year old.  I'm 6 months into the sore knee.  I tried to increase my mileage last time we talked, but the knee got sore so I took a week off from running.  I had my second MRI and we'll have a follow up with the knee guy to see if they can figure out why it still hurts.  He saw a stress fracture in there originally, but there's something else going on.  We'll figure it out.  And if he can't give me an answer, I'll kick him to the curb and do my own rehab. Doctors! I've been riding my bike a couple times a week and hitting the gym to lift.  I feel strong but it's not the same. One of the things that challenges me is those 3,000 calories a week I'd normally burn running.  I really have to watch what I eat, or I balloon up.  And even though I'm eating fairly clean, I'm not losing any weight because I'm just not burning those calories.  I eat about 2,000 calories a day, no sugar, very few carbs.  I haven't had a sandwich in 9 months or a real pizza.  The cauliflower pizza isn't bad, but it's not what I crave! I went down and volunteered as a course marshal for the local Appleman Triathlon.   I've run that race a couple times.  It's an interesting course.  The bike course has 4-5 monster hills and the run course has a technical single path trail section that challenges people.  Especially the non-trail runners.  And it was raining on Sunday, so they did that in the mud! It was good to get out and volunteer.  Cheer some people on.  Good to see people racing again.  I'm taking a day off to ride a century with my old running buddies this week.  Should be fun.  We're going to ride to the coast.  There may be a brewery involved.  I mentioned last week that I have been corralled to lead the fitness project for my team where I work.  I was out hunting for guest speakers, and I ran into today's guest Larisa.  Larisa runs that helps high achieving individuals who are experiencing burnout.   So of course I signed her up for an interview.  We have a great chat.  She is doing honorable and worthy work and I think it should resonate with some of you.  I know it resonated with me. In section one I'm going to talk about the Olympic Marathon.  In section two I'm going to talk about how athletes deal with career ending injuries. I'm still working on turning my other podcast the After the Apocalypse serial into a book.  It's been hard.  What with all the agents calling me and fighting over the right to represent me.  Throwing money at me.  Fans storming the table at book signings, hanging on my every word, begging me for signatures.  And daytime TV producers trying to squeeze me into every broadcast.  It's exhausting. All that stuff will happen.  It just hasn't happened yet.  But I'll tell you something that has happened.  One of the people at work is teaching us a course called “Infinite Possibilities”.  It's a lot of the stuff you already know.  A little Tony Robbins a lot of The Secret.  If you don't know The Secret it's a book and movie that basically says you can manifest anything you want by focusing on it. So, for instance, if you want a new job, you write down all the attributes of your dream job and visualize it.  If you keep visualizing and affirming that vision of the new job the universe will hear you and step in and give you what you want.  Voila – you've got that new job of your dreams. The basic premise is that your thoughts create your reality.  Now, I've read all this stuff and done it all before.  I was doing a bit of eye-rolling in the sessions. I don't really think The Secret works, at least not in the magic way they lay it out. There were exercises.  One of the exercises is to pick something, anything, and manifest it.  Some people pick a hawk feather and all of a sudden, they find feathers everywhere.  Some people pick a coin, and they find coins everywhere.  I figured I'd play along and chose to manifest a ten-dollar bill.  I took one out of my wallet and visualized it.  Three weeks went by without my ten-dollar bill showing up.  Because, like I said it's a bunch of magical thinking and hokum.  I figured I'm meeting the universe halfway because I'm always out on the road running and riding so if anyone is going to find a ten-dollar bill it's me.  You know, don't make the universe work so hard.  I was starting to get a bit aggravated what with all these people finding their feathers and coins and me sans ten dollar bill.  I could've asked for a $100, right?  Ten bucks aint nuthin! Where's my ten bucks mr universe? A little scene painting now. I live at the end of a cul de sac. I'm the last house. So in front of my mailbox is a circle of pavement. My driveway dumps out into this circle of pavement. I went for my long ride today and came back in through the circle and up the driveway.  My wife was home. She had a flat on her bike, so I fixed it. She left to go for a ride over at the rail trail, so I jumped in the shower.  After my shower grabbed Ollie and we got in the truck to go downtown to the police station to pick up my gun license – long story for another day.  As I back into the circle I see what looks like leaves on the spread around the circle by my mailbox and up on my lawn.  So I throw it in neutral, get out and take a look.  It's a one dollar bill. A crisp, new, one-dollar bill.  And another, and another, and another… and I'm thinking to myself, “ok it's not a ten-dollar bill but…”  And I keep picking them up.  5, 6, 7, 8, 9… And that's it.  9 one-dollar bills. Then I'm hunting around in the bushes looking for number 10!  But I didn't find it. So, I guess the universe discounted me a dollar for not believing in it's hokum.  Or maybe Massachusetts has a 10% manifestation tax. Anyhow, I've decided to ask the universe for a new knee.  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 – The Olympic Marathon -   … Larisa Harrington– Owner Strong by Nature Wellness Meet Larisa Larisa, (she/her), utilizes her extensive education and experience to support the holistic well-being of her clients. She has a deep understanding of how unmanaged stress and anxiety affect all aspects of life and believes that well-being encompasses mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, financial and environmental components. Larisa is passionate about helping clients be their best selves, allowing them to thrive at home, at work, and in life. Section Two – Career ending injuries - Outro Ok my friends we have burned out to the end of episode 4-460 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  That's it man, I'm done! Like I said in the intro I've got a century ride on the calendar this week with my buddies.  After that, next up is the Bird in Hand half marathon in Pennsylvania.  I know I can't run, but these folks are the Galloway crew and I plan to just tuck in with some of the run-walkers and have a stroll.  It's only a half marathon.  Ain't nuthin.  More concerning is that I'm signed up for the Boston virtual in October.  I guess I'll just do the same thing and walk-run a 6 or 7 hour Boston.  Look at it this way, it will be an interesting experiment.  Can a Chris with zero training and zero mileage complete a marathon? Place you bets. Then we have to think about the future.  Guess what?  I'm turning a new age group in 2022.  Yeah.  Extra time for me to qualify.  I've been thing a lot about starting to believe in myself again and taking on the challenge.  Maybe I can manifest a BQ somewhere on my manifested new knee?  I'm also thinking about running for Zero – the end to prostate cancer. I have a friend in my running club who is in bad shape with the prostate cancer and it's hitting close to home.  I should do something for him.  Makes me mad that as a society we focus on stupid shit, when we could be finding a cure for cancer.  On a lighter note, I have an Ollie update for you.  I had my evaluation with the new trainer.  This is my third try.  This outfit is called K9 training.  I went up and met the owner, Ramone.  Ramone is like something you'd see in a movie about the army.  Big dude.  Intense.  Military.  Weight lifter. Anyhow he evaluated Ollie and they decide to Ollie was ok for semi-private lessons.  One of the tests was Ramone brought in his dog, a shepherd.  And while I'm holding Ollie n the leash he has his dog walk back and forth and basically do some drills to see if Ollie freaks out.  Ollie did not freak out.  Ollie thought it was great! And Ramone is giving commands to the shepherd in German.  And the shepherd is as efficient off leash as a drill sergeant's pride and joy.    Bottom line, Not giving up on Ollie.  I think he has met his match.  We had a lot of smoke in the air in New England this week.  Apparently from wild fires in Canada.  You could see the smoke in the air.  It was a haze.  You could smell it.  And, me being me, it reminded me of a phrase writers always use when describing this phenomena – they say “The smoke hung like a pall…” Then I wanted to know what pall meant and did it have something to do with pall bearers at a funeral or maybe Pall Mall cigarettes? You know, smoke, cigarettes?  I could see a connection.  But, alas, Pall Malls were named in 1899 after a posh street in London.  That street, it turns out was named after a game, similar to modern croquet, which was pall mall, literally “Ball Mallet” in Italian.  One of my favorite authors Kurt Vonnegut said of his Pall Malls, "a classy way to commit suicide." And, they were originally pronounced Pal Mals in America before we got radio and were taught the correct way.  But, going back to the fire smoke that hung like a pall, no it has nothing to do with cigarettes, it has to do with death.  The pall is that cloth that they drape over the casket.  And pall bearers are carrying that.  So when our modern writes say the smoke hung like a pall they are invoking the misery and darkness of death.  On that cheery note, remember to manifest something good this week. And I'll see you out there.   I will.  My Apocalypse show ->     MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-459 – Gene Founder of Charity Miles  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4459.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-459 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I found another way to avoid writing new material! Long story.  I was volunteered to lead a fitness project for my team at work.  I did a survey around what people wanted to know and the top of the list was “How do you find the time to work out?”  So – This question being eminently in the Chris Russell wheelhouse - I created a PowerPoint Presentation, of course I did, and I gave a little talk around that. It ended up being about 20 minutes long – so I stripped the audio off of that and present it here for you.  I did some minor editing to mask the folks I work with.  It's quite brave of me!  I sound like I'm passionate about this!  As I get older I'm trying to lean in and merge the different aspects of my world.  I got some good feedback that because of our little talk they went out and did some exercise.  So the ends justify the means.  I'm going to drop that recording in here and it is long enough to take up enough space, so I'll just do that one and the interview today and some other comments to get you a show. Our interview today is with Gene Gurkoff who has an interesting story.  You know I have a history of being involved in startups – so I lead him down that path a little.  But, he's the guy who started Charity Miles.  He's still trying to navigate it to a successful outcome.  I'm not an investor or a shareholder in anything right now but the venture capital / private equity space has been crazy this year.  There has been a record number of acquisitions and Initial Private Offerings or IPO's.  On the other side there has been a record amount of money invested.  The investors are making money and spending money.  It would not surprise me to see Gene's company in some sort of transaction this year, but that is purely speculation.  My knee is still a problem.  It was feeling stronger last week, so I went out into the trails with Ollie Thursday to see how it felt.  No improvement.  Still a sharp pain when I try to run up hills or when I toe off.  Sort of the ‘climbing the stairs' weight baring motion.  It's been 6 months so I'm back in to see the knee guy tomorrow.  Basically the only thing that changed over 6 months was that now I'm in terrible shape and my knee hurts.  I got a reasonable 31 mile bike ride on the Cape Cod rail trail yesterday.  For the most part the cycling is pain free.  Then I went for a soupy slow 10 mile run with Ollie on the rail trail in Groton this morning.  I got it done but it was slow and I didn't feel great.  That gives me about 20 miles for the week and another 40 or so of biking with a couple of weights work outs thrown in.  I'm signed up for the Bird in Hand ½ marathon and I'll be able to finish that but I won't be racing.  We'll see what the doctor says.  We'll try to keep our enthusiasm and positivity up and muddle through. Another co-worker of mine is doing a “Live your best Life” course with us.  It's a lot of manifestation and visualization stuff.  Nothing that I haven't heard before but it's always good to remind ourselves to think positive thoughts and be grateful for what we have. That's what I'm doing with my knee.  Thinking positive thoughts and assuming that eventually I'll be able to train and race like I want to.  Because our bodies are amazing.  I have a random thought to share with you.  I'm listening to a history of the American Civil War.  And the names are awesome.  Seriously.  How many people do you know named Eustis? Or Gustavus? Or Beauregard?  Come on you young parents, name your kids something spectacular!  Hope you are having a great summer, for those of you on this side of the planet.   Hope my friends in Germany are safe from the flooding.  Hope my friends out West are ok in the heat.  Stay safe everyone.  We need you with us.  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.  … Gene Gurkoff– Founder of Charity Miles Gene is the Founder of Charity Miles, an app that enables people to earn money for charity when they walk, run, bike and do other activities for charity.  Charity Miles is regularly featured as one of the top health and fitness apps and has helped earn over $5 million for charity.  Gene is also an avid runner, husband and father.     Outro Ok my friends we have charitably contributed to the end of episode 4-459 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Thank your lucky stars that you have the ability to help others! I have a couple updates before I go.  First, harking back to my comments on finding time to work out.  I've been doing a little engineering time study on my workouts.  And I discovered something quite wonderful.  The case study is going to the gym to lift weights.  It's 6 miles to the gym and 6 miles back and sometimes I'll ride my bike, but let's ignore the commute for now and focus on the workout itself.  I've been lifting heavy, which basically means heavier weights and fewer reps.  Monday night I did chest and back and Abs.  This consists of 3 sets of 3 exercises for the chest.  So 9 total sets of chest. Then another 3 sets of 3 exercises for the back, so another 9 sets for the back.  Then at the end of each I throw in a set of Abs – so 3 total sets of Abs.  Add it all up and I'm getting 21 heavy sets down in this workout.  How long do you think that takes?  Well I timed it.  Less than 40 minutes.  My god people!  Less than 40 minutes!  Do the math! You could do a simple workout of 1 set per muscle group and be done in 10 minutes.  You can do a total body core set that has 15 or so distinct separate exercises in it in less than 15 minute.  So I don't want to hear anybody say they don't have time.  You just have to go in and attack those workouts.  Don't lollygag around the gym looking mean.  Get that shit done.  You'll work up a sweat and look like in a month! Second update, I finished up the first season, 20 episodes of my Apocalypse podcast.  Now I'm going to turn it into a book and get started on the second season.  It's doing well.  I'm over 14,000 downloads and getting some good feedback.  That's in 6 months, pushing out an episode every two weeks. Again, do the math.  2500 words time 20 episodes is 50,000 words and you've got yourself a book.  Don't wait for permission.  Don't wait until you're sure you know what you're doing.  Don't wait until you're sure you'll be successful.  Don't wait until you can afford it.  Start! Start and pile up those pebbles one at a time and before you know it you'll have a mountain.  Or an altar.  Or a sculpture. Start and you will find a way.  Start and the worst possible outcome is that you'll learn something. I was interviewed by this guy Mike who has a “Wasteland” podcast called “” and the interview came out really well.  I'm quite enjoying this new creative project.  Links in the show notes.  And I'm going to drop Mike's show with the interview on my feed next week as well.  If you go back to my sermon on how to find time, you'll remember what I said about finding something that brings you joy.  It's an important nuance, that we're talking about ‘joy', not ‘pleasure'.  Getting high might bring you pleasure but being creative can bring you joy.  I am getting great joy out of creating and producing these characters in this world and that comes through in my interview with Mike.  So, my friends, that's your homework for this week.  Find what gives you joy and embrace it.  Then get started.  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 4-458 – Fall in Love With Fitness  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4458.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris' other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-458 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  This week's show is going to be a bit of a “special” show or outlier.  We will be deviateing from our standard format. Why?  You ask… Because I'm lazy.  Lazy, Lazy, Lazy.  And when someone drops a prerecorded interview into my lap that I have done scant effort in creating I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, because it may be filled with angry Greeks, who have been camping out on the beach outside the walls of your city for 2 years – I mean wouldn't the smell have given them away?  I guess everyone smelled a bit earthy in the bronze age.  But I digress, and by now anyone who was listening to this show for the first time might be reconsidering their life choices. Yeah, so I got a random email from Sherry's people to come on her podcast and talk about fitness.  And I asked if I could use the recording.  It looks like it's about 45 minutes long.  So I'll stick a quick intro and outro on it and let you suffer the cringeworthy nature of me trying to sound interesting and enthusiastic.  … My knee is still hurting.  It's got one position where I get a sharp pain in the weight bearing motion.  I got a couple easy runs in this week.   Mostly I've been lifting heavy at the gym.  I can knock out 5 sets of 2 muscle groups in an hour.  I can knock out 3 sets in like 40 minutes.  I don't' mess around.  I know what I'm doing and I go from exercise to exercise.  If someone gets in my way I switch to an alternate exercise and keep moving.  Got a nice long ride in yesterday in the cold rain with my buddies.  Fuji-san, my ancient steel racing bike is at the shop getting serviced, but I still wanted to ride with the guys.  I figured I'd take my Motobecane mountain bike, but it's got the mud-knobby tires on it right now and it's hard to keep up with people on road bikes when you're pushing that much rubber.  I came up with a plan Friday for the Saturday morning ride.  I'd put a set of less-aggressive tires on it so I could keep up with those guys.  I went online and found some at the local Walmart and ordered them for pickup.  I went and grabbed them Friday afternoon before hitting the gym.  Ironically, I got a text in the gym that said, “Hey your bike's ready, but yeah, we're closing at 5:00 and won't be open for the holiday weekend” (it's 4th of July here in the states). When I got home, I hunted around for my tools and went to crack those new tires on there for the morning.  I lift them out of the bag and they are 26 inch tires.  My bike is a 29er. So, game over. Meanwhile I'm texting with Frank and he says “Why don't you take my extra Cervello?”  He asked me what size shoe I had, because, you know we're all riding clip ins, and I say “Size 12, I'm not going to fit into your tiny little princess shoes – but bring your peddle wrench and we'll spin your peddles out, spin mine in and be good to go.” And that's what we did.  It took all three of us to figure out which way the peddles came off and get Frank's peddles out.  But, it worked and we rode 40 miles in a cold rain.  That's my intro story for you.   Enjoy the interview with Sherry.  And check out her podcast, it's called “”, might be just the thing for you to get motivated about your summer fitness routine.  Links in the notes. 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.  … Sherry Shaban – Fall in Love with Fitness About Sherry Shaban You may have scrolled through my Facebook and Instagram account or pages of this site thinking “I could never do that” or “It's her genetics, my body type is just not the same.”  It's taken me many years to summon the courage to share my story with you. For years I was frustrated with myself, disappointed and angry for being a “victim” of my circumstances. My thoughts constantly tethered around the principle that if I hadn't been hit by a car, that if I wasn't missing pieces of bone in my spine, I would be able to compete as an athlete at the very highest level.   Outro Ok my friends we have fallen in love with fitness to the end of episode 4-458 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Grab your towels and hit the showers. So, which story should I tell you before I let you go?  Should I tell you the earwax story?  I don't know that story could be off-putting.  Or should I tell you the apocalypse story?  That's amusing, but a tad short.  Why don't we do this, I'll give you the punchline of the earwax story and cap it off with the apocalypse story.  Why do we have earwax?  What is it's purpose?  Seems like a bit of a design flaw.  To have a substance that gets hung up in our ears and blocks our hearing.  The medical term is cerumen.  Which I figured would have something to do with ‘head' because of that ‘cer' prefix looks suspiciously like the word cerebrum, and cerebral.  I figured it would be Latin for ‘brain-wax' or something, but, it turns out they are not related.  “Cerebrum” is Latin for brain.  “Cera” is Latin for wax.  So, unimaginatively enough, cerumen is just a word for wax.  Ear wax is 50-60% fat.  We secret it in the outer ear canal to lubricate, and also protect the more sensitive inner workings, by trapping dust and bugs and debris.  It's human tree sap.  Maybe eventually it would harden into amber? I had an earwax event this week that I'm not going to go into.  But, it got me to wondering how we would treat earwax removal in the apocalypse? Which has nothing to do with the apocalypse story I'm about to tell.  Turns out the Sherry wasn't the only email I got asking for an interview.  I got another from a chap that does some sort of post-apocalypse podcast who has been listening to my “After the Apocalypse” podcast and wanted to interview me about it.  So, I listened to a couple of his episodes and I learned something new.  Turns out that there is a festival called “”, where these folks dress up like Mad Max characters and got into the desert for a weekend.  They build a not-insubstantial town and play apocalypse.  This is an actual thing.  They get 3,000+ survivors and charge $225 for general admission. They have their own economy and different tribes and all kinds of stuff.  I was joking with my daughter that I'd tell my wife I had to go to a conference, and invite her to come with me.  Then jump in the rental car and drive her into the wasteland.  That would be some good reality TV, right there. At this point, any of the new listeners who made it this far are clawing at their eyes and pouring Clorox in their ears.  And wondering “What the hell does this have to do with running?”  and “Where's the border collie?  I thought there was a border collie?” I am currently injured.  Oliie the collie and I did do a slow 4 this morning – giving me a whopping 9 miles for the week.  But, I am confident that I will be back!  There are adventures ahead.  And why do we still do this podcast?  Side note, I had someone looking for episode 10 this week.  The links on my website were broken.  I fixed them.  But, episode 10?  My god that's got to be cringeworthy and the audio is horrible.  Here's a note I got a couple weeks ago.  Hello Chris, my name is blank and I am a 39-year-old, off and on runner, father of two young children. I have been listening to your podcast for 6 or 7 years now and have always enjoyed it, so thank you for that. But I also want to thank you because for the last couple of years I've been really challenged at work, which has significantly impacted my overall happiness and work-life balance. But, your always positive nuggets of wisdom help me navigate through some difficult moments. Although admittedly sometimes it is temporary until I get back in the office, even those brief moments have helped so thank you very much. Your podcast is genuinely one of the bright spots of my week that helps me get through this challenging period until, hopefully someday soon, another opportunity presents itself. Thanks again. Take care and have a great week. That's our lesson here folks.  Don't judge.  Just put yourself out there.  You never know who you're going to help or how you're going to help them.  Life, indeed is short, make it count. And I'll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-454 – Ken Runs Ohio     (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4454.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Chris’ other show à Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-454 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Happy Mother’s Day!  How are all my moms?  I know how you are. Sick of it! Your carried them for 9 months, they beat the crap out of your body, you carried them around for another decade and now what?  No flowers?  Ungrateful so and so’s! Ollie and I drove over and visited my Mom today, brought her some flowers.  I was up early because I went to get my second and final Moderna chip implanted today.  Anybody know how to link that to Strava?  I feel fine, by the way, thanks for asking.  I might have overindulged in IPA last night binge watching season 5 of The Expanse, so, really don’t know if the shot made me feel hungover. I’m still on the shelf.  People keep asking me ‘how’s the knee feel?’ And I honestly can’t really tell.  I get some pain in there using it sometime but I’m not sure if that’s the stress fracture or just old-man pain. It’s a broken bone.  All I can do is stay off it and wait for it to heal.  Not this week, but next week will be 3 months and my follow up with the knee doctor. I’ve been walking the dog and riding my bikes.  And this week I started working in some homegrown PT to strengthen the knees.  We’ll see what happens.  Like I said, all I can really do is wait.  The next big challenge for me is going to be slowly easing back in and not breaking myself through enthusiasm.  This week we chat with Ken who’s working on an apocalypse running project to run every county in Ohio.  It’s funny how we itinerant runners make stuff up to stay in the game, right? In section one I will talk about how hot weather impacts nutrition and some tips to deal with it.  In section two I’ll review a course I took on empathy this week.  I miss running.  Especially in this nice spring weather.  I dreamt about trail running this week. Seriously.  There I was on a warm afternoon cruising down a swoopy, pine needle trail in the woods, just flying and feeling that runner’s high. I was very happy.  I often dig up quotes to voice what I think will help people.  It’s practicing social proof or 3rd party authority.  If I were to just pop up and say “Hey!  Hey you! You should think about what you say instead of just yelling all the time.”  People would say, hey who the hell are you to tell me such a thing?  Mind your own dang business.  But if I were to publish a quote and just leave it out there people will like it and say thank you.  Even though the sentiment is the same.  For example: “Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” ― Rumi So – a Persian Sufi Poet from Afghanistan from the 13th century has more contextual authority than I do.  Think about that.  But, I am the messenger.  You can be the messenger. 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 – Hot weather nutrition -     Voices of reason – the conversation Ken Ludt – Running Ohio Ken Ludt is a mid pack runner looking for ways to keep the joy in running while in denial of middle age. Born and raised in California, he's lived in Japan followed by 25 years in Australia and currently living in Ohio with his patient wife and two fur ball dogs.    Section two – Empathy -   Outro Ok my friends we have run from Cleveland to Cincinnati to the end of episode 4-454 of the  RunRunLive Podcast.  I wonder how many people in Cincinnati could tell you who Cincinnatus was?   But, of course, because I’m that guy, I’ll tell you.  was a Roman politician and military leader early on in Roman history, way back before the empire, before Alexander the Great, born in 519 BC, Rome was just a city at that point.  Stick with me.  This was when there was no standing army, and Rome was a republic.  When they got in trouble Rome would promote someone to dictator to get stuff done.  Cincinnatus got appointed to Dictator twice.  The dictator was when the senate couldn’t get stuff done fast enough.  But famously Cincinnatus could have parlayed that dictatorship into a kingship, but he didn’t, he retired to his farm.  (He didn’t grow cabbages, that was Diocletian). So, you see, Cincinnatus is a metaphor for public service, and selfless service to the republic.  That’s why when you hear someone called a modern-day Cincinnatus, what they are saying is that person put public service above themselves.  History lesson over.  Can’t help myself.  Sorry.  Took Ollie Wollie for a nice long walk today up around my old prep school in Groton.  I was trying to walk the old cross-country course, but I think they’ve changed it.  Ollie was hot, but it tired him out.  I think our course was like 2 miles. In the prep league there was no consistency in the cross-country courses.  None of them were 5K – they were all short.  Some had obstacles you had to navigate like a steeplechase.  But, it’s pretty over there on campus this time of year. Did I tell you about my greenhouse?  I made a little hothouse this year to keep my baby vegetables in.  With the apocalypse the veggies are going sell out before it’s time to plant.  So you can either plant early which kills the plants or not get what you want.  But with my little hothouse I can sprout seeds and keep the herbs and veggies alive and happy for a couple weeks until it’s time to plant.  It works great.  The only issue I have is some of these windy or stormy days it threatens to blow away.  I see people are back out racing in person.  I’m getting lots of emails from races exuberantly celebrating their comeback events.  Did you see the postponed Boston Marathon had its registration last week.  It turned out that you would need to beat the qualifying time by 7:47 to get in.  For me that would be a 3:27 or better.  I haven’t run that time since 2010.  I already signed up for the virtual, so I won’t be running in Hopkinton.  But, we’ll see, I might go jump in to pace someone if they want the company. The fire station in to the finish line is a nice segment.  So that’s it.  I’m fully vaccinated.  I’m nearing the end of my running purgatory period with the stress fracture and the races are opening up.  All systems go! I published episode 15 of my new apocalypse podcast last week. I’m up to 6500 downloads.  Starting to build an audience.  I can use whatever help you can give me to spread the word to any of your science fiction geek friends.  It’s a serial.  So every week is a chapter.  I try to keep the story moving along and I get to practice character development, action and narrative.  Sometimes I leave the listeners with a cliff-hanger so they have to tune in for the next show! As I move you to the exit, let me tell you a story.  Where did the phrase cliff-hanger come from?  Well, thank you for asking.  It originated as a concept in the late 1800’s in Victorian serials.  But, it was popularized in America by and early film serial called “The Perils of Pauline” – where they would literally end the serial with Pauline hanging from a cliff.  The was publicized by William Randolph Hearst the newspaper magnate, who would have cliff-hanger articles so that you’d have to go see the film to find out what happened.  The cliffs she was hanging off of were actually in New Jersey, because this is before the movie industry was established in Hollywood.  So there you go, a fun fact to share with your running buddies.  I’m going to practice a bit of cognitive empathy by calling out 3 more of our RunRunLive members.  First is my long time friend and co-conspirator Eric who has a strange fascination with Llamas and suffering.  Don’t worry, we’ll be back to our adventures in no time at all. Next is Lawrence who is the commander of a rogue, stateless submarine that prowls the Pacific preventing the abuse of sea lions and baby seals.  Good work that.  And third is our old friend Joerg from Germany who is a famous fashion designer working mostly with faux animal prints and spandex.  Very popular with the ladies. Thank you all for you long time and continued support.  I would have hung up the microphone years ago if I didn’t have you folks lurking around my back door waiting for an episode to drop. Hope everyone is healthy and happy. Take the time to practice empathy.  Be kind.  Help each other. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-453 – Stress Fractures!     (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4453.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-453 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today’s show is all about stress fractures.  Because I discovered with the help of an MRI that I have a stress fracture in my knee.  Which is oddly comforting.  I was betting that it would be another case where the Doctor shrugs and tells me to take it easy and do some PT.  But, no, I have an honest to goodness, real-to-life, injury that you can see, or I guess that he can see.  The Doctor asked me a silly question.  “Do you run a lot?”  That’s a solid ‘yes’. But, remember this was a follow up telephone call on the MRI, so he already talked to me.  I get the feeling he’s lost in a sea of patients.  Anyhow – today we dedicate our show to the humble, but proud, stress fracture.  At this point I’m 7 or 8 weeks into break.  I have been hiking most days with OIlie.  I’ve Been getting some easy bike rides.  I was about to launch full scale into some cross training and join the gym, now that I’ve had my first shot, but remember last time we talked?  I had just bounced myself on the road pretty hard after an unfortunate mountain bike incident?  Yeah, well I’m pretty sure I broke a rib.  I’ve had a lost of pain there and haven’t really been able to do any kind of exercise while it heals.  So basically I’m just a mess.  An old, broken athlete.  My original idea was to have the sound of bubble wrap in the background, and explain that my wife and my coach had told me to consider wrapping myself in a protective layer from now on.  But, hey, A little time off won’t kill yah. And today we talk about stress fractures.  In section one I’ll talk about, well, Stress fractures.  In our interview I talk to Bill who had a good story about, well, I bet you can guess… Stress fractures. In section two I’ll talk about the new Geoffrey Moore book – which has nothing to do with stress fractures.  I was about to say ‘Stress Fractures’ would be a good name for a punk band, but then I googled it, and it is indeed an emo punk band out of South Carolina – because of course there is an emo punk band out of South Carolina called the Stress Fractures – and that’s what I like about this world.   I kinda like their single “”.  I took this week off.  I mean from work.  It was a bit of an experiment.  I was a bit burnt out from this whole pandemic zoom call thing, but I didn’t really have a reason to take time off.  My current company has an unlimited vacation policy.  Which is absolutely befuddling to a baby boomer.  “So how much vacation do I get?”  “It’s unlimited!” “So, theoretically, I can just leave and never come back and you’ll keep paying me?” “This is some sort of trap, right?” I wanted to see if I could actually take a week and not get sucked back into work.  Maybe recharge a little.  Get some projects done.  I’ve been mildly successful.  I did get pulled back in for some calls, and I haven’t gotten much done with my current physical disabilities.  Monday was Patriots’ Day.  There was a lot of Boston Marathon chatter.  I posted a mile of my walk with Ollie for my Millennial Mile time of 23 minutes! A real scorcher there.  Now they send me a medal and the hat.  I signed up for the virtual version of Boston again this year.  I’m in no shape to respect the race.  I probably won’t be by October.  But, by doing it virtually I can keep my streak intact.  Not that it matters because I don’t know how I’m going to qualify for the next one.  This week on my self-imposed vacation I would make long lists of the things I wanted to get done, then proceed to waste time and not get them done.  Do you do that?  DO you overcommit yourself and then get mad at yourself for not living up to your overcommitments?  That’s really setting yourself up to fail.  Instead what you should do is set yourself up to succeed.  Instead of a making a long list, just pick one or two or three things that you want to accomplish today.  And if you get those things done the day is a win.  This is called ‘Winning the day’. So that’s how you game the system.  Don’t do everything just do those things that give you the win.  And what you will find ins that when you win today, and then tomorrow and then string that together for a couple weeks you’ll start moving the needle.  Win the day.  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 – Stress Fractures  -   Voices of reason – the conversation Bill Pritchett – Stress Fractures Bill Pritchett is an avid runner and triathlete who lives in Midland, Michigan.  He recently retired from Dow Chemical, where he worked as an information systems analyst.  Fitness and endurance sports have long been a passion for Bill.  He ran his first marathon in Detroit in 1987 and is registered to run his 40th marathon in June of 2021.  His active Boston Marathon streak began in 2010 and will continue this fall.  When Bill is not running, he cross-trains with cycling, swimming, and weight lifting as part of his triathlon training.  He also enjoys cross-country skiing and downhill skiing during Michigan winters.  When Bill isn't training, he enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.  He and his wife Kandis have an adult daughter and son.  They both hope that staying active will give them a long, healthy retirement!   Section two – Zone to Win -   Outro Ok my friends we have stressed our fractures through to the end of episode 4-453 of the  RunRunLive Podcast.  Careful with those weight bearing activities.  Did you see Des Linden set a new 50K world record last week?  She ran a 2:59:54 , which averages out to 5:47 miles.  Think about that.  5:47 miles for 31+ miles.  That’s solid work.  So yeah, I’m more than halfway through a 3 month hiatus in running.  It will be interesting to see what happens when I come back.  I’ll be curious to see how much I lose.  In these more lengthy layoffs I tend to lose some speed permanently now that I’m older.  To be honest with you, I need to find a safer, healthier way to integrate running into my life.  The rib is feeling much better today.  Maybe I’ll get back to the gym if it recovers quickly.  I’m still a mess as far as strength and flexibility go.  We’ll see.  I’m in no hurry.  I’m sanguine.  May 9th is when I get my second vaccine shot.  Then I should be able to travel again and I hope so, because I miss the road.  I know most people loathe work travel, but I always enjoyed it.  Not the work part so much, but certainly the travel part.  I’ve been spending more time in the Science Fiction world since I launched my Apocalypse podcast – After the Apocalypse.  It’s one of those things.  It always fascinates me to see how every seemingly niche subject has a crew of enthusiasts.  SciFi is no different.  These folks are deep.  I’m not sure you’ll catch me dressing up as an alien and going to a convention on Parsippany to take selfies with 3rd string actors, but that does sound like a great place to people watch.  Speaking of dangerous aliens I’d like to call out some members.  Yes, there is a membership option at the RunRunLive website.  I don’t push it because this is a hobby, not a business, but they do make me feel all warm and fuzzy like a cuddly puppy when they sign up and give me financial support.  You know what the most expensive thing about podcasting is now?  Internet security.  There are so many bad actors out there that you have to have you web site locked down.  That’s the big reason I switched to Acast for my new show.  They handle all the security for me.  But, back to our discussion about dangerous aliens I’d like to introduce some of our friends that have paid a membership recently.  First is Marcie.  Marcie is a member of the international space force who is currently working to put out some accidental fires that got started on the attack ships off the shoulder of Orion.  It must be difficult to find a certified course to requalify for Boston out there.  Then there’s Jason.  Jason is a professional archaeologist and undercover spy currently in deep cover in the Levant attempting to thwart organized crime in Babylon.  Daniel F., who, hey Daniel, friend me on facebook or something so I know who you are, but my best guess is he’s either a shape shifting alien from the future or a multi-dimensional deamon sent as an explorer from a dying universe. But, that’s just an educated guess.   Anyhow thanks for the support.  It takes a village.  You know what else you can do?  Reach out to me or send some audio.  It’s a fun thing.  Take some random audio of nature sounds and send those in.  I’ll use them in the outro! I did mange to get my garden prepped and burn my brush pile this week.  So, yeah won those days.  Other than that, I’ve been catching up on reading and writing and generally wasting time.  One of the things you realize when you take time off work is that you don’t have to work.  You choose to work.  But, you could just as easily choose not to work.  We make up so many rules and constraints on our lives, but at the end of the day, it is all just made up.  And those are your rules. So If you don’t like them, make up some new rules. Your game, your rules.  And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-452 – Caffeine!     (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4452.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-452 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today is Sunday April 11th.   Next week it Patriots Day up here in Greater Boston.  And due to the Apocalypse there will be no marathon.  It’s a strange thing.  I was working in the garden yesterday, turning over my vegetable beds and I realized that for the last 20+ years I have not been working on my yard until after Patriots Day.  I would be deep into the red, misty paranoia of the taper weeks, trying to cling to sanity.  One of my rules has always been not to do yard work during the taper.  Taper time is such a fragile time that I just wouldn’t risk it.  You come out of 3 or 4 months of intense, committed training. Somehow you have miraculously avoided injury.  You’re not going to leave that effort under the bushes in your yard! But not this year.  This year I’m injured anyhow and I’ve got no race, so it was nice to get out into the garden and work a bit while before it gets hot and buggy.  This week we are going to talk to the owner of Caffeine bullet all about caffeine.  I am a coffee drinker.  I usually drink two 16-oz cups of good coffee in the morning.  I like the darker stuff, arabica beans.  I get my coffee from Starbucks and grind it myself.  I love the smell of coffee being ground.  I get great joy from that first sip of hot coffee on a cold morning. I switch over to tea in the afternoon.  I’ve been mixing oolong tea with yerba matte, less than a half teaspoon of each into my silicon tea bag.  Then I refill it all afternoon without changing the tea grounds. Eventually, by the end of the day it’s just hot water! I’ve never been a heavy medicator when running.  I know ultra-runners who take caffeine pills and ibuprofen by the fist full in their events.  To be honest with you, I just don’t think that is healthy.  I think it’s probably a crutch that they could train away from.  But, everyone leads their own life.  I will take a caffeinated gel before a race or when it gets hard late in a marathon to get that boost of energy.   Today we talk about caffeine. Then in Section one I’m going to re-read a piece I wrote in 2013 when I was coming back from my 18 month dalliance with plantar fasciitis.  I have this tradition of writing a piece before every Boston Marathon.  I’m glad I did this because It’s an interesting historical document.  As you listen to it remember what happened in 2013.  I ended up having a horrible race.  I was walking by Newton.  And because of that I was behind where I usually would be.  I never made it to that finish line.  