Congrats to those still running races in the winter months when I can’t even get to my mailbox!

As we approach the end of 2019, it’s about that time to look forward to 2020. Training-wise, I have had an up-and-down 2019 (in that order). I do a little analysis as to why this historically happens to me time and time again. This in-depth analysis may even include a reference to Sylvester Stallone’s “Over the Top.”

Enjoy your holiday! Be happy and stay safe. Looking forward to a successful 2020!

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY!

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.

I’m a bit behind on podcasting and putting things together for the team. Training has been somewhat lackluster, and as for the diet? Well, let’s just order the pizza and thrown some cheese on that sandwich. Why not! It’s the offseason! At least I’ve gotten my Christmas shopping done – though no Peloton for Stefany this year. Special thanks to over-dramatic social media crybabies for that one.

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY!

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.

This week’s podcast guest is Derek Murphy from Marathon Investigation. Derek has become well-known in his part of the internet for finding and exposing cheaters in our sport. He dives through data, often doing the work most race directors should be doing, in search of those who may not be playing by the rules. Be it using bib-mules, fake bibs, cutting courses, riding bicycles – Derek has found many crazy stories about the lengths people will go to “achieve” marathon-finisher status.

Admittedly, I have been a fan of Derek’s work and mentioned him on the podcast many times in the past. I feel as though, in general, he is thorough and fair. However, I was a little surprised to learn that he does have his detractors as well. There are even some in our discussion group. I knew that if there were people in the group who held different opinions of Derek’s work, that I had to find out what that was all about and get to the bottom of it.

I spoke to a few of you who had some interesting feedback. I tried my best to make sure I asked him to comment on some of the common criticisms, or at least give him the chance to explain his process. It was a friendly discussion but I do not think I gave him a free-pass on some of your issues and concerns either.

Hope you enjoy the podcast.

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY! Now Open! Until the end of October, use the Promo Code LAUNCH for $10 off.

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.

Alright, I admit! I struggled mightily this week trying to create a podcast worthy to wear the title “300th Podcast.” I recorded, then discarded, recorded again, then deleted, recorded again, then dismissed, recorded again, then more synonyms…

The only way I was going to get through this episode was by having a chaperone. So, I dragged Stefany down to the basement studio at 10pm on a Friday night. Needless to say, we got it done.

We talk about the development of the Ordinary Marathoner franchise and how far it has come. Past, present, future… it has been such a great ride and has such a promising future.

We look forward to the next 300 episodes.

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY! Now Open! Until the end of October, use the Promo Code LAUNCH for $10 off.

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.

As expected, #TeamOrdinary runners will be quite busy tomorrow. A lot of Turkey Trots out there – great to see so many people involved!

With Thanksgiving approaching, we hope all of you have a great holiday with family and friends. But we wonder… how many people out there actually take time to think about the things they are thankful for? It’s easy to say, but do you really do it? If you don’t, maybe try it out this year. Give yourself just a moment tomorrow to step back and be thankful. Maybe it’s good health, a happy family, or that PR you set last month!

One of the things I’m thankful for is being able to do this podcast. Podcast #299. All of these podcasts and we have developed an amazing group of classy, supportive people. Thank you all. Enjoy your Turkey Day.

Happy First Birthday to my daughter Ellie who turned 1 this past Friday! Birthday festivities had me busy all weekend and I didn’t get last week’s podcast out. Apologies for that, but we move on!

Today I will do our two raffles for the Ordinary Marathon prizes. I want to thank author / ultrarunner / wood-carver Brian Burk for donating such a great prize. If you didn’t win and would like a Team Ordinary Medal rack, check out Brian’s page here. Also, thank you to our Official Team Ordinary Dietitian, Allison Knott, for donating a free consultation to one lucky winner. You can find Allison’s webpage here.

But to find out who won, you’ll have to listen to the podcast.

