OnPace Podcast

Today Carrie Millerller and I welcome 1/6 of the Berens children to the latest On Pace Podcast as On Pace Run Coaching, LLC client Maggie Berens who was our guest in the second week of this series is back along with her brother, Charlie Berens.

I'll paraphrase the story as best I can: a few years back, Charlie and a buddy or two decided to throw one of his dad's old hunting jackets on Charlie and pay tribute to some characteristics of a hard core Wisconsinite.  They filmed a video, thought maybe a few people might get a kick out of the Manitowoc Minute and lo and beyond, a few years later he has over a million followers and is a household name around these parts.

Beyond being hilarious, Charlie's driven to give back.  One of the Manitowoc Minute's consistent charitable channels over time has been veterans and active military and with this weekend's final race in the Happy Space. Virtual Race Series, we travel to Dubuque, Iowa where we partake in Run4Troops. Started over a decade ago by the Hodge family, this race takes all profits and contributes them right back to those in the armed forces, last year generating over $50,000.

Whatever we collect this week will go to the VFW of Wisconsin and we appreciate the chance to Keep 'er Movin to our finish line with Charlie and Maggie today.

Welcome to another OnPace Podcast!

Today, Carrie Miller and I sit with Brandon and Callie Meisner, owners of the wellness company MOVE Fitness Studio. MOVE had opened their doors in November of 2018 and over the next 18 months had built a community that hit the nail right on the head.

Everything Brandon and Callie wanted to accomplish was happening and, in fact, through 15 hours days/nights, in March 2020 they were about to realize their first profitable month.

And then, stay-at-home, COVID, quarantine hit and their life and business was upside down.  So much so that on May 19, they had to say goodbye to their business and this particular dream and shut it down.

Callie and Brandon are tough cookies.  Hard workers.  Great athletes.  Relationship focused. And natural leaders.  This unfortunate turn of business events was some yucky lemons but they are going to make lemonade, maybe not today but in the future, as their attitude remains upbeat and their drive is unmistakable.

Welcome to another edition of the OnPace Podcast!

Tonight we welcome back John Mortimer of Millennium Running. When the Citizens Bank Shamrock Half and Relay was cancelled in mid March for their March 29 event, we were super bummed!  On Pace stars Sara Carter and Avi Kelley were set to lead the team and they were set to have quite the killer crew as we were prepared to embark on our second race in Manchester, NH.

Since then?  Millenium Running has gone straight up awesome trying to figure out new ways to engage their community and keep things moving.  From the beginning of CoVid until now, they have done just that.  John and his staff are extremely entrepreneurial and innovative in the running space and he shares some of the ways they have shifted gears with us tonight!

I neglected to mention in our podcast our charity partner for this week is Holly Blanchard and the team at Children's Hospital of Dartmouth.  I got to spend some time with Holly this morning and this dynamic woman will be joining us on Saturday at noon for the Zoom call.

See you then and THANKS, John and Millenium!

Welcome to On Pace's latest podcast with co-host Carrie Miller and our guests Jill Steffek and Mike Steffek.

As you'll find out in the cast, these two roadrunners became lovebirds after being introduced in 2012.  What started off as a potential coach-student relationship never really developed into that.  Instead a couple years later it was husband-and-wife and now it's their calling to be a kickin' Mom-and-Dad.

Along the way it did eventually turn into coach-student - shaving an hour off a PR in the process - but for us, very gratefully, they eventually put less burden on themselves and became OnPacers.

These two have paced the same races, independently paced and likely at some point will pace together.  And every time we see them, we find people who embody everything On Pace tries to respresent - we are so grateful to have them a part of our community!  The Steffeks reside in Appleton, Wisconsin, home to Dutrirun's 10 mile St. Patty's Day extravaganza and we are honored to hear some of their story and share it with you tonight.

#onpace #happypacehappyrace #happyspacevirtualrace

Tonight we welcome Prevea Health's, Mike Lamere to On Pace's latest podcast.  