Or, more accurately I made it to that finish line in 2014.  In section two I’m going to talk a bit about pandemic shopping habits.  It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to observe consumer behavior.  I find it interesting.  When I was working in my garden I had my phone in my pocket and was trying to listen to podcasts.  I realized how noisy it is in my neighborhood on a Saturday.  There are various saws and lawn equipment buzzing.  There are planes flying around overhead.  The dog is barking his fool head off at hikers in the woods and walkers on the street.  It’s a cacophony! I’m still staying off my knee.  It will be six weeks on Friday this week.  I had my appointment with the knee guy.  X-rays didn’t show much except I have very little arthritis in my knees.  I’ll give you a little play-by-play on the dance.  I went into the office early on a Monday.  They gave me a clipboard with paper to fill out.  Each piece of paper asked the same questions about name, DOB, etc.  I got through two of them before I was called in for my X-rays.  Then I was hustled into an exam room with my clipboard.  Changed into a very utilitarian pair of exam shorts.  The lady, who is not a doctor but has the same basic training as a doctor and I talked about my injury.   She poked and prodded a bit.  I asked her if she wanted my clip board, she said no.  Then the Dr. himself joined me and went through the same routine.  At one point he started talking about me in the 3rd person which was confusing.  “I’ve got this gentleman who’s a runner and wants to keep doing it…”  And I’m thinking, “Do I know him?  Sounds like I should.” He said the knee looked a little swollen and recommended the MRI and a follow up. That was my 5 minutes or less with the Dr.  Then another lady, who was not a doctor, came in with the MRI information.  I asked her if she wanted the clipboard and she said to leave it in the room.   No one ever looked at it. It’s probably still sitting on a chair with all my personal information for the other patients to read like an old copy of magazine. I was already familiar with the MRI process from my injury in the fall – so that was easy – I got that this week and have my follow up 5 minute phone call with the doctor next week.  Where he will offer vague comments, painkillers and physical therapy.  I will thank him and decline that offer, now a few thousand out of pocket dollars closer to my deductible, and get back to work, as I have always done.  And you should too. That’s all we can control.  We keep positive, put in the work and let the road come to us.  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 – 2013 Boston Marathoin  -     Voices of reason – the conversation David Hellard – Caffeine Bullet     THE BENEFITS OF CAFFEINE IN SPORT Fat Mobilisation Caffeine releases fat into the bloodstream, mobilising fat stores and delaying muscle glycogen depletion. Caffeine allows athletes to train harder, longer and faster before becoming fatigued - allowing you to get a new personal best, gain extra places in a race or those last few reps in the gym. Reduced Perception of Effort and Pain Caffeine affects the central nervous system, influencing the dopaminergic and other neurotransmitter systems, decreasing the symptoms of fatigue. A reduction in skeletal muscle pain and force sensation also lowers the perception of effort making it easier to train hard and go beyond your mental limits. Improved Focus and Concentration Caffeine users maintain a higher dopamine concentration especially in those brain areas linked with 'attention'. Through this neurochemical interaction, caffeine improves sustained concentration and focus. Not only great for the office, but mental fatigue also plays a vital role in performance in endurance events.   Section two – Pandemic Shopping -     Outro Ok my friends we have Shaked and jittered from our caffeine through to the end of episode 4-452 of the  RunRunLive Podcast.  Now it will be impossible to sleep tonight.   I went in Yesterday and got my first vaccine shot.  Yay!  It was the Moderna vaccine.  Moderna is a Boston company.    I got it in the early morning.  Have my second shot scheduled for May.  I felt fine all day, I bit thirsty, but fine.  Worked in the garden and stacked some wood and ran my errands.  Then I met my buddies for a trail ride on the mountain bikes.  It was a wonderful ride until I crashed as we were coming in.  It was one of those weird things that happens so fast you just can’t respond.  We were crossing a road section, going slow, talking.  I had my right hand off the handlebars for some reason.  Frank drifted in front of me so I instinctively pulled the brake on the left which, is, unfortunately the front brake. The wheel locked and my momentum threw me over onto my right side.  Didn’t hit my head but landed pretty heavy on my side and was in a fair amount of pain.  Still am today.  Seem to have a good bruise on that latissimus and the rib.  But I’ll live.  The weather has been fantastic.  Warm and dry.  The trails are all dried up.  I got a surprise visit from Just Plain Dave our ultra-running friend who lives a bit south of me on Thursday afternoon.  I couldn’t run but we went on a 2-3 mile hike down by the pond and let Ollie get some exercise.  It was good to get out and talk to someone.  He got to experience the canine crazy that is Ollie Wollie the Crazy Collie. Ollie is turning 2 years old and he’s starting to mellow out a bit.  Dave and I talked through my new SciFi podcast and he helped me with some plot points and recommendations on character arcs.  It’s been fun producing that and I think the last couple chapters have been really good.  Don’t’ forget to go to subscribe, either on Acast or iTunes, it’s After the Apocalypse.  Leave a review.  Tell some friends.  Send me some feedback. And finally, I have a editorial clarification for my friend Russ who used to live in Duchess.  He sent me a note that he was disappointed in me for referring to R2D2 as a ‘humanoid’ robot in the last show. Yes indeed.  You are right. I meant “human-like”.  Probably should have gone with C3PO.  But, my point was we are still a few years away from a general AI that can enable robots to do all the things a human can. There was an actor inside of R2D2 in the Lucas films. English Actor Kenny Baker, at 3ft 8 inches tall was R2D2’s inner human.  I’ve had  a lot of adventure for a couple weeks haven’t I? The next thing I have on the calendar is the Patriots Day Mile, which is a virtual race put on by the BAA next Monday.  I’m going to take the week off anyhow.  I should be able to run a mile.  I liked the hat, so I signed up.  After that I am signed up for Hood to Coast at the end of August and the Boston virtual in October.  I signed up for the virtual because I don’t want to waste a charity bib and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to requalify, ever, and it counts towards my streak if I do decide to try and run going forward.  I’m starting to consolidate on a plan.  The last few times I’ve had these types of injuries I’ve switched to cross training to build strength and flexibility while letting my legs heal.  I’m thinking I’ll join the gym now that I’m vaccinated and perhaps start hitting the pool and the weights.  I think the change will do me good.  It always has in the past. That’s the opportunity.  Look ahead and see where the advantage is.  Look inside and see what you’ve got for tools to use, and then use them the best you can.  I’ve got that itch to start a new project.  You’ve got to scratch that itch. And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-451 – Dylan Runs and Writes    (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4451.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-451 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How’s everyone doing?  Spring has arrived up here in New England.  We will lose the last of the snow today.  There is one dirty little pile in the lee of my stone wall in the front lawn that has been tenaciously hanging on.  The weather has been fabulous these last two weeks.  Up into the 50’s and 60’s Fahrenheit.  What we call mud season up here.  Quickly followed by allergies and black flies, and settling into mosquitoes.  But, in all seriousness, It is a interesting thing to be able to watch.  The animals know it’s spring before we do.  Less than a month ago it was snow and single digits but the birds knew spring was coming.  You could here them in the mornings busying up new nests and beginning the process of raising the next generation.  I was walking Ollie on morning this week and I had to pause and marvel at the noise.  This time of year, we have what are known as vernal pools.  That’s where the water gathers during the spring melt in glacial hollows.  They only manifest this time of year.  They are ephemeral pools of water.  They dry up by late June.  Because of their ephemeral nature they have no fish in them.  Because there are no fish the local amphibians and insects run riot like partiers on a South Beach spring break.  I had to stop and listen because the level of noise from the frogs coming out of this vernal pool was so loud.  Where less than 30 days ago it was frozen solid. Life finds a way.  We all find a way.  I am still laid up with the sore knee.  It’s been 4 weeks off running.  I did try a little bit of running but it needs more rest.  I have experience with these things.  It’s typically 6-8 weeks, unless there’s real damage, then it could be 6 months.  I’m ok with that. With these nice days I wish I could be out in the woods with Ollie.  I’ve been riding my bike more as the weather improves.  It will take me a couple weeks to get my bike legs back.   I’m lucky enough to have a lot of experience with both road biking and mountain biking, and to have enough equipment to do both without an large expenditure! In between I’ve been doing core workouts and long yoga sessions.  Today we talk to Dylan who is a writer of young adult fiction.  I ran into Dylan through our friend Ann who we’ve had on the podcast.  Dylan is a runner and I talk to him about running and writing.  In the back of my mind, I have always wanted to be a writer, because I enjoy the process and get great satisfaction from the work.  This has always been true.  At one point I was pursuing journalism in college but realized that wasn’t going to provide the standard of living I wanted, and instead I turned to business.  This project of RunRunLive came from my desire to write again.  It forces me to write something for every show.  I think the lesson here is that you can still pursue those things you’re passionate about, throughout your life.  You can clear a space for whatever that is and still put boiled potatoes on the table.  There’s always a tradeoff.  Or you can choose to go all in, like Dylan and make a career out of it. It’s your decision.  It’s not an either/or decision.  It’s and either/and decision.  Let’s face it, there are millions of us runners who will never win a race.  But we still have that passion.  We still like to get out and find our own personal edge and derive that satisfaction. My new podcast, After the Apocalypse, is letting me play more in science fiction than I have before.  I probably won’t win a Hugo award from it, but I’m learning stuff and enjoying the process. That’s the lesson.  Find a way to explore things that you might be passionate about.  There’s always a new adventure on the horizon. 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 – Knee injuries  -   Voices of reason – the conversation Dylan Roche – full-time journalist, blogger, and novelist Sure! Here's a headshot, a picture of my book cover, and a picture of me at a book signing, whichever you think would work best for what you need. Here's my bio:   Dylan Roche is a full-time journalist, blogger, and novelist based in Annapolis, Maryland. When he isn't busting out words on his laptop, he can usually be found going on long-distance runs or training for his next marathon. His first book, The Purple Bird, debuted in 2019, and he's currently working on the next installment of the series. Follow him at  or on  and  at @dylaniswriting     Section two – Robots -   Outro Ok my friends we have, what?, Roboticized?  Limped?  Written? through to the end of Episode 4-451 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  What ever it is, here we are. Like I said earlier, I’m still nursing a sore knee.  I made an appointment to take some pictures.  See what’s going on in there.  The snow is gone, and that makes Ollie sad, because one of his favorite things was to pee in the snow.  It is like one of those fancy restaurants where they put shaved ice in the urinals. Shout out to our friend Tim who’s embarking on the Appalachian Trail next week.  That’s a cool adventure, and I can tell he’s excited about it. … I’ll tell you a story about the last time I had a knee problem.  I think it was 2004.  You may not have heard this story as that is pre-Podcast – unless you were reading my blog at the time! I used to have an office in Quebec City.  I used to drive up there because it was easier than flying.  I think it was the end of the summer, but I can’t be sure.  Buddy was just a puppy, maybe 9-months old.  I was only a few years into serious running.  I had spent a couple years with Achilles problems but was in a comeback of sorts – running very well – lined up to requalify. One morning, after rushing through my run, jumping in the shower I headed out, as usual in a rush.  A few aggressive mosquitoes got into the truck with me.  As I was leaving my driveway and my neighborhood I was swatting at these mosquitoes and took my eyes off the road.  I ran into a telephone pole less than a ¼ mile from my house.  Yes I did.  Low speed, but enough to total my truck.  I had my seat belt on but smashed my knee into the dashboard, among other things.   No one believed the mosquito story.  They figured I was on the phone or eating something.  I sorted it out and went on with my trip but there was something not quite right in my right knee.  A visit to the knee doctor confirmed that I had broken the end of the patella.  I was off my feet for the better part of 6 months.  I remember returning to running with Buddy in the trails behind my house, overweight and out of shape.  I remember those first few runs were the dog would literally laugh at my slow progress, and I would tell him to enjoy it because I would some day still be running when he was gone.  I slowly, and then rapidly got into shape, through training and racing.  I eventually requalified that fall and ran the next year’s Boston. I lost some speed in that layoff that I would not get back, but I found new adventures in trail running, and mountain running and ultra-running that enriched my life.  A few years later I found you folks as well and that kicked off a whole new epoch of adventures. I’m going to believe that I’m in that same place today.  That in in 2 months or 2 months or six months I’ll be climbing back out to new adventures.  That’s what I will focus on.  New opportunities and new adventures.  That’s what you should focus on as well.  And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-450 – Tom Grilk CEO BAA    (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4450.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello my friends and welcome to episode 4-450 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Since we, you and I, have arrived at a milestone of sorts, we’ve got an extra special show for you today.  Somehow I got past the rational screeners of the BAA and got Tom Grilk to do an interview with me.  I had not planned for this to coincide with the announcements around this year’s Boston Marathon, but it did.  I just happened to be talking with Tom while he was being chased by NPR and all the other real news organizations.  He literally hung up with me and then spoke with NPR.  Apparently there was some kerfuffle around letting people run Boston who had not ‘earned’ the right.  You know, all that typical stuff around Boston.  Anyhow, like I said before I have been an admirer of Tom from afar for a long time.  He grew up with the local marathon royalty and now gets to hang out with the marathon royalty of the world as the CEO of the BAA.  It’s a good chat.  Tom is a well-spoken, thoughtful guy.  And a runner. Since we were arriving at a milestone episode I figured I’d put his interview in here.  In section one I’m going to talk about taking some time off the heal.  In section two I’m going to give you a primer on a business bingo term that is all the rage these days.  I have had a hilarious couple of weeks since we last talked.  Remember I said I tweaked my knee?  Yeah, so that’s a real thing.  Haven’t run a step since that fateful Friday night hill workout.  But it’s ok.  I needed the break.  Also in these two hilarious weeks was my wife’s birthday and our anniversary.  Always a dangerous time.  Fraught with opportunities to make an ass of myself.  But, this year it was hilarious.  I came down with some sort of plague.  Not sure what it was.  It might have been psychosomatic.  Maybe stress related?  I took a test for the currently popular plague, and it wasn’t that. But, here are the hilarious symptoms.  I got a horrible rash over some large swaths of my body.  Had to go to the clinic and get some prednisone.  The fake Dr. at the clinic told me I had scabies – which, although matches the symptoms was not entirely possible given that I’ve been locked in my house for 12 months.  At the same time I had 3-4 days of horrible gas.  Like drive the humans out of the house gas. Like, painful, have to mute the zoom call every three minutes gas.  Yes, and this is the set of symptoms that my long-suffering wife had to contend with during our anniversary. You can’t make this stuff up. Well, you could, but it wouldn’t be as funny. I’m out the other end of it, pun not entirely unintended, but I haven’t done a workout in two weeks, and I find myself oddly humbled and sanguine.     I also drove my mom down to Foxboro to get her second shot of the vaccine which is a load off everyone’s mind. Poor Ollie is suffering through this as well as he creeps up on his 2nd birthday.  No runs for him.  I did manage to limp in a walk or two. But he doesn’t like to sit around.  I’m going to give the knee a full 3 weeks off before I test it.  One of the things I’ve learned over the many years is that coming back to early doesn’t pay.  Tomorrow I’m going to take my old bike Fuji-san out for a roll.  I’ll work in some strengthening yoga this week.  We’ll see if we can’t get back out on the roads next week.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  I think I read that I can claim Irish citizenship because my Grandmother was an Irish citizen.  Not sure what that buys me.  I’ve never been to Ireland and would love to visit.  Put that on the bucket list. Can you believe that it’s been over a year since I’ve gotten on an airplane?  Holy cow!.  Who knew?  The world ahs changed so much in my lifetime.  Change is where it’s at.  There’s an old joke that everyone should embrace change, except, of course the people who are telling you to embrace change. Change is great, as long as it’s happening to someone else, right? It’s a journey.  What I like about talking to Tom is that he’s discovering new things and helping the BAA bring change to the Boston Marathon.  It’s a real skill of management to shepherd something with so much history through positive change.  If you look at happy people, successful people and admired people they haven’t led calm and peaceful lives with no change.  Just the opposite.  Their lives have been filled with rapid and abrupt change.  How they dealt with, or reacted to, or led through that change is what makes them happy and successful.  So – my friends, don’t ask for a passive life that rolls down a smooth road from cradle to grave.  Lack of change is not peace.  Lack of change is stasis and ennui.  Give a big hug to the bumpy road of life and smile you way through it. 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 – Healing time  - Voices of reason – the conversation Tom Grilk – CEO BAA Tom Grilk Executive Director, Boston Athletic Association Tom Grilk is the Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, which annually conducts the B.A.A. Boston Marathon as well as a number of other athletic and community service events. He is a long time member of the Boston Athletic Association, having served on its Board of Governors since 1990 and as its President (outside Board Chair) from 2003-2010. In 2011 he assumed the role of Executive Director of the Boston Athletic Association, with responsibility for the day-to-day management of the organization. During his tenure he has worked with the B.A.A. Board and staff to strengthen the B.A.A. as an organization, especially from a managerial perspective. He has also worked with the Board in shaping the B.A.A.’s short and long-term development across all areas of the B.A.A.’s activity: the conduct of athletic events, the operation of community service initiatives, and the training and development of athletes. He practiced corporate and business law over many years in and around Boston, both with the Boston law firm Hale and Dorr and serving as counsel and general counsel to several well-known companies in the information technology and semiconductor fields, including Digital Equipment Corporation, Teradyne, Inc. and Brooks Automation, Inc. As a lawyer he worked in the fields of securities law, M&A transactions, corporate governance, compliance, dispute resolution, competition law, commercial law and intellectual property. He is a graduate of Cornell University and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School In addition to his duties as Executive Director, Grilk has had his share of hands-on experience with the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A.’s premier event. He has been the marathon’s finish line announcer since 1979 and is a former competitor, having run a personal best marathon time of 2:49:03 in 1978 and a Boston Marathon personal best of 2:54 that same year.     Section two – Digital Transformation -   Outro Ok my friends digitally transformed through to the end of Episode 4-449 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  No algorithm will ever be able to run a marathon, right? We set the clocks back! One less hour to get stuff done!  My old man running group went out this morning for 7 miles.  Frank’s coming back up to speed since having his second hip done.  Tim has decided to just ignore the weird feeling in his knee.  Brian is chugging al long at 2 runs a week.  And I rode my bike alongside them.  The knee feels better. A previous version of Chris probably would have taken it for a test drive today, but I’m going to give it another week to heal before I test it.  I’m going to start easing back into things this week.  With the longer days I should be able to get out on Fuji-San, my old road bike a few times and I’ll start working in some long yoga sessions for strength and stability. Then I’ll spin up the running slowly, or not.  I could use a break.  We’ll see.   I do have an itch to get out and see some new places and maybe that means run some new races now that the pandemic seems to be waning instead of waxing.  I took my Mom to get her second vaccine shot but I’m still at the back of the line.  Could I claim over-training as a medical condition?  I am up to 11 episodes of my new apocalypse story podcast project.  I do appreciate any podcast love you can give it.  I have to figure out a way I can get some more eyeballs on it.  I don’t’ have the time or capital for the marketing it needs! You can search for it on your favorite pod-catcher as After the Apocalypse.  Is there anyone who Doesn’t have a podcast these days?  It seems like everyone just paired up to interview each other.   I got a new product to test out.  It’s called .  The owner sent me some to try.  It’s like a caffeine candy with 100mg of caffeine in each candy.  I haven’t tried them yet.  I do like my caffeine though.  I think these might be a good kick in the ass late in a long run.  The timing is poor with me not currently training, but I’ll let you know when I get to them. … I know I’ve been a bit maudlin recently.  The long pandemic, the cold dark days of winter, my training not going great, my work being a pain in the butt… It all weighs in on top of a guy.  But it’s not a reason to despair.  It’s a reason to celebrate.  We get to do these things.  My life is filled with health and prosperity.  I’ve got things I want to do.  I’ve got things I get to do.  You do too.  You may feel like you’re shoveling water, but you get to choose.  You could walk away.  You could buy a van and sell your house.  No one is stopping you.  You, my friend, whether you believe it or not, are in control of your life.  I always liked asking Dave MacGilvray what his favorite adventure was.  Because he’ll always say “the next one.”  And he’ll say it with conviction.  I’ve got a lot of things I want to do.  And I’m doing them.  You’ve got a lot of things you want to do?  You should just start doing them.  As a crunchy old New Englander said: The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   But I have promises to keep,   And miles to go before I sleep,   And miles to go before I sleep   And I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-446 – Running the World with Nick Butter  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4446.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-446 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Here we are at the start of a new year!  How about that?  2021.  Happy new year. Today we have a chat with Nick Butter that I recorded a couple weeks ago.  Nick has recently run a marathon in every country in the world, so you may hear him making the rounds of the podcasts.  I’m always a little hesitant to interview folks that come off on the surface as a bit self-promotional.  But, as you’ll hear in the interview, Nick is a thoughtful, honest runner.  It’s another one of these stories that’s good for the new year.  Another, chuck everything and do something big, story.   I’m looking out the window of my home office as I write this and it is just about freezing.  There is a covering of icy snow on the ground.  Yesterday we got one of those slush storms where it’s warmish and snowing and raining at the same time.  I went out with Ollie for a couple hours in the slush in the trails which was fun. I told you about how Ollie likes to ambush me.  He’ll come running directly at me, hit the brakes, snap and growl and take off growling with a stick.  I have managed to avoid getting bitten since we last talked.  (Although, he did spear me from behind with a pine tree one day this week.)    So, yesterday we’re out running in the slush and he comes tearing down the trail straight at me, throws on the brakes, but because there’s two inches of slush, he can’t get any traction and slides straight through me like a ball through a bowling pin.  I went down on top of him and got nice an slushy.  I know sounds funny now, but I was pretty mad at the time.  Now all the slush is frozen.  It’s going to be dicey out in the trails today. My shoes are wet from yesterday so I’ll have to switch to an old pair.  I’ve started training a bit.  My plan is to be in 50 mile shape for the end of April.  Today will cap a pretty big week for me.   Ran a ½ marathon on the roads with the club on Sunday, 7ish in the trails Tuesday, 8ish in the trails Wednesday, a 10 X 60 second hill repeat set on Friday, 10ish slush miles yesterday and I’ll get another 7ish trail mile in today – so mid 40 miles for the 7 days and over 50 for 8 days.  In section one we’ll talk about how to build a spring training plan.  In section two I’ll give you one of the finished episodes of my new apocalypse podcast – so you can hear what I’ve been putting my energy into over the last couple weeks.   I’m not going to talk about New Year’s resolutions.  But I will talk a little bit about attitude in the outro.  I thin 2021 is going to be a interesting year.  After all of use being artificially tamped down for 2020, 2021 should be a barn-burner! I would counsel you to be prepared.  To take these slow times around the holidays to plan and reflect.  Because every thing that happens is an opportunity.  The failures as well as the successes teach us something – if we’re willing to learn. I’ve often quoted Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech.  You’ve heard it.  It’s famous.  Teddy Roosevelt was a real character.  He’s on Mount Rushmore with Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson.  Which is a bit strange if you think about it. What’s this dude from the early 1900’s doing up on the mountain with the founders and the great emancipator? This little squirrelly guy with the squeaky voice.  We know he had a squeaky voice because this was around the time that audio recordings started to be made.  You know how Teddy got to be president?  He was such a pain in the ass they made him Vice President to get him out of the way.  Basically, they buried him in a do-nothing job so he couldn’t cause any trouble.  Then an anarchist put a bullet in McKinley and the rest is history.  You have to be ready for your moments.  2021 could be your moment. 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 – 2021 training plans - http://runrunlive.com/spring-2021-training-plans-start-your-engines   Voices of reason – the conversation Nick Butter  – Every Country in the World Yasmin Li Manager to Nick Butter Contact number: +44 7772 870069 Sponsorships and Partnerships email:  Speaking Events email:  -- Nick Butter British Endurance Athlete | Motivational Speaker | Adventurer Contact number: +44 7745 291591  |  |  Twitter and Instagram: @nickbutterrun Expedition Highlight Reel:   PRE-ORDER NICK'S BOOK - Running The World: My World-Record Breaking Adventure to Run a Marathon in Every Country on Earth Waterstones -  Amazon -      Section two – after the Apocalypse -     Outro Ok my friends we have run a marathon in every country, on every grain of sand in the world, through the end of Episode 4-445 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  You think we’ll live long enough to see some folks run marathons on other worlds?   So that’s my new apocalypse podcast.  Go find by searching for after the apocalypse on iTunes or whatever your favorite podcast app is.  This one cost me real money to make so I need to drive the download numbers.  Even if you hate it and want to have nothing to do with it, go out a subscribe to it and download it. If you want to help, like it, write a review send it to a couple friends. I’m enjoying the creative process.  Thoughts on 2020 Many people are saying 2020 was a ‘bad’ year.  I’m not sure there is such a thing as a bad year.  Labeling anything good or bad is just way to justify our own response to it.  And that’s the interesting thing about it – because our response is the only thing we can really control.  When we say 2020 was a bad year what we’re really saying is 2020 was a year in which our response to external events was bad.  What would change if instead of labeling ‘good’ or ‘bad’ we just took things for what they were?  2020 wasn’t ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it just was.  2020 was certainly different. It caused an abrupt cessation or change to many of our longstanding routines and habits.  I would wager that with every routine lost, the seed of a new routine was planted. People stopped driving to work.  That routine was lost.  Maybe it was replaced with going for a walk before work in the morning, with the dog or the spouse.  Was that a good or a bad change? Surely, we lost people with the virus.  Surely, we lost jobs.  But are we not the type of animals that respond to challenges and change?  Doesn’t this type of abrupt, structural change cause us to look deeply inwards and ask better questions?  One thing became clear to me in 2020.  There are an infinite number of things that are out of my control.  And if I let those things bother me or control me or chew up my valuable time then I’m a chump.  There are things that are squarely in my control.  Where I spend my precious energy and time is under my control.  Somewhat, I’m still boxed in on many fronts by the decisions I’ve made along the way.  But that doesn’t mean I have to acquiesce.  That just means I choose to.  Call it sunk cost or pain avoidance but there are certain things I’m locked into, and I chose to be locked into.  A big, big, big thing that is under my control is how I show up.  Everything in life rewards you disproportionately for how you show up.  To quote a famous fantasy novel, “We reap what we sow.” This is typically applied to the actions of individuals, but I think it applies better to how we show up. If we show p with hate and anger, then we are going to reap hate and anger. If we show up with fear and hesitancy, then we are going to reap suspicion and distrust. If we show up with disinterest and torpor, we are going to be shown the door. But, my friends, it is totally under your control.  If we show up with energy and positivity and a belief in the future and a story about a better place, then we are going to reap the enthusiasm and trust of everyone we meet.  And with that we bid goodbye to 2020.  2020 was a game-changing year.  2020 enabled me to spend time at home with my new dog and my old wife.  2020 gave me space to explore the trails.  2020 allowed me to inject some new creativity into my life.  2020 brought perspective to where I am and where I’m going. 2020 reminded me of the things I’m grateful for.  2020 started with me taking on the challenge of a new job.  I feel quite blessed looking back that I was able to be part of an organization and help navigate these unchartered waters.  That, I think, was a serendipitous use of my experience and mindset.  In 2021 I vow to set new goals in all the important areas of my life.  To plan and execute to the best of my abilities.  But, most of all to show up.  To bring my best self to every day.  And I will see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-445 – The Hong Kong Running Scene with Mark Agnew  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4445.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-445 of the RunRunLive podcast.  How are we doing?  By the time this podcast tickles your inner ears it will be the shortest day of the year up here in New England.  It might even be that “After the holidays” scenario when someone bought you a new audio device or phone and you have downloaded some podcasts and you’re listening in to see what you like and sure enough you find this weird old dude who runs a lot and has a dog and rambles on and on and on about things that no one really cares about and then says something like, “Hey that was a 71 word sentence!” Vladimir Nabokov would be proud! Yup you new listeners can bail out now because it doesn’t’ get any better. This week we talk to Mark Agnew who is the extreme sports reporter in Hong Kong for the South China Morning Post.  No kidding a real, honest to goodness ex-patriot living in Hong Kong and covering the ultra-running scene.  Super interesting.  In section one we talk about running in the snow, because, yeah, I’ve been running in the snow.  Write about what you know is what someone said, so there you have it.  In section two I’m going to talk about the importance of a positive aspect.  Now Aspect is not a good old English word.  It is from Latin.  You might recognize that Latin root ‘Spec’.  As in Spectacles.  So Aspect means “to look” or in the case I’m using it “appearance”. Anyhow…  It’s been an uneventful couple of weeks since we last spoke.  I had a good higher volume week and got 5 runs in.  I did them all on the trails with Ollie so it only added up to 30 something miles but if I had been running those on the roads it would have been over 40 miles for the week. We got a nice big dump of dry snow this week.  Somewhere around a foot and a half.  It’s hard to tell because the storm had 30+ MPH winds so the snow wasn’t evenly distributed. I haven’t been out running in this new snow yet, but I have gone for a couple hikes with Ollie and it is hard going! It got cold and stayed cold. Woke up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.  It’s amazing how fast you adapt to the cold weather.   It’s so dry and so bright with the snow down.  It’s also acoustically amazing.  You can hear sounds traveling for miles in the dry air.    The coyotes were out last night singing in the woods.  Clear as a bell. Ollie was freaking out.  He wanted to get out of the house and have a go at them.  Or join them maybe.  He is a bit of a free spirit. That son of a gun has taken to ambushing me on the trails again.  It’s a border collie thing.  Buddy, my old dog did it too.  But Ollie is a bit aggressive. He’ll pounce on me and give me a nip if I’m not paying attention.  He’s not trying to hurt me but his big old velociraptor jaws are leaving me with vampire bites on my thighs. I’ve taken to carrying a small stick with me so I can swat him when he moves in for an ambush.  What the southerners would call a switch.  Maybe I’m bringing back some bad memories of someone having a switch taken to them. “Switch” is an old German word.  Means long thin stick.  Maybe I should have used the word ‘crop’ like a riding crop.  “Crop” is another old German word.  I think we’re seeing a pattern.  Lots of swatting going on with those old Germans.  But anyhow I can give him a little swat and it keeps him from biting me.  I read an article about a woman who died from a dog bite.  She got the flesh eating bacteria!.  Yikes.  But what I’m really worried about is turning into a were-collie.  (by the way ‘were’ is Algo Saxon for ‘man’ – so were-wolf is literally ‘man-wolf’) If I were to turn into a were-collie, some morning of the full, collie moon, I might awaken with an urge to go on long runs in the woods, and chase a frisbee, and get my belly rubbed, and roll in dead animals, and have an odd fascination for sheep… Hey wait a second… Oh my God! I’m a were-collie… No, just kidding, that’s not true, I hardly ever roll in dead animals. 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 – Snow Running - http://runrunlive.com/snow-running   Voices of reason – the conversation Mark Agnew – Sports Journalist from Hong Kong Outdoor and Extreme Sports Editor Mark Agnew joined the Post in 2017 to capture the booming extreme sports scene in Hong Kong. He has been involved in outdoor and extreme sports his whole life. Since living in Hong Kong, his interest has expanded to endurance sports, including ultra-running and long distances ocean rowing. Areas of Expertise: Outdoor and extreme sports Languages Spoken: English     Section two – Positive Aspect-     Outro Ok my friends we have run up the side of Mt. Victoria through the end of Episode 4-445 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  We can take the tram down.  Got a lot of gear to review for you today.  First, I invested in a new pair of Hokas.  The Clifton 6.  These are road shoes.  I’ve worn them a couple times and I love, love, love them.  Haven’t done more than 8 miles but they are super comfy and easy to run in.  Second thing is I have been testing my new light.  Remember I told you about this light.  It’s the keyword rich one I got from Amazon for 24 bucks.  (big inhale) West Biking Night Running Lights, USB Rechargeable Chest Light with 90° Adjustable Beam Angle, 500 Lumens Waterproof Ultra Bright Safety Warning Lamp with Reflective Straps for Runner Jogger Camping (big exhale) Nabokov would not be proud.  It works great!  It’s USB, so no batteries and as long as you remember to charge it, it is super bright.  The main light sits in the middle of your chest like the headlight on a train and lights up the road or trail without you having to hold anything.  It’s got a red safety light on the back.  The main light can be tilted up or down and has two brightness settings.  I like the brightness and the hands free aspect.  The only thing I found that is minorly annoying is that since it is fixed, you have to turn your whole body if there is something not directly in front of you that you want to aluminate.  And since there is only one shoulder strap it tends to cant to one side a bit and you end up adjusting it every so often to bring it back to center.  The final thing was that pair of keyword rich gloves I got.  I’m using them but they are nothing special.  They’re not warm enough and I’ve already torn them during a fall.  Ollie and I have kept on exploring the trails in town and hooked in a couple new ones last week.  It’s fun to explore.  Now my other big news and where I’m going to blatantly ask for your help, is my new apocalypse podcast.  I’ve rewritten and added to the narrative of the old man in the apocalypse and created a new podcast called After the Apocalypse.  I’m releasing it as a serial.  There will be a new chapter each week and the whole season will be a coherent narrative arc.  This one is going up on a site called Acast.  I’ve put a trailer up as a place holder and the first episodes will be dropping in January.  If you go to you’ll be directed to the Acast site. I’ve hired a professional voice actor to be my narrator and it sounds great.  I had some artwork made and original music as well.  I’m really excited about this project. What I need form you is, when the podcast is live, go leave a review on one of the podcast sites, and share it with your friends.  I set up a Patreon page as well so if you’d like to help our survivors in the apocalypse you can go there and become a patron.  That’s . Stayed tuned for more, but I think this is going to resonate with fans of that genre.  And you might ask, “Hey Chris, don’t you have enough to do already?”  And you are right.  I have no excuse.  I am already too busy.  But, I listen to these athletes that I interview and they decide to do something.  To pitch their work a day lives and do something big.  Because they want to.  I wanted to do this.  So I gave myself permission to do it.  To do the best I can, maybe not be perfect, but to let myself go ahead and do it without expectation for the shear joy of it.  What is it that you always wanted to do but were too busy to do?  Or maybe you didn’t want to fail?  Or maybe you were afraid to succeed?  You’re not getting any younger my friend.  Pitch it all and do something you want to do.  You deserve it.  You’ve been a good soldier.  Now do something you want to do and make the world a better place because of it! I’ll leave you this week with a wonderful old anglo-Norman word.  Despair.  What does that mean? The prefix De is away or from.  Spair is from the old French meaning hope.  So Despair means to lose hope.  But, did you know that there is another form of this word, that is seldom used?  Respair.  Not kidding.  That’s a real word, even though Microsoft Word disagrees with me.  And of course it means to restore hope.  So use Respair in a sentence.  And I will see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-444 – Tony runs LA with the podcast  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4444.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-444 of the RunRunLive podcast.  How about that?  4 – 444 Seems like that should be some sort of celebration… How many self-supported, amateur podcasts do you know of that make it to 444 episodes?  And that doesn’t include a couple dozen unofficial episodes! Coming up on 13 years in July.  If I have time I’m going to revamp the show.  Like everyone else I’ve got more plans than time.  But, in a perfect world I need to reformat the show, build out a home studio to finally get some decent audio quality and replace my creaky old website. I’m afraid to touch that website.  It’s a house of cards! I’m not thrilled with the idea of poking at it.  In the 12 years since we started podcasting the technology and the industry has changed and moved forward.  It’s time for me to catch up.  But not today! Today we speak with Tony, one of our loyal listeners from Las Angeles, the City of Angels.  Tony is a committed marathoner and a teacher in LA.  I wanted to meet and speak with him for a couple reasons.  First to see what the experience was like to binge listen through RunRunLive episodes but also to talk about how his discovery of distance running has influenced his teaching and life. In section one I’ll talk about another Apocalypse idea to keep your training fresh.  In section two I’ll talk about some yellow sticky notes you can use to survive another day in house arrest.  Ollie and I are doing well.  We had a nice long break over the US Thanksgiving holiday.  The holiday was Thursday and most companies take Thursday and Friday, which mine did.  I also took Wednesday as one of my Volunteer Days that the company wants us to use.  So a nice long, long weekend for me away from the zoom calls.  As you could probably hear in the last episode – I needed it! On my volunteer day I took Ollie and hiked two of the trails in town.  You’ll hear more about that epiphany in section two.  I cleared some trees and picked up some trash.  All in all I think it was 5 hours of hiking to get all the various little bits of trail covered.  It was great!  I did manage to break the haft off of the tang of my machete.  The reason I’m telling you this is that I like to use old words like ‘haft’ and ‘tang’ which are lovely old English words.  By old English I mean Germanic, Anglo Saxon, Norse.  Big hairy guys carrying spears and axes who knew their way around a haft and tang. “Break” is a lovely old English word as well.  And interestingly, you’ll find many of the English words that deal with violence are of Norse origin, which I’m pointing out so I can use the phrase “Homicidal Gingers” again.  But where would we be without words like berserk, ugly, muck, skull, knife, die and cake? … Thursday, Thanksgiving morning, Ollie and I met our running buddies to run the course of the Ayer 5K.  