Also today, we will be spotlighting our Team Ordinary Athlete, Ben Hinton! Ben has been training hard towards his goal of qualifying for the Olympics in the Half-Marathon. His big attempt was this weekend in Philly. Find out how he did!

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY! Now Open! Until the end of October, use the Promo Code LAUNCH for $10 off.

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.

Today’s podcast guest is the Official Dietitian of #TeamOrdinary, Allison Knott. Allison helped me out with the diet and nutrition piece of my Ironman training this past year. I found her advice invaluable to my success in that race.

Allison sits down and talks to us about what it means to be a dietitian. This includes how she helps clients meet their dietary goals and overcome dietary challenges. We address a number of questions or comments that came up in a recent thread on our discussion group. Allison has a dearth of knowledge when it comes to diet and nutrition and we love having her as a contributor to the team.

Allison is also the author of our latest guest blog on the TeamOrdinary.com webpage this week. In addition, she has agreed to donate a free consultation to our virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. We will be raffling that on Sunday, November 24.

You can find Allison on Twitter at @allisonknottrd or her webpage, ANew Well Nutrition.

Congratulations to all the #TeamOrdinary athletes who finished races this past week! Great job! We got such a great reception from last week’s Athlete Spotlight that we’re doing another one this week! This week we will spotlight Team Ordinary athlete Dan Demore. His is an incredible story… I hope I did it justice in reading it.

This past Sunday I recorded a podcast with the official dietitian of Team Ordinary, Allison Knott. Look for this podcast to be released on Tuesday, November 19, along with a guest blogpost by Allison. Also, Allison has graciously donated a free consultation to our charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. In order to be eligible for the raffle, all you need to do is register for the 2020 Ordinary Marathon. If you are already registered, you are already included. We will also be raffling off a super-cool medal-rack made by Brian Burk.

Lastly, we recently tried out the group-ride feature on Zwift. Long-story short, I loved it! I only rode with one friend (thanks Mike Osborne), but it was a really great feature. If you’d like to be invited to future rides, please follow “O. Rdinary Marathoner (Ordinary)” on Zwift and let me know to include you on the invite for the next ride! All are welcome!

TeamOrdinary continues to grow and we got a lot of great feedback on our last podcast. The team continues to expand and many of you are doing amazing things! You can join here and check out the Team Deals page.

Do you listen to music while training or racing? Which songs are at the top of your setlist and how often do you change things around? Can listening to music take away anything from the experience of training?

On today’s podcast we congratulate all of our #TeamOrdinary members who PR’d Half-Marathons this weekend! One of whom, Steffanie Melinda Brown, finished her very first half-marathon! Outstanding achievement, Steffanie! I’ll read Steffanie’s athlete profile from the TeamOrdinary.com website so you can see why this was such a wonderful achievement for her. We will be looking to do more Team Ordinary athlete spotlight segments in the future!

Planning for the 2020 Ordinary Marathon is underway! Stefany and I sat down late last week and nearly have a date nailed down for the race. It will be May 8th – May 17th, with the optional live 5k in East Longmeadow, MA, on May 9th! Last year’s race was our best yet! We are so looking forward to helping out our friends at The SamFund again next year!

Lastly, I talk about Stefany and I making a personal commitment to training over the next 30-days. It’s not a challenge. It’s a commitment. Three days in and some parts are sticking, and others not-so-much. But we will persevere and work through it. I feel like I’m in the right frame of mind right now, as evidenced by my recent disgust over the “ON SALE” baked goods table at the grocery store.

Join the Official Ordinary Marathoner team at TEAM ORDINARY! Now Open! Until the end of October, use the Promo Code LAUNCH for $10 off.

Check out our homepage at www.ordinarymarathoner.com.

Or join the conversation at our Ordinary Marathoners Facebook Discussion Group.

I’ll also follow you back on Twitter if you follow me @OrdMarathoner.

Check out our annual virtual charity race, The Ordinary Marathon. Register for 2020’s race early and be eligible for giveaways between now and race day.