In the spirit of this week's hometown (to On Pace) race the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon!  Beyond being an all around great guy, Mike brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the sport medicine world that is so fantastic for our community in Northeastern Wisconsin.  His past includes a five-year stint with the Chicago Cubbies and his knowledge brings him to all the major sporting events that have come to this area.

Since moving back to his hometown of Green Bay with his wife and two children in the early 2000's, the last two decades this time of year Mike has spent his time preparing the various teams for the Cellcom runners and all the different scenarios that might cross their path in a day.  In addition, Mike coordinates the Prevea Training Runs and works closely with Carrie Miller to ensure these Saturday's leading up to race day build community and confidence on the runner's path to meeting their goals.

#onpace #happypacehappyrace

Tonight we welcome Rick Wilson from Blue Raven Productions: Wisconsin Race Management to our On Pace Podcast.  Rick by day is the President of Pukall Lumber, one of the larger employers in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, but his passions lie in the energy of race day!

What started over a decade ago by getting involved with forming Tortoise and The Hare Timing has shifted over time to Blue Raven and event management.  Through stout negotiations with his wife, Rick is no longer managing so many timing gigs and down to managing five events a year including the No Frills Marathon held around Labor Day every Summer.

With our connection through the Happy Space. Virtual Race. Series to the Northern part of Wisconsin this weekend at Journeys Marathon 2019 Live Journeys Marathon, Powerwalk in Minocqua's neighboring town Eagle River, we had the chance to sit down with Rick and hear a little more about him, his companies and event management in the near future which - GASP! - it appears will NOT be affected by COVID and the race will go on!

Details on the social distancing, race day precautions, etc will be figured out by Rick and his crew but MARK YOUR CALENDAR for Paws on the Run 5k on June 20 if you want to bring your favorite puppy, tie up your shoes and toe the line!  Best of luck at Eagle River this weekend, On Pace, see you Saturday at the Zoom noon call!

#onpace

#happypacehappyrace

#happyspacevirtualrace

When Carrie Miller and I first met Maggie Berens, she was a 19-year old sophomore at St. Norbert College.  In a pre-OnPace life, Carrie and I both played college tennis and then for 16 years coached it and that's how we came to meet Maggie.

Mags didn't say too much for those first couple days of tryouts, minding her P's and Q's and working her tail off.  When I called her to tell her she made the team, she wanted to hang up on me so fast - like as soon as she heard the news - so she could call her Mom, Molly, and share that she was a Green Knight.  The woman is one of 12 kids - YES, 12 - and Mags love for her family and by her family is something Carrie and I always looked up to.

Anyway, she was a joy to work with for those three years on the tennis team.  If you ever see pics of our kids on here, it'll date how long ago it was as the little man in the team picture that Maria Ann is holding is not Miles, our youngest, but Aaron (our middle child, now 8.75 years) at about four months old.  Just to honor the entire 2011 team appropriately, Ariel, Nancy, Laura, Britty, etc are all pictured (TY, I'll tag them all after you post) - and it was one of our most fun teams ever.

So, why the Marge for this podcast?  So many reasons, really. First, Marge lives in Milwaukee!  Which is darn close to Kenosha, Wisconsin, home to the Wisconsin Marathon where we will all be "running" this weekend.  I asked Peg for some guidance on a local business that might be able to benefit from some help from OnPace given the CoVid situation we're in and she quickly came up with Chet Andrew Grant and Melissa Doring's business Nutrition Revolution.

Beyond that - and other than we tried to convince Peg to not leave Green Bay after she graduated in 2014 but rather stick around and help us as coaches - Maggie's energy is infectious.  About six months ago, Carrie told me, "You know who would be a great pacer?  Maggie Berens."

I kinda bristled a little!  If you listen to the podcast, you'll hear why.  At one point, I may have challenged Marge, who was bringing up the rear on a team two-mile warm up run, by saying she SOUNDED (not looked like) an overweight beagle.