We got there for an 8:00AM start.  Played the anthem.  Then jogged the course.  Tradition!   It was nice. I actually ran everyday and if you include the trail hikes on volunteer Day I got 5 straight days in.  Which was s delight.  Since I was off from work I could go during the daylight.  Daylight is scarce right now in New England.  The sun comes up at 7:00 AM and sets at just after 4:00PM – so a scant 9 hours of daylight.  I’m feeling ok.  I little heavy from all the beer I’ve been drinking in lockdown.  I’m a bit achy from just the season and my age – but I’m getting out.  Whatever I choose to train for in the spring is going to be an effort.  Going to have to get my volume and speed back up and loose some weight.  … The season for me is still busy but not as bad as it was before the Thanksgiving break.  Most of my customers go into their busy season in December so I don’t hear from them.  Still, I know it is hard this time of year for many people.  Especially this year with the challenges of the apocalypse and other wackiness.  I would ask you to get outside yourself by trying to tune into others.  Reach out and ask people how they are doing.  Have that call with those people who need it, just to stay in touch.  Help someone out.  Give someone a compliment.  Do something for others.  And that will make you feel better.  Because we are social creatures.  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 – Run every trail -   Voices of reason – the conversation Tony Martin – LA running and podcast bingeing   Brief bio: been a public high school teacher in South Central Los Angeles since 2007, been an endurance runner/student coach (for the LA marathon specifically) since 2012. As of 2012, have run around 60 full marathons, three 50ks, the San Francisco double marathon, currently leading in the "cannonball run" (virtual run across the U.S.). Sources of happiness are: noodling around on the classical guitar, prepping (and eating) vegan delights and, of course, all things running.    As far as any links, my social media presence is next to nonexistent. Best bet is to keep an eye out on the local roads, but don't blink ;)   Thanks again, Chris. It was truly a pleasure to meet you and honor to be on the show. -T   Section two – Sticky notes for the apocalypse-     Outro Ok my friends we have binge listened through to the end of Episode 4-444 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  That’s it.  No more left.  Time to move on.  Ollie and I have been exploring the trails around town on the weekends.  We went out on Saturday to a new trail. This one was called Mill Hill.  I had a plan.  Saturdays I do a lot of errand running.  I got up and wrapped Christmas presents I’ve been accumulating on line and packaged them up for shipment.  Went off to the post office to ship them before they closed at noon. Then did some yard cleanup.  Because – the weather was forecasted to be challenging.  We had a nor’easter roll through with rain and wind and snow.  I figured I could hit this park with Ollie on our way back from the dump.  I don’t mind running in a storm. Especially in the woods.  As long as you’re dressed for it it’s actually kind of fun.  So we stopped at this new trail section on the way back.  I figured we’d have it to ourselves because I’m usually the only one out in the woods running in a howling snow storm.  The park looked reasonably big on the web site so I figured we’d run a few laps and check that off for the day.  Turns out it was much smaller than it looked.  The whole loop only took me 6 minutes.  The Hill part of the description was accurate.  It’s basically a little hill and the trails climb and descend that steep little hill.  There are a couple picnic tables at the top.  Here I was looking for a relaxed ramble in the park and I ended up basically doing hill repeats in 4 inches of slush.  Ollie didn’t get it at all.  He was ambushing me and picking up big sticks to run between my legs with.  We ended up doing 16 hill loops of 90 feet of elevation or so.  In the storm.  Quite a work out. The other big news I have is that I’m making progress on my new podcast.  I’m targeting having it live in January.  After the Apocalypse is a serial podcast that tells the story of the survivors of a 21st century plague that has catastrophically wiped out 90% of human population.  Will they be able to survive?  What happens to our modern world when the great plague comes?  Can humankind survive and learn, or will it devolve into a dark age nightmare of our worst traits?  Listen to the story of After the Apocalypse and find out.  Ollie and I went out this morning for another run in the woods.  We didn’t get that much snow.  Mostly rain.  Under the trees it was maybe a couple inches.  Crunchy and crusty – not bad running.  Ollie hated it.  I think it hurt his feet.  We did 2 hours or so and then moved snow and ice for another hour and a half.  Explored a new trails system called Newtown Hill.  It was nice and nobody out there. Lots of trees and branches down from the heavy, wet snow.  I’m tired.  Such is life – Crusty snow, climbing hills and talking about the apocalypse. What more could you ask for? I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-443 – Chasing Summits with Gary Harrington  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4443.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-443 of the RunRunLive podcast.  I’m going to apologize in advance. I’ve been having a hard time staying positive these last couple weeks.  I think some of it is seasonal – maybe you have these blue periods as well.  And, of course some of it is the ongoing apocalypse and the level of uncertainty and weirdness in our worlds.  So – if any of that bleeds through, I apologize in advance. But, here’s the good news, being who we are, life-long endurance athletes of one form or another we are going to take this as an opportunity.  We are going to flip this on its head.  We, you and I, are going to ask better questions.  I don’t have all the answers, but we can as the questions and have the conversations with you and potentially together we can find some strategies to do better.  And at the end of the day, I guess that’s all we can really ask, right?  To do a little bit better.  So in today’s show we are going to talk to a fellow runner, ultra-runner and a peak bagger extraordinaire Gary Harrington about his book “chasing summits”, which on the surface is about climbing a bunch of mountains, but under the covers is about how Gary went from a divorced, struggling, overweight sports journalist to a guy who created a lifestyle of physical freedom, physical and mental health.  As is so many times the case in our journey here at RunRunLive, what we find is that the Running, the swimming, the hiking – they weren’t the point, they were they vehicle for the self discovery. In section one we’ll talk about how to address your sagging enthusiasm for running in the apocalypse.  In section two we’ll talk about strategies for creating freedom in your life. The last couple weeks have been up and down for me.  I’ve maintained my off-peak training schedule of getting out 3-4 times a week for a run with 2-3 core workouts.  I haven’t been really good at keeping up my yoga.  I’ve really lacked enthusiasm for the workouts.  Nevertheless, I have gotten some fairly pleasant long runs in the woods with Ollie.  There are a couple of compounding factors here.  First is that my 9-5 job has been mentally stressful and typically is more like 8:00 to 6:00.  By the time I role out of a day I’m exhausted and not feeling the workout.  And my workout are consistently pushed to the after work hours.  I could get out early but the sun doesn’t rise until after 6:00 so I’m in danger of missing those early calls.  I know, I know, I am the last person who should be in this position.  I literally wrote the book on how to train with a busy life.  But, there it is.  This is different.  Somehow the current house-arrest version of work combined with nothing to train for, makes working out feel kinda onerous and pointless. Humans, right?  Just when we need it most, our brain manufactures ways to make it hard.  The time change and lack of sunlight has been harder this year than previously.  I find that my eyes are really affected by staring at the computer all day and when I’m out in the woods I can’t see enough to manage the technical bits in the dark.  This leads to having to run constantly on guard, which is stressful, constantly tweaking my feet and ankles on roots and rocks and consistently falling down.  None of this creates the mental relaxation that I go to running and trail running for.  I can go on the roads, but then I’m dealing with traffic and the dog and it’s not the best. So, when I got back from running last night I ordered one of those chest-based lighting systems.  I’m hoping if I can light up the trails better it will take some of the stress out of it and open those low-light options up.  My current headlamp and hand held just aren’t cutting the mustard.  Ollie doesn’t seem to care about any of that.  He’s happy to go on the leash or on the trails.  He’s a year-and-a-half old now and there’s nothing I can do that is going to be beyond his ability.  He’s a horse of a dog and I really have to be careful and present with him on the leash.  If he decides to go ‘Call of the Wild’ on me I have trouble holding him.  But, I love him dearly.  Even when he ambushes me on the trails and takes a nip at me.  Last week we had a coyote come in close to the yard and just sit and watch.  Ollie was freaking out.  Hopefully it’s not a sick animal, they can be unpredictable.  I think Ollie could hold his own in a fight.  As a sheep dog it’s basically what he’s designed for.  But, I’d rather not find out.  See?  I told you I was in a dark mood.  Let’s turn up the lights a bit, shall we. Let’s talk about yellow sticky pads.  You know those little pads you can jot notes on and stick on the wall?  I had a couple days this week where I was walking into full days of calls.  Some with angry customers.  My first thought was “I so don’t want to do this today.” But I realized that I was going to do it no matter what so I might as well set the tone.  And if I was struggling to stay motivated then they were too.  So I decided to do one thing that was under my control and not worry about all the rest.  I decided to lead with joy.  To show up in each of those calls and demonstrate joy. Smile.  Ask them to smile with me and go about our business after we set that tone.  Because even if you are totally out of control, you can control how you show up.  It’s a choice. I wrote “J O Y !” in big, block letters on a stciky and stuck it to the corner of my monitor to remind me.  I ask you my friends; what would it take for you to show up with joy today, or tomorrow? 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 – 11 ways to rekindle your love for your sport in the apocalypse-   Voices of reason – the conversation Gary Harrington – Chasing Summits Garry Harrington hardly recognizes himself in photos any more. Staring down his fortieth birthday, he no longer looks like the collegiate athlete who once loved hiking and running. His dream job as a sports writer no longer holds the same thrill. As his marriage crumbles, he comes to the uncomfortable realization that something has to change before he loses himself entirely… On the trails of New Hampshire’s Mount Monadnock, he begins to feel it. Every heart-pounding slog up gets easier; every break on the summit feels freer, until he racks up 1,000 ascents. As he tackles harder trails in more distant locales, he sheds the life he thought he wanted in pursuit of something more. His journey takes him from the familiar peaks of his native New England to the foreign and famous—from the Rockies, to the high peaks of Mexico to Tajumulco Volcano, the highest point in Central America, continuing ever-onwards and upwards to the summit he’d dreamt of climbing since childhood—the Matterhorn. Harrington is in rarified company, completing not only the High Points in the continental U.S. but also one of a handful to have summited all 66 of the accepted 14,000-footers in the Lower 48 Harrington’s journey of self-discovery parallels the peaks and valleys of life and loss as he seeks perspective and purpose on the high points of the Americas and Europe. His path defies all convention and expectations—including his own—rarely leaving unanswered the echoing question: “What if?”   Section two – Van Life-   Outro Ok my friends we have vagabonded around the world chasing mountain tops to the end of Episode 4-443 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   So another name for the binge listening people is Michael.  I have known him for 5 years but apparently he went back and listened through the original 4 years for the start.  That’s not easy.  I am getting to the end of another podcast that I binged through while painting the house.  I’ll take any suggestions for something new and interesting in the history space. In related entertainment news I started watching the Walking Dead again and frankly the last couple seasons are non-interesting.  They always created tension by being willing to kill off main characters, even main characters you really liked.  The challenge there is that you are left with a bunch of secondary characters that just aren’t as interesting.  In the 2 days between writing the intro to this show and writing the outro my chest lighting system showed up. Along with a pair of winter gloves I ordered. I have not tried it yet but the lighting system has a white LCD light in the center of your chest with a red warning light on your back.  It is USB chargeable – so no more battery issues.  The waist band goes around your torso like a belt with the two lights, front and back.  There is a single shoulder strap that goes over one shoulder.  It’s a WestLight RunLight 5508 and I’ll et you know if it helps with my old eye in the woods.  It was $20 on Amazon. The gloves are a thicker winter glove.  My hands get really cold in the winter.  I misplaced the thicker running gloves I had so I ordered some new ones.  They are “Prodigen Outdoor Winter Gloves Touchscreen Running Warm Gloves” which is a keyword rich description.  It’s hard to shop for gloves on-line because you really can’t know how warm they are until you have them.  But these are cycling gloves so at least they’ll block the wind.  I’ll let you know but the feel good.  I should mention that it seems the number one requirement for gloves is being able to poke at your phone.  I have to confess that I seldom have a desire to poke at my phone in situations where I’m wearing those thicker gloves.  I guess it’s a nice to have.  And finally I bought some socks.  I am pretty hard on running socks.  I like the thin versions.  Typically my big toe pushes a hole in all but the most aggressive running socks.  I hold out as long as I can.  I put the side with the hole on the other foot or attempt a sew job.  But I was running out.  Again buying socks on the internet is hard because you can’t touch them.  So I just opted for a multi-pack of Saucony running socks called “Saucony Men's Multi-Pack Bolt Performance Comfort Fit No-Show Socks” – Again surprisingly keyword rich, but also there doesn’t seem to be a big need to poke at your phone with your toes – but that would not surprise me as the next generation.  I don’t know what the material is but they slip down inside my shoes when I’m running and I have to either deal with it or stop to pull them up.  They seem functional.  I’ll give it 6 months before I tear toe-holes in them.  But they are super comfy to wear around the office in the apocalypse.  Because no one wears shoes anymore in the apocalypse. Ollie Wollie is doing well.  He and I get out a couple times a week.  He’s still very energetic.  But, with both my wife and I home a lot he’s also learning to be more cuddly.  It’s hard for him, he’s not a hugger.  I was just out checking the mail and my neighbor stopped me to complain about barking.  Ollie does bark at the people in the woods a lot.  He’s just doing his job.  The neighbor said it was bothersome at 10 o’clock at night.  Which is impossible because neither Ollie nor I can stay awake past 9.  Taking a rest day today.  Well, working in the yard. Raking, cutting some wood.  But my knees were rather crunchy after my hill workout yesterday on the road.  I realized that my shoes were getting old.  I went and looked and as near as I can tell I bought those shoes in October of 2019.  So, I ordered some new Hoka Clifton’s.  I need to find something to train for.  I’d prefer it be something challenging so I could get some of the old fire burning.  Of course all the Thanksgiving races are canceled.  Victims of the apocalypse.  I’m not going to do the Groton Marathon this year.  It’s just another thing to worry about at the end of the year.  I don’t need any more things to worry about. This would be the perfect time to change routines and take up swimming or lifting but all the gyms are closed too.  I’m going to have to think about it.  I need something to motivate me.  I’m still plugging away at the apocalypse stories and I will drop them onto the RunRunLive feed randomly as I get them written.  I guess life right now for all of us is like that scene in the scary movie, maybe the zombie movie, where the protagonists have survived the initial disaster in one piece and are experiencing a relatively calm spot.  But, as we watch them recuperating and rebuilding their energy we know there are more bad guys hiding just around the corner.  And as the scary, ominous music builds, bah, dum, Bah, Dum! I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-442 – 24-Hour Run with Bill Shultz  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4442.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-442 of the RunRunLive podcast.  How’s everyone doing?  Stressed out by the year that was 2020?  Today we have a good show for you.  We are going to talk with veteran runner Bill Sullivan about 24-hour races and other things ultra.  Our friend Greg recommended I talk to Bill.  He said ‘Bill has some worderful stories’ and that’s one of the joys of running with a group that I miss.  Running as a social lubricant Where you get into some great story telling.  Besides the fact that it’s my birthday.  Happy Birthday to me.  No, I haven’t gained a new age group yet but I’m getting close and I think this one will net me 15 minutes.  The challenge that I run into, (pun intended), is, besides the apocalypse, my many of my workouts don’t lend themselves to social runs.  It’s not like I’m meeting you in the park for an easy 5K.  I also tend to be rushed for time on most days. I do have Ollie with me on most runs and he keeps me busy by ambushing me, playfully, (I think) nipping at me and running between my legs growling with giant pointy sticks.  Speaking of Ollie, I got one of those step-in harnesses for him that works very well. First, because he hates anything that you have to put over his head.  He will see that coming and unless you’re willing to lose some skin you’re not getting that on him.  This one, you lay it on the floor flat, he steps into with the appropriate treat bribery, and you pull it up and snap it.  Second, he can’t slip out of it.  The collar he can get out of.  The harness is safer.  The rings to attach the leash are on his back, about his shoulders.  Finally, he doesn’t seem to want to pull as hard from that configuration as he does on the leash.  He still leans into it a little but it’s much better.  It’s a little loose.  He’s in between big dog and medium dog, but it’s workable.  In Section One today I’m going talk to you folks who might be ultra-curious.  In section two I’ll give you another apocalypse story.  I’m writing them anyhow so I might as well use them here.  But, today is a momentous day.  This week we have seen the culmination of something that has been years in the making.  A triumph of the soul as well as the physical world.  It is a new dawn.  No longer do I have to be governed by the never-ending worry and stress.  We have burst free of the impure and corrupt.  We are staring ahead at a bright future without the evil constraints of the past.  We have remedied the dirty, corrupt and contaminated state of our lives.  Yes, today, I declare, before all, that this week… I finally finished painting my house.  Yeah. What did you think I was talking about?  Took me all summer.  I did it all with a paint brush.  Looks nice.  Anyhow, back to the old man in the apocalypse.  The only reason this is even tangentially relevant to you in a podcast about running is that my main character is the Old Man, who is an ultra-runner.  In today’s chapter I try to build the backstory with a little exposition.  He is a man who enters the apocalypse having lost faith in humanity and his arc will be how he recovers that faith. I signed up for Nanowrimo.  Which is a daily writing challenge in November.  People try to write a few thousand words a day and finish the month with the first draft of a novel.  I’m not looking to write a novel.  I think my plan is to write a podcast.  I don’t really have the time to sit and write for 6 hours a day, but I can give it a few minutes every morning and see what I come up with.  Stitch together the stories and characters that I have been playing with.  My current plan is to get enough of the story put together into a narrative that I can build a new podcast feed around it.  The first pass will be just me, reading into audio.  If it get’s any kind of traction and if I can build a community around it I can then organize it into a ‘radio play’ in the second version. We’ll see how it goes.  For me it’s a big goal and a big risk. But, I think that’s one of the keys of life.  We talk about ultra-running today.  How many people do you think sign up for their first ultra event thinking they have no chance of failure?  Of course not.  Every one of them doubts whether they can do it.  That’s the beauty of taking big risks.  If you have a good chance to fail you’re guaranteed to learn something along the way.  You’re guaranteed to find your edge.  Even if you fall a little short you’ll move your set point and be ready for even bigger things next time. And that’s how I’m treating this effort in November.  A bit of ‘why not?’  and a bit of ‘who cares?’ And that my friends is a lesson, right?  Don’t aim so low that you are confident you can’t lose.  Because if you do that you’ll never win either. 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 – For the Ultra-Curious- Voices of reason – the conversation Bill Shultz – Dawn to Dusk to Dawn The Delco Road Runners Club, in Delaware County, PA, is a large, inclusive group of runners, walkers, triathletes, and others fond of fitness. We have more than 200 members of all ages and abilities, and we host fun runs/walks on six days of the week. The club organizes the popular Tyler Arboretum 10K Trail Run, the Dawn to Dusk to Dawn Ultramarathon and the Delaware County High Schools X-C Championship, as well as the Junior Development Track Meet for athletes age 18 and under. Our website, emails, and Facebook page help keep our members up to date on upcoming events and races around the Philadelphia area. Dawn To Dusk To Dawn Ultras If you're looking for an ultra track event, this May be the group for you! D3 is a proud Sponsor of the U.S. National 24 Hour Running Team.   Section two – The Ford of Death-   Outro Ok my friends we have run a 24 hours straight, maybe to set even a world record,  to the end of Episode 4-442 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   I would like to introduce you to Tony.  Tony is THAT guy. The one who binge listened through all 400+ RunRunLive podcasts.  I find this fascinating and I have to get him on the zoom phone to chat about it.  I do the same thing with some of the history podcasts that I listen through.  It’s a weird bit of time traveling because the author lives 10 to 12 years f their life, while you may only listen through it in a couple months.  For you, when listening, you may listen to 4-5 episodes in a row while painting on a Sunday and you get the compressed narrative of the author’s life.  Then you hit the end of the line and eventually run out of fresh content.  There’s this moment of exhilaration and sadness when you realize that the narrative has now slowed to normal time.  Some of these histories I listen to only put out a podcast every month!  And in that time you tease out a bit of the author’s real character behind the character of the avatar they project into the podcast.  I’m training away at my off-season pace.  3-4 easy runs a week with some core work on the off days.  I’ve been super busy with work.  Had to stop riding my bike because we got a cold snap where the temps crashed down to below 20 degrees F and we got a few inches of snow last weekend.  Now, this weekend, it’s 70 again.  I can finish up the yard work and chores I was trying to get done.  We moved the time back last weekend as well.  This means it’s brighter in the morning, which is great for taking Ollie out for his walk.  But, it’s conversely dark at 4:30 and will basically stay there until the winter solstice in December.  I went out into the trails a couple times this week in the dark with Ollie and it’s tough running.  My eyes aren’t as good as they used to be and with the trails covered in leaves it’s really hard to navigate the technical bits.  Not super relaxing when you’re constantly fighting the trail.  But, it’s ok.  Looking around and back over the last decade of running, like Tony got to do, I’ve got a lot to be grateful for.  I’m still out there and I’m still functional even if it doesn’t’ come as fast or as easy as it once did.  A quick programming note: I got a taker for the FreeTrain phone vest, but still have that super small vest that would make an excellent gift for the school girl runner in your life if you have one.  Free for the ask.  And the entire if you’ve got a SF fan in your house.  This week I’ll also include the 20th and final song off of Brian Scheff the rock opera by .  It’s my friend Frank’s band. Love it or hate it, it’s my podcast and I can do what I want!  Any other starving artists out there that want to contribute some music to play out the end of future shows feel free to reach out – I’m, as always I have quick tip for you folks who may be stressed out in your work, having to take all these remote video calls.  And I have tested this.  You can have a browser window open and play meditation music in the background of your calls and no one can hear it but you.  Seriously, while you’re getting yelled at by your boss r some unhappy customer you can have calming music in the background.  It really change the tenor of some calls.  Just search YouTube for “Happy Morning Meditation Music”. And I know it can be a stressful time.  Things get tough at work, or in life, and as you have challenges it’s easy to slip into scarcity and negativity.  One prominent symptom of this is when you start to complain.  You start to tell people why everything is awful and all the things that are being done poorly by all the stupid and lazy and incompetent people.  If you see the people you interact with or even yourself start to complain it’s time to act.  Because, complaining is non-intentional.  It is being the victim.  It is basically saying you have no control.  And you always have control. You have control of what you say and how you say it.  You have control of the questions you ask.  So, my assignment for you this week is to watch out for the complaining.  Be alert to where you start to complain or your group starts to complain.  This will be your trigger.  This will be the alert in your mental inbox.  When you hear the complaint you’re going to take control.  You are going to be intentional.  You are going to flip the narrative.  You are going to ask better questions.  “What can I do to make this better?” And you are going to vocalize those thoughts within those bitch sessions.  You are going to say to the complaint committee, either the real-life one or the one in your head.  “We need to focus on what is going well and what our long term goals are.  We need to intentionally stay positive and work to learn from these challenges and get better over the long run.” Because this is an opportunity for leadership.  We need to keep our eyes on the prize.  And in doing so set an example for others. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-440 – Jason has an Epiphany  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4440.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-440 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Yes, welcome my friends.  I know I’m a week late.  It pains me to not meet my commitments.  It’s a sign of a life lived out of control.  I’m not a control freak but I do like to engender habits.  And habits are very strong things.  Habits are the fibrous tissue of day to day life.  They are hard to tear, but once rent they are hard to put back in place.  So, apologies.  For being a week late.  My work got very time intensive and emotionally taxing for a couple weeks.  That combined with the necessary house work and everything else pushed me past, irrevocably past, the deadline.  I have taken some corrective action on this front and will talk about that more later. Today we talk with Jason.  Jason had one of those death experiences.  Not ‘near death’, no, for Jason he died, and then came back.  It’s always interesting for me to talk to people who have had these life altering events. It underscores the ability and power we all have inside of us to change, to radically change, to begin to live life before it is too late, but for some reason we don’t.  Why is that?  What is the glue of normalcy that causes us to submit our dreams of adventure to a the daily grind?  Until, one day, we shuffle off the mortal coil leaving dreams unfulfilled scattered here and there like unopened Christmas presents. In section one I’ll talk about how you can build your own ad hoc core workout routines.  In section two we’ll catch up with the old man and Bill the dog in the apocalypse.  I listen to mostly history podcasts these days.  I’ll start a history podcast and listen through until I’m caught up.  It’s usually a couple hundred episodes.  I like the continuity of it. Of being able to listen through an arc of the historical narrative.  Maybe while painting or gardening for a few hours at a time. It’s always a mixture of the bittersweet and the accomplishment when I get caught up.  Then it gets me to thinking that there might be someone out there listening to this who has just listened through the athletic arc of a dozen years of my life.  That’s odd.  If it’s you, send me an email or reach out to me on social I’d love to talk to you.  Cyktrussell at gmail dot com.  I don’t spend much time on social media anymore.  I’ve entirely given up on Twitter.  I dip into Facebook to see if anyone is looking for me maybe once a day.  I do post pictures on Instagram. That doesn’t seem to be much of a sewer yet, but it’s only a matter of time.   Since we last talked, which was after my virtual Boston marathon, I’ve been taking it pretty easy.  The leg seems to have gotten better.  No more swelling or lumps or lymph node swelling.  Kind of makes me feel like a fake.  I skipped my race and it turned out to be nothing.  But, that is life. I’ve been running with Ollie 3 days a week for 20ish miles, Maybe mid 20’s.  Just easy stuff.  Mostly trails.  I’m easing into core work and yoga on the other days.  On Sundays I meet my buddies and we do a long, easy bike ride.  Usually around 30 miles.  We hit someplace to eat halfway.  It’s a nice change.  I’ve got my old race bike, Fuji-san, the classic steel frame road bike that I bought to commute with 20 years ago.  It’s a real bike.  A bit heavy, but good Shimano components, clip on aero bars and enough working gears to get me where I’m going.  Usually if I’m training I might average 18 miles an hour.  On these pancake and bagel rides we tend to average 11-12 miles per hour, so that should give you a sense of the effort level! I’m going to stick with this routine until the end of the year.  There are no events, so there’s no reason to get specific with any training.  Just keep my engine turning over and stay healthy.  How about a garden update?  Well, not much left at this point.  I picked all the rest of the peppers today.  We haven’t had a frost yet so things are alive.  I’ve got some beans and the rasberries are still producing.  And of course the kale likes the colder weather.  But I’ve got a persistent worm problem.  Since I was working from home all summer I decided to see if I could win the worm war.  I would go out everyday and inspect the kale leaves for worms.  I’d pluck them off and squish them.  I found that after a week or so I was winning.  But, it was not a victory I could ever walk away from.  Miss a couple days and the worms would be back.  Miss a week and you might as well give up.  I learned.  I learned that if I actually wanted worm free kale I would have to inspect every leave on every plant every day.  What if I had a kale farm with hundreds of plants?  What if I needed these kale leaves to feed the tribe?  The obvious conclusion is that kale farming must have led to the necessity for slavery.  There’s no other way you could keep up.  And with that, let’s get 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 – Creating a home workout routine - Voices of reason – the conversation Jason Pepin Mix one-part endurance athlete and one-part chef with a pinch of moderation, and you’ve got Jason Pepin. However, moderation wasn’t always part of the equation. Looking back, Jason knows he’s one of the lucky ones. After all, there aren’t many people walking around who can say they got to hit the reset button on their physical health. In 2012, Jason suffered a massive heart attack while on his bike ride in Los Angeles. With a survival rate of just 12%, and known as “the widowmaker”, his heart attack was the result of critical blockage in a main artery. That day, Jason died and was revived on the table. And while most people won’t ever walk out of the hospital again, in just two short months he was back on his bike. But being a determined athlete is just one half of who Jason is. The other half is a tireless chef who, at age 12, was first inspired by his grandmother to start cooking. She instilled in him the value of sourcing the freshest ingredients and a respect for simplicity in preparation, both of which have remained the hallmarks of his cuisine. After 30 years in the kitchens of famous culinary brands such as Morton’s The Steakhouse and Wolfgang Puck, Chef Jason has learned there is more to a healthy life than just exercise. Building on what his grandmother taught him, Jason has added the value of moderation to create a healthful lifestyle that is both sustainable and balanced. mountain climbing, practicing martial arts, cooking, and being the favorite human to a freakishly large cat named Loki. Section two – City of the Dead part 3 - Outro Ok my friends we have ridden our old bikes to the bagel shop at the end of Episode 4-440 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I’ll take a sunflower seed, toasted with crunchy peanut butter and strawberry jam please. So you already know my training plans for the foreseeable future.  Easy on the running with a recreational bike and some core workouts.  That’s pretty boring.  Got to find myself some inspiration.  Other good news is that I’m almost done painting the house.  I’ve got a couple places I can’t reach.  My 32 foot ladder that I used to reach those places last time I painted the house is out of action.  The rung locks are non-functional.  I tried to order new rung locks, but the ladder is too old to get replacement parts for.  The only way I could use it would be to extend it all the way, manually lock the rungs in place then try to get it up, which, believe me I tried but the physics of it is impossible.  But, my other running buddy Brian is a contractor, and he’s gong to let me borrow his long ladder this week to finish up.  Next up on the never-ending home improvement list is garage doors.  Which I was delighted to discover is only like $3,000.  I have to winterize my motorcycle.  I didn’t ride it at all this summer due to the apocalypse.  I’ll take it back over and stick it in Frank’s barn for the winter.  That’s on my list as well; to find an outfit to refurbish my old motorcycle.  It would cost more than the bike is worth, but it would make me happy.  Ollie the collie is almost a year and a half old!  He’s still mostly feral but hey, aren’t we all?  He’s great with people on the trails.  I just say, “Leave it!” and he ignores them.  When he greets another dog he rolls over onto his back and get’s all submissive.  He’s a nightmare on the leash.  I took him out on the road one night this week.  I have to really pay attention.  He’ll get spooked by something and take off at an angle. I have to get a better harness for him.  The collar isn’t’ good enough.  He’s built like a brick house.  Not as rangy as Buddy was.  More of a linebacker or a fullback.  Amazingly strong and athletic.  Smart as heck, but willful and I’m thinking part jackal.  Among the books I’m reading is one by Brene’ Brown called Daring Greatly.  The premise is that you have to get outside your comfort zone to find the good stuff.  You have to be vulnerable.  But, in order to be vulnerable you need to have a strong sense of self-worth.  That’s what gives you the strength.  You have to be convinced of your own self-worth. Your unique gifts.  Your power.  In itself.  Incomparable to anyone else.  Incomparable to previous versions of yourself.  You centered power of what you bring, unafraid, right now.  And that self-power allows you to dance badly in public and sing karaoke.  When you have that keen sense of self in the now you can do hard things, you can be vulnerable, and that allows you to listen with empathy, to learn new things and, heaven forbid, change your mind.  So, my friends, what would you do if you weren’t afraid of failure?  Think about it.  Every day is another chance to find out. And… I’ll see you out there. To take you out is Track number 18 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "when the Sun Burns out”  AndI know you’ll be sad to hear that there are only 2 tracks left in the rock opera.  But, Frank told me this morning that they are working on some new songs, so there is hope for the future.  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-438 – Shop Talk with Brodie  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4438.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-438 of the RunRunLive podcast.  I’ve got a lot of news today, but we will get to that in more in the outro.  Today I recorded a shop talk chat with an Australian dude, Brodie, who I met on Facebook.  He is a physio down under and has a podcast about running without getting injured.  Which it turns out is super ironic.  As for a theme.  I was toying with ‘collaboration’, or maybe ‘taking the long view’ or maybe even ‘how to be at peace with what the universe gives you’.  I don’t know.  We’ll just have to see how it comes out.  My training was going well up until the middle of last week.  I finished off this cycle with a 18 mile trail run with the dog last Sunday.  I have been challenged by how busy I am at work.  Surely feeling the stress of time scarcity, whether real or imagined.  In section one I think I’m going to talk about shoes because Brodie brought this up and I think it needs clarification.  In section 2 I’m going to give you part two of the latest apocalypse story where I try my hand at writing some exposition.  I was also feeling a lot of stress around the current news cycles.  So I decided to shut off the incoming feeds.  We all like to think of ourselves as independent of external influences but at the end of the day we are as Pavlovian as Cocker Spaniels.  What you let into your awareness colors your awareness.  The news and social media channels know this.  They also know how to manipulate your emotions.  If you don’t believe me try an A-B test on any of your social media.  Publish two pieces of content.  One hopeful and positive.  The other angry and negative.  See which one gets the most response.  The algorithms automatically reinforce our natural negative biases and will drive the anger and outrage to the top of your feeds.  It’s a negative reinforcement cycle.  Unfortunately, the news isn’t much better.  If it bleeds it leads.  I was starting my days by reading the headlines of the different news feeds I get.  I decided to stop reading the news and I also stopped posting or reading Facebook in particular.  I gave up Twitter a couple years ago.  If you need to reach me send me an email.  I’m still posting on Instagram as cyktrussell if you like pictures of food and dogs. It’s too bad.  These are the same tools that allowed me to meet and get to know you, my friends.  Now they are driving us apart.  But at the end of the day it’s a choice, right?  You’d like to believe that you can choose how to interact and react and you can control your own emotions from external influences. But in the spirit of balance, the universe also gave back to me when I needed it this week.  All the old running podcasters from a decade ago started interacting on a new audio app called Cappuccino.  This takes us back to that intimate little club of casual runners who used to get together on Twitter in the old days.  It’s nice to hear from them.  It’s got a bit of an ‘old soldiers’ feel to it.  And let’s make that the theme for today why don’t we?  Old friends. You and I and old friends, 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 – It’s not about the shoes - Voices of reason – the conversation Brodie Sharpe - Why Brodie Sharpe?   Qualifications & Experience Bachelor of Health Science & Masters of Physiotherapy Practice (2012) The Running Clinic – Certified professional Musculoskeletal injuries for runners online course (Simon Bartold – One of Australia’s best running podiatrists) Running Repairs course (Tom Goom – One of the world’s leading running physiotherapists) Athletics Victoria Run coaching qualifications Sports Medicine Australia – The Secrets to injury Proofing runners Running specialist guest speaker on: Pushing the limits podcast – Lisa Tamati The Athlete’s Garage – Trang Nguyen Published articles in: CEA Magazine So Let’s Go Running E-magazine Podcast Host – Everyday Running Legends   Section two – City of the dead 2 – Outro Ok my friends we have collaborates through the end of Episode 4-438 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Let’s get on the big news.  I finished up my 1,000 Km run across Tennessee 8/25 as predicted.  Got my belt buckle.  Topped off my training last weekend with a nice long trail run with Ollie.  My plan for this cycle was to run the 42-mile Wapack and back with some buddies and pick up my virtual Boston marathon in the process.  But, life, even this wonderful endurance life does not care about your plans!  Chaos stepped in. The day after I ran the north half of the Wapack with Paul a couple weeks ago I had a little twinge in my right quad.  I was out walking with Ollie in the morning and it felt like a little cramp.  I thought to myself, “huh, must be dehydrated or something” and forgot about it. Then I noticed the lymph node in my right leg was a bit swollen.  No big deal, some sort of bite or scab or nick was causing an immune response.  I had an easy week and it all went away. Then throughout that next hard week I had this ache or itch inside my right quad.  Didn’t hurt when I ran, but was a noticeable niggle.  After my big week capped with the big trail run my right quad was noticeably swollen and the lymph node was up again.  It seemed to be spreading down the quad. Still didn’t hurt when I ran.  Not a muscle or a tendon thing.  So, I did the smart thing and went to see my doctor.  He was concerned and ordered an MRI.  Told me to stay off it.  He intimated that is may be a hematoma.  Basically, something bleeding in there.  Which kinda makes sense given all the trail running and falling down I did in July and August.  Since I’m a member of the Great American Health Care System, even though I’m one of the privileged with health care, I am 8 phone calls into scheduling the MRI.  Bottom line I had to cancel my plans this weekend.  It’s either nothing, or it’s something.  We won’t know until the MRI, and maybe then we won’t know either. And so this big summer trail cycle comes to a close with a whimper instead of a bang.  With the long weekend we’ll see when I can get in to do the MRI. I’ve got a short window to get my Boston Virtual done. May have to walk it.  After that I’m felling like I need to spend the rest of the year working on my flexibility and strength.  I’m feeling a bit week and fragile.  I’ll have to figure out how to get back on the weights. Don’t worry about me.  It’s all part of the journey.  It’s been a weird year for everyone and I am certainly blessed.  So, my friends, don’t get caught up in the weirdness.  Set your own path.  Take what the universe gives you and make some sweet lemonade, because I most certainly will see you out there. To take you out is Track number 16 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "Stars and Solitude”  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-437 – Rickey Gates – Across America  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4437.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hello and welcome to episode 4-437 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Today’s theme is journeys.  I connected with Rickey Gates and we have an interesting discussion around his journeys, particularly his 2016 run across America.  This particular journey wasn’t about getting the miles in per se, it was about discovering the heart of the country and finding himself.  And that’s the gift that we get from our endurance sports practices.  