2 Grown Men And Their Quest For Their 5th Subscriber

Last week, Von and I did our first ever podcast (technically it's a "vodcast" I believe) for Lift Heavy Run Long. I had SO much fun with it that I could hardly stand it. To be honest, our first episode was really rather sh*tty. The sound was bad, we both look like we are waiting for someone to flip the switch on our electric chairs, and we were totally winging it with our content, but that did not do anything but excite me all the more. It reminds a lot of the benefits of coming into the fitness world all fat and outta shape, smelling of beer sweats and chee-tos, versus coming from organized sports with an athletic background. When you are totally new at something, you can only go up from there. Fortunately, most of the time you don't even realize how bad you suck until you begin to suck at it less and you review your past suckiness. Your gains are quantifiable and all the newness and shininess just gets you all warm and fuzzy. The experienced athlete, while being far superior initially, will make gains, but not in the leaps and bounds that the newby will, before said newby ultimately plateaus at some point (unless he is a total freak and just never stops). I feel as if the lack of knowledge that Von and I have as it pertains to the technical side of videography is what makes this so damn fun. It certainly makes it funny. It would be one thing if we got together and reviewed topics, rehearsed lines and questions, and data sifted through the information that we were going to discuss, but we don't do any of that, like NONE. We press record and start shootin the sh*t. And I LOVE shootin the sh*t.

Last week we recorded an episode and when I reviewed it, I laughed hysterically. I laughed at the knowledge that the entire time I felt like I was going down in a fiery plane crash. I was so nervous that I thought I might black out. I told my brother that I felt like I was so petrified to look at the camera that I was turning my head away as if my mother were undressed behind the lense (don't look..don't look..don't look). There was also a tremendous amount of adrenaline that was to be had, and that was really fun. It is wild that all of these emotions were swirling around for a video that was ultimately going to be viewed by a handful of people. With all that we learned from week one, it was almost overwhelming to find out exactly how much there is to be learned. I mean putting together quality stuff takes a LOT of knowledge and TONS of experience. Since I don't like the work that goes into acquiring knowledge and I don't like waiting for experience, I did the next logical thing....I bought STUFF. If you can't bring knowledge and experience, at least bring some stuff to play with, so that is the direction we went. I got a mixer, a couple of mics, and a pair of stands. I don't know how to use any of it, but I got it. This is totally the standard in my life. Turns out that stuff is relatively affordable. It also turns out that we sound relatively affordable, or probably more like cheap. We certainly did not knock it out of the park on our second try, and I don't think we will be winning any people's choice awards any time soon, but there were a few improvements. Either way, I can't think of many times when I have laughed as intensely or as often as I have in the 2 short sessions that we have done this together. I love playing with social media so much, that it will be exciting to see if we can pick up a subscriber here or there, or grab an Instagram or Twitter follower. I love to see people come to our athletes Facebook page and interact with the group. I like to think that maybe we can help someone get a good wholesome laugh on an otherwise crappy day, or provide a little bit of hope to the person who is feeling run down. I believe that our motives are good, and we want good things for other people,

I got 2 turntables and a microphone....not really, but I have a mic and a bigmammy chair on wheels., and that's pretty cool.

 

Today I am filled with excitement and nerves. I'm a relatively high strung person anyways, but when I am looking forward to something I can be a bit much. Today Von and I are going to record LHRL's first podcast. Being that I am the stereotypical over-thinker, I have already thought about all of the things that can and will go wrong. I have already pictured us on a virtual stage where the whole world laughs and throws tomatoes at us, where people ask "why the hell would anyone give a sh*t what you have to say", all while holding torches and ready to run us outta town. Realistically, people will do all of those things (minus the tomatoes and torches...I hope), but that is the risk associated with doing it. The risk is why I MUST do it. The fear and the anxiety that I have about sitting down and recording myself tells me that there is a potential reward, and I must seek it. The reward that I am seeking is not fame, fortune, or recognition. The reward that I seek more intensely than any other is ADRENALINE. If there is adrenaline involved, I want to try it. Maybe only up to a certain point, but I do love adrenaline. There is a chance that we might record ourselves, I feel like an idiot and never do it again, but I hope not. I think this is a real opportunity to do something interesting. This is not a venture where either of us are looking for monetary gains, as we both have other interests which provide for our families on some level. The fact that neither of us are leaning on LHRL for anything other than fun and a degree of fulfillment is what makes it so much fun. Today, Von and I are just going to talk a little about ourselves, discuss how we stumbled into LHRL and the direction we see it going. There is really no telling what the hell we are going to talk about. We have no scripts, and don't have any plans to establish an outline. We are just going to press record and see what happens.