With that still this many years later in my memory banks, I wondered how she would do with 13.1 miles.  Well, Carrie and OnPace Coaching took Maggie under their wings, and less than six months later, she is a half marathoner finishing the Milwaukee Marathon (virtually) in 2:13 last month.

She's got more racing to do and, eventually, pacing.  As we "travel" from city to city in this Series, we want to try and get as close to where we wish we were running as possible.  So, if you're up for a podcast, or know a business that needs a little boost in this tough time, send me a message.

We're all connected through running.  Sometimes, the path to connect wasn't originated by miles and miles on our Saucony's.  Sometimes, it was through Oshkosh, or in this case, yellow fuzzy balls.  As we continue to grow On Pace, it's awesome to look back and see how all these people have come to know each other, from all places and walks of life.

#onpace

#happypacehappyrace

#happyspacevirtualrace

Tonight, we are pumped to bring out some SERIOUS Boston Strong on what would have been the day of the 124th running of the Boston Marathon.

Among the runners on this podcast, there have been 24 Bostons - and would have been 28 by the time this airs had CoVid not reared its head! With Carrie Miller (9), Reggie Thomas (8), Stephanie Kliethermes (5) and me (2), the crew recaps some of their favorite gear, years, parts of the course and reasons that Boston stands alone as a city that has its very own Q that runners across the globe shoot to beat.

Based on some FB posts by other On Pacers, we know Jessica Rein, Kim Marchand, Jeannie Marchand, Kathy Derks, Debra Townsend and Chelsea Williams hearts were in New England this morning as well.

This week starts the happy space. virtual race. Series and the sign up sheet went out earlier today. No cost to enter, we are just doing our part to kick an active lifestyle up a notch given our hunkered down world. Let's get 13.1 miles on our shoes this week "in Oshkosh, Wisconsin" and then join us on Saturday at noon on our first Zoom call where we talk about Garden to Doorstep Organics. Rocking it with our sponsor Nicolet National Bank, we are eager to do a little to help this awesome Oshkosh family business through this challenging time.

#onpace

#happypacehappyrace

#happyspacevirtualrace

Hello running community!

The question has come up over and over in the last month - what can On Pace do to help bridge the gap between the "old" normal and the proverbial "new normal"?

Well, we gave it a lot of thought. A LOT.  And tonight, On Pace founder Carrie Miller provides the answer in an interview with Paul Miller.  The answer lies the Happy Space. Virtual Race series!

In conjunction with our incredible sponsor Nicolet Bank, all our intended efforts are multifaceted.  We aim to help keep an active lifestyle in this stay-at-home time, we want to continue to build this awesome On Pace community, we want to promote races that have been cancelled or made virtual that On Pace would have paced, and we want support those most adversely affected by the COVID pandemic.

Hear more about it on this podcast and there will be updates and more communications in the upcoming days before our first event day on Saturday, April 25th.

Get ready to lace up the shoes, team!  Let's make this happen!

#happyspacevirtualrace

Today we are soooo pumped to sit with John Mortimer from Millennium Running.  In 1999 when John and his buddies were wet behind the ears and serious badass collegiate runners, they decided to embark on setting up the Millennium Mile to celebrate through running Y2K and the likely demise of the world.

Well, the world didn't end and out of the lack of ashes was formed a vision that would keep John in the running world beyond his college years and immense talent.

Fast forward 20 years and Millennium Running now puts on 27 events, owns a timing company which supports over 100 races, owns a retail run-focused activewear store yet still found time to come to *Stark Brewing* and have a couple beers when On Pace came to the *Manchester Marathon* to partner with the team at Millennium Running the first time last November.

Since then?  We are locked and loaded as Millennium's partner most notably this weekend at Run Clearwater, but also in upcoming events in March, October and likely some more things that John & Co will cook up as time goes on.

Such a great guy to rap with - THANK YOU, John, we're soooo jazzed about the partnership with your awesome company!!

*happypacehappyrace*