Every time we lace up the shoes and leave the house it’s a microcosm of the great journey.  It’s a small version of that unsettled quest we homo sapiens have always had, not only to find what’s on the other side of the next hill but what’s on the other side of our known limits.  In section one I talk about the nuances of doing tempo training in the trails and in section two I wrote another installment of the old man apocalypse story, because Tim asked me to.  This one is going to be the first part of a 3-parter.  I’ve had a decent couple weeks of training.  We got through the hot part of the summer up here and now we are rapidly approaching autumn and fall.  After we last spoke I spent a weekend down at my house on Cape Cod.  I had a big weekend in my training.  Friday night I had a long tempo run and by the time I got the podcast out and drove down it was late afternoon.  I did not feel like going out for a hard, hot, long workout.  I was mad because I packed up my water back pack and my bottle then forgot to put it in the truck in my haste.  It’s so hot and humid and dry on the Cape, with way less tree cover, that you really need a good hydration option. I grabbed a bottle of water and figured I’d give it a try and see how I felt.  I took Ollie and set off across the street to a state park that apparently no one really knows about.  It’s sectioned up by dirt roads and has a couple ponds.  I discovered it while mountain biking and was a bit astonished to realize there was a state park ½ mile from my door that I had been running by for years.  A dirt road on the Cape is a sand road.  The whole place is one big sand dune. I’ve discovered a loop that circumnavigates one of the ponds.  It’s conveniently about a mile from the house, then a short mile of single path through the scrub oak and blueberries around the pond.  For tempo I can just run the loop and when time is up I can jog home  And that’s what I did that Friday night.  Even though I felt shitty and discombobulated going in I felt pretty strong once I warmed up.  Ollie and I got into a rhythm and ran the workout with a reasonable amount of aplomb.  The next day, Saturday, I had a 3-hour bike ride on the schedule and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do that with my water pack.  I found a random tradeshow backpack in my truck and I loaded that up with a few bottles of water and some food. I made it all the way from Harwich up the rail trail to the end at the beach in Wellfleet  turned around and came back.  There were a lot of people out on the trail.  I talked to some people wearing PanMass Challenge shirts and apparently that was a virtual event this year as well.  It was Sunday that really had me worried.  It was going to be the hottest day and I had a 3-hour run on the schedule.  The only way I could figure out how to do it safely was to go early and do 3 1-hour out and backs.  I started the first leg around 7:00 AM and headed on the roads over to the rail trail east.  Even at that time of day it was hot in the full sun on the bike trail.  There weren’t many people out yet, mostly serious bikers getting their workouts in before the crowds showed up.  By the time I got back to the house I was soaked like I had been swimming and my single bottle was well-past empty.  But, it was a solid logistical plan.  I drank my fill, ate some fruit, changed my shirt and headed back out.  This time I took the roads east towards Pleasant Bay and Chatham.  I made it down to the ocean and looked around a bit before heading back to the house to refuel again.  Last loop I decide to head back into the state park with Ollie.  He was mental that I was going out and coming back and not taking him.  I figured the park would be easier on me and I could get some shade.  To get there I have to cross a busy road and into an unassuming side road with no signage.  If you didn’t look at the map you’d have no idea there was a park squeezed in there.  Ollie was so amped up he was dragging me on the leash.  As soon as the road turned to sand I let him off.  I was too tired to fight him.  Watching him take off up the dry sand road was like one of those road runner cartoons where all you see is the churning legs and a cloud of dust.  We explored in the park for an hour and I ended up finishing with 18 and a half hot miles.  Ollie was happy.  I was relieved to be done. The next weekend, last weekend I headed back up to the Wapack to do the north half with my buddy Paul.  We dropped a car at the Windblown parking area and started at the northern trail head on the other side of Pack Monadnock.  It was a nice cool morning and we ran the 12 back in a casual 3:19.  Now you may say that that is really slow, but this is all technical mountain running and we weren’t in a hurry.  It was a good outing.  A good journey.  If you look around you’ll see journeys everywhere.  All you need for a journey is a goal or a destination.  Journeys can be physical or spiritual or both.  The ancient Egyptian kings thought of life and death as a journey.  The years were counted from the time the king took the throne.  When he died, he journeyed to the west to become one with the god Amun Rah.  The scribes painted nice, detailed maps on the inside of the coffin lid so they wouldn’t get lost. The the ferryman to take them across the river Styx to the afterworld of Hades. The Christians had the and – each a version of how to make life’s journey in such a way as to make it to heaven. Think about the , with our hero journeying home through mostly self-inflicted challenges.  Or the 20th century modernist version that James Joyce penned about our friend on one peripatetic day in Dublin.  Or wonderfully reimagined by Coppola in . (I know I’m throwing a lot at you, but I linked all these references in the show notes and the post) My point is, whether it’s Huck Finn on the river or Jack Kerouac on the road the Western cannon is filled with physical, metaphorical and spiritual journeys.  That says something about us.  That highlights the deep correlation between our wanderlust and our redemption, our striving and our enlightenment. The questions we ask every day are about where we are in the journey and what’s the destination? We are you?  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 – Trail Tempo - Voices of reason – the conversation Rickey Gates - Rickey Gates has been described as a “conceptual runner” combining the practice of endurance running with the artistic mediums of photography and writing. After nearly a decade competing on a national and international mountain, trail and ultra running circuit, he took his love for ultra-endurance, storytelling and photography to his project-based runs that have included a run across America, every single street in San Francisco and currently the 50 classic trails of North America. Gates is a deeply curious individual with an immense interest in the inner workings of society, self, nature and the human potential.  His debut book Cross Country published by Chronicle Books, will be released in the spring of 2020. In this book, Gates invites us along on his 3,700 mile journey across the United States through over 200 photographs, stories of individuals and ultimately the innermost depths of his own mind. Cross Country will be released alongside TransAmericana, a feature-length film produced and directed by The Wandering Fever and his sole sponsor, Salomon. CROSS COUNTRY A 3700-MILE RUN TO EXPLORE UNSEEN AMERICA In 2017, professional runner Rickey Gates ran 3,700 miles across the continental United States with just a small backpack and an anthropologist's curiosity to discover the divided America in which we live. In the book Cross Country, Gates documents this epic experience from South Carolina to San Francisco, sharing first-person essays, interviews, and over 200 photographs of the ordinary and extraordinary people and places he saw along the way. While Gates delivers unparalleled insight into the extreme athletic and mental challenge of this transcontinental run, running is not the core focus of Cross Country—it is a story of the remarkable people across the United States who we would otherwise never meet. Cross Country is available online or anywhere else books are sold.   Section two – City of the dead –   Outro Ok my friends we have journeyed through the long gauntlet of Episode 4-437 of the RunRunLive Podcast and ended our quest in the afterworld of delight. My personal journey is going well.  I’m healthy and in good enough shape to manage the 42 miles of the Wapack on the 7th.  I’ve got Eric, and Dave Foss and Duane joining me.  It will probably take us around 12 hours.  When I race the 18-mile version it takes me about 4 hours.  If you extend that out to 42 miles, it’s about 9 and a half hours.  I figure if we are taking our time and enjoying ourselves 12 hours should be good.  But, you never know in a long run like that.  You can get lost.  Someone can half a rough patch.  As part of that run I’ll be doing 26.21 of those miles for the 2020 Boston Marathon.  Supposedly the BAA is sending out some sort of race kit for us to use in our virtual – we’ll see.  The answer is Candide. Remember the quote I was trying to find for my history of agriculture article in the last show?  Well, no sooner did I hit publish then did our friend Keating Vogel, pop back with the answer.  He knew what I was trying to remember right away.  It was not Camus, nor was it Sophocles, it was Candide, by Voltaire that ended with the admonishment to ‘tend your garden’ that I was reading on that airplane so many years ago.  Now I know that makes me sound super nerdy and pedantic – that I was riding around in airplanes in my 20’s reading the classics.  In my defense you could buy those old paperbacks of the classics for 25 cents.  I had a lot of plane time and hunted the book aisles for bargains.  You could always find the classics cheap because teachers would force school kids to read this stuff.  The kids would throw them away as soon as they could. I had to look Candide up because for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was about – other than those closing lines.  It didn’t make much of an impression on me.  I was probably reading it while elbow deep in complimentary cocktails.  Apparently, it’s a satire about French institutions.  Like the church, the government and the nobility.  And guess what Candide is doing in this novel?  He is on a journey to self-discovery!  So there you go.  It all comes back around.  To finish up Our journey here today I’ll give you the happy update on my virtual race across Tennessee.  As of this morning 8/23/20, I am sitting at 623.5 miles.  This was supposed to be a 1,000-kilometer race but I guess in Tennessee they use different math because I need to get to 635 miles to get my buckle. After today I’ll be at about 630 miles and I’m guessing I’ll finish Tuesday.  If I look back at the months, I ran 182 miles in May, took a week off in June and got behind with only 124 miles.  Bounced back with a stout 185 miles in the heat of July and will end up with about the same in August.  I’m ok with that given I’m only running 4 days a week. What did we learn on this journey?  Well, I think people learned that it looks way easier to keep up with a 5.5 mile a day average then it actually is.  For some of us it’s just part of what we log and it’s no big deal.  For others having to knock out 5.5 miles every day taught them something about themselves.  The mileage doesn’t care if it’s hot, or rainy or if you get sick or if you hurt your back.  The journey grinds on whether you can keep up or not.  But, eventually my friends, no matter how long and difficult a journey you have, you will come out the other side enlightened.  And I’ll see you out there. (Outro bumper) To take you out is Track number 15 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "Brian’s Dirge”  And this is dedicated to my close friend and running buddy Frank, the drummer for the Nays who just got his second hip done last week.  Our journey and our adventures are not done!   Enjoy   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-436 – Farm to Fork Fondo  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4435.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Intro: Hellos and welcome to the badly delayed episode 4-436 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Today’s show is about farming.  It’s about growing things.  It’s about the late summer harvest of ideas and endurance.  We have a chat with retired professional cyclist Tyler Wren who has started a post-pro life around supporting local farms in Vermont called farm to fork fitness.  I ran into him because I’ve been doing a long bike ride at least once a week and thinking about the impact that the current apocalypse has had on these local farms and families.  With the restaurants closed it impact specialized growers adversely.  The specialized stuff, the local stuff, is the good for you stuff.  I’d hate to see even more of them disappear.  To see even more beautiful tracks of rural land turned into vacation condos.  In section one I’m going to muse on what my running has taught me in the month of July as I push through the heat and humidity.  In section two I’m going to talk about the history of agriculture.   Because, that’s our theme.  I’m doing fine, just busy with work and training and my wife needing me to do pointless man-things like paint the house.  It all stacks up and, you, my unfortunate friends are made to suffer the vacuum of my attentions.  I’m healthy.  Ollie is healthy.  We’ve been getting in a lot of miles in the trails.  I’m starting to move into some fairly good volume as I target running the Wapack and back with Eric and anyone else who wants to come next month.  More about that in the outro. … My own garden is hit and miss this year.  I planted a lot of squash but it seems to have gotten a late start and I’m only getting a few.  Whereas in other years I’ve gotten piles of zucchini and summer squash, this year only a few have battled through.  The root borers are into the stalks now and that usually kills anything left. My berry patch has been less than spectacular as well.  I have a very mature and robust patch of red raspberries.  These are hybrids and have multiple sets of large berries.  But I’ve also got a bunch of the native black raspberry canes that are muscling their way into my garden like unwanted ruffians at a genteel social event.  Both of these typically overwhelm me with berries. Not this year.  We seem to have a boom in wildlife.  Something ate most of my red raspberries. I think it’s the birds.  I’m getting the Black ones now but they are getting poached as well.  In other years I would pull several pints a week out of the patch. This year I have salvaged barely enough to flavor 2 bowls of oatmeal. My tomatoes are just coming on now.  A few weeks late.  I’m keeping an eye on them because I have a chipmunk problem as well.  The chipmunks won’t necessarily eat your tomatoes and squash but they will bite into them.  The rodents also burrow around a bit as well.  Ripping up the plants in general.  They got my curly parsley.  I had it growing in a pot in my garden and something burrowed into the pot and ate the root.  Left the parsley.  Ate the root.  Then the next day they came back and ate the parsley.  Not sure whether that was the chipmunk or some other kind of rodent.  It was a very precisely executed crime.  I suspect on orders of the rodent syndicate. Understand that my garden is heavily fortified.  This isn’t my first rodent rodeo.  I’ve got a 4-foot fence with chicken wire buried into the ground.  That keeps the Woodchucks and rabbits out.  Speaking of rabbits and woodchucks, I’ve given up on trying to trap the woodchucks and rabbits in the yard this year.  There are so many of them.  There’s only one reasonable solution. I’m going to have to get a falcon.  Yup.  I’ll stand out there like an angry old god, whisper something to my hooded assassin and let my falcon swoop down and rain terror from above on all the various and sundry critters that impede my green thumb.  I will be the raptor rodent apocalypse. I’ve got some cucumbers coming, but those are late as well.  I have some pepper plants that seem to be doing well.  I replanted some beans that never came up and should have some of those to eat at the end of the month.  The only successful plant in my garden is the kale.  Successful in the sense that I’ve got enough if I want to eat kale for lunch. The challenge with the kale is that it gets the cabbage worms on it and you can either spray them of try to pick them off.  It’s a battle that is currently about a tie.  Each day I go out and pick off and squish as many as I can find but each day the kale is full of holes like Swiss cheese. So that’s it.  Hours of gardening to produce a handful of berries and some buggy kale.  If I was farming for a living I would have starved to death years ago.  Each day I go out, because I’m working from home int eh apocalypse, and gather what ever seems to be ripe enough for my lunch salad.  I try to scrub the worms off the kale, but I know I’m eating a lot of bugs in my salads. It’s probably good for me.  They recently re-examined human coprolites from the Paisley Caves in Oregon.  These had been dated to more than 14,000 years old.  The great glaciers were beating a hasty retreat.  The trouble was that everyone though homo sapiens only arrived 13,000 years ago.  They wrote these coprolites off as animal scat that was tainted by human handling.  recently they discovered that this was indeed human poop from 14,000 years ago.  They were able to section that poop and see what we were eating as hunters and gatherers.  Turns out there wasn’t a lot of mastodon and buffalo.  Sure, there was the occasional bit of mammoth, but it was mostly plants and seeds and rodents with a fair number of insect carapaces.  It would seem I haven’t progressed too far from  therewith my own garden.  Think about that today as we talk about farming.  I have the advantage of water and modern seeds and I probably pulling 180 calories of vegetable out of that garden on a given day.  Think about the early farmers who had to grow enough calories to last a whole year, and that after giving 30% to some tyrant. It’s not an easy job.  But there is something worthy about it.  There is something basic about getting your hands into the hot, wet soil and creating, nurturing the green things.  Weeding is contemplative.  Picking the perfect heirloom tomato warm from the vine is an act of fulfillment. To be one of those self-important jerks who like to quote people, Kahil Gilbrainsaid “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ” 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 – What I heard this week - Voices of reason – the conversation Tyler Wren - Farm to Fork Farm to Fork Mission To highlight and support the symbiotic relationship between everyday athletes, farmers, and beautiful landscapes MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER     Tyler Wren here, founder of Wrenegade Sports. When I retired from my 13 years of professional cycling I wanted to do something meaningful, something that would allow me to share some of the best parts of my fitness career with the world in way that could have a positive social impact, while still being just plain fun. I've run and ridden my bike thousands and thousands of miles over the world and I've learned to cherish the days when I find myself rolling along on beautiful, quiet country roads. Sadly, as many who love these charming places, I've realized that peaceful rural landscapes and lonely country roads are endangered species. As athletes, it is natural for us to support land owners who are able to preserve the open space that we enjoy so much on our bicycles and in our fitness adventures. These landowners use that land to grow food that can make us better athletes and healthier people. With the Farm to Fork Fitness Adventure series, I want people to experience beautiful iconic farmland through exercise, meet the hardworking farmers who are fighting the good fight, learn about the pressures that these farms face, and have a great time in the process. All of the funds raised by the Wrenegade Foundation’s Farm to Fork Healthy Communities Program is donated to local farms and community organizations. That means at the end of each Farm to Fork event, Wrenegade Foundation will be cutting checks to help local farmers with projects like building a new farm stand or creating a new website, and to help local organizations advance their causes like preserving the area’s beautiful pastoral open space.  At Wrenegade Sports, we strive to whip up the perfect combinations of health, social good, community and fun into unique and awesome events. Find out more at the website   VOLUNTEER COMPETITION     In 2019, donated more than $40,000 to local organizations in our host communities via our Farm to Fork Volunteer Competitions. In 2020 we'll be giving away even more, and your votes help decide which groups get the biggest donations. At each Farm to Fork event, all the volunteers will be assigned to teams that each represent a different area farm or charitable organization. From the registration tent to the last aid station, you will be greeted and cheered on by volunteers who are competing to bring the most spirit to the day. Ask questions of the volunteer teams to get to know them, their missions, and what makes the event host community unique. At the end of your ride, you will vote for your favorite team and help determine the size of the cash donations we give. The Volunteer Competition is supported by tax-deductible participant donations to , sponsors, and 100% of all raffle ticket sales.    Section two – Agriculture  – Outro Ok my friends we have planted and weeded and harvested Episode 4-436 of the RunRunLive Podcast. I’m still working from home.  I’ve pushed my mileage up a notch by adding a long run into Sundays.  This weekend I’ll do 3 hours.  But, this is at the end of a hard workout on Friday and a long bike ride on Saturday – so it’s significant, for me.  I feel strong.  I’ve been having some fatigue and I need to watch my dehydration at times but I feel strong.  Ollie has been getting out with me on most runs.  He’s still crazy but he’s good with people and other dogs in the woods so I can let him off leash.  His longest run so far is 14 miles.  He’s lost all the baby fat and he’s lean ad hard.  A real athlete.  My plan to run the Wapack and back on September 7th has been finalized.  It’s 43 mile s of technical mountain running.  Eric is coming up from Missouri.  I plan to log the firs 26.2 as my 2020 Boston Marathon.  That will be my 21st Boston.  We’ve had the storms, the heat and the bombs.  Now we get the trails.  I went out with my buddy Paul a couple weekends back and we did 13 miles of the Wapack.  It was a beautiful, bright July day.  We were out for just under 4 hours but I felt fine.  Eric, make sure to bring your camera and we’ll make one of those cool race movies! I’ve been reading a lot and working a lot.  I read my way through a 5 book SciFi series called “The Lost Fleet”.  Who knows when I’ll need to know how to maneuver a space fleet in battle at near relativistic speeds, but when I do, I’ll be ready.  After Wapack, I don’t know what I’ll train for.  Maybe I’ll treat the Groton Marathon as a real race and train for it?  Who knows.  I’m out of qualification and I’m going to be 58 this fall.  That means I still have to qualify at the harder standard if I want to keep running Boston.  Some little voice inside is whispering that it just isn’t that important anymore.  I read Rickey Gate’s book about running across America last night.  It was mostly photos.  I still think I’d like to do that.  It seems so real and so visceral.  I’m talking to him about having a chat.  I’ve been wearing my old two-bottle slant pack on my trail runs.  I don’t need the bottles but I use the pack to carry my old iPhone so I can listen to podcasts without having to carry the phone.  That’s my kit.  A bottle in one hand, the dogs leash wrapped around the other, my JayBird Tarah Bluetooth headphones and the old two-bottle waist pack to carry the phone.  It occurred to me that it gives me two empty bottle slots which I use to pickup litter.  I keep an eye out on my road sections for cans and bottles that have been thrown out the windows of passing cars.  I’ve made a game out of trying to pick up my 2-can quota on my runs.  Most of them I can return for a nickel with my other recyclables. We play these games, don’t we.  We tell these stories.  Each run, each set of runs is its own narrative.  The run is an empty envelope that we fill with our stories.  In this isolated world of apocalypse we create stories to fill the void.  To find meaning. To keep sane.  I read a great article on not having enough time to do everything you want.  I’ll link to it .  The author, Kira Newman, explains how that feeling of never having enough time works. If the work you do gives you a sense of accomplishment you don’t see it as wasted time.  Instead of being the 100 things you have to do before you can do what you want it is the list of things you accomplish.  There’s a subtle difference and it makes a difference on how we perceive time spent. When we see our activities as in conflict with each other we feel more stress about time scarcity.  I can either do this or do that.  They compete for the same time resource.  People who see those competing activities as additive and congruent don’t feel the time stress.  It’s ‘this or that’ in their minds it’s ‘this and that’.  Again, a subtle difference, but a big one in terms of perception. What it really comes down to is a sense of control.  If you feel like you’re in control of your time you won’t feel time stress for the same amount of activity.  That’s why planning helps sometimes.  Until it doesn’t’ help.  Right now I’m having one of those days where my plan had me finished my workout and the podcast and on my way to the Cape an hour ago.  That didn’t happen and now I’m throwing things out of the boat to try to keep up.  It turns out that money doesn’t’ help either.  There is a direct correlation between how much money you have and how much time stress you have.  It’s not the correlation you’d expect.  Rich people see their time as more valuable and they have more time stress.  What can you do?  Why do you care?  You can’t do everything.  Choose a comfortable mix of things you want to do and things you need to do.  Don’t stress about it.  You can workout when you get to the Cape.  You don’t really need to clean the chain on your bike.  Do what you can.  Let the rest go.  It turns out that time stress has nothing to do with how much time you have because we all have the same amount of time.  Time stress is caused by the way you value your time and its use.   Make your decisions and find comfort in that control.  You have the control over your choice and nobody is goin g to care in 14,000 years whether you cleaned the toilets today. And I’ll see you out there. (Outro bumper) To take you out is Track number 14 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "Bobby LeFavre” – which I thought I put into the last show but I thin I missed it – because, hey, yah know, I was behind schedule and in a rush! Enjoy   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-435 – The Athlete’s Gut  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4435.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hey Folks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-435 of the RunRunLive Podcast. So, here we are.  Mid-July in New England.  And all that brings with it.  The deer flies are thick as college students on a Florida beach.  The days are long and weather is a dirty soup-like mixture that drains the sap right out of you when you’re outside.  People are slowing down a bit and easing off to vacation houses for a bit of lock-down in a different place.   Ollie and I have been getting out for 8 or so miles in the woods 3 days a week. Then I’ve been mixing in a long bike ride on Saturday with a longish run on Sunday mornings.  My legs are tired but I have a good cadence going.  Even with only 4 days of running I’ll end up with 40 miles this week.  I’m catching up on the Great Virtual Run across Tennessee.  I should pass the buzzard this week.  This week - and I’m speaking to you from Sunday afternoon now - this week I ran Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday in the woods with Ollie.  Saturday, I talked my running buddies into riding the Great Circum Groton Fondo with me yesterday that ended up being 37 ish easy road bike miles in the sun.  It was a hoot.  We stopped for muffins in Pepperell center about half way in – so that will give you an idea of the intensity with which we were riding! I guess I have to back up a bit.  My friend Gordon, who is my friend Frank’s brother, (I run with Frank every Sunday), Gordon had this idea of setting up a relay race that went all the way around Groton, the town I grew up in and where my running club is based, without actually touching Groton at any point.  I borrowed his course and we rode it on bikes yesterday.  I toyed with making it into a real event for charity and such, but there wasn’t much interest, so we just went out and had a good long ride.  Then this morning I got up early and ran 4.5 miles of trails with Ollie, then went and met the guys at 8:00 for another 10 on the road.  A nice mix.  Done by 10:00.  I’m whipped!  I could nap!  I’m getting a good balanced set of miles in.  I’m avoiding most of the heat.  I’m giving the dog enough exercise to stay sane.  Last weekend Ollie and I went down to our house in Cape Cod for the 4th of July.  I ended up coming back early because it was just too crowded and frantic.  I didn’t even attempt to go do my annual; beach run or my long ride on the rail trail.  Maybe I’m turning into a hermit, but I was a bit disconcerted by all the people and how stressed out they were, so I came back.  Today We are going to talk about all kinds of bodily fluids.  Actually we are going to talk about ‘The Athlete’s Gut’ with Dr. Patrick Wilson.  It’s his new book from Velo Press that answers the questions around why do I get nauseous or gassy or poopy when I’m running and racing?  In section One I’m going to talk about sweat – because I realize that my half hearted treatment of hot weather running was a bit thin.  In Section two I’ll talk about why certainty in an uncertain environment is so powerful. My work is very busy, but I’m having a good summer.  I actually threw my hat in the ring for another role at this company.  I have an interview tomorrow.  I know there are a lot of job seekers out there these days.  So I have a tip for you.  There will come a point in that interview where you will get a hard question that you don’t know the answer to and when you do, you lean back, get a faraway look in your eyes, channel your inner Rutger Hauer and say: “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain..” That won’t get you the job but you’ll be the topic of conversation in HR for weeks! 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 – Sweat - Voices of reason – the conversation Patrick Wilson Patrick Wilson is an associate professor of exercise science and directs the Human Performance Laboratory at Old Dominion University. He earned a PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral training in sports nutrition at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Wilson has authored over 50 scientific articles that span the disciplines of exercise science, sports nutrition, and health. He is the author of the recently released book, The Athlete's Gut: The Inside Science of Digestion, Nutrition, and Stomach Distress. Wilson is also a credentialed registered dietitian through the Commission on Dietetic Registration.  The gut does many wondrous things for us. Without it, we surely couldn’t exist. For many an athlete, however, the gut can also be a source of consternation before, during, and after exercise. Have you ever made a pre-race trip to the Porta Potty due to an uneasy gut? Or ducked into some roadside greenery mid-race because of an angry bowl? Or hurled up your breakfast in the loo before a big game? If yes, you’re just one of the innumerable number of athletes that have been plagued by gut issues. What is so often vexing about these gut problems is that they can have many different causes, and consequently, they often aren’t fixable with a single solution. Thankfully, there is now a resource available for athletes to turn to when they are struggling with gut issues: . It is without a doubt the most comprehensive, accessible book on how exercise and sport competition affect the gut. It helps makes sense of the complicated gastrointestinal tract and offers potential solutions to many of the digestive troubles that plague athletes, from the recreational to the elite.  is a must-read for any athlete who is experiencing gastrointestinal problems that interfere with training or competition, as well as for coaches and practitioners that work with such athletes. Written by , assistant professor of exercise science and registered dietitian,  combines the latest research on exercise and the gut with humorous descriptions and relatable, real-life anecdotes. After reading this book, athletes will better understand the inner workings of their own gut and will be equipped to implement strategies to perform—and feel—better.       Patrick B. Wilson, PhD, RD Associate Professor Human Movement Sciences Old Dominion University 2003A Student Recreation Center Norfolk, VA 23529   Section two – Certainty in uncertain times  –   Outro Ok my friends we have run, clutching our side in gastrointestinal stress to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-435. I registered for the virtual Boston Marathon, it was $50.  And, Apparently I was one of the first 15,000 so I get some special, super-secret care package from the BAA.  I have a plan.  I am going to run my Boston as part of a 43 mile out and back on the Wapack Trail on September 7th.  I would love company if any of you can come up.  We are going to start at Watatic and run to the end of the Wapack Trail on the back side of Pack Monnadnock, turn around and run back.  This is the double of the race I ran in the spring a couple years ago.  This will take us 10-12 hours.  My friend Eric is coming up to join, because he can’t resist stupid shit like this.  I will be able to wrangle some basic on course hydration support, but nothing fancy.  Since it’s an out and back people can turn around any point they want. The Wapack is typical New England mountain trail.  Mostly single-path and highly technical.  Lot’s of elevation gain and loss, basically running the spine of a mountain range.  In September the forest will be thick and shady, except where you break out on to the tops of the mountains.  The weather is a crap shoot.  You can get very hot days, well hot for us, mid-80’s.   You can get the tail end of a hurricane with cold rain.  That’s part of the fun.  For the most part it’s very sheltered from the weather under the canopy.  So – that’s what I’ll be training for.  That’s my summer project.  … I’ve been listening to a history of ancient Egypt.  And since we have been talking about digestion and hydration I have a story for you.  I would imagine you are familiar with the electrolyte mix called Nuun?  I can’t prove it but I’d like to think they based that name on the Egyptian creation myth.  In the beginning, all that existed was the sacred water.  The lifeless sacred waters from which all things would be made were called Nun.  They were the waters of chaos and the waters of everything.   The first god Atum created himself from the Nun.  He got bored with being the only god so he decided to create some more gods and other stuff, like all the rest of the stuff we have in this world.  Now he didn’t have a partner to do anything procreative with so he, umm, ‘handled that situation himself’ and fertilized the Nun from which everything else came into being.  So…Think about that the next time you take a big swig of that warm, sweet, cloudy Nuun at mile 40 of your ultra.  And I’ll see you out there. (Outro bumper) To take you out is Track number 14 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "Bobby LeFavre” Enjoy   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-434 – Your Training Plans with the Coach  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4434.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hey Folks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-434 of the RunRunLive Podcast. Today we have a long and thoughtful conversation with my coach about his new book that encapsulates his training methods. In the couple weeks since we last talked I’ve been ramping up my training a bit.  It’s gotten hot a few days now that we’re into summer up here.  But it’s still cool in the mornings. The deer flies are out in force as well.  It’s not terrible. With the heat and the bugs there are far fewer people in the woods to contend with.  We are going to talk about running in the heat in section one.  I’ve resurrected my old slant pack that can carry two bottles and I’m wearing that.  But more importantly it gives me a place to put the old iPhone 6 I’m using as an iPod.  That means I can stow a bottle, and the phone to leave my hands free to carry the leash.  And sometimes that leash has a crazy border collie on the end of it, so having both hands free is an advantage.  The heat slows him down a bit too. As for the flies I wear a bug hat – which is a contraption whereby you attach a bandana to the back of one of your running hats, Lawrence of Arabia style, to thwart the aggressive swarms that try to bite you in the head and face. Then I spray that with good old bug spray.  It works for the most part but you do get the occasional suicide attack in the eye or mouth.  I did manage to eat and swallow one today when I was out with my buddies.  If you want to see how to make a fly hat I think I posted a youtube video a couple years back on my channel cyktrussell.  Just search for ‘fly’.  You may get a video of me dancing to the Offspring’s ‘Pretty Fly for a White Guy’ – but probably not. Thank God there wasn’t ubiquitous personal video when I was growing up. In section two I’m going talk about bringing the energy.  This goes back to the message of controlling what you can control.   I’ve been getting my runs in like I said.  I lost a week to the sore back and that put me behind in my Virtual Race Across Tennessee.  I logged close to 40 miles this week so I’m clawing it back and should catch the buzzard if I can avoid any more injuries.  I’ve also been working in a bike ride a week in preparation for a group ride I’m hoping to host in July.  More on the in the outro. I did get my stand up desk.  I put it together this weekend.  It’s called an AirLift and I got it from Costco for $230.  So far so good.  I have a shoe site for you to check out.  I have held off buying a new pair of Hoka Trail shoes because they are so damn expensive.  Searching around a little for a shoe with a similar cushioning profile I found the Fresh Foam shoes from New Balance that seem to be pretty good.  It takes a couple runs for the foam to form to your feet, but then the ride is pretty good. I don’t need much shoe, but I still need the cushioning and the heel drop or I get PF and Achilles problems when I start loading on the miles.  Links in the show notes.  Take a look at Joesnewbalanceoutlet.com – all one word.  You can get some decent neutral cushion Fresh Foam shoes for $30-$40.  At that price, even if you can’t run in them you can use them for sneakers. I was coming back from a trail run with Ollie yesterday.  I was walking up my front walk.  I have a guy working on the house and he was sitting on a ladder there.  Of course I catch a toe and faceplant right in front of this kid.  I was checking texts or something. He says “Are you alright?”  I smile, brush off the dirt and say, “Yeah, I’m ok, I’m indestructible. 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 – Heat Advisory - Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline Team Prs Fit is a community of athletes from all over the world. We are a team. Alone or together, we strive and we conquer. Prs Fit lets you experience what we call community and social fitness – connecting and motivating each other through our one of a kind global community experience. No matter the weather, the circumstance, day after day, we provide a high quality training experience that produces results. Section two – Bring the energy  –   Outro Ok my friends we have run in a periodic progression of fitness through the training pyramid to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-434 Going forward I’ve adjusted some things.  I let Rachel know I’m going to stop tracking my nutrition.  I got down close to 170 and with the additional miles now I’m tracking very well to stay lean.  I don’t think of this as a particularly big adjustment because it’s my new normal for the past 5 or so years, but I was 10-15 pounds heavier before.  I’ve still got a little gut, but I feel pretty good at this size.  I just don’t’ want to track my weight every day during the summer. It’s summer! I want to be able to eat some of those summer things, in moderation, that I love.  I’ve also resurrect Fuji-san my 20+ year old steel racing bike and I’ve been getting some rides in. I’m trying to organize a group ride for charity in July. I’ve got a course that goes around the periphery of Groton that is about 40 miles which is about the right distance. Long enough to be a challenge but short enough not to be exclusive.  I’m still working out the details. I’m also setting my sites on running the Wapack Trail end-to-end and back around Labor Day.  I was waiting to see when the Boston virtual race would be held and maybe feed two birds with one scone.  But that would be in the mid-forties of miles.  It’s all technical, mountain running.  The 18 mile version takes me about 4 hours so this version will probably take 10 hours. If either of these things sounds like a fun adventure, give me a shout, I’d love the company. All the fall races are canceling now as well.  The only one I see that is still on is Marine Corp. Which, if we’re honest, is the worst marathon you should be holding in a pandemic.  It’s super crowded.  It’s all slow runners and new marathoners.  Everyone crams onto mass transit to get to and from it.  They canceled the Bad Water 135 which is a couple hundred ultra-fiends in Death Valley and they hold Marine Corp with 50,000 amateurs in the middle of a city? Anyhow, I’m good.  Still training.  Still working out of the house.  Albeit standing up more now.  I watched my way through Season one of American Gods.  I loved the book.  I finally broke down and bought the show.  It’s really good. I like Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday.  Which anyone with a working knowledge of the history of the English language can tell you which god he is.  My garden is coming along nicely.  This last few weeks of hot weather has kicked it into high gear.  Garden is the same word in French and English.  It comes from the Indo European root for the enclosure. It has the same root as guard and guardian. The same root gives us ‘yard’ in America. To take you out I want you to remember that as endurance athletes we are well equipped for the apocalypse.  Everyone knows good cardio is important during a zombie attack. Not only that, we trail runners are used to pooping in the woods – another valuable skill in the apocalypse.  So, just remember, if society fails into chaos you can always run away and poop in the woods. And I’ll see you out there. (Outro bumper) To take you out is Track number 13 from Brian Sheff The Rock Opera by - Called "Here, There and Everywhere." Enjoy   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->  

We're back for Season Two of Unexpected English with a burger that you never expected! Transcript below! [Spoken Intro] OK so here I am at a local eating establishment called “Thai burger company.” So I thought I would find out a little bit about Thai burgers. Because we all know about hamburgers, we all know about cheeseburgers, but maybe you've never heard of a Thai burger before! So let's find out. What can you tell us about a Thai burger? (Thai accented English) OK so Thai burger is very unique and we create for a friendly, for American people easy for eating (sic) so we use a rice as a bun. No bread bun, rice bun! Rice as the bun, OK. And how about the burger — what is the burger? So for the burger, we create a. like a Thai famous dishes from Thailand. Like a barbecue pork, Panang curry pork, spicy Kaprao, basically spicy Kaprao pork, turned to a patty and put between rice bun. And how can you hold it if it's in rice? Because we do a special rice, like a sticky rice, not fall apart (sic) like a Jasmine rice. We use sticky rice. OK sticky rice. And are they popular? Do people like these Thai burgers? Yeah people love them! We love these Thai burgers! Oh, I've got a customer coming in right now! So, can I ask you a question? Have you ever had one of these Thai burgers? I've been coming here since they opened! And what is you like about these burgers? The flavor! It's different, nobody has burger like it! Nobody... would you really call it a burger or... Yes, I'd call it a burger, it's a patty. OK there we go! And you've been coming for... Since they opened. I was here last night! Oh, so you're like an addict, you're addicted! it's not just like you like this... You can't get anything like this anywhere San Diego. So it's unique that's for sure. All right! Well, thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy your burger. Thanks for the interview, and we’ll catch you next time! [Outro] OK that's it! You're invited to the Unexpected English Facebook group, or follow on Instagram! I want to know my listeners, so please follow and I'll follow back. And don't forget to tell your friend about the podcast!

AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 6 WEEKLY WEATHER NUTLOOK INTRO Hello, hello everybody, this is Dave Hayes The Weather Nut with your weekly weather nutlook for Western Mass and our surrounding counties for August 31 through September 6th. This week’s Weather Nut Notable, our Impact of Import, if you will, is yet another return of above-average warmth and humidity from Monday through next Thursday. So while in the short-term our Friday and Saturday look drier and cooler, it will be short-lived, and to that I say, BOO HOO!! So then, let’s jump into the daily details and paint a picture of how it looks like things will shake out with our weather this coming week. I’m going to break this podcast down into three sections: We’ll start with a summary of air temps, skies, and dewpoint temps. Then we’ll move into a discussion of the atmospheric players involved in producing our weather, and lastly, we’ll end with my Weekend Sneak Peek for the following weekend. Sound good? Let the summary begin! ------------------- SUMMARY For the sake of brevity, I will provide you with expected high and low temps, skies, and dewpoint temperatures. Now because I cover a region about 50 miles in every direction with Northampton, MA as the center of that circle, I’ll break this down into two general regions: For the region comprising southern Vermont, southwest New Hampshire, the Taconics of eastern New York, the Berkshires and the western hilltowns of western Mass we can generally expect the following temps, skies and conditions: Friday skies should be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 60s, with lows in the upper 50s. A spot shower is possible at night. Saturday skies should be mostly cloudy with highs in the mid 70s, with lows in the low 60s. A spot shower is possible  Sunday skies should be partly sunny with highs in the upper 70s, with lows in the mid to upper 60s. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible. Monday skies should be partly sunny with highs in the mid 80s, with lows in the upper 60s Tuesday skies should be partly sunny with highs in the mid 80s, with lows in the mid 60s. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible. Wednesday skies should be mostly sunny with highs in the mid 80s, with lows in the mid 60s. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible. Thursday skies should be mostly sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s, with lows in the mid to upper 60s. An isolated shower or thunderstorm is possible. -------------------------     For the region comprising northern Connecticut, the rest of western Mass and central Mass, we can generally expect the following temps, skies and conditions: Friday skies should be mostly cloudy with highs in the low 70s, with lows in the low 60s  Saturday should begin with some patchy early morning fog, transitioning to partly sunny skies with highs in the mid to upper 70s, with lows in the low 60s  Sunday should begin with some patchy early morning fog, transitioning to mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid 80s and the chance of scattered showers, especially during the first half of the day. Expect increasingly humid conditions with lows in the upper 60s Monday skies should be mostly sunny with highs either side of 90 degrees, with lows either side of 70 degrees, with humid conditions. Tuesday skies should be mostly sunny with highs either side of 90 degrees, with lows either side of 70 degrees, with humid conditions. Scattered showers are possibly anywhere from Tuesday night into Wednesday Wednesday skies should be partly sunny with highs either side of 90 degrees, with lows either side of 70 degrees, with humid conditions and showers or thunderstorms possible. Thursday skies should be mostly sunny with highs either side of 90 degrees, with lows either side of 70 degrees, with humid conditions. DEWPOINTS Dewpoint temps for the region over this coming week will be in the 50s to low 60s Friday into Sunday morning. Thereafter, we’ll see an increase into the upper 60s to low 70s from later on Sunday through next Thursday, before hopefully dropping by next weekend. Ok, so with the summary out of the way, let’s learn about the whys for this week’s weather. DISCUSSION Ok, so thankfully we’ve got a two-day reprieve which will give us a break from the high humidity we’ve been enduring from our latest heat wave. Our short-term drier air mass is due to a cold front that was driven to our south on Thursday due to a strengthening area of high pressure over southern Quebec. This area of high pressure will track east into the Canadian Maritimes into very early next week. Now, because high pressure systems have clockwise flow around them, this will generally give us more of a northerly and easterly flow, especially when combined with weak low pressure that will form along the stalling front near the Mid-Atlantic region. This flow off the ocean to our east will keep us cooler on Friday and Saturday while high pressure to the north will help push drier to the south into our region. WOO HOO!! All in all, Labor Day Weekend looks fairly dry. While we can’t rule out a spot shower each day, or perhaps even a garden variety thunderstorm, any activity should be isolated, with lots of dry periods in between, which will support many outdoor holiday plans. Unfortunately, though, our dry spell will be short-lived. As the high to our north pushes east into the Canadian Maritimes, it will lose its influence on our weather. At the same time, the jet stream will lift north into Canada as the Bermuda high in the western Atlantic looks to flex its strength and redevelop off the United States’ eastern seaboard by early next week. This will allow temps to warm into the 80s by Sunday, with increased humidity, and continue to pump in additional heat and humidity from Labor Day right through Thursday. This will be the dominating feature of our weather as we enter the month of September. As we get to about next Monday or Tuesday, a strengthening area of low pressure will be tracking west to east across southern Canada. This will likely drag a cold front towards our region by the middle of next week. As this frontal boundary pushes in and up against the very warm and humid air thanks to our high to the south, we should see a period of showers and thunderstorms develop by early Wednesday. So while scattered showers can’t be ruled out during any day, that’s our best chance for wet weather next week. WEEKEND SNEAK PEAK For my Weekend Sneak Peak, I’m seeing indications of a strong high pressure system tracking west to east through southern Canada in a zonal flow by late next week into the weekend. As this happens, our eastern seaboard ridge should retrogress, which means it should track westward into the eastern Mississippi Valley. This more central U.S. ridge, along with the high to our north, should help bend the flow to a more northwesterly direction over New England. The result of all this should lead to a cool down by next weekend with highs in the 70s, scattered showers possible on Saturday, and hopefully drier air by the end of the weekend. OUTRO Ok, so to remind you, as we all know, changes in the weather are not uncommon from day to day, and especially can be expected more than 72 hours out, so please check back with my Facebook page at Facebook.com/westernmassweather for the daily details and updates and you can visit my website at westernmassweather.com. Well then, my friends, that is how things look for our region. Thank you so much for listening this week, I hope you enjoyed it and I’d be so grateful if you’d rate this podcast on iTunes by going to westernmassweather.com/podcast clicking on the the review link there. Please do meet me here again next week for the next episode of my Weekly Weather Nutlook. This is Dave Hayes The Weather Nut signing off and reminding you: Please be kind to yourself, and to each other. Have a great week!  

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-392 – Rhonda Marie Runs Tennessee (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4392.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-392.  This is Chris your host.  Well, it’s been a couple weeks since we talked and a couple weeks since I finished the Burning River 100.  I’m back to full strength as near as I can tell.  I seem to have recovered very well and very quickly, probably because I hiked so much of the last half.  Today we speak with Rhonda-Marie who a blind ultra-runner who did something amazing this summer.  She ran the Last Vol State Run across Tennessee which is a 500KM or 314 mile race.  But she did it unguided.  You are going to love this interview.  My audio editor Dimitri even commented on how this one was super interesting. In section one I’ll do some Q&Q on the Burning River race, a bit of a wrap up, if you will.  In section two I’m going to talk about kindness.  Because we all need more kindness in our lives.  My recovery is going very well.  I’ve started training again and have some races lined up that we’ll chat about later.  The first week after the race I did mostly stretching and a couple bike rides.  The second week I started running again.  Two weeks from stumbling across the finish line in Ohio I went up with some friends and ran the Wapack trail course one-way with them.  We had a blast and I felt great.  Very strong.  What you look for when doing recovery runs after an ultra is unique.  When you go out it’s not that your legs feel tired. Just the opposite.  When you first start the runs your legs feel great.  Unique to post-ultra recovery runs is that somewhere in that run your legs can go like throwing a switch.  It is all the more telling because you feel great up to that point, then your legs just disappear.   That hasn’t happened since I started back in.  So I think I’m good.  If you listen to any interview or story of ultra runners, when they are asked what they learned, invariably the answer is that we are stronger than we think.  Our bodies are designed for this stuff.  All we have to do is train for it and ask our bodies.  Then we have to decide to do it.  Whether it’s getting up off the couch for your first run, or stepping off the cliff edge into the yawning dark unknow of 100 miles, or 300 miles, you can do it if you decide to.  That’s it.  That’s what separates the finishers from those that don’t start, the belief that you can do it.  You can do it.  Just decide to do it and it is as good as done.  That’s the hard part.  The decision.  What hard thing are you going to decide to do today? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Fever Dreams -   Voices of reason – the conversation Rhonda-Marie Parke, Blind Runner · Other-abled athlete Rhonda-Marie Parke has 8% vision. Traditionally Rhonda-Marie runs accompanied by guides; runners who call out obstacles along the way. With these guides she's run races from Marathon distances to 100 mile distances. She has also completed several end-to-end runs of various Ontario trails including The Bruce Trail (885 km), The Avon Trail (110 km) and The Thames Valley Trail (112 km). Rhonda-Marie has also ventured to the infamous Barkley Marathons. Rhonda-Marie continues to work in her community to encourage and create space for inclusive sport. Accessing the Inaccessible In July of 2018, Rhonda-Marie Parke will attempt to run The Last Annual Vol State race without the aid of guide runners. Why Will Rhonda-Marie Proceed Unguided? "My whole life, I have had to follow - even if the direction has been my choosing." - Rhonda-Marie Parke Disability is diverse, dynamic, and ever changing. There is no such thing as universally accessible, especially in a 314 mile road race where cars are moving pieces, where animals are out and roaming, where fatigue, injury are all very very real; but then again, so is crossing the road to get to the library. Rhonda-Marie continues to show other-abled athletes that they can get involved in the sports of their choice. Rhonda-Marie also continues to encourage running events to think about how to make their events accessible to athletes of ALL abilities. Inclusion in sport is not a given, it’s a process of adaptation and evolution of parameters. Ongoing conversation and community building is required. What Is The Last Obstacle? In addition Rhonda-Marie looks to bring light to a bigger issue facing those with disability - stigma. She continues to face intolerance when it comes to her participation in sport as some believe that there is no place for a blind athlete in such a dangerous event. Rhonda-Marie is confident in her athletic abilities and that through training and careful planning, there is no reason why she won't have the same chance at success as any other runner. Help us show that if they have the desire and the drive, other-abled athletes have every right to participate in sport. Please help us send Rhonda-Marie to The Last Annual Vol State. With your help, she will strive to overcome the Last Obstacle.   Section two – Into the Unknown - http://runrunlive.com/burning-river-100-into-the-unknown Outro OK my friends, you have stumbled along a highway shoulder to the end of episode 4-391.  Be careful out there. Rhonda Marie is amazing, right?  I felt seriously out of my depth with her.  I think I’m going to try to see if I can’t guide a runner for Boston next year.  I am training again.  I signed up for a few races.  I’m going to run the Wapack Trail race on Labor Day weekend.  It’s my club’s race.  I’ll go up early, help set up, park cars and then run the race.  I’m looking forward to it.  I should have good juice in my legs from all the miles I did this summer. Then I agreed to run a Ragnar the weekend of September 21st with my coach up in New York.  Treat myself to a little adventure! And finally, I signed up for the BayState Marathon again.  It’s my go-to marathon for requalifying.  I’ll take a shot at getting my number for 2020.  My buddy Brian is running it too.  We’ll see if I can get enough speed back by the end of October. After the successful outing on the Wapack Trail I told coach I was ready to get back to work.  He gave me a couple workouts for this week, as if to test me.  I did a 1:40 step up run Tuesday.  I went into the run feeling dead and didn’t have much hope for being able to step up to zone 3 effort for 30 minutes then up to zone 4-5 for an additional 30.  That’s a hard workout.  I felt heavy but figured I’d just do what I could and see how long I could keep my legs turning.  As I stepped up the effort my legs were surprisingly strong.  I was able to hold a decent effort level for the last hour of the step up.  Looking at the results, I wasn’t moving super fast but I’m happy with the effort 2 weeks out from the hundred.  Then Friday night I went down to my local track and knocked out some speed work.  I did a ladder of 2X600, 2X800 and 2X1000 and was able to hang in there.  The mechanics felt quite foreign.  I was leaning back too much and was swinging my arms around.  My butt muscles were sore afterwards.  It’s going to take awhile to get some speed back, but I think I’ll be fine.  … … I had a one day trip to Orlando this week.  It’s a bout a 3-hour flight.  I got up early and flew down, we had meetings and lunch and flew back.  That put me out of the airport in Boston around 7:30 and getting after 8:00.  I was wiped so I figured I’d order a pizza to pick up as I whizzed by on my way out to the suburbs.  So, I called up Siri and asked her to call the pizza place for me.  I was in my truck on the highway and didn’t want to be too distracted by the phone.  I got the guy on the phone and had the following conversation… Me: “I’d like to order a Mushroom Pepperoni Pizza.” Him: “Sure, name?” Me: “Last or First?” Him: “OK 15 minutes.” And he hung up. When I got to the pizza place I thought I’d ordered from I found out that Siri and I had different ideas on that.  She gave me the number of another pizza place.  It was late.  I was almost home.  I thought about just bailing out on the whole thing, but I knew, across town. 4 .4 miles away, a pizza place had made a pizza for me.  So I bit the bullet and drove over there.  Good karma.  When I got to the other pizza place, I went in, apologized for being late and asked if there wasn’t a mushroom Pepperoni pizza here waiting for me.  He said, “What’s the name?” I said, “I don’t know.  You asked me for my name, I said ‘last or first’, you said ’15 minutes’ and hung up.” He didn’t have a Mushroom Pepperoni.  But, he did have a Sausage Pepperoni, for ‘Lester’.  We agreed that was probably it.  He felt bad about making the wrong pizza and gave me a discount.  I didn’t tell him I never meant to order a pizza from him to begin with and was just barely able to drag p the will power to not stiff him.  And the karma balances out.  Even when ordering a pizza.  I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-391 – The Burning River 100 Adventure (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4391.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-391.  This is going to be a long one.  If this is your first time downloading please accept our humble apologies.  This is Chris your friend and host and newly minted 100-mile ultra-runner.  There’s a lot of context for all this, trust me, but you’re going to have to bear with me as I, (somewhat fittingly I might add), drop you into the culmination of this adventure.  This will be a 3 act play.  We will start with some exposition in the form of my last two weeks of taper and a brief recorded chat with my coach going into the race.  Act one will commence and the play itself will roll out across an ultra-long race report.  You might want to take this one in chunks or save it for your own multi-hour long run.  On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Fever Dreams -   Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline “Coach” as he is referred to by athletes has been training runners and triathletes globally for 20 years. The Coach is the founder and designer of Daily Fit Book. Although he is fully committed to the development and growth of DFB he will take on athletes of all levels that show a commitment and a strong desire to achieve new dreams and goals. @dailyfitbook (twitter) fitbook2 (instagram)   Section two – Into the Unknown - http://runrunlive.com/burning-river-100-into-the-unknown Outro OK my friends, you have hiked for 16 hours through to the end of episode 4-391.  Nice work.  Have a nap.    That closes another chapter for us here at RunRunLive.  This summer is the 11th anniversary of starting the podcast.  It’s good to see so many people still listening and following.  What’s next?  I’ll more than likely run the Wapack 18 miler over Labor Day weekend.  I highly recommend this race, especially if you are training for a fall race.  It will make you strong! … When you take on these adventures, when you meet people, when you read books or any other interaction outside yourself there is a necessary exchange.  Every time you go outside yourself and rub up against something external you are changed.  This is one of the beautiful things about life.  You are always changing and growing.  You could think of these exchanges as an infection of sort.  Your body, mind and spirit absorb these influences and react to them.  The result is something new.  Something different.  If we are strong.  If we are open.  If we are positive.  These infections become enhancements.  They are additive.  They make us better.  We keep what fits.  We become stronger in the process.  Don’t be afraid to open up and embrace the external.  Swim upstream.  and I’ll see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-390 – Pam Rickard - Ultras, addictions and recovery (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4390.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-390.  This is Chris your friend and host.  Today we continue with our ultra-training themes.  I’ve got a long write up of my last hard week of training before my race.  I’ve also got an interview with Pam who is an ultra-runner and the director of the Herren project.  She’s a talker!  But I think you’ll get some good thoughts out of it. Again, this week since the interview is long and the write up is long I’ll just air the two segments.  I’m in my taper for my 100-miler at the end of the month.  Today it actually that rarest of animals, a rest day.  Last weekend I knocked out an all-night-long 50 miler and a follow up 20 milers that you will hear all about today.  Now I’m in my taper and trying top do some race prep. … Episode 390… 390 is another good year to talk about on the Julian and Gregorian calendars.  There was the Thessalonica Massacre where the Roman governor killed a bunch of people who were rioting over a sporting event.  See?  This stuff never changes.  Some popular chariot driver got killed and it kicked off a little revolt.  But, more importantly a Goth named Alaric was starting to make trouble up in Thrace.  A Roman general named Stilicho, who was half Vandal spent the next 20 years pushing these Goths around.  You may recognize Alaric.  He ended up sacking Rome with an army of Visigoths in 410, which many historians consider the end for the Roman Empire.  And you know why the Goths were migrating West from the Steppes?  Because they were being pushed on by the Huns.  It’s all interrelated.  But, let’s set all this talk of barbarian hordes aside and talk about some ultra-running stuff. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Ultra Training Update the last big week - http://runrunlive.com/100-miler-training-the-last-big-week Voices of reason – the conversation Pam Rickard Over the 30+ years of her running career, Pam Rickard has completed countless races, including more than 75 marathons and ultra-marathons. During the past 10 years, her races have included a 7-day adventure across China’s Gobi Desert and a 100k trek through the Alps from Italy to France. In 2008, her journey from addiction to recovery and redemption was featured in the book “A Race Like No Other,” New York Times writer Liz Robbins’ chronicle of the 2007 New York City Marathon. She was also a member of the 2016 6-person Icebreaker Run team, running across the US to bring awareness to mental health issues. Pam lives in Rocky Mount, VA and serves as the Director of THP RUNS, an initiative of former NBA basketball player Chris Herren’s foundation, (THP). THP RUNS engages people to run, walk, and participate in healthy activities, helping each other, and others, live stronger, healthier lives.  The initiative raises awareness and funding for THP’s mission, which includes providing addiction recovery resources, education and prevention initiatives across the country. Links: For help: To join our movement/run with us: Outro OK my friends, you have trotted through the woods listening to one note of binaural audio to the end of episode 4-390 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Good job.  You are fit and ready to race.  My training is going great.  I’m ready for my race.  Anything can happen of course but I’ve done the bits that I can control.  Looking at the calendar I can see that the next episode is scheduled to fall on the weekend of the race.  That’s probably not going to happen.  I’ll figure something out. As is my habit I tend to focus on running the race, not on social media or taking pictures.  Don’t expect me to do a running commentary.  I don’t see any facility for athlete updates either.  I would suggest following Mike Croy and Kevin Green on the social media feeds because they will be with me and lucid.  I could give my phone to my wife but she is fairly useless with social media.  If anyone wants to say ‘hi’ at the race I’ll be driving out from Massachusetts the morning of the 27th so I can make check in Friday night.  If you DM me or shoot me an email at cyktrussell at Gmail I’ll give you my contact info.  … I found a couple odd things on Netflix this past week.  One is a documentary by Werner Hertzog called .  Werner Hertzog is a German director.  Every time you see a movie that caricatures German directors they are talking about Werner.  They let him bring cameras inside the Chauvet Cave.  This is a cave that contains the oldest human paintings on earth (as far as we know).  The paintings are pristine because a landslide sealed them off in antiquity.  These are beautiful works of art from our ancestors of 30,000 years ago.  There’s also a pretty good documentary on Bob Weir called   There’s a new podcast I’m listening to which is called about the history of the Northwest.  All the links are in the show notes. That’s it for me this week.  I appreciate all your support and encouragement.  There is a membership option on my website if you feel motivated to help me pay my bills.  I wanted to take a moment to thank my coach for getting me to this point.  I, frankly, wasn’t sure I had this kind of training in me, but, here we are.  Once more into the breach. Also wanted to thank a couple other folks for reaching out with their notes on the Burning River.  Local Sheila and runner Rick.  And my team mate Dane for the encouragement.   It’s been an epic training cycle. and I’ll see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-389 – DirtDawg and JustFinish Crewing a 100 miler (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4389.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-389.  This is your friend Chris.  I feel like I need to introduce myself and what we do here in case there might be a new listener or two.  That’s a challenge, for a couple reasons.  First, because we’ve been at this for over a decade.  Over the arc of that decade you an I have been through many seasons of both our lives and our endurance adventures.  I certainly will share with you what adventures I’m pursuing in this season of the brief ride we call life, but it is going to be different from what we were talking about 3 years ago and will be different again, god willing, in 3 years.  Spoiler alert, my current season is one of training for a 100 mile race and today’s episode will topically reflect that.  Today we talk to two guys I met and got to know through the seasons. Mike and Kevin, whose respective ‘noms de enduro-guerre’ are DirtDawg and JustFinish.  (How weirdly cool is it that we get to give ourselves handles?)  I’m talking to them because they have agreed to pace and crew me for my race in 4 weeks.  I’m also going to give you a longish review of my last training week which culminated in 93+ miles and a 50 mile long run.  Since the interview is long and my training update is long, you’re just getting the one article this week.    And – remember up in paragraph one where I said there were two reasons it’ shard to describe who we are here at RunRunLive and what we do?  First, was it depends on what season we’re in.  Second, is because you’re going to get what floats through my brain any particular week. We have different themes but it always circles around the power of endurance sports to teach us, to change us and to give us perspective.  That perspective is transformative in itself, and humbling.  You and I, DirtDawg and JustFinish, we are all crushed by the gravity of change together in a community of endurance. So here we are episode 389.  389 is another good year for classical reference.  In 389 BC The  general, , led a force of  to levy tribute from cities around the  and support , where a democratic government was struggling against Sparta. What’s interesting about this is that on this campaign, Thrasybulus captured , so that he could impose a duty on ships passing through the .  The Hellespont is the narrow opening that connects the Agean Sea to the Black Sea.  Many scientist believe this opening was caused by the ocean catastrophically blasting through this sliver of land as the sea rose after the last ice age and is the historical and cultural source of the great flood myths, like Noah.  Anyhow, Byzantium was a town founded by the Greeks 300 years earlier.  It passed back and forth with the Persians and Greeks and Romans.  In 330 AD Constantine moved the seat of the Roman Empire there and founded what would become Constantinople.  Constantinople held out until 1543, when the Ottoman Turks finally took it over and now it is Istanbul, the heart of Turkey.  See, 389, another suitable number.  … My training is going well.  I’ve got one more big week of miles then I’ll taper into the race at the end of the month.  Nothing is broken, so we’ll see.  It’s all good. Over the last few weeks you probably saw a plague of emails from social media sites and others, many of whom you probably don’t remember signing up for.  This is because of the recently enacted GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation enacted by the European Union.  It’s basically the rules around what you can and can’t do with people’s data and what you have to tell them when you’re doing it. So, in the spirit of the GDPR I’m going to let you know what I’ve been doing with your data. When we first met, your data and I, your data was very shy and didn’t interact much.  But, over time, as we got to know each other, and spend time together, your data and I have formed a bond of mutual respect and affection. There have been many warm summer evenings where your data and I have taken long walks on the beach and shared stories around an open campfire in the twinkling starshine.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a perfect gentleman with your data!  (well there was that one night where we had too much sangria at the Cinco de Mayo party, but, let me not tell tales about the chance encounters of consenting architectures) Mostly we just cuddle. So, yeah, your data is safe with me. On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Ultra Training Update - http://runrunlive.com/ultra-training-and-the-penultimate-big-week Voices of reason – the conversation Mike Croy (DirtDawg) and Kevin Green (JustFinish) Kevin is currently training for the Marquette 50. He finished Burning River in 2010 and the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning in 2011. Kevin is a project manager in the automation industry, is married to Stacy and has two very active daughters, Nora and Leah. He plans to relaunch this fall. … Mike “Dirt Dawg” Croy is a father, husband, runner, yoga teacher working with veterans, homeless shelters and educators, and serves as a high school principal working with at risk high school students. Mike has run up to a 100 miler and pac ed at a few more. He had also run over 20 marathons and organized several fat ass ultras over the years. Mike lives in Metro Detroit with his wife, 2 kids, and border collie Dash. Outro OK my friends, you have staggered through the dark to the end of episode 4-389 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Good for you, because theirs not much cover and it was pretty hot.  Like I said, my training going well and I’ve got nothing to complain about.  My garden in coming in.  Looks like I’m going to get beans, tomatoes and maybe some squash.  I harvested enough lettuce and kale for 3 lunches this week.  And my berries are coming in.  I was just out there and picked a few.  The birds were screaming at me like I was picking their berries! I’m not sure the half pint of berries is an even trade for the half pint of blood I gave top the mosquitoes to get them.  … I notice my thighs are getting bigger.  That’s an ultra thing.  I remember it from 10 years ago.  I will probably try to see if I can use this fitness in the fall for a marathon.  I remember I hade 2 or 3 really good years after the last ultra cycle I trained through, so maybe there’s a correlation.  Maybe that’s the secret.  Go deep every few years and then coast for a few! Certainly, setting bigger goals drives bigger changes.  In life as in the training effect.  Set a big goal and do the work to get there.  It’s not rocket science.  Try it.  You’ll see.  Do something that scares you.  I was a little down after Boston.  I came into this a bit mentally jaded.  I look at all the stuff I’ve done over the last 20 years both personally and endurance sports wise and I get a bit blue.  I think ‘Geez, I’ve done all this stuff, what the heck am I going to do now? And, do I have enough left in me to do anything significant anymore?’  I almost feel like I’m looking at my life in the rearview mirror. But, again, I’m learning that the basic truths are still true.  Set that big goal and you will figure out how to get there.  Doesn’t matter if your 16 or 60.  It’s what you do today.  I get asked in my role by board of directors “What are the results going to be this quarter?”  And the way I answer that is, that I can’t tell you exactly what is going to happen in the short term, but I can tell you that we are absolutely doing the things we need to do today to be where we need to be when that time comes.  Because that is what I can control.  Are you setting goals that scare you?  Are you doing what you need to do today, right now, to be where you want to be 6 months from now?  If not, set the timer for 20 minutes and don’t’ stop working until it goes off.  Then do it again. You do that and I’ll see you out there! MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-388 – Mike Schools us on Form (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4388.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-388.  This is Chris, your host for today.  Yak farmer.  Zombie hunter.  And amateur consumer of history.  388 is an odd number.  In the year 388 by the Gregorian Calendar and the Julian Calendar Theodosius I consolidated power in the Western Roman Empire by beating up Magnus Maximus. Magnus Maximus is a kick-ass name.  Magnus Maximus was from Britania and usurped power in one of the messy transitions that went on as the Empire was starting to fall apart.  It had a larger impact a century or so later because when he left Britain to go fight Theodosius, Magnus Maximus took all the available soldiers with him, which left Britain pretty much unprotected.  You see, when the Romans assimilated a region, like Britain, they said, “Hey you don’t need forts or weapons because we’re here to protect you now.”  Standard operating procedure to keep the rebellions down.  When the Romans pulled out those pesky Scots and Irish started raiding and the Romanized Brits had nothing to protect themselves with.  Someone came up with the bright Idea of hiring in some Anglo-Saxons from the continent as mercenaries – and we know how that ended up working out.  That’s why when you refer to England you’re calling them Anglo-Saxons now.  Anyhow – 388.  Today we talk with Mike who runs (see what I did there) Mike’s Running School.  We talk about mechanics and form and how to teach running.  I’m also going to talk about my Ultra-training.  I’m learning a lot!  It’s interesting.  And I’ll do a bunch of product reviews around all the new stuff I’ve gotten in the last couple months. … It’s the summer solstice and the days are long up here.  Not too hot yet but long.  I got my garden in.  I’m been having a pitched battle of my own with the various critters and varmints.  It will all be worth it if I can have that one perfect, warm tomato on a bed of fresh basil.  It’s also baseball season.  I’ve got a baseball problem that I need help with.  My wife was cleaning this week and tried to throw out that old baseball bat I have.  Now, I found this bat when I was cleaning out an old house that my dad bought 30-40 year’s ago.  It was just kicking around all these years and somehow I still have it.  So I looked it up on the internet.  Turns out it is a Spaulding Boys Wagon Tongue bat from somewhere around the 1880’s.  Yeah.  I have a 140 year old bat.  I don’t want it.  But, I would like it to go to a good home.  Anyone want or need a 140 year old baseball bat?  On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills. M … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – Ultra Training Update - Voices of reason – the conversation Mike Antoniades Mike is the founder and Performance & Rehabilitation Director of the Movement & Running School. Mike’s passion for Rehabilitation, Running and Speed began a long time ago when as teenager he had a serious knee injury. He specialised in movement re-patterning and rehabilitation after injury or surgery and focused on Speed & Running training for athletes of different sports. He set-up the first Rehabilitation & Speed centre in the UK 1999 and his Clients include among others : athletes and teams from, The English Premiership, English Championship, German Bundesliga  Rugby Union, Rugby league, Handball, Lacrosse, European Olympic Associations as well as Elite Track & Field athletes including World & Olympic Gold Medallists. Mike has been a coach for over 35 years and began coaching in 1982. He has worked in the UK, Europe and the USA. He has coached at professional and academy level and is a consultant for a number of professional Soccer clubs as well as track and field and Marathon athletes in the UK and Europe. www.runningschool.co.uk   Section two – Stuff Review 2018 – , , , and Outro OK my friends, nice work, you have run crisply with perfect form to the end of episode 4-388 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  It’s been the end of an easy week for me.  We’ll see what coach has in store for me next week.  Buddy the ancient wonder dog is doing well.  It’s been cooler and dry.  What really bothers him is the humidity.  When you are mostly covers in a black fur coat it’s hard to cool your core.  I know this from experience.  Coincidently, I was reading this week that back hair is one of the DNA snippets that we inherited from the Neanderthals.  I’m short on time today so I’m going to move you quickly to the exit.  … One quick story.  Last year they replaced the ignition on my old motorcycle.  When they did that they saved the old key.  Now I have one key to start it and another to open the gas tank and get into the seat compartment.  This week when I got home form the office I noticed that I had lost the gas tank key.  Which is a problem.  I had about 110 miles on that tank of gas.  I typically hit the reserve tank around 140-150 miles.  I called the Honda guys and asked for help.  They forwarded me to Jim’s Key and Lock out in Leominster.  By the way Minster is an Anglo-Saxon word that means church.  Turns out these tank locks are super easy to pick.  Like child’s play.  The guy popped it right open, read the key code off the lock and made me a couple more keys before I ran out of gas.  Wasted a day but learned something new.  I guess the thing I learn as I get older is not to freak out.  I mean when I first saw the key was missing I could have dropped into full-on panic mode and gotten all ‘the sky is falling’ and ‘Woe is me’ but that doesn’t get you any closer to a solution.  Life’s full of these little irritating events.  This one threatened at first blush to turn my old motorcycle into a paper weight, but it all worked out.  Don’t worry.  It will all work out.  I’ll see you out there!   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-383 – Ted Talks 100 miles  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4383.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-383 First let me apologize for not being consistent with episode production these last 7 months.  I was in a role that was very taxing on my time an energy.  My basic schedule was to roll out of bed at 4:30 or 5:00 AM, grab my stuff, drive to the train station, get on the train, get to the gym, hit my workouts, get cleaned up, work until 7:00 at night, get back on the train to be home after 8:00, eat something and go to bed.  Rinse and repeat.  In all of this I had no real office or place to write or record or interview. This left me with the weekends, which after spending all week in the mix-master of work I kinda needed the time off to recharge enough to get through the next week.  Through all this I kept my training up for the marathon but just about everything else got kicked to the curb.  I had some memorable hard workouts down by the Charles River in the early morning.  I learned a lot about the city.  I really missed the writing and being able to talk to you folks about endurance sports with the quality and fidelity of a measured mind.  Good news for the podcast is that I’m done with that gig and for the near future able to refocus on getting my mind and body straight for the Boston Marathon.  Today I’ve got an interview I recorded with one of my old friends and running buddies Ted.  We talk about stepping up to a 100-mile distance and what it is going to take.  In section one I penned a soliloquy on running my 20th Boston Marathon and in section two I’ll talk about the power of gratitude.  Since we last talked I’ve been in the dark place with my training.  Lots of hard, hard workouts in lots of bad weather up here in New England.  As of today, we’ve had 4 major storms in the month of March.  I’ve run in all of them and moved all the snow they’ve brought.  I’ll give you a funny, or pitiful, depending on your view point, story.  Last week I had a pretty big workout on the calendar for Tuesday.  It was an hour and forty-five-minute fartlek run.  Looking at the weather I could see that it was going to snow all day Tuesday bringing high winds and 2+ feet of snow.  So I sent a note to coach. “Can we move this workout?”  I asked. “You’re 5 weeks out from Boston.” He returned.  “This is an important week.”  And I thought maybe I could do it on the treadmill at the office.  But, the Governor declared a state of something and told everyone to stay home and stay out of the city.  So I couldn’t get to the treadmill.  I set the alarm early to see if I could get out before the storm got too bad.  When the alarm went off I could see the wet snow being driven sideways at the window and hear the wind gusts.  That wasn’t happening.  I worked from the home office all day with one eye out the window to see if the storm might not relent.  The snow kept piling up.  5:00 pm rolled around and I knew it was now or never.  I was going to lose daylight.  I strapped on some flashy lights for visibility and geared up.  I pulled out my trail shoes for traction.  My neighborhood is a cul de sac with a 1 km loop.  I was not venturing out of the cul de sac.  The snow was coming down hard and about 6 inches deep on the road.  I had pretty good traction because it had started as wet snow and there was a couple inches of slush at the bottom that my trail shoes could hook into.  I warmed up for 10 minutes and then timed out a 2-3 minute stretch that was slightly uphill and maybe a 1/3 of the loop.  Each loop I’d accelerate into this stretch and bring my heart rate up, focusing on form and turnover.  By this time the storm was starting move off.  The plows came out and I danced with them on the road.  The neighbors came out with their snow blowers and shovels and tractors.  