If I was to do my life over again, I think that I would be a sociology major. I would like to teach a sociology class so that I can talk to humans about human interaction while watching humans interact. I AM ABSOLUTELY FASCINATED WITH PEOPLE. I love meeting them, and I enjoy getting to know them on a personal level. I like to know what experiences individuals have lived through in order to make them what they are. I like to know what makes people tick. I like to know what gets people excited, pissed off, afraid, motivated, sad, miffed, and satisfied. This all sort of came about as I was sweeping parking lots a few weeks ago and I had been introduced to Alina Duran, the aspiring Olympic Hammer Thrower. I had just written an introduction for a bio that she had submitted to LHRL and I kept thinking about all of the questions that I wanted to ask her personally. I didn't want the standard, form letter, basic interview stuff. What I really wanted was to sit down, face-to-face, and really get to know her, and find out EXACTLY what it is that drives her to do what she does. I sent Von a message while in the middle of a vast parking lot at 10pm at night with a backpack blower still attached and running that said, "there is not a reason in the world that we are not sitting face to face with the area's most intriguing athletes and getting to know them better. We should have Scott Hollis stuffed in a van with his recording equipment and I should be hosing the Mad Dog and Thunderbird off of y'alls breath every morning as we travel long distances to interview the next interesting individual." I know, I am getting a little ahead of myself. It's runs in my blood. I get excited, and I get ahead of myself. If getting overly excited about life's offerings i...

September 14, 2015

STANKY CREEK 25K/50K 2015

Here we go again...

It’s 4am on Sunday morning September 13, 2015. The alarm goes off loudly. I fart louder. I open my eyes, and immediately blame it on the dog, my protest muffled by the sound of my still attached CPAP mask. After this, I perform the same ritual that I perform every morning that I get the chance. I slap Amanda on the ass and I say, “it’s gonna be a good day today, red!”. I played high school football for the Germantown Red Devils. Not a day went by (win, lose, or draw) that one of our coaches, Charlie White, would walk onto the practice field and loudly pronounce that statement: “It’s gonna be a good day today, red!”. I admire his positivity and enthusiasm. I try to make this part of my every morning. Do I always believe it? Absolutely not. Do I always do it? You bet your ass. I read a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that states, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”, and I believe it to be true. I go to get dressed and begin mentally preparing for the day. Amanda has to be at work at 7am, but wakes up with me to support me and wish me good luck. She requested the day off, but had no such luck. I start to gather the things on my list that I need to make sure come with me to Stanky Creek. The things on my list include pre-mixed Tailwind along with 6 individually wrapped ziplock containers with 200 calories each, 10 gu’s, 2 extra pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, 4 immodium, 2 extra shirts, 3 extra headbands, nipple covers, body glide, extra water, a towel, and salt stick pills. I will leave at 5am and arrive 1hour and 15 minutes early. My friend David Lomax? ….Arrives 10 minutes before the start and brings a water bottle. (I’m a worrier).

I arrive at Stanky Creek at about 5:45am for a 7am race. I want to have plenty of time to set up a tent and lawn chairs, and lay out my display of running “stuff”. The sun is not quite up when I see Von’s car pull in beside me with a girl I did not recognize. Upon nearing, I see IT’S AMANDA!!! It turns out that a co-worker had called the night before and volunteered to work for her. I was SO excited. My energy level was through the roof. It was most certainly going to be a good day, no question about it. Stanky consisted of 4 loops with each going through the parking lot, so I would be able to see her and the other supporters about every 7 miles, and this makes things MUCH easier. Last week Amanda, aka The Honeybadger, finished her first marathon. There was a cutoff time of 6hours and she reached the halfway point at 2:54,. The fact that she was able to maintain pace after 13.1 miles in temperatures that had become 20degrees hotter is a reminder that you can do anything if you are willing to push through the discomfort. On top of this, Amanda has done about zero conventional “marathon training”. She runs about 6 miles a week, and does CrossFit (where she suffers from Rhabdo, constant injury, and drinks the blood of all the new members) about 4 days a week. She has done some longer, slow runs with me of about 10-15 miles, but mostly just grinded this thing out on toughness and desire. With her there, the concern of not being able to finish was immediately removed from my mind. It is always fun to see the supporters and participants at these events. Everyone is so friendly and supportive that you cannot help but feel loved. We snap a few photos, and off we go.

The first loop was incredible. I am far from a fast runner, but my legs felt really good. I had taken 4 days off from running and CF, and it was the first time I had run without being sore from some form of training. I knew that I was going faster than Beefcake need to go, but what the hell. This was all about having fun, and that is what I was having. I was running with Cory Adams and Amber Huddle...