I startled more than one coming out of the mist wet and churning forward in the mush.  I finished up with over 12 miles, 15 little fartleks and probably 20 laps of the neighborhood – I’m sure much to the amusement of my neighbors.  That was a hard workout.  Then I changed into my snow moving gear and moved snow for another 3 hours. So that’s life.  When life gives you blizzards, give back fartleks and have fun doing it.  On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – 20 years of Boston- Voices of reason – the conversation Ted MacMahon Ted MacMahon is a lifelong endurance athlete, having competed in 50+ marathons (20+ Boston Marathons), 10+ Ironmans, and 10+ ultramarathons. He often says, “Having raced in a bunch of races only means that I’ve made more mistakes than most and am happy to help others avoid my pitfalls.” In the past year, Ted won his division in the US National Championships in both the trail marathon and 100-mile trail distances. Native to Massachusetts, Ted and his wife Pamela now reside in Flagstaff, AZ. Ted can be reached at . Finding the right “stuff” can be a lengthy and complicated process. Here are Ted’s go to products: Fuel and recover: Daily nutrition: Rehydration: Hydration packs and more: Game changing ultra camp: Section two – The scientifically proven power of gratitude –   Outro OK my friends, after much patience and fortitude on your part we have made it to the end of episode 4-383. Congratulations.  You’ve got a lot of spunk for a skinny little endurance athlete. You know what I’m drinking right now?  Bouillon.  Yup.  I needed something warm on this cold afternoon as I sit at my desk and write love letters to the ether.  Too late for coffee.  To be honest, since my January 30 days of clean eating I can’t drink more than one cup of coffee a day.  Rachel detoxed me from the caffeine habit.  I do drink tea but all we have in the house is a choice between super caffeinated morning teas and god-awful sickly sweet fruity teas that my girls drink.  I swear it’s like soaking potpourri in cheap perfume.  Bouillon hits the spot.  Lots of nice salt for my sweaty soul.  Less than 10 calories. Maybe a pinch of fat in there.  Very nice broth.  Very sustaining.  Just about 3 weeks out from Boston now.  I’m in a down week.  I don’t know what coach has in store for next week.  We have time for one more volume week if he feels I’m up for it.  I’ve struggled with a lot of leg fatigue this cycle.  He may just put me into a 3-week taper.  We’ll see. I’m ready.  I’ve done the work.  The times I’m running on tired legs would be good enough for a BQ.  With a decent taper, some reasonable weather and a little luck I could bring home a good race this year.  As taxing as this past training cycle has been I’ve quite enjoyed it.  In the sense that I’m proud of having done it.  I’m grateful every day for the ability to do it.  When I’ve been running down by the Charles in the morning I get to see all the other athletes.  It’s not just me out there in the 10-degree weather with the ice and snow and wind.  There’s a pack of us.  Young and old.  This close to Boston or any other spring race I see a fair number of athletes doing tempo work.  It wouldn’t be obvious to the casual observer but I see them stealing peeks at their watches and pushing their form.  There are some beautiful athletes out there in the morning.  Lot’s of unicorn gear.  I’m happy that they let an old guy like me join in their unicorn games.  It doesn’t matter how old you are, how pretty you are or how good you are.  The trail and the morning are both equal opportunity employers.  Get out there and get yours. I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-382 – Dave Mcgillivray – 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4382.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-382 Hello.  This is Chris.  Today we have an excellent interview with Dave McGillivray about his recent experience of running 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days.  We go off script a bit and do a bit of old-guy trash talking too. I was originally going to skip this week because I’ve been so beat up by work and training recently.  But, when I spoke to Dave and heard how great the conversation was I had to get it out.  In section one I’ll talk about how struggling through bad workouts isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  In Section two I’ll drop a chapter from the audio book version of my Marathon BQ book called “The Dark Place”.  That’s the theme for this week I guess, struggle and perseverance.  Stick to the plan.  As of today, we are 50 or so days out from Boston.  My training, although challenging, is, in the grand scheme, going well.  Coming into this weekend I saw that the weather was going to be heavy freezing rain on Sunday and petitioned coach to move my long run to Saturday.  He acquiesced and I did a nice sunny run with my buddies yesterday.  They ended up running about 2:15 and I went a little longer and hit 2:45.  It ended up around 19 and ½ miles for me.  Having run the same 2:45 last weekend on Sunday, that means the two long runs fell into the same 7-day week and I ended up with over 60 miles for the week.  That’s something I haven’t seen for awhile.  My legs are holding up ok.  I went back out today with some other guys from my club and we did an easy hour in the trails in the freezing rain.  No issues.  I do need to work more core strength and stretching in because I’m tight, but, hey you can’t do everything. My tempo runs are coming in around a 7:30 pace which is encouraging.  My engine is very strong.  My heart is solid.  The legs are the constraint right now.  I imagine that should improve with all this volume. Bottom line I’m in a good spot for a strong 20th Boston Marathon if we get good weather. … It’s funny, I wrote that Marathon BQ book a couple years ago because it insisted on getting out of my head.  If you were to train with me these are the kind of stories you’d hear over and over.  I started the podcast for the same reason, to take all this stuff about running I’d accumulated and get it out into the public where it might do some good.  The book, putts along at a dozen or so a month, spiking in the spring and fall when people tend to think about qualifying!  I suppose I should make some effort to find a real publisher given the staying power and what they call “irrational enthusiasm” people have around the topic.  I’m too busy.  If you know an enthusiastic publisher who wants a market tested vehicle I’ll take the meeting.  But, what really turns me on, what really makes me think ‘huh’, is when I get these emails out of the blue that thank me for it.  It really blows me away.  I’ll share one here.  Redacted, because I don’t have permission.  Chris, I know that you receive countless "thank you" emails from runners who have found success using your Marathon BQ training plan.... but I wanted to offer yet another. Last year, I ran the Chicago Marathon - giving it all that I had - finishing in 3:44:24....essentially the same time that finished at the Disney Marathon several years prior. In one year, using your program, I dropped 23 minutes off of my time, finishing the 2018 Houston Marathon strong in 3:21:04. My goal was to qualify for Boston....and with a BQ cutoff of 3:25 for my age (46) group, it looks like I will get a bib. All of those speed workouts really worked! Looking forward to running Boston in 2019. Can't thank you enough! Sincere yours, Redacted 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 – Tale of two workouts - Voices of reason – the conversation Dave race director, philanthropist, author and athlete Dave McGillivray is a U.S.-based. In 1978, he ran across the U.S. to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Presently he is race director of the  (B.A.A.)  and his team at  have organized well over 1,000 mass-participatory endurance events since he founded it in 1981.This was taken toward the end of headlands 100 in sept. In 1978, McGillivray ran across the U.S. from  to his hometown of , a distance of 3,452 miles, ending in  in Boston. His effort raised funds for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Two years later, he ran the East Coast Run to benefit the Jimmy Fund, running 1,520 miles from Winter Haven, Florida to Boston, Massachusetts joined by , a pioneer of , raising money for the Jimmy Fund and meeting with President  at the White House during the run. In 1982, McGillivray ran the Boston Marathon in 3:14 while blindfolded and being escorted by two guides to raise $10,000 for the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, Mass. He competed in eight Gatorade Ironman Triathlons from 1980 to 1989, an individual endurance event consisting of three back-to-back distance events: a 2.4 mile rough, open ocean water swim, followed by a 112-mile bike race and finishing up with a 26.2-mile marathon run. In 1981, McGillivray ran in the Empire State Building Run Up, an 86-story, 1,575-step run, placing 10th with a time of 13 minutes, 27 seconds. The same year he participated in the annual New England Run where he triathloned (ran, cycled, and swam) 1,522 miles throughout the six New England states raising $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund. The event required a run up and down Mount Washington and swimming two miles across Lake Winneapesaukee, both in New Hampshire, as well as swimming one mile from Woods Hole in Cape Cod towards Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, ending the course with running three miles alongside inmates within the Walpole State Prison and raising $55,000 for the Jimmy Fund. A year later he swam more than seven miles in the Martha's Vineyard Swim, from Martha's Vineyard to Falmouth, Massachusetts, raising funds for the Jimmy Fund and was greeted on the shore by runners such as . In 1986, he formed the first sanctioned running club inside a maximum security institution at  in Massachusetts. He conducted and ran in numerous distance races inside the prison yard, including completing and winning a full 26.2 mile marathon against inmates. In 1980, he ran in the Wrentham State School 24-Hour Run, traversing 120 miles in 24 hours throughout 31 cities in southeastern Massachusetts, ending in Foxboro Stadium during the half-time of a New England Patriots football game. Held to benefit the Wrentham State School for the Mentally Retarded, the run raised more than $10,000 for the handicapped. In 1983, he participated in the Jimmy Fund 24-Hour Swim, swimming for 24 consecutive hours in the Olympic-size Medford High School pool, which totaled 1,884 lengths and covering 26.2 miles (distance of the Boston Marathon), again raising funds for the Jimmy Fund. Also in 1983, McGillivray took part in the Merrimack College New England Bike Ride where he cycled more than 1,000 miles throughout six New England states in 14 days to raise money for a scholarship fund for his alma mater, Merrimack College. In 1986, McGillivray biked again for 24 consecutive hours around a five-mile loop course in Medford, Massachusetts while simultaneously directing the annual Bay State Triathlon being held on the course at the same time. He covered a total of 385 miles, again raising money for the Jimmy Fund. In 2004, McGillivray and other marathon runners ran across the U.S. following the same path he took in 1978, raising $300,000 for five charities benefiting children. Each year McGillivray runs his birthday age in miles, a tradition he started when he was 12 and realized that running was his passion. McGillivray has also run the Boston Marathon each year since 1973; the first 16 years as an entrant and since working with the race as its director, has run the course after his duties are completed. In 2006, McGillivray wrote “The Last Pick” with writer Linda Glass Fechter, chronicling his childhood as the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, telling readers never to underestimate their own ability to set and achieve goals. The book also covers his life as an athlete and race director.   Section two – Marathon BQ Audio Book Chapter – “the dark place” –   Outro Ok my friends you have run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents with 7 brides for 7 brothers to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast.  Episode 4-382 finito. I’m going to keep it quick.  Things are weird for me personally, professionally and athletically but I’m keeping my head above water.  I do feel a bit burnt out.  And I think I need to maybe take a couple mental health days in the next few weeks.  It comes and goes. When things get hard I try to remember to be grateful.  How lucky am I to have all the things I have in my life?  It’s a bounty.  What you will find is that the more you practice gratitude, the more of a self-fulfilling prophecy it becomes.  I would love to hear what you are grateful for.  Send me some audio and I’ll put together a composition for us.  Do it now before you forget.  What are you grateful for? I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-381 – Megan – First 100 Advice  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4381.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-381 Hey folks, how is everybody doing?  I am doing fine, thank you for asking.  Here we are in February.  Are you watching the winter Olympics?  Aren’t they exciting with all those fun winter sports?  I Particularly like the snow-man building.  I think the Czechs have a real shot at gold there.  With the Russians banned for doping that leaves the snow-fort-building and snowball-fight category wide open?  Who can forget Dimitri Puschov’s overhand ice ball of 88 in Calgary? I don’t think anyone can unseat the French in competitive pairs snow-angels.  They just got that je ne sais quios. Been a long couple weeks.  Started out well with the Derry 16 miler after we last spoke.  I ran it as a surge workout and felt fantastic.  Finished in almost exactly 2:15.  People were a bit startled to see me laying in those 3 minute surges during the race.  I’d blow by people like they were nailed down then pull up and settle back into a easy run.  Like I said, I felt great.  Finished with a good kick and wasn’t at all sore afterwards.  That was at the end of a pretty big build week.  Then coach threw me into another build week with two long surge runs.  I did them before work down by the river.  One in a snow storm and one 10 degrees.  Nothing like an 1:30 surge run in a snow storm before work to make your cheeks rosy.  This week I had a bit of a down week.  Coach gave me speed work.  I had a bad day Tuesday and had to walk away from a 7 X 1600 workout on the treadmill.  I was trying to do it after work and I was just mentally and physically exhausted.  I rarely give up on workouts but I just could will myself to execute. But it was ok because it forced me to reevaluate my expectations of myself.  I’ve got to come to grips with not being able to do the paces I used to and just execute the workouts to the best of my ability.  I’m putting too much pressure on myself to live up to the Chris of 10 years ago.  I have to put that baggage away and get out of my own head.  I did a ladder workout in the cold and dark ice of my neighborhood Thursday night.  I just ran as hard as I could and didn’t worry about pace.  That wasn’t so bad.  I was surprised at some of the paces I hit by not paying attention to pace.  Tomorrow coach has me scheduled to do a 10K race simulation. I hate these race sims but he wants to see what I’ve got.  I’m just going to go out and run it by feel and, again, not worry about pace.   I’ve got another gym story for you from last week.  Actually I’ll give this one to you as a math problem and a ‘choose your own adventure’ story.  I discovered something interesting.  It turns out one of my daughters has underwear that looks very similar to my athletic underwear, or what they refer to as my ‘man-thongs’, or what we would have called in the 70’s a ‘jockstrap’.  So here is your math problem.  If you have the choice of a) going commando in your running tights (when it’s 10 degrees out), or b) wearing your cotton briefs in the workout or c) wearing your daughter’s underwear to your workout, and if you also have the choice of going commando to work, cotton briefs to work or girls underwear to work, How many different combinations are possible (assuming you cannot repeat any of the options for work or workout) and what is the formula? Originally, I thought this would be a factorial, but I don’t think it is because it’s 2 situations, work and workout.   Therefor, unless one of you math geek corrects me I think it’s a simple square of 3.  3 X 3 = 9 different possible combinations of commando, cotton briefs and girls’ underwear.  And this is the choose your own adventure part of the story.  You find yourself in a gym locker room at 6:30 in the morning.  You reach into your backpack for your running clothes and find a pair of girls’ underwear instead of your athletic underwear.  You have cotton briefs to wear to work.  What do you do? 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 – How to do workouts when you forget your watch - http://runrunlive.com/30-day-diet-reboot-day-30   Voices of reason – the conversation Megan – Teacher, VeganRunningMom and Ultrarunner This was taken toward the end of headlands 100 in sept. People can follow me on Instagram @veganrunningmom Snapchat @veganrunningmom Twitter @veganrunningmom Or Facebook -Megan Storms Was lovely to catch up some Today! Thanks and good luck to you!!! Section two – 30 Day Diet Reboot Summary - http://runrunlive.com/when-you-forget-your-watch Outro Ok my friends you have worn your womens’ underwear to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast.  Episode 4-381 done and done.  What’s coming up for me?  Not much really.  I’m sure my training will ramp up as we get into the final weeks before Boston.  I used my Baystate time to upgrade my race position.  The BAA accepted my Portland time but didn’t take the adjusted time, they took the original net time, which was still a qualifier but 4 minutes slower than what the race directors gave me.  That was because they screwed up the course and made us run an extra ½ mile.  My Baystate time is a minute plus faster than that adjusted time, so 6 minutes faster than the time the BAA gave me from Portland.  6 Minutes in the middle of the pack at Boston is probably 3,000 runners.  Might even move me up a corral.  I’m not collecting for any charity this year.  It’s my 20th Boston Marathon and I’m running it for me, and for you.  I’m training for it.  If we get decent weather I’m racing it.  I’ll do my best and respect it.  We will celebrate it together.  I’m humbled and grateful that this special race has become part of our lives.  Maybe I’ll run next year, maybe I won’t, but this year I’m going to run and celebrate how lucky I am.  … My wife lost an uncle this week.  We went to the wake and funeral.  It was good to see her cousins and aunts and uncles.  Her parents’ generation is getting to that age.  I knew this uncle from her family events.  He was a kind and caring man.  Seeing his kids and the impact he had on his family by being that kind and caring man impressed on me some lessons.  You don’t have to be a superhero or save the world to make a difference in this world.  You just have to care for those around you.  You don’t have to overtly do anything special to make a difference.  You can make a difference just by being there, being present and caring.  Your actions, even those daily, run of the mill activities that we all take for granted, impact the lives of others.  In fact, it is those small loving and caring moments that have the most impact on the ones we love and care about.  Live your life, go through life, with the understanding that everything you do has an impact on others. The hustle and bustle of career and stuff is not that important in the grand scheme of things.  Keep it in perspective and take time to be present for the ones you love. And… I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-380 – Lori – Coma to Boston  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4380.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-380, This is Chris your host.  It is well into January and I lied.  I am going to run the Derry road race this weekend.  I wasn’t going to because coach gets so made when I race instead of following my training plan, but Derry coincided with a long training run.  I promised to actually run the training run on the Derry course and not race.  Today we are talking with Lori who has a wonderful, compelling story that I am grateful to be able to share with you.  The audio quality of the interview was a bit poor and I had to clean up a lot of noise, so apologies for the hum and fade in places.  But the story is great and should transcend the constraints of the medium.  In section one I’ll talk about overlapping different types of training plans.  In section two I’ll share, with permission, a response I wrote to a listener seeking advice on presentation skills.  My training is going fine.  I’m starting to build up my volume for Boston.  It’s less than 3 months away so I’m sure I’ll be getting into some longer quality work in the coming weeks. The 30 Day Diet Reboot went well.  I dropped about 10 pounds and I feel much fitter.  You don’t realize how much difference it makes until you get back to race weight.  Eating clean just makes everything easier.  I continue to put long hours in and commute to the city.  It’s difficult to find the time, and more importantly the space to write and record.  I hate pushing it to the weekends because I have other stuff to do.  It makes me feel rushed and less creative.  Like I said I get up early, take the train in and usually do my workout before all before 8:00 AM.   As my volume starts to increase this means getting out to the Charles River path before 7:00AM – which is just when dawn is breaking.  I’m doing better.  I haven’t forgotten anything or put any clothes on backwards for weeks. Friday morning I did my hill workout on the treadmill in the gym.  I’m still figuring out the treadmills.  I can’t figure out how to program it to do what I want so I have to manually adjust the speed and incline between reps.  It’s tricky because you have to hold down two buttons at the same time.  When I was transitioning into my 3rd rep the button got stuck and went to 30% incline and wouldn’t stop.  I had to jump off and reset the whole workout.  That was a bit exciting.  I also discovered that these treadmills decline, at least 3%, which I’ll have to play with. That might come in handy for Boston training. Remember, this is my 20th Boston.  I asked people what I should do to recognize that and one of the suggestions I liked was to design a special shirt with 20 unicorns on it.  Maybe a unicorn party! … I was listening to an author speak this week about moments.  They were talking about how many of the iconic moments in our lives were created, scripted if you will, by someone.  Birthday celebrations have a script of gifts and cake and candles.  Graduations, weddings, funerals, all these events don’t just happen, they are, were, designed for the social impact that they have.  The author talked about the Olympic medal ceremony, how someone had to make that up.  It’s essentially a little story, a vignette designed for a purpose.  These vignettes create a message, a sticky emotional story that stays with us.  That’s the purpose of the moment.  So, when you look at your daily lfe and the good people who share it with you what are those moments?  How can you write your own scripts?  How can you make the vignette of hugging your child have the import of an Olympic medal ceremony? 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 – Transitioning from one type of training to another -   Voices of reason – the conversation Lori Riggles– Teacher and Survivor Here are a  few links, my bio, and picture. The picture was the moment I saw my daughter during the Boston Marathon 2017. Teaching is a rewarding experience, which I have dedicated 25 years to.  I teach so that I can expose the infinite possibilities to achieve success to each child that I come in contact with.  I have dedicated my life to inspiring children to help others through charitable causes, service projects, and empathy. My relationship with running began when I was a child going through many of my own challenges. Running became an outlet that truly saved me and made me the person I am today. Born in Oklahoma, I discovered running while living in Wyoming as teen. I currently live in Alabama with my husband and three children. My interests include reading, writing, coaching Science Olympiad, playing the flute, and being active. It has always been my mission to help others, I am currently writing a book of my experiences to encourage others to overcome their own personal obstacles.  My goal is to use the challenges that I have faced to help others. If what I have been through can help one person, then that is what is truly important. My future goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I aspire to reach goals beyond what anyone thought would be possible. Lori Section two – On Story Telling – A letter - Outro Ok my friends you have worked your way from the coma of consciousness to the hard fought glory of triumph through to the end of episode 4-380 of the RunRunLive podcast.  Congratulations, we did it again. Nothing radically new for me coming up.  I’ll use Derry as a training run tomorrow.  I’ll keep working hard everyday to meet my life goals and I’ll keep telling stories and smiling.  It’s pretty simple.  I used to think life was complex and hard.  But it aint.  You just keep picking them up and putting them down and smile while you’re doing it.  Life will take care of itself.  I think Lori’s message is a great one.  We are not struggling and striving and overcoming just for ourselves.  We are doing it for others.  If we are doing it honestly, selflessly and with gratitude we are creating a clearing for others.  We are creating a clearing in the forest of fear; of don’t and can’t – a clearing of can do and a clearing of potential and a clearing of possibility.  This is the life of abundance.  The more you give the more you receive.  I’m going to keep it short.  I’m a bit exhausted today.  But I am grateful.  Grateful for you.  Grateful for the gifts I’ve been given.  Grateful to have a curious and active mind.  Grateful for the gift of physical capability and grateful for my choice to use it. Like I said to Lori.  Studies show that this practice of gratefulness makes the same physical changes to your brain that meditation or prayer does.  Who knows, maybe my gratitude creates a positive ripple in the pond of universal consciousness. It’s been a pleasure and a gift to talk to you today.  What can you contribute?  What can you be grateful for?  Surely you have gifts that you can share with us? I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-379 – The 30 Day Diet Reboot with Rachel Shuck  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4379.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-379, This is Chris your host.  It is the second weekend of the new year if you’re on the Gregorian Calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to upgrade the Julian Calendar.  Because if your calendar is messed up all your holy days hop around and it makes it harder to aestheticize the mediaeval masses with religious chicanery.  Or something like that. Anyhow… before I scurry down the rat hole of historical events let’s talk about the wild and wonderful world of endurance sports, or at least our little corner of it.  It’s been a busy couple weeks since we last talked.  On the day before New Years, Dec 31st, I hosted my 5th Groton Marathon.  Which is an made up event where whomever wants to shows up and runs whatever they want.  We set up the clock so we have a real start and finish and I post the times to a website – I guess you could call it ‘pretend official’.  The curious part is the a handful of us go out and run an actual marathon through all the local towns.  This year I got 4 other guys to join me.  The weather did not cooperate.  It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit at the start and never got out of single digits.  I ended up getting in the support vehicle at 21.3ish because I was suffering.  We went out a bit fast for me and I didn’t have any legs left.  We had to go a bit fast in the beginning to get the feeling back in our toes and fingers from the cold.  It was miserable running weather.  There was a stretch from like 19 – 21 where we turned into a head wind that was awful.  The other four guys finished successfully.  My friend Gary ran in with a 3:52 and the other 3 came in around 3:55.  The next morning my family and I went up to run the Hangover Classic in Salisbury.  The deep freeze did not abate.  It was -19 with the wind chill.  I ran the 5K with Teresa and she came in 4th in her age group.  Then, yes, we did, we ran over and jumped in the ocean.  I was a bit worried about surviving this but the water felt warm compared to the air so it wasn’t too bad.  The water in the ocean at 35-36 degrees Fahrenheit had steam coming off it like a hot tub in the single digit temps. That same day, the 1st of the new year (according to Pope Greg) I started a 30 Day Diet Reboot with my nutrition coach Rachel.  I’m off the beer and the bad food for a month.  I’m logging all my food in MyFitnessPal and posting a daily blog about it on my website (RunRunLive.com) under a category called ’30 Day Diet Reboot’.  On top of that Rachel is looking over my shoulder, reading my post and commenting each day on her site - .  What we wanted to do is to give people an actual case study of how she and I approach the combination of fitness and nutrition.  And, in today’s interview, Rachel and I talk through all this and hopefully it can help some folks sort through all the misinformation that is out there.  In section one I’m going to muse a bit on why I think I’m ready to take on a 100 mile race this year. In Section two I’m going to disassemble the oft-quoted phrase “No Regrets!” … I had something happen to me this week which was a first for me in my running life.  Have you ever heard the old joke that goes something like “I don’t jog because I don’t want to find a dead body!” Because for some reason those news stories always start with “…found by a jogger…”?  Well I was running down by the Charles in Boston this week.  The weather warmed up to above freezing and the sun was out so I made a concerted effort to get out at lunch.  Boston got over a foot of snow during the ‘cyclone-bomb’ event last weekend and the bike path was still covered in places.  I had a 1:15 easy run so it wasn’t a problem to navigate around the snow.  I ran up river to one of the far bridges, crossed over and came back across the next bridge to get a sort of lollipop route of the right length.  Since it had been so cold for several days in a row the full expanse of the rive was frozen over all the way down to the museum of science.  There’s one bit along Storrow drive at the Boston University Bridge where the bike path abruptly runs out of room and they route you out, under the bridge, into the river, on a wooden bridge to get around the abutment and back on the bike path up river.  Right after this the snow removal ceased and we had to navigate some lumpy foot paths for a few hundred feet.  When I met another runner or pedestrian, one of us would have to give way on the snowy single path. It was in this dicey section on the way back that the lady runner I had already passed going out started talking to me.  I had my headphones in, but she said something about they were pulling a body out of the river up ahead.  They were breaking it out of the ice.  Sure enough, when I went out on the wooden plank section that hugs the abutment there was a clutch of police.  As I came to it I was expecting someone to stop me and I asked the one sad looking cop there if I could sneak by.  He motioned that it was ok.  Not more than 20 feet from me there were four more officers of some type carrying a stretcher up the icy bank with the body.  They had the top of the torso covered, but a man’s boots and snow pants stuck out from the waist down.  The State Police were interviewing a shaken looking runner.  A good runner. I remember passing him and thinking ‘he’s the real deal’.  Skinny, athletic and underdressed for this weather.  He must have paused for some odd reason to stretch or to catch his breath between intervals or something to cause him to look over that wood railing into the river under the bridge. I kept going.  They had Storrow Drive West shut down.  There must have been 15 police cars there.  That’s a first for me.  Never had a CSI moment on one of my runs before.  So my friends. As you’re out and about today.  You may have your head cold, or your other challenges but you’re not toes-up frozen in the Charles River.  You have that going for you. 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 – Why a 100-miler? - http://runrunlive.com/why-100-miler-and-why-now   Voices of reason – the conversation Rachel Shuck – Nutrition Coach Rachel Shuck is a board certified nutrition coach with a passion for running and all things fitness. She currently teaches nutrition courses at the local college while pursuing her doctorate in clinical nutrition . She is certified with the International Sports Science Association and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association as well. Her personal journey began with running 5k’s and being at the back of the pack, to running marathons and becoming a Boston Qualifier. 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 and videos have been featured in Mind Body Green, Personal Growth, and  the Livestrong website as well as local news shows covering health and fitness. 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. Section two – No Regrets - http://runrunlive.com/no-regrets Outro Ok my friends you have eaten handfuls of probiotic macronutrients to the end of episode 4-379 of the RunRunLive Podcast.   Coach is starting to ramp me up for the spring season.  It looks like he’s going to add some back-to-back volume to my weekends in addition to my normal Boston Marathon training cycle.  I’m not going to run any of the spring races with Frank and Brian.  Maybe I’ll do Eastern States in March, but I’m skipping Derry.  I’m going to run my plan and focus on staying healthy.  I’m not even half way into the Diet Reboot but I already feel better.  I have so much more energy in my runs.  I feel like someone removed a sandbag from my shoulders.  I’ve got an hour on the schedule today.  I think I’ll put my old trail shoes on and go muck about in the snow in the woods.  Maybe I’ll take Buddy with me for a short bit.  The old dog is getting cabin fever.  Next week I’m talking to a really cool guest, Lori, who is running Boston this year.  She got hit by a car out running in 2016 and went from being in a coma for 5 days to running New York and Boston.  I hope the audio is good enough because it’s a impactful story.  … I’ve been working some long hours in the city.  I get up at 5:00 AM and am on the road by 6:00 and in the city by 7:00.  Depending on my schedule I usually hit my workout in the morning to get it done and off my plate.  Which gets me into my office around 8:30.  Typically I’ll work until 6:00 or 7:00 and get back to my house around 8:00.  It’s a long day. Towards the end of the week, especially this week with my head cold, I was dragging.  I had a hill workout on Friday.  I haven’t quite figured out a good place to do hill workouts in the city yet so I did it on the treadmill in the gym.  I was surprised how easy it felt given the head cold and how I was dragging.  Again, the diet reboot is amazing for your workout energy. Then I got showered up and put on my work clothes.  This office isn’t suit and tie, but it’s business dress.  I’m an executive so I try to err on the side of business.  I had a full day of meetings including interviewing a candidate for a position I’m hiring to.  During the day I was noticing how baggy my underwear felt.  I don’t wear anything special just your run of the mill boxer briefs.  I kept thinking, there must be something going on with this pair because they just aren’t fitting right.  Towards the end of the day I realized what it was.  Have you guessed?  Yeah, I was so tired in the morning I put my underwear on backwards and didn’t realize it until the day was almost over.  I had a good chuckle over that.  Hey, No regrets, right? I’ll see you out there.     MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-378 – End of Season Contemplation with my Coach  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4378.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -   Hello, and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-378, This is your dear friend Chris.  How is everything going?  I’m trying very hard to get back on my publishing schedule.  To get back in balance.  Not just because I believe consistency is a big part of quality in the product you consume here.  I do appreciate your attention and I’m grossly aware of my duty! I also need to keep writing to keep my own creative furnace fueled – which is why I started doing this in the first place – partly to help people, and myself, become better versions of themselves by sharing some of the tribal knowledge I’ve accumulated over the eons that I’ve been a practicing amateur endurance athlete.  But also to keep my communication skills tuned up – writing as well as reading this copy to you with as much gusto as I can recruit! Well maybe not gusto, but at least enviable sincerity.  Today we catch up with my coach, Jeff.  He and I talk through the ups and downs of my 2017 training season.  I like to use myself as a test subject to see what worked and what didn’t. It’s always important to look back at your training, your successes and your failures, to see if you can learn anything.  You’re never too old to learn.  We talked for a long time.  I’m going to edit it down to a reasonable size, but I’ll post the raw interview on the members feed. In Section One we will talk about over-training.  How to realize when you’re getting over-trained, what the symptoms are and how to avoid it.  In Section Two I’ll tell you 10 things you don’t know about me.  Like one of those Facebook posts.  It’s cold up here in New England now.  We are in full on Winter.  We’ve had some good snow to make everything festive.  It’s below zero Fahrenheit this week.  More importantly how is Buddy the old wonder dog?  Well, he just turned 14 years old.  Which is pretty damn old for a border collie. He’s and old man!  His hips don’t work so well and he’s deaf but he’s still mentally sharp.  He gets skinnier every day.  Skinny old man.  The kids dress him in sweaters this time of year.  They use him as a blanket to stay warm when they’re watching TV.  He is very warm.  He is well loved. He barks a lot.  Just like an old man, he wants to be heard and doesn’t have time for niceties.  He’ll stand in the front yard and bark at the woods at night.  Picture it as a 98 year old man in his underwear yelling at the coyotes to stay off his lawn.  “…when I was a boy… we had real coyotes, not these namby pamby city coyotes they got now…” … I ran out of podcasts to listen to last week.  I’ve been changing phones a lot and have lost some of the regular ones I used to listen to.  Some house cleaning and some pruning.  Podcasts come and go.  It’s an industry now and the old amateurs like myself are the anomaly. I opened the app and was looking around and went to see what Steve was doing over at .  The app sorted with oldest first, and I downloaded a couple of his marathon race reports from 2005.  The BayState Marathon and the Cape Cod Marathon. Steve did a great job with those old podcasts.  Compelling and interesting stuff.  Really well produced.  Entertaining.  You can hear how much in love he is with his training and racing and the newness of the sport and the community.  If you listen to the Baystate race episode you’ll hear my buddy Frank calling out Steve’s name at one of the first water stops, the one with the rock music playing.  That’s the same Frank who ironically qualified at Baystate with me a few weeks ago.  I wasn’t at the water stop in 2005.  I was running the race.  I think I ran both those races and came up short in both.  I think that year I ran a race in Maryland around Thanksgiving to finally get my qualification.  That was a year and a half before I started podcasting but I would have been in the process of publishing my first book of running stories, The Mid-Packer’s Lament, (which is still available on Amazon).  I love that about the podcasting thing.  Being able to capture a moment of time.  Being able to freeze the river of time and that person you were.  It’s a slice of self-awareness.  That Steve didn’t know what the future would hold.  That Chris didn’t know either.  In our hopeful narratives we saw that moment as a waypoint on an upward slope into the future.  I think the one important take away for me is to understand that today, this race, this fitness, this Chris is a unique thing and may very well be as good as it gets.  Think about that.  How would you run your race?  How would you live your life if today was as good as it gets?  Seize the day.  Savor that day.  Today is all you have.  The past is a old movie spinning sepia images across time.  The future is nobody’s business.  Today is your day.  Use it.  Enjoy it. On with the show. … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – The Symptoms of over-training - Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline “Coach” as he is referred to by athletes has been training runners and triathletes globally for 20 years. The Coach is the founder and designer of Daily Fit Book. Although he is fully committed to the development and growth of DFB he will take on athletes of all levels that show a commitment and a strong desire to achieve new dreams and goals. @dailyfitbook (twitter) fitbook2 (instagram)   Section two – 10 things about me - Outro Ok my friends you have wound down your training season to the end of 2017 and to the end of episode 4-378 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Well done. What have we got going in the new year?  Actually, big things!  I decided I needed to set myself up with a running goal that was a challenge.  I signed up for the Burning River 100 in July and will chronicle my training for the race.  Yeah, I know I said I’d never do it, but you hear in my conversation with coach that turning point.  Why not?  I’ve done a lot of stuff in my life but I don’t have a belt buckle.  And, there’s a good chance I’ll fail spectacularly either in my training or in the race itself.  If so are going to set BHAGs you have to have a good chance of failure.  That failure is the stuff that teaches you and forces you out of your comfort zone and forces you to grow. So, calling all my ultra friends, I’m going to need advice, support and pacers!  Here’s your chance VeganRunningMom, DirtDawg, Cooker, Leadfoot and all the others.  Once in a lifetime opportunity to watch Chris Maddog Russell cry like a baby and soli himself. In addition to this I’ll be running my 20th Boston marathon.  And, yes, I am qualified.  We’ll have to schedule something fun for that.  Oh, and I committed to finishing my zombie novel.  There are some personal and professional goals that you don’t care about that I’ll be chasing as well.  2018 is going to be epic!  (one way or the other) But, that’s all in the future.  I’ll be wrapping up my 2017 season with the Groton Marathon.  I’ve got 5 folks who said they were running with me.  We’ll see who shows up because it’s going to be single-digit cold.  But, you know my theory…If you do something truly stupid people will show up. On the first of the year I’ll run the Hangover Classic with Teresa and then jump into the Atlantic Ocean, because that’s what you do, right?  And last but not least, I’m kicking off a 30 day Diet reboot on January first with my nutrition coach Rachel.  I’ll be logging my food and stats and blogging about it every day.  I’ll catch up with Rachel each week to review progress.  I’ll probably record those weekly chats and put them up on the podcast feed.  I thought it would be useful for people to hear my/our point of view on clean eating for endurance athletes.  Think that’s enough?  Another one of my theories is when you have too much to do, schedule more stuff and it will sort itself out! … I’ve been listening to a meditation podcast on the train in the morning called the .  Episode 2 is about using meditation to clarify your vision, i.e figure out what you want to do.  This is a great exercise to create goals for the new year.  She walks you into a meditative state.  Then brings you into the future so that you are looking back on your life.  And asks the simple question “What are three things that you wish you had done?”  I found that context very helpful to sort out the things I’m working on and what is important and what will make a difference.  Try it.  Don’t put off your dreams.  Put them down on paper and find a way to get them done in 2018. And I’ll see you out there.     MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-376 – Jonathan Runs his Race Part 2  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4374.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello, and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-376 Today we follow up on Episode 4-374 where I interviewed Jonathan about his training and attempt to cut close to 30 minutes off his marathon time to qualify for Boston.  He walks us through his first attempt and what he learned from it. It turns out that by taking the longer commuter rail train into the city I can get some writing done in the morning and in the afternoon.  As an added benefit it’s about a mile walk from North Station to my office.  This is a nice add of a brisk 15-20 minute city walk past Government Center, the Old North Church and Fanueil Hall to start and end my day.  I could take the subway but it’s a nasty crowded ride that would take 15 minutes anyhow. The net result is that I have a nice, long and very special race report from the Baystate Marathon for you.  It’s north of 5,000 words.  I’ll see how it fits, but it’s going to take up most of this show and I’ll be brief.  My training is good.  My next events are the local Thanksgiving 5K and the Mill Cities Relay.  It looks like Frank, Brian and I are going to be on a team.  That means I probably won’t be the guy running the 10 mile leg.  I’ll get one of the shorter legs which are 5 -6 miles.  Hopefully I won’t be relegated to the 2.5 mile leg.  … Yesterday was my birthday.  I turned, well I turned older.  I jumped an age group.  I took advantage of the time change and got the 5:30 train into the city.  I ran down to the river and knocked out a set of 5 X 7 minute intervals at a hard effort with 2 minute rests.  The speed work averaged around a 7 minute mile.  Which is neither here nor there, as they say.  I could compare that to my Marathon PR pace of 7:08’s and be sad about those slow loss of ability.  I choose not to.  I see it as a gift.  I see just being able to breath the bright morning air into my lungs and push the morning blood through my healthy heart as a gift. And to be able to do it at a pretty good pace and effort is a bonus.  That’s a gift to me on my birthday. I also got some attention from the people who love me, and that’s a gift, to be part of someone’s life and to know you are loved.  And I got messages from c couple hundred of you my friends on the ever-efficient Facebook.  (There’s some ironic, snarky comment about robot overlords and birthdays here but I’m going to take the high road.) You thank you, all of you for the gift of your attention, your time and the gift of somehow fitting usefully into your firmament.  On with the Show.    … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to me trying to sound sincere about Stamps.com or Audible.. (although, fyi, my MarathonBQ book is on audible) We do have a membership option where you can become a member and as a special thank you, you will get access to member’s only audio. There are book reviews, odd philosophical thoughts, zombie stories and I curate old episodes for you to listen to.  I recently added that guy who cut off is foot so he could keep training and my first call with Geoff Galloway.   “Curated” means I add some introductory comments and edit them up a bit.  So anyhow – become a member so I can keep paying my bills.   … The RunRunLive podcast is Ad Free and listener supported.  We do this by offering a membership option where members get Access to Exclusive Members Only audio and articles. Member only race reports, essays and other bits just for you! Links are in the show notes and at RunRunLive.com … Section one – BayState Marathon – Part one - Voices of reason – the conversation Jonathan Lieberman My Story: During my residency I was 241 pounds, miserable, and knew something had to be done about my health. So I started slow and short, and revisited my past love for distance running and marathons. Eventually I was turned on to Ironman and found my new love! Teaching myself to swim in the hospital pool and riding a folding bike to work each day, I applied by lottery for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. On my 39th birthday, I was selected for and ultimately finished this race…having also completed my first Ironman in Lake Placid just 10 weeks earlier. Consequently, in 2012 I was honored to be chosen for the Runner’s World photo shoot issue (video). Training and competing - with *myself* - is my ultimate passion. It has enabled me to face and conquer life’s toughest challenges. Ironman has taught me that it doesn’t matter what you think, how you feel, or what you say in life - only what you *do*. I live this motto for my children. Section two – BayState Marathon- Part two - Outro Ok my friends you have trained hard a raced smart to the end of Episode 4-376 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Time to hang that medal on the rack and recover a bit.  This train into the city takes about an hour.  A lot of people sleep.  Supposedly there is internet access of a sort but I can never make it work.  This is the express train but it’s running slower this morning.  We don’t have real trains like Tokyo or London.  Ours are slow and barely keeping their heads above water. I took the early train yesterday and it’s a funny crowd.  Those commuters all know each other. It’s like a family reunion of bureaucrats, slightly rumpled career office workers in comfortable shoes.  They chat away like a sewing circle.  Thank Steve Jobs for headphones.  Did you se Shalane won the New York City Marathon!  That is amazing.  Amazing.  I have a funny story about the New York City marathon from my commuting experience.  You folks may remember that I ran the NYC marathon in 2014 as a sponsored athlete with ASICS.  One of the amazing things that has happened to me through RunRunLive.  I know, I still can’t believe it either.  Why would anyone sponsor a journeyman marathoner like me?  Well they apparently mistook ‘internet famous’ for actually famous and sponsored me.  They gave me so much stuff.  If you look at my current Facebook profile picture you’ll see the 3D statuette they created of me that sits on the mantle in my living room where they made me look like Will Weaton with a full head of hair.  One of my favorite stories is how I ended up on the front page of the Wall Street journal. True story.  But, I’m still working my way through all the schwag they gave me as a sponsored athlete.  And since I’ve been commuting into the city I have been wearing the NYC jacket and carrying the NYC backpack for my gear.  I was on the red line train last week heading out of the city and the guy across from me says, “Man you have all the gear!”  I looked up from my book and said “What?” “The New York City Marathon; you have all the gear.” You see, he was running the NYC marathon that weekend, his first, and I just happened to stumble into his awareness zone.  You know what I mean.  It’s like when you buy a new thing and then start noticing that new thing everywhere. So I said “Yeah, I ran it in 2014.”  And we struck up a conversation.  I did my best to fill him in on the overwhelming monstrosity that is the NYC Marathon.  At some point I said, “I was sponsored by Asics, because I’m internet famous, which isn’t actually famous…” (I know I tell the same jokes over and over and over) And I could see the recognition dawning in his eyes.  “RunRunLive!” he said, as both a statement and a question.  And I, proud and peacocky now stood to shake his hand.  So, Chris, if you’re out there.  That was fun for me.  Thanks for making my day.  And, to drag out the tired vehicle, occasionally, I do indeed ,see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-373 – Bill Sycalik Runs the National Park System  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4373.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to this autumn edition of the RunRunlive podcast.  I’m a bit tardy with this one because of a perfect storm of scheduling priorities.  Like I said I have a new gig in the city where I have been figuring out the commute and putting in long hours, plus I’ve been in the final stages of a training plan with those long runs and hard workouts.  Time has been short and logistics has been challenging for writing and recording.  But, this is not the ‘whine about things’ podcast.  No this is the RunRunLive podcast where we talk about transformational power of endurance sports.   Today we interview Bill Sycalik from Run the parks – you may have seen him in that running magazine or heard him on a podcast recently – he’s got a good PR presence and it’s a great story.  It’s a good chat.  I like what he’s doing.  It’s a good transformational story.  Like I said in the interludes comment last week I’ve been hard pressed with a new professional gig.  I had two business trips this past week and have been putting in some long hours.  I’m not complaining, I love it and I understand that the first 90 days in any new position, whether it’s a contract or a new job or a new role in your current company – those first 90 days are a special opportunity that you need to seize.  And that can adjust your life balance.  So – here it is Saturday and I’m going to give you the present of a few hours of my thoughtful attention, my RunRunLive friends.   Training has been a struggle over the last couple weeks but I did get a nice long run in on the Wapack course and I’ve got another tomorrow.  Am I ready for the Maine Marathon in 3 weeks?  Of course.  I could roll out of bed on a random Tuesday and run a marathon.  Am I in race shape?  I give myself a solid B- on that.  My engine is still good but my legs aren’t keeping up as well.  The big news, I guess, is that I got my confirmation letter for the 2018 Boston Marathon.  This will be my 20th Boston.  I am qualified for this race.  For those of you who have been on this journey with me, or more correctly on your own journeys with me, we’ve seen some ups and downs haven’t we?  We’ve been witness to many things.  We’ve experienced the meat and marrow of many endurance happenings.  We’ve learned a lot.  What a long wonderful trip it’s been, huh? … Here’s a story from one of my first days in the new office.  I have been getting into the city early to beat the traffic.  Another team member showed up.  Just he and I, chatting.  I don’t know how we got on the subject, maybe it was a segue from the nice cool fall weather, but he starts telling me about the time he ran the Ragnar Relay on Cape Cod.  I nod and ask some clarifying questions like, ‘Did you have a 12-person team?  Did anyone pull up injured?”  Then he tells me about how he ran it with his Spartan buddies and about how obstacle racing is really his big thing.  I ask, “Do you run that one up in Killington?” He says, “Yeah, I love the Beast.” I say, “Good for you, that’s a tough race.” He says, “Yeah, I did it in like 9 ½ hours.” And the point of my story is that I didn’t say a word about myself.  I just complimented him on his achievements.  Because, I try not to be ‘that guy’ in the office.  I always have tried not to be ‘that guy’ that people avoid because ‘that guy’ always drives the conversation back to himself.  Let people celebrate their lives and achievements.  Don’t always be playing ‘who’s got the biggest’, even if they stumble into your domain of expertise.  Celebrate with them. It’s not about you. … But just for the record…Remember back when we ran the Ragnar as a Brooks sponsored ultra team with 6 athletes and won it?  And, yeah, remember when I talked to Joe DeSena about his Spartan stuff last year and he gave me an entry to the Killington Beast and a ran it in 6 ½ hours as a 54 year old? But, it’s not about me, is it! Hah! 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 – 2017 Wapack Trail Race - Voices of reason – the conversation Hi Chris, Thanks again for the opportunity to be on the podcast. I think it was a good discussion. I attached a few photos. One Rocky Mountain, the other USVI. Links National Parks Marathon Project - Generosity.com Crowdfunding Page - If you want to include it - I'm Brand Ambassador for Hammer Nutrition (), Gnarly Nutrition (), Teatulia (), Footbeat () and Running Buddy () Social media is below in bio. Bio Bill Sycalik is the founder of the National Parks Marathon Project, his full-time effort to run a self-directed, self-managed, self-measured 26.2 miles in all 59 U.S. National Parks. Until June 2016 Bill was a management consultant leading large technology projects in New York City. Unfortunately, his passion for health, fitness and the outdoors were out of synch with his profession and location. He wanted to break from the corporate world and get back to nature. When he read about the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, as a marathon runner, Bill thought what better way to experience the parks than covering 26.2 miles in each one. He saw an opportunity to promote the National Parks, reconnect with the natural world through long trail runs and inspire people to get out and move in our country’s unspoiled wilderness. So, he quit his job and started running the parks. Bill ran 48 marathons in the past 54 weeks completing all the parks in the lower 48 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands. He is now planning to visit the parks in Hawaii, American Samoa in Alaska. To learn more about Bill and the project go to www.runningtheparks.com. To connect with Bill and join him at a park please reach out via Instagram (@runningtheparks), Twitter (@runtheparks) or Facebook ().… Section two – The First 90 Days - http://runrunlive.com/the-first-90-days Outro Ok my friends you have run through various national parks in various states to the end of episode 4-373 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Please wipe that dirt of your feet before you come in.  I drove up to Quebec for an appointment this week and the leaves are starting to turn.  It’s a pretty drive but there is nothing up there in northern NH and VT.  Since the paper mills left there really isn’t much industry.  There’s no traffic either.  You can just set the cruise control and nap for a couple hours. Having had an office in Quebec City for a number of years I know this route very well.  And, I know that if you want to you can cut through Franconia Notch.  There are a string of mountain hiking trails in there, smack dab in the middle of the Presidential Range of mountains.  I pulled off, threw my kit on and went for an afternoon run/hike up the falling waters trail up the side of Mt. Lafayette.  It’s a super difficult trail.  You can’t really run it.  The rangers call it ‘falling people trail’ because of all the tourists they have to drag out.  It’s really pretty though.  Runs right up a cascading brook.  Not runnable per se but certainly works your legs and gets your HR up.  I only fell once on the way back down.  Like I said I’m still trying to figure out the rhythms of my new gig.  We are all in the same boat.  We all get the same 24 hours.  You just have to figure out the rhythm that works to balance everything.  You have to remember that any change like this causes stresses that you may not be aware of.  They can manifest in ways you’re not aware of.  Just got to keep your head right and try to get enough sleep! I did get a club membership in the building and that should give me more flexibility to work out around the traffic or even just to shower and start exploring Boston with my feet.  I’ve never actually lived in the city and hence really don’t know my way around the city proper much. When I’m not traveling I’ll see if I can’t seize that opportunity to fill in some blanks.  I’ve missed a few workouts with the travel and the exhaustion but I do what I can.  That’s the secret, do what you can.  I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-372 – Bob Dunfey Race Director Maine Marathon  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4372.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to this autumn edition of the RunRunlive podcast.  Did you know that when I originally launched the podcast I sent the information to Nigel in the UK who, at the time, managed the running podcast list.  He mistakenly called it the RunRunLiver podcast.  Which is an entirely different thing.  Ironically I did run the Boston Marathon for the Liver Foundation one year. But, no this is the RunRunLive podcast where we talk about transformational power of endurance sports.   Today I’ve got an interview for you with the Bob, the race director for the Maine Marathon in Portland Maine.  I decided to run it on Oct 1st.  I thought I needed a Maine marathon but I remembered that I ran that Bay of Fundy marathon back in 2013 when I was doing that marathon a month project after the bombings at Boston.  I think that one counts as a Maine marathon.  It started and ended in Maine.  Anyhow, I got Bob on to talk about the race and the history of it.  Maine has an unexpectedly vibrant running community. In section one we’ll talk about how to deal with a bad workout.  In section two I’m going to talk about the Grateful Dead! I’ve been training.  I had a rough build week last week.  I had a 1:30 step up run and really struggled to get my Heart rate up into zone 4 at the end.  My legs wouldn’t do it.  It’s been humid here and I don’t do well in the heat and humidity.  Last Sunday I was down on the Cape with my kids and ran a 17 miler out on the rail trail.  I got out early, I positioned a bottle of water out on the course at around 4.5 miles out.  I was doing an out and back so I would be able to refill my bottle at 4.5 and around 13.  But it was so humid I ran myself into serious dehydration in that middle 8 miles.  By the time I got back to my bottle I had the chills and was feeling classic dehydration symptoms.  I got some water in me but the last 4.5 miles were rough.  My legs were sore for a couple days.  Good thing I have a down week this week.  Combination of running on spent legs and running myself out of water.  Made my way to the hammock and did some napping and reading after that.  It’s cooling off now.  We’re sliding into autumn and then fall.  Buddy, the old wonder dog, was miserable in the heat and humidity, but now that it’s cooling and drying off he has come back to life.  I ‘ve been referring to it as ‘the quickening’.  … I’ll tell you a funny story from last week.  Friday morning I was open with my first call at noon.  I got up early did some work and decided to knock off my workout mid-morning so I could drive down to the Cape in the afternoon.  I had a hill workout that would take me around an hour and I planned to get back around 11:00 so I could clean up and be on the call at noon. I got out and hit my hill workout.  It wasn’t too hot, but hot enough to work up the sweat engine.  I got back to the house, stripped off my wet clothes and was about to jump into the shower.  My phone starts ringing in my office.  I run to check the number and it’s the company I’m supposed to have a call with at noon.  So I pick it up.  My contact says, “We’re all on the phone waiting for you.” I say, “I thought the call was at noon?” He says, “We rescheduled it.” I say, “Ummm…OK, I’ll dial in.” So there I am 5 minutes late for an important call, buck naked, sweating like a fountain.  So, I picked up the phone and dialed into the call.  Good thing it wasn’t a video call.  Go ahead.  Hold that picture in your head for the next time you talk to me on the phone! 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 – Getting past a bad workout - Voices of reason – the conversation Bob Dunfey – RD Maine Marathon Updates from Maine Marathon   |    MARATHON, HALF MARATHON, RELAY | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2017 AT 7:45 AM | PORTLAND, MAINE       7 Weeks to Race Day! We don't want to scare you, we know it's still summer, but race day is creeping up on us! There's still plenty of time to get your training miles in though, maybe with some of our new race ambassadors?   2017 Gorham Savings Bank Maine Marathon Race Ambassadors We were so impressed by everyone who applied to be a race ambassador this year, it was hard to narrow it down! But narrow it down we did and we're very pleased to introduce our first class of race ambassadors: Jennifer Boudreau Half-marathon | Gardiner, ME | |  |  |  Julia Clukey Half-marathon | Portland, ME |  Nathan Ferrell Relay | Falmouth, ME |  |  |  Shelby Kaplan Marathon | Portland, ME |  |  Jon Meneally Marathon | Sabattus, ME |  Chelsea Peterson Marathon |  Portland, ME |  |  |  You'll see them out training this fall in their Maine Marathon training shirts, leading training runs, and talking about how their preparations for October 1 are going on social media. All six Race Ambassadors are excited to share what they love about this event and how they can share that with you, so make sure to follow them for updates. For more details on this great group, visit the  !   A Sneak Peek at the Medal And all you have to do is cross the finish line....   We're on Instagram! We're expanding across the social sphere... Follow us, heart us, share us, retweet and regram us, let us know what you like! Tag your posts with #mainemarathon and #mymainemarathon so we can find you too!   Training Shirts Now Available! Have you seen the new Maine Marathon training shirts? If you visited the Maine Track Club/Maine Marathon table at the Beach to Beacon expo, you probably did, but if not, feast your eyes. Lightweight and moisture-wicking, these will keep up with you on your long runs and let everyone know what you're training for. Available now for $15 (includes postage) on  .    Run With Us On October 1, 2017!           Thank you to our sponsors—we couldn’t do it without you! … Section two – In Praise of the Grateful Dead  - Outro Ok my friends you have run along the rocky sea shore to the end of episode 4-372 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Nice work.  Here we are slipping into fall.  You all will be tapering into your big fall races now, right?  Good luck.  Stay healthy.  We had a full on solar eclipse this week in the US and parts of the UK.  It was nice to see people focusing on the wonders of science for a couple hours.  I’m going to run the Wapack Trail Race on September 3rd if anyone is interested in coming up for it. The full race is a super technical 18 mile mountain race.  You could run it as a 2-person relay if you want. It’s a hard course but very pretty, very New England and very special.  I’ll have to download 2 Grateful Dead concerts for it because if I’m lucky I’ll break 4 hours. Then The next thing for me is the Maine Marathon.  I don’t feel like I’m in the best marathon shape but we’ll see what happens over the next 4-5 weeks.  You never know.  I’ve been working on eating clean and losing some weight this week.  Somehow, I crept back up over 180 since June.  I’d like to work my way down closer to 170 for race weight.  I have a predisposition towards chubbiness and my body is very efficient so even with my running volume it doesn’t’ take much for some extra weight to creep on around the middle. Similarly, I can take it off quickly by adjusting my calories a bit and eating clean. If I didn’t work out so much it would be a horror show.  I’d have to learn how to live on 1500 calories a day.  … I stumbled across a conversation this morning.  Someone was asking how to find balance.  A respondent suggested that they use a model called the ‘seven elements of wellness’.  I traced this model back to the .  It’s basically a set of advice for students on how to not get overwhelmed.  Similar to other models that segment your life into the different aspects or gardens.  The trick is how to give each garden enough water to thrive while not over attending any one aspect.  That’s the trick to a balanced approach to life, tactically, daily, is to devote a certain amount of your energy to each of these segments.  The balance will flow and flux over time but you need to pull up to a high enough level and consciously allocate time to each important segment each day.  Otherwise you get sucked into one aspect, like work or religion and you lose your humanity in the process. And that’s no good. I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-371 – Arnar and the future of endurance sportswear  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4371.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends.  How are you?  How’s your summer going?  Welcome to our little endurance sports podcast that we’ve been doing for more than a decade, welcome in fact to episode 4-371.  We have a good show for you today.  I’m quite satisfied with this one.  Good content.  Good writing.  Good audio.  As they say “Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.” Today we have an interview with Arnar from Tymewear.  I’ve been advising Arnar on his start up. Hopefully I’m doing more good than harm. I went in to see him this week.  He’s working out of seaport area of Boston.  There’s a lot going on down there.  That’s the place GE is building its new HQ. Since I was in there I recorded the interview in this show.  Interesting stuff. In section one I have a useful instructional piece on smoothies! Yes smoothies! In Section two I have finally wrote down a story that has been bouncing around in my head for a good 5+ years.  Working with Arnar finally shook it loose.  As you know I’m a big science fiction fan.  I was able to combine Science Fiction and running into a story!  How about that?  And no zombies required. Nothing unusual to report on the training front.  Last week was a down week and I’m ramping it back up this week.  Still have to go out tonight and do a hill workout when it cools down a little.  I had to sleep in a bit this morning.  I’ve had some sort of allergy or cold this week.  I noticed my HR was high on Tuesday when I did my morning 10 mile trail run. I gave blood on Wednesday and I’ve figured out how to pass all the hurdles.  I mentally raise my heart rate up into the 50’s by thinking about fighting and sprinting and finishing a race etc. – and that gets me by the low heart rate constraint.  Then I took a tip from one of my running buddies and pounded water all day going in so I would be dehydrated and sure enough the blood came squirting out!  No problems.  I managed to get down to my house on the Cape and spend a couple days cleaning.  I did ride my bike over to the ocean and go for a snorkel.  Got some sun.  … My tomatoes are coming in but the real bounty is in the wild black raspberries outside my garden.  There are so many they are falling ripe to the ground.  I go out every couple days and pick a quart or so but I have to tamp down my compulsion to pick all the ripe berries because I would be out all day. I told Teresa that we are disturbing the natural ecosystem by pillaging all the wild black berries.  Those berries want to be eaten by wild animals who then spread the berry seed with a bit of fertilizer throughout the neighborhood.  I told her if we eat the berries that only way we can save nature is to poop in the woods.  She and I were all set to climb Mt. Washington last weekend but when I checked the weather it said it was 34 degrees Fahrenheit, 100% rain and hail with 40 mph winds on the mountain.  I’ve had my fair share of adventures but I told her that didn’t sound like something we should willfully walk into.  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. 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 – The Summer Smoothie Spectacular -   Voices of reason – the conversation Arnar Larusson TymeWear - There are a lot of products in the sports tech and wearables space, what led you to start working on the TymeWear solution?  What’s the origin story? I was developing prosthetics, orthotics, and exoskeletons before co-founding Tyme Wear. Those experiences taught me how valuable accurate insights about our body can be, and that the worlds of soft materials and smart electronics could be merged in a very interesting way. That through some innovation, we could create products that have technology that is transparent to the user, but that delivers real value towards improving our health, wellbeing and performance.   How is this different than my FitBit or Garmin Watch? Our product is a t-shirt. We wanted our technology to blend into the things an athlete would be wearing anyway. We collect physiological data that is as accurate as medical grade equipment. The more accurate the data, the more actionable and useful it becomes.   Why do I need this?  As an endurance athlete, why do I care? For any athlete that wants to improve, it helps a lot to know your current endurance limit, and what your potential is. We measure ventilatory threshold (VT) and VO2max. The VT is your current endurance limit, improving your endurance improves your VT. Your VO2max tells you how deep is your well, your potential. Knowing these two things informs exactly how hard to push, and helps you define and reach your goals. Talk through the difference between HR/ Respiration, effort, training zones., MaxVo2 Respiration is directly correlated to your effort level. It is also a measure of your physical limits, your VT and your VO2max. HR by comparison is a great relative measure of effort, but because it has so many compounding factors like stress, sleep quality, to name a couple, it can be very unreliable. Who is your target market?   We are for dedicated athletes that want to train to the limit of their ability, value accurate information on their workouts, but struggle with knowing where their limit is and how to train to it. Where do you want to be in 5 years? Working hard :) If you had to say what your mission is what would it be? To make our bodies accurate data available and actionable to anyone, anywhere. What have you learned so far in bringing this product to market? Working at the intersection of industries is rewarding but challenging. We work with apparel designers, electronics manufacturers, athletes, coaches and medical professionals. Each one has their own language and frame of reference. Our job is to be in the middle and make sense of it all. What kind of help do you need from our audience? We are looking for beta testers that are dedicated endurance athletes. Meaning anyone that goes out at least 3 times a week. We want people that are curious about knowing their current endurance limit. People that are skeptical about the current way of tracking performance. People that can help us learn and improve our product.   … Section two – Robo-Running  - Outro OK my friends, you have run in your high-technology smart garment to the end of episode 4-371 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I’ve got a few things lined up for you.  First is this guy I interviewed that is running a marathon in every national park in the US.  You may have seen him in that running magazine this month – they are always copying me.  I’m also trying to get the RD for the Portland Maine marathon on for a debrief.  I’m going to run the race on Oct 1st.  I’m in good enough shape, I need to tune up and lose a little weight, but I’ll race. Before that I’m going to run the full Wapack Trail Race again this year.  Which is an 18 mile technical mountain race that my club puts on.  I think we’re doing a relay this year if you want to come up and do one way, which would be 9 miles.  And, of course we are looking ahead to December 31st again this year for the Groton Marathon.  … I’m going to swear a bit in the next few paragraphs if you want to plug the kids’ ears.  I was talking with a friend of mine last week.  He was supposed to go on vacation but his wife got sick and I could tell he was mad about it.  He didn’t ask me for advice, but I gave it to him anyhow.  Very simple advice.  Don’t be an asshole.  We get all cranked up inside our own heads and start acting like we’re right and someone else is wrong.  It’s all ego.  We construct these stories of how we are long suffering and put upon.  I know I do it.  And then we lash out. Do you know what the other person sees?  They don’t see any of that stuff in your head.  They just see you lashing out.  You just look like an asshole.  My wife called me last night.  She wanted to know what I cooked for dinner.  I’m thinking to myself “What the hell? What am I your cook? I’ve got a cold.  I’ve got work to do. What have you done for me lately?”  Then I realized that she didn’t know any of that and it didn’t matter to her.  So I chose to not be an asshole.  I got some food from the market and cooked dinner. I was standing at the fish counter in the market down on Cape Cod.  There was a young couple there fighting over whether or not to buy mussels.  She wanted mussels.  He kept saying “Buy the mussels if you want” but he was really saying, “Mussels?  What are you stupid or crazy?  Why do I put up you’re your insufferable crap.  Mussels my eye.”:  When he finally wandered off and left her standing there, contemplating the mussels, I leaned in, smiled and said “Tell him to stop being an asshole.”:  That’s it.  Secret to life. Don’t be an asshole. Inside your own head.  Let it go.  I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-370 – Tim and the Anxiety of Running  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4370.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends, and welcome to episode 4-370, of the RunRunLive Podcast.  How are your summers going?  Manage to take some time off from work?  Spent some time walking on the beach with your family?  Good!  You have to know when to refresh yourself, right?  ‘sharpening the saw’ is what Steven Covey called it as one of his 7 Habits.  It’s also Ironman and Ultra season.  Congrats to all my friends who did IronMan Lake Placid last weekend.  Looks like they got good weather for it.  I see many of you are struggling with the summer heat.  I feel sorry for you, but we still haven’t gotten the bad summer heat yet.  We had a couple days with the humidity last week, but this week it’s been cool and beautiful, like spring weather.  I’ve been grinding away on my training.  I am fairly certain for an October marathon.  I put in a couple 40+ mile weeks since we last talked.  That’s on 4-5 days of running.  Coach had me do two hilly 1:30 runs both weeks on Tuesday and Wednesday.  A hill workout on Friday and a 2:15 long run on the weekend. I’ve been mixing them up between roads and trials just to stay strong.  Legs feel fine.  Some small aches and pains but nothing indicative of a problem.  My engine continues to be strong.  My heart rate is really strong in these runs.  The only thing I’m lacking is the big volume and the speed.  Interestingly I’m training without any fuel.  Just water.  2 hours is about what I consider my fuel threshold.  I’m strong right through these mid-distance runs with no fuel. That bodes well for my training capacity.  I got a great benefit from my 5 at 5 project in June.  I’m rolling out of bed early and getting these workouts in because the cadence just feels right.  I’d usually wait ‘til the afternoon or evening, but this is great to get them done and out of the way.  Today I’ve got the interview with Tim ‘JP’ Collins about anxiety.  I try to bring on guests that are interesting to you folks.  I had listened to Tim get interviewed a few times and really like his message.  I wanted to bring him on and delve, specifically into the dynamics of stress and anxiety around amateur In section one I’m going to talk about a revolution in data that is about to happen for training. I’m a technology geek and I think we’re on the verge of a whole new era in training data. In section two I’m going to talk about the concept of life-long learning.  Here’s an anxiety tip.  When you are out on your vacation, walking on the beach, I want you to select a small, smooth stone.  Something interesting.  About the size of a large coin.  Something you can put in your pocket.  This is going to be your comfort stone.  It’s a totem.  When you are reflecting on a time that you were at peace with the universe take out your comfort stone and play with it.  Roll it around in your hand.  Rub it.  Feel it.  Associate that peace of mind with your stone.    Now you can carry it with you into stressful situations in your pocket as a reminder of peaceful states.  You can have it with you on your desk for stressful phone calls.  It’s a nice, physical reminder that there is peace in this world and it is in your control. … I had a good run with my red raspberry bushes.  They kept me in smoothies and enlightened my oatmeal for a couple weeks.  But, they seem to have petered out now.  But, the black raspberry bushes, the ones that I did not plant.  The ones that I have been cutting back and fighting with for years, they are full of ripe berries. Let’s review.  The bushes I planted, cultivated, watered, tended and fertilized had some berries.  But, the weeds that I fought with my machete, that found their way on to uncultivated land, that compete with the other bushes and wildlife – those bushes are resplendent with bounty!   What’s the lesson?  Sometimes you have to give in to what fits in that environment and stop trying to control everything.  Enjoy the berries. 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. 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 – Chapter 9 from the Audible recording of MarathonBQ on what to bring to the track  - Voices of reason – the conversation Tim JP Collins  /  /  /  Podcast on  The Anxiety Podcast Tim JP Collins Bio: Tim JP Collins helps people overcome Anxiety to consider what is possible in their lives.  Tim's approach isn't just about coping, it's about moving past Anxiety and fear to live the life you were destined for. Tim worked in the corporate world as a Vice President of Sales for 15 years, so is well versed in the business space.  After following the traditional path of trying to fix his anxiety and failing, he started experimenting on himself, this created the drive for him to want to spread the message and his findings with the world. Tim is the creator & host of "The Anxiety Podcast"​ and is quickly becoming one of the leading experts when it comes to anxiety. Each week Tim interviews people that have stories that you will be able to relate to. The interviews are raw, real and vulnerable and people share what's really going on for them.  With close to a million downloads the podcast is quickly building a community of people looking for support, that are changing their lives. Tim has also written “The Anxiety Journal” a book designed to get people to reflect and redesign their lives one day at a time Tim believes that the more out of alignment we are in our lives, the more Anxiety & Stress will show up.  So he really looks at the bigger picture when working with people. Tim is also a sought after speaker on the topic of anxiety & stress and injects humor and authentic stories from his own life into his speaking. When Tim isn’t speaking on the podcast or on stage he works with companies running “Workplace Wellness Retreats” helping to reduce stress and build happier people and thus more productive workplaces. Tim has adopted a minimalist lifestyle and frequently travels with his young family.  Tim JP Collins Host of The Anxiety Podcast ~ Less Anxiety. More Life! Web:  Email: tim@timjpcollins.com Podcast:  Tel: 2508000722 Facebook:  Instagram: timjpcollins Twitter:  … Section two – Self-Learning for Life  -   Outro OK my friends, have scampered, scurried and anxiously run to the end of episode 4-370 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  You can relax now – you’re safe. Like I said I’m training for an October race.  Probably the Maine Marathon.  I’m going to interview the Race Director today and see if I can weasel a comp entry out of him!  I love old marathons.  I’ll probably run the Wapack Trail Race.  I might do it as a two-person relay with Teresa.  She and I are still planning to climb some mountains but she’s super busy with school so we’ve scaled back those expectations. I caught a big bunny in my varmint trap.  I didn’t eat it.   Let it go.  I was hoping to get the woodchuck.  This week the woodchuck forced the gate to my garden and set up shop.  Somewhere between Sunday and Wednesday that critter dug a den under a bed and ate everything.  I threw a bomb down his hole.   Haven’t seen him since.  Hope that doesn’t make the tomatoes taste funny. 

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-369 – Vybarr and the Muse of Running  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4369.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends, and welcome to episode 4-369, of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Rolling into July and the dog days of summer.  I don’t have any race reports for you this week, but I do have an excellent interview with Vybarr who wrote a book about running.  We have a great chat. I kicked the 5 at 5 project on July 1st!  So, I officially made it 32 days.  Now I’m playing around with some speedwork and getting ready to train for a fall race.  There are a couple I’m looking at.  Both reasonably flat.   My old Buddy Brian is back training again so we did a couple longish runs on the weekend. First one was out and about Groton with Frank.  Frank, Brian and I started marathon training together in the late 90’s! It’s cool to run with them.  Now that they’ve slowed down to my pace again.  Frank had that hip resurfacing that we talked about and Brian had a foot problem that caused him to take a year off.  We cranked out 14ish miles. This week, I met Brian and Ryan on the BayState course in Lowell and we did a loop around the river of another 14 miles.  It was hot, but we lucked out because they were having a triathlon in the river.  We got to refill our bottles a couple times.  We closed the last 1/3 of a mile pretty hard.  Felt good. My legs are in great shape and my aerobic fitness is good.  I just don’t have and leg speed. I bought a pair of Brooks Launch off the internet for $60.  They are lighter and less cushion than the Hokas.  It’s challenging to do speedwork in the Hoka Challengers because they are so squishy in the forefoot.  The launch are more responsive.  Takes a while to break them in and get comfortable after running in the Hokas for so long.  I ran to the local high school track the Wednesday after the fourth.  If you ever read any of my stories about track workouts – this is that track.  I have spent hundreds of miles there.  The old track was heavily used.  15 – 20 years ago I learned where every pot hole and puddle was.  I could run that  track in the dark.  A couple years ago they finally resurfaced it.  It was a nice new track.  Then I noticed it started getting cracks and grass was growing through it in places.  They called whoever installed it and made them do it again.  Now it’s a new, new track. Anyhow I was curious as to my leg speed after not having done any speedwork for a couple years.  I ran down there.  Now, in my mind I eyeballed the distance and it felt like 2 – 2.5 miles.  Of course it’s actually 3.5 miles from my house.  That’s a bit of a warm up.  When I got there, I loosened up, stretched out and did mile as hard as I felt I could.   My legs felt like cement.  I was really dragging them, no pop.  I managed somewhere in the 6:30 mile range.  Not horribly disappointing.  I think the next big landmark for me in my slow slide into decrepitude will be when I can’t run a 1600 in the pace I used to run a marathon at!  (My marathon PR is a 3:06:40 at Boston in 1998 – which is a 7:11 pace.)  Not to be discouraged, I went back down this week and did a set of 8 X 400 at an aggressive pace.  They came in around 1:35, which isn’t bad, it’s like a 6:15-6:20 pace, but what was encouraging is that I was able to feel that speed form.  Still not much pop, but good strength and form.  And I went back out Thursday in the rain and did a set of 800’s at tempo pace, coming in around a 6:50 pace. I think in 3 weeks of speedwork I could get most of my pop back.  Not super-useful for marathon training, but at this point I’m really just benchmarking speed with effort and heartrate before I start my next training cycle.  Coach hates when I do useless speedwork.  … Did you see the post I put up about the Chinese scientist who demonstrated quantum entanglement this week?  I’ll try to give you the summary. Forgive me, I’m not a physicist, but I have always liked particle physics for some reason.   This is the stuff that goes on sub-atomic or smaller than an atom.  Atom is a word that the Greeks made up because they theorized that if you took matter apart you’d eventually find the smallest building block.  From the Greeks up to the 20th century this was the atom.  Then smart mathematicians and physicists figured out that atoms where made up of smaller bits, and those smaller bits were made up of even smaller bits. “Turtles all the way down is the old joke about this, it’s called ‘infinite regression’. And the physics, the way these particles interact with each other gets stranger all the time.  In quantum entanglement two particles, in this case photons, which are particles of light, are behaviorally connected regardless of the distance that separates them.   Meaning that if you do something to one of the particles, it also happens instantaneously to the entangled particle, NO MATTER WHERE THAT OTHER PARTCLE IS. Einstein called this “Spooky action at a distance” and said it could not be true because it violates known quantum physics.  The cool part is the instantaneous part.  This means that something is travelling faster than the speed of light, which breaks all the rules.  So anyhow the Chinese measured quantum entanglement between two photons last week.  One on earth and the other in a satellite in space. The SciFi part of this is that if you consider the entanglement a form of information or data, you could say, as the journalists did, that they transported a photon to space.  Pretty cool huh?  There’s a lot we don’t know and some of it is cool. Oh yeah – In section one I am sticking in chapter 9 from my marathonBQ audio book.  I had this guy with a great Midwest voice record it for me in his studio.  This is the version that’s on audible.  This chapter is about what you need to bring with you if you’re going to be doing speedwork down at the track.  Was thinking about this topic when I was down at the track this week. In section two I’ll talk about dealing with uncertainty. 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. … 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 – Chapter 9 from the Audible recording of MarathonBQ on what to bring to the track  - Voices of reason – the conversation Vybarr Cregan-Reid VYBARR CREGAN-REID is a Reader in English and Environmental Humanities at the University of Kent. He has a popular blog, , and has written on and been interviewed about running in major publications all over the world. He has also written numerous articles and essays for academic journals and a book on Victorian culture, Discovering Gilgamesh. Running is not just a sport. It reconnects us to our bodies and the places in which we live, breaking down our increasingly structured and demanding lives. It allows us to feel the world beneath our feet, lifts the spirit, lets our minds out to play, and helps us to slip away from the demands of the modern world. When Vybarr Cregan-Reid set out to discover why running means so much to so many, he began a journey which would take him out to tread London’s cobbled streets, the boulevards of Paris, and down the crumbling alleyways of Ruskin’s Venice. Footnotes transports you to the deserted shorelines of Seattle, the giant redwood forests of California, and to the world’s most advanced running laboratories and research centers. Using debates in literature, philosophy, neuroscience, and biology, this book explores that simple human desire to run. Liberating and inspiring, Footnotes reminds us why feeling the earth beneath our feet is a necessary and healing part of our lives. "Here is a book in which the striding energy of the prose matches its subject."  ​— Iain Sinclair, author of American Smoke   "Wonderfully authoritative vindication of what ought to be a self-evident truth: that running should be about being alive, not being a consumer." — ​Richard Askwith, author of Running Free   "Insightful and intoxicating. Vybarr Cregan-Reid's book makes you take your shoes off and run through a world of ideas about nature." — Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves and A Certain Age   "Footnotes is a blazing achievement. It burns with restless energy as Cregan-Reid, alive, alert, wholly and gloriously present, sets out his manifesto that running makes us human" — Kate Norbury, author of The Fish Ladder … Section two – Uncertainty  -   Outro OK my friends, have read the collective works of end of episode 4-369 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Good for you.  Since we last talked I took Buddy down for his annual checkup and shots.  He’s healthy as he can be for an old man of 14 years old.   He loves the vet.  They give him food and say nice things to him. I told them he had gone totally deaf over the last 6 months. They said that’s normal and if it didn’t bother him, which it doesn’t, then there’s nothing to worry about.   It actually helps this time of year with the thunderstorms, fireworks and for some reason the coyotes being super vocal at night.  He’s also lost 7-8 pounds since last year.  A lot of it is muscle mass from getting older.  He also leaned up running with me most days in June during the 5 at 5 project.  I noticed the same thing in my own body.  You just lose muscle mass as you get older.  I think I’m going to run the Portland Maine marathon on Oct. 1st.  That’s a bit of a short training cycle for me but I’m in pretty good shape already.  If you want to come up it’s a flat marathon in southern Maine.  Plenty of places to stay and we’ll have some fun.  It’s been weird rainy and cool weather into July now.  My Raspberries are coming in.  I get about a pint a day – even after the birds take their share.  With all the rain I’m having a mold issue.  My tomatoes are going gang busters.  We’ll see if they fruit out well.  Need some hot weather for that.  … Had a bit of a long week this week.  We had lost a young family member in my wife’s family.  Same age as my kids. It’s always a tragedy when we lose the young.  Makes you think.  Rightly or wrongly it makes you reflect on your own life and your own family and the fragility of this life. Folks, hold those you love tightly.  Don’t waste time on petty things.  Forget slights real and imagined.  Reach out and hold the people who need you.  Right now, today, you can do one thing.  You can turn on your love light and let it shine. I’ll see you out there. And thank you for being my friend.    MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-368 – Julia and the Endurance Epiphany  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4368.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends, and welcome to episode 4-368 the new summer, of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Happy 4th of July to all my patriotic American friends.  Today we have a chat with Julia who has a great story.  She had that moment in her life where she almost lost everything that led her to endurance sports.  We get some many of these stories and it makes me wonder why people seem to need to get knocked up side of the head to make big changes in their lives?  Maybe it’s just that we need to be shown that anything is possible.  I’m dropping this show on June 30th.  I am finishing up my 30-day 5 at 5 project where I simply got up and ran 5 miles at 5 AM every morning in the woods. I’ll give you my report out on that in one of the sections. How are you doing?  If you’re an ultra-marathoner you’re in the thick of your summer racing season.  Likewise if you’re a triathlete or a biker you may be racing or training for a late summer race. If you’re one of those crazy marathon runners you probably need to start getting serious about your training plans for a fall race.  Such is the cycle of our lives. I do love this time of year.  I know many of you in Europe and in the great sun-beaten swaths of the Western US and in the densely humid jungles of the southern US, have been having some hot, hot, hot weather.  But I, up here in New England have had a mild start to summer.   We’ve had lots of rain and cooler temps.  The plants are happy and the little animals are thriving.  Buddy the old wonder dog ran my 5 at 5 project with me. I took him for a first loop and then went out again to get my miles.  That seems to be a good fit for him and he loves the cooler weather.  How are your gardens doing?  Mine was slow to get started due to the cool entrance of summer, but now my tomatoes, squash and cucumbers are coming on.  My beans didn’t come up, but I was using seeds from 3-4 years ago, so no surprise really.  My berries are starting to come in and I am going to have a boatload of berries.  Like I told you before I’ve got a bevy of apples on my trees as well so we might get some apples this year.  How about you?  How’s your running? Your Swimming? Your biking? Your gardening? What’s your next big race? … I watched a couple new movies since we last talked.  The first one was John Wick 2, which I thought would be just another terrible action movie.  I had low expectations.  But it was good, for an action movie.  They could have mailed it in and just done the typical guy with guns and cars Van Dame, Schwarzenegger, Stalone movie.  But they did more.  They put in this Noir affectation that made the character less cartoonish and more likable.  They did this thing with the fight scenes that included a lot of judo which was interesting.   Not wire fighting like the Matrix or Bruce Lee type, but Olympic wrestling type moves. And of course, lots of car crashes, explosions a high body count.  The other movie I watched was .  This is a sort of bio pic with Brian Cranston of Breaking Bad fame playing Dalton Trumbo.  I’ll give you a quick plot summary.  Trumbo was one of the most famous, richest screen writes in Hollywood in 1947, but he also was a member of the Communist Party, which wasn’t a bad thing in 1944 when we were friends with Stalin, but was a very bad thing in 1947, as the beginning of the cold war kicked off a red scare.  Some wankers in the congress decided Hollywood was being run by communists and they were 5th columnist set on infecting the population with their commie ideas.  They proceeded to create this extra-legal body called the House UnAmerican Activities committee, with subpoena power to weed out the commies. Now, technically, the constitution says we can believe in anything we want and the government can go suck it.  But, in times of hysteria, power hungry politicians always find some boogieman to whip up that allows them to set those rules aside.  The committee subpoenaed 10, mostly screen writers, who became known as ‘the Hollywood 10’ to question.  These guys thinking they had rights decided to not answer the questions, and the times being what they were, they went to jail for a couple years for contempt or obstruction or something.  Trumbo was one of those. Meanwhile, at the start of this, Hollywood banded together and tried to turn the tide and tell middle America how ridiculous all this witch hunting was.  They totally over estimated their star power and totally misread the sentiment of working class Americans.  Joe-sixpack didn’t have any love for these lefty, pinko, coastal elitists and wanted the commies weeded out! Thus started the blacklist.  The studio heads were basically arm twisted into committing to not employ anyone who was on the blacklist.  The blacklist did what it was intended to and put people out of work and ruined or even ended their lives. There is a great series that goes through this in detail that I would highly recommend you listen to before watching Trumbo.  It’s on the “” podcast by Karina Longworth.  She did a whole season on the blacklist.  I won’t belabor the politics in Trumbo.  Sometimes when you look back on the blacklist people are incredulous that this happened.  It did.  These guys were actually communists, but mostly armchair communists not Stalinist.  There was a fair amount of anti-Semitism in this as well. It’s a good move and knowing the history of the era makes it a better movie.  Cranston is great.  The thing I really took away from it, more than the political parallels, was how Trumbo just kept working.  They took his job and made him persona non grata, but he just kept writing.  He did what he was good at and eventually Hollywood came back around.  He won two Oscars for screenplays that were attributed to other writers, in one case a made up name.  That’s the lesson here for me.  Just keep your fire burning.  Keep using your gift. Keep doing what you’re good at and the rest doesn’t really matter, does it? On with the show! … I’ll remind you that the RunRunLive podcast is ad free and listener supported.  What does that mean? It means you don’t have to listen to 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 – Long Run Pacing in a marathon plan - Voices of reason – the conversation Julia Khvasechko, LMT Hi Chris  I don't have a blog I'm too busy living my life I'll give you some background  A bit about me I have run 183 marathons in all 50 states twice and am half way thru round 3 I'm working on the continent, sept is AUS, aka continent #4 I completed Four 100 milers so far and many races of varying distances in between  All of this is remarkable to me since I only started running 12 years ago But it gets better, 19 years ago I was on deaths door with an inoperable brain tumor  Also I used to work in finance but switched careers to do what I love  Empower other runners & helping them feel good in their bodies  I pace races all over the country and own my own business, I'm a RYT, LMT, Running coach & am living the dream Also through running I found the love of my life & got married on my course of my 50th state  There are a few articles out there about me My best  Chris, Many thanks for the book, I can't wait to read it I am so very impressed I would also love to hear the finished product, kindly send it to me. i am deathly shy and marathons gives me an opportunity to be social I love pacing races and talking to people about running and one on one i'm okay but having to give a speech in front of an audience is too scary for me to even think about. again, i'm so very honored to have been chose to be a guest on your show. thank you for allowing me to share my story.  if i can inspire one person, one person to push their limits and leave their comfort zone, then I have done my job.   I read somewhere once that you life should have meaning; so I want to become an inspiration to others so they can try to do more and become more than they are today.  the most powerful weapon is the human soul on fire.  and if you fire up people to run more, to run faster, to do more, then you are the true inspiration.  thank you for your time and i look forward to reading your book. my best, Julia … Section two – 5 at 5 - Outro OK my friends, have you been proposed to and married during this marathon of episode 4-368 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Things are cooking. I’m busy. I’m working on a bunch of cool stuff.  One of the startups I’m working with in Boston is this smart garment company I told you about last time.  They are going into a testing phase before they launch and are looking for runners so if you’re local and want to try some new tech and you’re training for a fall race let me know and I can introduce you.  Even if you’re not local and you want to learn more I can introduce you for future stuff as they roll it out.  Yeah, I don’t know what I’m doing for a fall target race.  I think I’ll look for a Maine race in October or November.  Maybe I’ll target MDI, I know Gary Allen, we’ve interviewed him at least twice, he’s the race director, I’ve always wanted to run that race and I need a Maine race.  I’m toying with doing a version of my own MarathonBQ plan to see if I can get some speed back.  I’d have to modify it to have less volume, more cross training and more recovery days.  I’d never survive it as written.  Not sue how Buddy is going to react now that we’re finishing up the 5 at 5.  He may revolt.  He’ll be waking me up at 5 in the morning and demanding to hit the trails!  There are worse things.  Next week I’ve got a couple interviews lined up.  I’ve got an Irish author who’s book I’m reading, sort of a literary mashup of and .   (Editorial note: When I throw out authors or movies or other factoids like that I usually provide a link to an explanation of just what the fine day I’m talking about in the show notes and the accompanying blog post) I’m also talking with Tim the anxiety guy.  We’ll getone of those up for the next show or maybe I’ll pull Arnar from the smart garment company in to talk about robo-running. I curated two old episodes up onto the members feed.  Consider being a member, it keeps the lights on over here at the RunRunLive HQ.   It’s fun for me to go back and listen to myself and what I was doing 5 or 6 years ago.  By the way, this episode is more than likely the 10 year anniversary of RunRunLive as a podcast. How about that?  Here we are.  Who would have thought it was possible?  Over a million downloads later.  Don’t be a stranger.  Reach out and say ‘hi’.  I’m entirely approachable but not so terribly interesting in person.  It’s funny how time moves around us and floats us and sometimes sinks us.  Makes you think about what you are doing today and how it will change the flow of time for your tomorrows.  One of my more philosophical answers that frustrates my business partners is that I don’t know what the outcome is, but I can tell you that I’m doing the things today that will put me in a position to change those outcomes.  And that’s the message for you.  You can’t get off your raft that is being pushed along in the river of time.  You can’t change the past.  You can’t change the future.  You can only choose what you do with your great personal fire, your gift today.  And that can be enough to not only change your life but also change the lives of others.  It’s not set.  You can do whatever you want. You just have to decide to do it.  Today I choose to talk to you.  About running.  And thinking.  And experimenting with the fabric of the universe in my small dusty corner of it. I’ll see you out there.   MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-365 – Steve Hailstone – Heart Attack  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4365.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends, this is Chris, your host, and welcome to episode 4-365 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we chat with our friend Steve Hailstone about his experience as a runner having a heart attack.  I wanted to get Steve on and talk through his experience because I thought we might be able to save some lives.  Seriously.  It’s well known that we endurance athletes think that we are indestructible.  This is not the case.  We are typically healthier and fitter over the long arc of our lives but we are still susceptible to the same risks everyone else is, including heart disease.  In section one I talk about how it’s not that much of a leap to go from a marathon to an ultra and give you some thoughts on how to do that.  In section two I talk about how we get into and out of mental slumps.  One of the things about mental slumps, whether you are religious or not, is the concept of will.  You have free will.  You are free to think what you want.  With the free will comes the responsibility to know what it is that you are going to do with that free will.  You’ve been invested with this great gift.  It’s up to you to Use it. It’s been a couple weeks since we last talked.  I believe I was headed into Groton Road Race Weekend last time we talked.  We got a beautiful spring day.  The races went off without a hitch.  Since I was not race director this year I had the choice of either running in the morning at 6:00 AM with the race director’s cut of the race (that I invented 10 years ago!) or actually running the race itself.  The 10k goes off in the early afternoon.  I couldn’t really decide.  Then I had a brain storm that I would just run both!  Of course when I told the other folks in the club this they all rolled their eyes and told me they knew I was going to do both all along.  Since we opted to hold the race on the 30th we were a week or so later in the spring.  It really made a difference.  The course was beautiful.  That extra week allowed the course to green up just enough.  Groton is a really pretty town. Coming out of a strong spring cycle and not really going hard at Boston I was able to perform well in both of my 10K’s.  Maybe I’ll invent a new thing – the Groton Double.  Still I was a bit beat up after doing all that manual work setting up the race and racing twice over the weekend.  Monday I felt a bit like I should have more naps in my life.  I’m a white collar worker and it made me consider that I’m getting soft.  I need more general labor in my life.  After Groton, I wanted to start in with the mountain climbing plan that Teresa and I came up with.  Unfortunately, I didn’t calculate that you can’t really get into the White Mountains of New Hampshire until June.  You can get into them, but only if you’re going to be skiing!  Washington still has 30 feet of snow in Tuckerman’s ravine!  It’s a very dangerous time to hike.  I’ve just been doing a lot of trail running and trying to stay fit.  I’ve been taking Teresa out with me when I can and we signed up for a race this weekend in CT that I will talk more about in the outro.  … One of the books I’m reading is “The Magic of Thinking Big!” By David Swartz.  This is a classic breathless self-help book from 1959.  It’s great.  It’s full of all the old-timey storytelling and phraseology of the era.  It’s basically a self-authored book from this guy’s speeches and programs that went viral in those days.  One of the quaint things he talks about is people who are suffering from ‘excusitis’.  Everyone has an excuse as to why they can’t be successful or live the life they want.  They are too old, or too young, or under-educated, or inexperienced.  He calls this excusitis! He talks about how that’s all in your head and how to flip it over and make those excuses strengths.  He talks about what I would call ‘feeding the good dog’ – meaning reinforcing those positive thoughts so your subconscious acts on them.  I also read through a series of early excerpts on government.  You might wonder why.  One of my daughters was recycling some text books and one of them was “The Great Works” a bit of a survey on great writing.  I rescued it.  (I always have 3-4 books going at a time) I read Aristotle on why government is not what we want but a natural emergence of a bargain to trade independence for security.  I read Thomas Hobbes on the natural rights of man, written in the 1600’s, and then the Declaration of Independence that cribs heavily from that with its rights to ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Of course, they never meant total equality.  They meant political equality.  To get to total equality you’d have to force everyone to a middle state by hobbling the exceptional and lifting the less exceptional and this would bring civilization to a grinding halt.  That’s the dynamic we still work with today.  Where do we draw that line between independence and equality?  I also read a piece by Alexis de Tocqueville on how Americans are never happy with what they have.  That is true.  It’s our strength and our weakness. As I get older I am getting better at being happy with what I have.  Even in stressful times I’m quite content.  I picked up an old notebook and found that I had been listing things that I was grateful for as an exercise.  The first entry read, Friends and mentors Books Sweat My Daughters My old dog Buddy We’ve all got a lot to think about.  But we’ve all got a lot to be grateful for.  Feed the good dog – Fertilize the positive.  What are five things that you are grateful for today? 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 – Stepping up to a 50K from a marathon Voices of reason – the conversation Steve Hailstone Husband and father of 3. US Air Force veteran. California native transplanted in Pennsylvania. Reconnected with running in 2012. Heart attack survivor since early 2016. Seeking to understand Insulin Resistance as related to heart disease. Recently adopted Maffetone Method of running to ensure healthy retraining of heart. Section two – Getting out of a mental slump Outro Ok my friends, you have stumbled, clutching your chest, through to the end of episode 4-365 of the RunRunLive Podcast. You may have noticed that this episode was a week late.  I apologize.  I’m working with a startup out of California now and my time to write and produce has been significantly impinged.  I’m not traveling as much, but, paradoxically that means less writing.  Planes were always my quiet space.  I may have to take a vacation from the podcast this summer, maybe just drop some ancient podcasts from the past on to the feed for a few months while I get some breathing room. Teresa and I are heading down to Connecticut tomorrow to run a trail race.  She’s going to do her first trail race and her first ½ marathon distance.  I’m going to attempt the 50K.  I don’t have a CT marathon yet and I was a bit at loose ends so I jumped on this.  We’ll see how it goes.  Although the New England weather made its traditional leap from 50 to 95 in one day this week, it’s only going to be in the 70’s tomorrow.  It looks like a nice 10K loop course with some technical bits and a lot of elevation.  I’m just planning to hike it.  Would be thrilled to get in under 7 hours.  It will be my first 50K.  I’m thinking about taking a step back from racing and training this summer.  I’m leaning towards doing a 30 day program of just running 5 miles in the woods every morning for breakfast.  I think it would be a nice challenge and give me some more free time to boot. I carted my old motorcycle out to the Honda fix-er-up place this week.  Had to roll it into the back of my truck and strap it in – which was a bit dicey.  I made the service managers day dragging in a 33 year old motorcycle – seriously, they were excited to work on it.  Here’s the commercial from 1983, pretty cool huh? … So my friends, as we roll into the dog days of summer. What are your plans?  What great mountains are you going to climb?  What fabled beasts are you going to slay?  What frozen hearts are you going to melt?  Think about it.  Send me an audio.  I’ll play it if it isn’t too horrible.  I had some Silicon Valley type ask me in a meeting “If you had all the money in the world, what would you do?”  Not sure what that self-important prick, sorry did I say that out loud? I’m not sure what my west coast brother was looking to elucidate, but my answer was that I’d drop everything and run across the country.  But, I’d like to add to that answer.  I’d drop everything and grab a bunch of my friends and run across the country! That includes you. Meet me out back at the Winnebago and we’ll get started. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-361 – Zelus Craft Beer for Endurance  (Audio: link) [audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4361.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello my friends and welcome to Episode 4-361 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Chris here.  I’m testing out a new recording space.  It’s got a lot of hard surfaces so it might be a tad echo-ey.  I’ll hang up a couple quilts and see if that softens it up.  We call them quilts now, but didn’t they used to be called tapestries?  Anyway – today we have an interesting interview with Geoff from Zelus beer who I reached out to because they are apparently targeting endurance athletes. I always wondered about the connection between beer and running – and it being St. Paddy’s Day today and all…it seems appropriate. In section one I’m going to dust off an old post I wrote on trail running.  Why?  Because I’ve had a rash of spam posts on my web site and all of them were in the comments of this trail running post so I took it as a sign.  In Section two I’ll share a post on Grit that I wrote a couple weeks back.  It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.  My training has been deep into the dark place and the weather hasn’t been cooperating.  It’s been cold on the weekends for my long runs and coach has been kicking the crap out of me.  For example he’s given me a couple mid-week 12-14 mile tempo runs that were crazy hard outside in the freezing cold.  Basically 3 hard workouts a week.  I did a 14 mile run with 10 at tempo two Sunday’s ago and it was 10 degrees out with a 14 mph wind.  I did another interval workout one night where I got all the weather in one workout – Freezing rain, wind, cold and blowing snow – all in the same hour. Last Sunday I did 2:45 long run with an hour of it at tempo, again in the teens with a wind.  It’s hard to get mentally geared up for these hard workouts when you’ve got the weather piling on.  But it’s ok. These are the workouts that make you stronger.  They make you mentally stronger and physically stronger. One of the things that Angela Duckworth talks about in the book Grit is the question “How do you get more Grit?”  and “Can you learn to be Gritty?”  And it turns out the answer is yes.  The science, the studies show that the way to learn how to do hard things is by practicing doing hard things.  I know that’s always been true for me.  I know running has always been that hard thing for many of us.  You learn how to do hard things by doing hard things.  That’s it.  Do something hard.  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 – Trails 101 - Voices of reason – the conversation Geoffrey Pedder – Zelus Beer Here is a bio for me (Geoffrey Pedder): Geoffrey founded ZēLUS in January 2015 after teaching himself how to brew beer the previous year. Since that time he has completed a brewing courses in California, Massachusetts and Vermont. Geoffrey either runs, bikes or swims almost daily and has competed in a multitude of running races and triathlons over many different distances, including marathons and half ironmans. Before starting ZēLUS Geoffrey worked in the shoe industry for 12 years, where he was primarily a brand builder and product developer. He also had corporate roles in production, financial analysis and marketing. Geoffrey is originally from the UK and has experience of working in a number of international markets. Here are a few links (sorry, there are a lot, the key ones are the website and Facebook I guess): Website:  Stockists:  Facebook:  Twitter:  Instagram:  Untappd:  Cheers, Geoff. Section two Grit, Practice and Flow -   Outro OK, my long suffering friends, Since it is St. Paddy’s Day maybe you have sipped a nice local craft IPA along to the finish of Episode 4-361 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  I told you I have not been racing this spring just hitting that training that the coach has been throwing over the wall.  Boston is the second Monday in April and we’ll see what that brings! The interesting thing is that I have been hitting paces on these tempo runs that I haven’t seen since 2011.  Let me back up for those of you who might not have been listening to this podcast for 10 years…After the marathon in 2011 I pulled up lame with a terrible case of plantar fasciitis that I just could not shake and I basically stopped running for 18 months.  I did a lot of biking and swimming but I stopped marathon racing almost entirely. I was just starting to train again in 2013 and we had a challenging year. Some yahoos decided to blow up the marathon and my Dad died of cancer and to be honest it knocked me sideways a bit.  So, I did this Forrest Gump routine where I ran a marathon a month from the Boston Marathon 2013 to the Boston Marathon 2014, including Marine Corp and New York and one I just made up myself.  I think I may have overshot a bit because the following season I came down with this heart problem called exercise induced AFIB.  That laid me low for another year until I went in and got it fixed in the spring of 2015.  Then, being the stubborn guy that I am, I started training again.  But, I had lost a solid 30 seconds a mile off my marathon times to all this foolishness and trials and tribulations.  I settled into a new normal and kept having adventures.  Now you’re up to speed.  So here we are.  2017.  Training for my 19th Boston Marathon.  Guess what?  I’m seeing paces that have seem to indicate that I’ve managed to get back 15 seconds of that 30 seconds I lost.  I was on the treadmill this week doing a 11 mile step up run and my zone 4 pace was 7:08 – 7:18 towards the end of that run.  It looks like I have my base back, my aerobic fitness or, in layman’s terms, my engine.  I’ve gotten a bit of the pace back.  I don’t have any real speed but I do have some solid tempo paces.  So as you raise your green tinted Guinness tonight think about saying a short prayer for me.  Pray for good weather on Patriot’s Day.  Pray that I’ll be graced with the common sense not to attack the course like I did last year.  Pray that I will find the courage to close those last 6 awful miles to Bolyston street.  You’d think that after all these years it would cease to scare me.  But the thought of racing Boston still fills me with an awful dread because I know what it is capable of and I’ve been beaten more times then I have won.  But, also pause to think about the Grit you need to have to hang in and keep pushing through 5 years of challenge.  Listen, I do this because I need to do it. It’s my passion in the true Latin sense.  There is nothing that can beat you unless you let it beat you.  All it takes is grit. I was down in Dallas last week.  I came back from my early morning run and was getting some coffee in the hotel breakfast buffet.  It was just me, one other lady guest and the lady working the buffet.  You know, one of those self-serve areas. The other lady guest stops the server who was going about her business, cleaning and checking, etc – and I’m thinking, “Whoop, here we go, she’s going to whine about the waffles being too salty or something…”, but no.  She stops the server and says, with a big smile, “I just wanted to let you know how great a job you folks are doing with this breakfast.  It is the best I’ve ever seen.  I just had to let you know how great a job you’re doing…” And that Server walked away with the biggest smile.  Ear to ear.  Don’t be stingy with your gifts.  You can make a difference.  And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -