RunRunLive 4.0 - Running Podcast

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-425 – John and Tom Chat about Cancer  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4425.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-425 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Well, here we are again, it’s a beautiful, sunny, single-digit, February morning and I’m talking to you! Ollie the collie is being a pain in the butt.  I was on a trip all week so he didn’t get his runs in and he’s very stressed out.  He’s being the toddler-terror today.  He’s already chewed on a couple socks and the channel changer and is harassing me with a toy as I try to write.  That’s dog life.  Today, I have a very special and personal conversation with John and Tom, who are both prostate cancer experienced and members of our running circle.  Both of them are friends of mine and I’m honored that they were kind enough to share their stories.  In section one I’ll talk about the non-linearity of the mileage curve.  In section two I’ll give you a write up of a book I read on the plane this week that I really liked called “Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it.”  All links, including the one where you donate to my prostate cancer campaign for Boston (wink wink nudge nudge) are in the show notes, which, by the way, you should be able to access on your phone or other listening device, as part of the episode meta-data.  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) Busy couple of weeks.  My training has been going well.  I knocked out a nice 13.8 mile step up run last week and I’m starting to transition into more long tempo as we are getting closer to Patriots Day.  It’s been relatively mild this winter but getting a wee bit colder.  My long run last week started at 14 degrees.  I forgot my thick gloves and was worried I might have to knock on someone’s door to warm up during that first hour.  It used to be I’d just run harder to warm up but that’s not a great strategy for me anymore in a multi-hour run.  My bottle froze and my headphones failed.  But, hey, it was sunny and windless, so it wasn’t too bad and I was able to do some thinking and focus on my run.  There is no good or bad run there is only the ‘is’.  I swung by and picked up a couple of my running club buddies for the second loop who I hadn’t seen for a while and had a good catch up.  Was able to close out the last 30 minutes at close to race pace.  All in all a solid outing.  Monday morning I was off to Vegas.  I always forget that Vegas is in the Western time zone.  It feels like it should be in Mountain time.  That puts it 3 hours ahead of me, which helps for those morning workouts because you’re up anyhow. I knocked out a 30-minute time trial on the treadmill Monday morning.  I showed up at the gym in the casino at 5:00AM when it opened, and it was already ¾ full.  There was a line for the equipment when I stepped off an hour later.  All those East Coasters.  I got a kick out of it though.  I just imagine them thinking “Who’s this old guy knocking out 7-minute miles at 5 AM?”  I’ve turned the corner a bit on worrying about being slower and I’m quite grateful to be getting at it still at all and to be able to do anything a bit quicker makes me happy.  I got out on the strip during the last day before I headed to the airport.  Always fun to get out and take a look around.  It was mid-60’ss and sunny.  Good to see the sun. I always like running up and down the strip.  You can do the whole thing in 6 miles.  You have to run up and down the pedestrian bridges. It’s not optimized for running.  It’s optimized to get you into a casino.  The air is dry there in the desert but misty with the sadness of self-loathing and empty wallets in the mornings.  But, that’s not my story.  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 Mileage Curve - http://runrunlive.com/mileage-curves Voices of reason – the conversation John Vaughn and Tom Penny - article from Tom on exercise and cancer treatment - Tom’s Blog Section two – Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it  –   Outro Well, my friends, we have run past the pyramids in the desert to the end of Episode 4-425. I’m going to continue to be busy here as I ramp up my specificity for the Boston Marathon.  You can go to to contribute to my cause, I’d appreciate it. I’m going to wrap this up so I can get out and take Ollie for a walk before he chews through the walls.  I’m pained to say that he has totally not taken any training. In fact he’s reverted. When I say ‘Come’ he runs in the other direction.  When I say “Leave it!” he laughs and plays keep away.  Nothing is safe in the house.  Last night he brought me a nickel.  I told him to come back with at least a $20.  If I try to watch TV or sit at all he bites me until I stand up.  After the nickel he stole my wife’s hat and chewed the pom-pom off the top.  He’s got demons.  I didn’t want to go for a walk this morning because it was only 3 degrees out and I wanted to get some writing done.  I was planning to write on the plane but I was too tired and ended up watching the last season of Silicon Valley instead.  That’s a funny show.  I don’t get HBO at the house and can only get certain shows on planes ironically.   I’m also watching my way through pretty bad scifi series called FarScape on Prime.  Kind of a low-budget Lost in Space meets cosplay.   Now that it’s warmed up a bit I’ll take Ollie for a walk and get my errands in. One of the speakers this week was an author from Stanford named Amy Wilkinson who writes and speaks about the The Creator’s Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs. One of her points was “Small Gifts”.  This resonated with my current practices of gratitude, kindness and empathy. Her point was to make a practice of giving people small gifts to build trust and reciprocity in relationships.  Not physical gifts, although that’s ok too, but the unexpected gifts of small kindnesses and thankfulness.  And I’ll leave you with that – who today can you make appoint of thanking for something they did to help you see the world differently?  And I’ll thank you for letting me think and talk with you on this endurance journey.  I’ll see you out there.  (Outro bumper) To continue my music series I give you track #2 from Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-424 – Alix Shutello – The Intersection of Publishing and Endurance (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4424.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-424 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Some off you may be wondering what happened to me last week! Or not.  I was waylaid by an aggressive intersection of life and technology that prevented me from putting a show out.  It was a cascading series of events that you get sometimes in this squiggly path we are all on.  First I had an interview set up with Jamie Bearse who heads up the ZERO for prostate cancer foundation that I’ve decide to run Boston for this year.  Oh, right, I got a waiver number from my club for Boston and I’m running again.  Anyhow, Jamie got the flu, not the coronavirus, this was before that reared it’s multifarious ugly heads and we had to reschedule.  I, not willing to give up, called our friend John Vaughn who is a Prostate cancer survivor and coerced him into recording a last-minute call on the same subject.  Probably the finest and most compelling interview ever done by two mere mortals… But, something got twiddled sideways in the great bit-locker in the sky and there was no file of the recording to download.  After a week of tet-a-tete with the support guys there was no file.  Meanwhile I was in Phoenix for 5 straight days for a kickoff with my new job.  I did, over-optimistically bring my recording stuff, but, as these things go, was not afforded the chance to create some sort of non-interview filler episode.  C’est la Vie. Such is life.  But, even as you mourn the apparent reality that a rigorous and devoted podcaster like myself can’t keep a schedule, all hope is not lost!  I rounded up a great talk with Alix for you for today’s show.  I met Alix on LinkedIn, saw that she runs an endurance sports magazine and had to get her on.  I love to understand the intersection of business and endurance.  I have two asks today.  First is that you send me suggestions on people you’d like me to interview.  I don’t have a producer so I have to hunt them down on my own and after 12 years of doing this I’ve talked to a lot of people! Second ask is to contribute to my Prostate cancer campaign.  I’ll put the links in the show notes.  My friends are dying from this.  It’s important to me.  In the first section I’ll talk about long run paces, again.  In section two I’ll give you my brief understanding of the current OKR wave in organizations.  How’s my training going?  Actually quite well.  Since I’m planning not to hammer Boston this year my coach has me running basic base building runs so far.  For example this week I have had 4 easy 1:20 runs.  These are not race specific so I can do them in the woods with Ollie and it makes us both quite happy.  I got every one of my workouts in while in Phoenix.  Proud of that.  I’m heading to Vegas next week and look forward to doing some early morning exploring there as well. I received multiple ‘feedbacks’ that my grizzly bear audio was just a little too real last episode.  People were startled and looked around on their runs to make sure they weren’t about to be eaten!  Sorry.  Trying to be creative.  Yah know… 12 years and all… got to keep it from becoming too rote. No, I did not suffer from any grisly grizzly attacks but that was actual audio of a grizzly eating a dead caribou in Yellowstone.  There is a grisly back story here.  And it’s not that someone found a way to mic up a dead caribou.  If you search for grizzly audio there’s a sort of viral audio of this poor dude and his girlfriend being attacked and eaten by grizzlies in the early 2000’s in Yellowstone.  I did not watch or listen to it because I don’t need that in my head.  Apparently they were trying to video the grizzly with the phone, the grizzly attacked, the phone was dropped and you get a black box narrative of the affair.  Not my cup o’ tea.  I won’t leave you with that.  I’ll leave you with something positive.  The days are getting longer up here in New England.  It’s been a mild January and we don’t have much snow.  This means there’s enough sun to get on the trails with the dog around 6:30 AM now.  And it’s cold enough for the trails to be firm and fast.  There’s nothing like being out in the woods in the silence of a winter’s morning.  Your feet crunching in the frozen ground.  The sun glow highlighting the world in an innocent blur.  Your friend the dog hiding at the tops of hills to pounce on you, damn near knock you down, and run off laughing like a teenager to find his next ambush spot. 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 – Long run Nuances - Voices of reason – the conversation Alix Shutello My Story: A Message from the CEO Hi, my name is Alix Shutello and I started Endurance Sports & Fitness Magazine back in 2010 because someone asked me to. I mean that!  I started writing a blog entitled, Tighthams, to write about my running exploits as a new mom.   In 2002, I ran the San Diego Marathon pregnant and it wasn’t until 2006 when I wrote about it in my blog. I started the blog, truth be told, to learn how to us WordPress. Many of my 11 magazine clients at the time were starting to blog and leverage social media. I figured if I were going to be able to consult with my clients on blogging, I needed to start blogging myself. And now I’ve published this blog about running a marathon pregnant, and other women from around the world began responding to the blog. I was immediately humbled. Many of these women had multiple kids, had run through all of their pregnancies, and who still felt that society didn’t agree that women should run pregnant. In essence, my blog post on running pregnant started a conversation, and that was a lesson I could teach my clients. I kept up with the blog and started to write reviews on products and post some other topics, all of which seemed to generate a number of comments, so I turned Tighthams from a blog into a company called Runners Illustrated. Runners Illustrated, which played off of a combination of Runners World and Sports Illustrated was a great way for me to report on all aspects of running. An endurance runner from Australia names Andy Bowen emailed me one day. He asked me if I could start covering endurance races. Bowen was one of a number of athletes who approached me about covering global endurance foot races beyond the marathon. It opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know existed….and from there, Runners Illustrated, which focused on running any distance up to the marathon morphed to include all types of ultra running. It didn’t stop there. Once I changed the name of Runners Illustrated to Endurance Racing Magazine, the triathlon community found me too – and it didn’t stop there. Endurance Racing Magazine operated from 2012-2016 and covered a number of non-motorized endurance sports including kayaking, canoeing, ultra marathons, adventure racing, Ironman-distance races, ultra-triathlons, duathlons and all other types of trail and road races in between. In late 2016 I conducted a survey and the title of this publication changed to Endurance Sports & Fitness Magazine. The title, while long, resonated with my readers and created more comfort for those, like me, who are striving to enter the endurance world. In 2016 the newly redesigned magazine (which was only published digitally) hit the “shelves” with a lot of fanfare. We hope that you consider supporting the magazine through a subscription or by advertising. The magazine, which is a community-based magazine, is supported by a number of writers who give their time to provide excellent content and rich stories for our reader base. Please  and support our publication. If you ever need to contact me, reach me at . I look forward to hearing from you. Alix Shutello CEO & Publisher Section two – On OKR’s – Outro Well, my friends, we have transversed the frozen ground to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast Episode 4-424 lies sweating and spent in the hoar frost. Nothing new or novel in my training or racing to report.  I’m plunking away build mileage for Boston. I canceled the pacing race on Martha’s Vineyard so I can focus on requalifying in June.  I have signed up for the Tunnel Light Marathon in Oregon which is on a rail trail and is a consistently slightly downhill course.  I’m not going to run any other races, except for the Groton 10K of course.  This is I think our 29th running of the 10K.  Last Sunday in April, come up and join us.  If you folks need anything feel free to reach out to me.  I like hearing from you.  Ollie the collie is doing fine.  He’s just 8 months old now. He’s a stud of an athlete.  We’ll finish this week with somewhere around 30 trail miles.  He’s still incredibly unruly.  He is very vocal, which Buddy was not.  Ollie will spontaneously treat you to a loud, close-range, ear-splitting bark if he wants your attention.  He’s still very mouthy and jumpy and does not listen well but we’re working on it.  A couple weeks ago we were out running in the woods and we came upon a large flock of wild turkeys. Probably 20-30 of them.  Ollie was beside himself with joy.  He chased those birds hither and thither.  Some flew away, like turkeys do, they can’t really fly but they can go short distances, some ran away clucking.  Eventually he came back to rejoin me all tuckered out and quite happy with himself. He’s just come into my office to see me and put his big head in my lap for a hug.  When I was out in phoenix last week I was thinking about the absurdity of having such a city in the middle of the desert.  Before the modern era you could not do such things at scale.  One of my mornings I was running along a canal, which I think they called an aqueduct.  It was fenced in.  I did not attempt to breach the barbed wire.  I’ve been known to jump fences, but it looked like they really didn’t want you inside this fence. Turns out, I was told later, that the whole thing is alarmed with motion sensors and if you get inside the fence the authorities rush out to apprehend you.  That might have made a good running adventure story. The Puebloans who lived here before got by, but not at this scale.  Cities need a reason to exist.  They need to be near something.  Ancient desert cities were on an Oasis and or near a source of water or trade route.  You just don’t put a city in the middle of a desert like Vegas or Phoenix for no reason.  There was a recent discovery of a large city in Egypt from a few thousand years ago.  And they were asking the same question.  Why was this city here?  In the middle of the desert?  They were able to use modern LIDAR and other airborne surveys to figure it out.  A branch of the Nile used to run by this city.  That branch of the Nile silted up so the residents picked up the whole city and moved it to the next branch of the Nile some 100 miles away.  We’ll see what happens when Phoenix runs out of water.  And Vegas.  Challenges like this bring out the innovative nature of humans.  I will see you out there.  (Outro bumper) To continue my music series I give you track #2 from Brian Scheff, the Rock Opera by The Nays.  MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-423 – Great Stories with Anne Audain - The first female professional runner (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4423.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-423 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    For those of you who got a new device for podcast listening over the holidays and are exploring new content, welcome to our tribe.  Or, maybe, you’re embarking on a new year wellness campaign and somehow found it to us.  Welcome.  To my old friends welcome to the new year.  There are 12 years worth of episodes on our website, with the corresponding blog posts, runrunlive.com.  The site is searchable. There is an index page that lists all the episodes in one place.  Every year we have a gathering in northern Idaho at the summer solstice at camp Whatafookie if you’d like to join us.  We get naked, paint ourselves blue, take peyote and dance a shamanistic jig to the Earth Goddess. But, that’s another story.  Today I’ve got a great interview with Anne Audain.  She’s a native New Zealander who lives it the US now.  She connected to me on FaceBook and when I started reading her bio I was a bit ashamed to have never met her before.  She competed in the 70’s and 80’s at a very high level as part of that great diaspora of New Zealand runners.  She has a great story.  A real hero’s journey.  You are going to love the stories. It’s a great interview.  If you know someone I should interview let me know.  The rule is - something interesting.  Something you’re curious about.  Something you want to learn more about.  Famous is not a requirement.  I tend to shy away from famous because they are jaded with interviews and give you the pre-recorded schtick.   I I’ve always liked the person-in-the-trenches interviews because they are relatable and applicable to our tribe.  In section one I’m going to talk about training your dog to run with you – because I have a dog I am currently training and I had multiple people ask me about this.  In section two we are going to do some tracking in the New England snow.  Here we are with the first podcast of 2020.  A new year.  A new decade.  You can thank the Romans for this fascination with increments of 10.  It’s not hard to see how they came up with that system based on counting on your fingers.  But, before the Greeks and Romans counted on their fingers there were other, earlier cultures that counted on their fingers and the knuckles of their fingers to come up with a 12 based system.  That still lingers in our world as dozens and grosses.  I’ve started training again.  I don’t have anything specific on the calendar yet.  But it feels good to start getting stronger again after taking a break for the holiday season. I put on about 10 pounds but I’m not worried about it.  It synchs well with the periodicity of my training cycles.  Now, in the beginning of the cycle we focus on strength and aerobic fitness.  There’s no pace work or specific, goal based workouts – so I can carry a couple extra pounds. As long as I feel healthy and eat clean it’s all good and one less thing to stress about.  I find that the weight will take care of itself as the training intensifies closer to the goal event and it’s counter productive to stress on that too early in a cycle.  And what are my events and plans?  We’ll just have to save that for the outro.  But, it’s a new year.  A time of rebirth.  I usually don’t like to go to deep into my personal business, but this story fits well with the new year theme.  I start a new job next week. I’m excited and apprehensive.  Looking forward to it.  It’s a bit of a change for me.  It’s a bigger company as opposed to the startups I’ve been working with for the past couple decades.  It’s also a step back from management and a step back from direct sales. I’m quite proud of myself for making this change relatively proactively.  I sat down with myself and asked what do I really want to do right now?  I heard myself, whatever that inner voice is, say, “Right, you’ve got an opportunity to change.  Don’t let your ego or your environment drive the bus.  Make a proactive change because you’re a different person than you were 15 years ago.” My point is, and I share this with you, because we are all changing all the time regardless of our position, circumstance or maturity. This is part of the journey.  We tend to think in terms of goals this time of year.  What are goals?  Goals are nothing but destinations.  In this world of change there are no real destinations.  Those goals are only there as waypoints to guide your journey – to keep you from going in circles.  Instead of goals why not think in terms of virtues this year?  Those things that are the demonstration of you as your best self. I didn’t put much thought into mine, not because it’s not important, but because to me they came quickly as soon as I asked the question ‘what are the virtues you want to cultivate this year?’  I’m going to focus of three things this year: Gratitude Kindness And Empathy As I move into the year this will give me the beginner’s mind I need to enable me to work with change.  So, I ask you, my friends, old and new; What are the virtues you need to cultivate in this new year.  How will those enliven your training, your health, your career and your relationships with others? Think about that.  New year, new changes, new 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 – Running with your dog - Voices of reason – the conversation Anne Audain The first female professional runner Anne Audain was born in New Zealand, adopted as an infant and suffered through her younger years with bone deformities in both her feet. After successful reconstructive bone surgery at age 13, she joined a local athletic club and a running star was born! Through her career Anne set records and pioneered professional running for women. She has since been inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, the USA Running Hall of Fame, and honored with a Member of the British Empire Medal from Queen Elizabeth II of England for her contributions to her sport worldwide. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Qualified for Six Olympic Games –1972 to 1992 in every distance from 800m to marathon. Pioneered professionalism for female track and field competitors by accepting prize money at the first professional event in 1981 which resulted in a “temporary” lifetime ban from the sport. Set a World Record for 5000 meters, Auckland, New Zealand 1982. Honored by Queen Elizabeth II of England with a Member of the British Empire award in 1995. Inducted into the Running USA Hall of Fame, 2008.  Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, 2009.  Inducted into the RRCA Distance Running Hall of Fame, 2014.  Founded the Idaho Women's Celebration 5K (1993) which now has evolved into  HISTORY Born 1955 in Auckland, New Zealand, with severe bone deformities of both feet. Adopted at birth. Did not walk correctly until re-constructive surgery at age 13. Three years later qualified for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the 1500m. Graduated from Auckland Teachers College with honors (1975). Taught at the elementary level for 4 years before arriving in the USA to further her sporting career (March 1981). Won more USA road races (75) than any other male or female runner in the 1980’s. Won Gold (3000m) and Silver (10,000m) medals at the Commonwealth Games – Australia 1982, Scotland 1986. Founded the Anne Audain Charitable Trust (1991) to support “at risk” youth in Auckland, New Zealand. Became USA Citizen, 1995.   Section two – Tracks in the Snow – Outro Well, my friends, you have told some great stories out on your run, and embraced some change, to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-423.    I wrapped up the year with the Groton Marathon – my own personal made up series of races on the last Sunday in December each year.  We got about 30 people to show up and run various distances.  5 people ran a marathon.  I woke up a bit under the weather and ended up running the first 12, jumping in a support vehicle to chase down some lost marathoners and then running them in for a total of 22ish miles.  We got good weather and, as far as I know, no one died.  I’m starting my strength building for a spring race.  Right now I’m out of qualification and don’t know if I’m running Boston.  You might say, “Chris, that must be a bummer!” but, honestly after 22 Bostons I can take it or leave it.  If I do get a number, I’ll run for charity.  I’ll train hard enough to respect it.  I’d like to say I won’t race it but you’ve all heard that enough times by now! (Editors Note:  I just received a waiver bib for Boston so the streak continues to 23) I’d still like to qualify because it bothers me.  Like an itch I can’t scratch. One of the challenges of being an older athlete is that you can’t go all in on as many races.  You really have to pick your spots.  I feel like I don’t recover fast enough to perform at a high level in that 2nd or 3rd race.  I’ve got my eyes on the in Oregon that Eric qualified at last year.  That seems like a great event for a fast race and it’s out in June so I can get plenty of ramp in my training.  I did sign up to pace a 4:05 at the , but I’m wondering if that might not be biting off more than I can chew, even at that easy pace, to recover for an A race 30 days later.  The last thing I was thinking about after talking Dave at the Groton Marathon was organizing a Rim to Rim to Rim run later in the year.  There’s another weather window in the canyon after Labor Day.  I had so much fun  the last time I ran the canyon.  I’d do it in two days.  Down and out the other side, sleep over, then down and out back to the start.  Each down and out is less than 20 miles, which should be doable. I think it took Teresa and I about 8 hours to do Bright Angel to Phantom Ranch and back.  Anyhow, let me know if that sounds interesting and we’ll set something up.  I’ve been working with Ollie on his training.  Since I’m in the non-specific base building part of my training I can take him with me and practice recalls and on-leash behavior.  He’s still a maniac but we’re working on it.  It’s teaching me patience.   I’m super grateful to have this little maniac as a companion on this journey.  My daughter got me a subscription to .  If you’re not familiar it’s and app where you can take classes from famous people.  I watched a couple sessions of Malcom Gladwell, which was interesting, but more of a Ted Talk than a class.  It’s all talking head video.  Another one that I am really getting a lot from is called ‘negotiation skills’ with Chris Voss.  He’s a master negotiator.  I’ve read Herb Cohen.  I have some basic negotiation skills training from Harvard and have been in a lot of negotiations.  But this guy is not so much about the negotiation as he is about the human interaction.  Very interesting examples of using mirroring and tonality and neurolinguistic programming to get people into a helpful state.  It’s more of a “Pick up artist” type skill set than negotiation tactics.  I’ll let you get on with your life.  Thank you for sharing this endurance journey with me.  If you need anything let me know.  Reach out and say ‘hey’. We’ve all got a lot to be thankful for in this new decade, this new year.  What ever happens you will handle it with grace and kindness.  And Ollie and I will see you out there.  (Outro bumper) Like I said last time I’m going to close out episodes with music for the foreseeable future.  This week we are starting a series.  There’s a back story that I need to tell you.  You all know my running buddy Frank.  He is the first guy I interviewed in episode 1 and also in episode 100 and also an episode where we talked about his hip resurfacing.  I’ve been running with Frank for over 20 years.  Frank is a member of a band called .  They recently released a rock opera about a friend of the band named Brian Scheff.  So I give you now, over the next 20 shows, “Brian Scheff, the rock opera”.  And I am eternally grateful for all the miles and hours Frank has spent with me listening to my stories and creating stories of our own. I don’t know if there’s a way to buy this music, but if you’re interested I can find out.  Cheers, all. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-422 – Robert Moore Boston Back in the Day (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4422.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-422 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Merry Christmas, happy Hanukah and happy New Year.  I hope you’re having a great holiday season, if that’s part of your story. Today we talk with Bob Moore who is a guy who raced back in the 70’s, coming in 5th and 7th and 7th at Boston back when it was an entirely different thing to run a marathon.  With folks like Bob I just ask a couple open ended questions and let them go.  I think that’s something we can practice during these holidays when you might be speaking with people you’ve haven’t seen for a while.  Remember, how much joy they get from telling their story and practice active listening.  It’s a gift for them and for you.  In section one I’m going to counsel you on how to cheap out on your winter running gear because anyone who has run with me knows how cheap I am!  In section two I’m going to talk about how to turn worry about a big event or deadline into a positive force.  My running has been going well.  I’m still in hibernation mode.  I try to get out for a mile or so walk with Ollie as part of my morning routine and find that helps him and me start the day well.  I’m still running 4 days a week.  Tuesday and Thursday I get out for 8-9 road miles at a zone 2 effort.  I’ve got a nice, mostly back-road loop that I can run at night with getting run over and I find it quite comforting.  Then on Friday I try to get out during the day with Ollie in the trails for another 10k or.  The trails are frozen and you can’t go fast, but again it is good for him and I to get out.  I mix up it up.  Mostly off leash, even though he’s very jumpy and exuberant with people.  He won’t attack or be mean, but he can be overwhelmingly friendly.   I’ve got a 50/50 chance of getting him to come when called to get back on leash.  I also run him on leash and he’s pretty good with that.  Once he tires out a bit and stopped trying to pull me like it’s the Iditarod.  Sometimes I’ll drop the leash and let it drag.  Buddy figured how to run with the leash dragging between his legs and not step on it.  Ollie hasn’t figured that out.  When I drop the leash he picks it up in his mouth and runs with it.  It’s super cute.  He’s still growing like a weed.  I’ve found a new trainer and I’m going to do some focused work over the next couple weeks before I start my new job.  My wife bought a bunch of stuff from Sears because she had a gift card she needed to use up before they go out of business.  It all showed up at the house in packages and boxes.  I was wrapping presents for Christmas and offered to wrap all these for her as well. She of course, said yes, and even had me wrapping my own presents.  Since I now was in charge I wrapped and labeled the gifts appropriately with the recipients name.  But for my own gifts, that she had bought for me, and now was having me wrap for her I didn’t put my name on them.  I labeled them “Sexy”.  So on Christmas morning when my kids were passing sorting through the gifts they had to ask, “Who’s Sexy?” To which I replied “I am!”  And there you have it.  You are responsible for your own narrative.  When someone gives you a chance to tell your own story, make it a good story.    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 – Winter running gear for cheapskate - Voices of reason – the conversation Robert Moore Dear Chris Russell,                                 I apologize for taking so long to get in touch. The last while has been hectic with six hours of teaching at the Chiroproactic College, seven hours of teaching at the Homeopathic College and preparation of webinars for the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists and the Naturopaths.                                  At Boston I was 5th, 7th, 7th and 7th. My best time was 2 hours 16 minutes and 45 seconds in 1974. Jerome Drayton and I are in the same club. I still compete. I am up to 1904 races of record.                                   I knew Ed Whitlock for decades. At first I was a lot faster than him but at the end he was faster. I never did formal research on him but a woman that I have heard of at McGill University may have done so. Best wishes,                       Robert Moore. Section two – On worrying about big events and deadlines – Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it, with great gusto, to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-422.    This weekend I’m going to host the 7th edition of the Groton Marathon.  Which is a made up series of races that I started after the Boston incident in 2013.  My club and anyone else who wants to show’s up and runs whatever distance they want on the last Sunday of December.  I’m going the distance.  Looks like I’ll have a ½ dozen or so for company.  Looks like good weather.  I’m not in shape for a marathon, but I can fake it.  We’ll go slow and stop a lot.  At least I’m not sick this year.  After that I’m formulating my next season plans.  I don’t know if I’m running Boston or not this year.  If I get in I’ll run for charity.  I’ll train hard enough to respect it but won’t try to requalify.  But, I am going to look for a race to focus on in May or June to requalify at. I called coach and threw myself on his mercy.  After the Groton Marathon we’ll get busy.  I did volunteer to pace a marathon in May out on Martha’s Vineyard.  If that sounds like fun for you, come on up and join me.  I’m thinking a 100K later in the summer would be cool.  I’ve never run a 100K race – so Bam! Built in PR! I’ll tell you a funny story from last week.  Like I alluded to, I’m going to start a new job in January.  And yes, this is where the advice in section two today came from. I wrote that as I was flying down to Dallas for an interview.  At one point the hiring manager asked me, “So, you have all this experience and these skills but what new thing are you learning right now?”  I thought about this for a beat, the interview was going well, so I had a bit of good will to risk.  I answered, “Well, I’m currently learning how to run across the United States.”  I swear that lady’s head near exploded.  That was pretty funny. I haven’t seen a comic doble take and an audible “Wow!” in an interview before.  More to the point, because you all know I’m a different kind of animal by now, what they were trying to get at is am I still able to learn?  Do I have a growth mindset?  Do I have an attitude of abundance?  Being the smartest guy in the room isn’t necessarily a useful thing if you can’t learn.  So don’t forget to learn new things and push your limits no matter who you are or where you are in your story.  You get to create that narrative.  To take you out I may append a piece of holiday music from Eric’s wife Tammy.  They do a holiday CD every year.  She’s a pianist.  I’ll put a link to the whole CD if you’re interested in the show notes.  Going forward we are going start working in more music. Because life is better with music. Consider it music therapy. 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 4-421 – Coach Talk About the Off Season (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4421.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-421 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    Today we have a good show for you – I talk to the coach about how to manage the off-season which is what most athletes treat this time of year as.  Good practical stuff. In section one I’m going to review the science / opinion on fasting and how it interacts with endurance sports.  In section two I’m going to talk about how to actively cultivate peacefulness – because I think it’s a message we need to hear this time of year.  We are also going to talk about testicles or the lack thereof.  Because that’s just where I am in the never-ending carnival that is daily life.  Ollie the collie is doing well.  He had surgery on Monday and is officially neutered.  You would think that would slow him down.  It did for about a day but he is quickly back to his maniac ways.  I’ve been hunting around now for our next training opportunity.  He’s a great, smart, athletic boy but I need him to learn some simple stuff – like come when called or we are both going to get in trouble.  He also loves to destroy anything laying around the house if we’re not watching.  And, he’s very mouthy.  He loves the taste of human flesh.  I mean, who doesn’t?  But it can get annoying, especially in mixed company.  When I was at the vet this week for the ‘adjustment’ I asked for recommendations on training.  They gave me a contact that they highly recommended.  I conversed with this trainer.  Their program was to take the dog for 3 weeks and deliver him back fully trained.  No muss, no fuss.  Sounds good, right?   They just show up 3 weeks later and hand you the keys to the car.  The only problem I had was that they want $3500 for the process, which I’m sure is quite reasonable, but above my price bracket.  Clearly, I’m becoming that old guy who expects everything to cost a quarter.  We are going to another consultation with a trainer today and we’ll see where that goes.  Another funny story is when I try to do yoga or core work Ollie thinks this is a great opportunity to wrestle on the floor with me.  It’s impossible. It’s funny, but it’s impossible.  Again, who doesn’t’ love a good wrestle on the floor?  Continuing our theme of testicles, I had a fairly hilarious sponsorship opportunity this week.  I got an email from one of those outfits that is trying to make money off podcasts by aggregating niche shows like mine and selling them as a package to sponsors.  This story might be considered a bit PG-13 so you’ve been warned.  Now, I don’t do sponsorship in general, because a) I hate commercials in my podcasts with the burning hate of a thousand suns and b) I just don’t have enough downloads to move the needle money wise.  I mean it would be hatefully annoying to you folks, a big hassle for me all for something like $20 a month.  But the example sponsor they held out to me as attractive commercial bait was a company called Manscaped.  Intrigued I looked them up and yes, they are a new company offering everything you need to create lovely topiaries in your nether regions.  Which is a bit amusing, but the names of their products had both my wife and I howling with laughter.  Their main product is an electric shaver called, wait for it, ‘The Lawn Mower’.   A body wash called ‘The Crop Cleanser’, a hydrating toner called ‘Crop Reviver’ , subtitled ‘Ball Toner’ and an anti-chafing product called ‘Ball Deodorant’.  And the website copy is just a delight to read. So there you go.  A gift for the man who has everything… and they didn’t even have to pay 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.   … 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 – Fasting and endurance athletes - Voices of reason – the conversation Coach Jeff Kline Team PRSFit What I bring to the individual is 25 years of experience. My  approach to training is individual focused and comprehensive. I believe that coaching is about educating my athletes not just giving you a schedule. Communication, structure, guidance and motivation is the complete package that I offer to everyone I work with. I limit the number of athletes I work with to 20. This ensures you get the attention and high quality coaching you need to achieve your goals. “No individual is too big, too small, or too slow not to be coached.”. Ironman U Certified Lydyard Level II Certified Certified Natural Running Coach Certified Total Immersion Swim Coach Certified Nutrition and Wellness Coach Certified Personal Trainer In addition the coach completed his studies in nursing with a specialty in orthopedics and nutrition. He was published by the Colorado Nurses Association. The Coach only works with 20 athletes. Section two – Peace and Action – Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it, hopefully without any undo chafing or stinkiness, to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-421.    Peace be with you.  Go in Peace.     I’m still in my down phase.  Running 2-4 days a week.  Keeping my miles in the mid-30’s a week.  Started working some core work and yoga back in on the off days and boy it is amazing how fast you lose your fitness when you take a couple weeks off.  For those first couple of core workouts I was sore as heck afterwards.  I raced the Mill Cities Relay last week.  I took the first leg.  It’s about 5 ½ miles.  The challenge was that we woke up to very cold weather.  It was about 1-2 degrees F when my leg kicked off.   It was sunny and there was no wind, so it was not uncomfortably cold.  But the air was super dry and hard to breathe. As is my habit I went out too fast and struggled a bit in the middle miles.  Not my best race ever.  But, I just kept reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to get out and do this.  How there are plenty of people in my age group who would kill to be able to do it.  My team ended up averaging 7:07’s across the 27 miles, which is respectable for our over-50 crew but still only put us 5th in our age group.  Most importantly we had a blast and it was a beautiful day.  Really a privilege to be able to run with those guys.  Next up for me is the Groton Marathon, an entirely made up race on the morning of the last Sunday in December.  The story is that when I was running my marathon a month in 2013/2014 in response to the Boston Marathon incident that year, my December marathon got canceled due to weather.  So I made up my own marathon, grabbed some running buddies and just did it myself.  My life, my rules.  Now we’re 7 years in and still doing it.  I’ve got a handful of folks signed up.  It’s a casual run around the towns on back roads with no fuss.  I’m not in any kind of shape this year so it will be slow.  But, we’ll have some good cheer, some good conversations, take some pictures and celebrate that we live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and have people show up. And with that, Ollie 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 4-420 – Kicksology (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4420.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-420 of the RunRunLive Podcast.    It is the week of Thanksgiving up here in New England.  We haven’t gotten any snow yet at my house.  The trails are very runnable. Ollie the Collie and I are getting out 2-3 times a week.  He’s still a menace.  I won’t be able to get away with the ‘Oh, sorry, he’s just a puppy…’ line much longer.  He’ll knock out 8 to 10 miles easy with me in the trails.  I like to let him off leash so he can burn some energy.  It’s takes about 4 ½ miles for him to settle down.  Until that point he’s sprinting up and down the trail.  It’s a challenge because he has no manners and won’t come when he’s called and just loves to meet and greet people we run into.  He’s got another gear now and when he goes, I can’t catch him.  I’ve started referring to him as the ‘monochrome menace’.  But he’s a good runner and he minds well when he’s on leash.  He’ll be a good partner but I’m going to have to break him, like a wild stallion.  He’ll be my .   (Editor’s note: all classical references will be linked to Wikipedia in the show notes) Today we have a good show for you.  Yeah you.  You know who you are.  But first an advertisement for a new cologne that I’m producing for the holidays.  It’s called RunRunLive and it is the pleasing scent of sweat and dog ass.  Buy yours today at the RunRunLive web store.  Comes in a 16-ounce pop-top tall boy.  Today we chat with Brian Metzler about his new book Kicksology which is all about the evolution and lore of the running shoe.  Brian is a veteran running journalist.  Chances are you’ve read something that Brian has created or touched.  He has been a frequent contributor and started or edited a few of your favorite running publications.     What I liked about the book was that it was a trip down memory lane for me.  We love our shoes.  We have an irrational passion for a good pair of shoes.   Brian does a good job of tapping into that. In section one we are going to talk about breathing.  In section two we’re going to talk about memory and redemption.  Since we last talked, you and I, I went for my annual check up.  Apparently, I’m still healthy.  I’ve been working hard on overeating and drinking too much beer for a couple months.  I’m up 8-10 pounds, but it’s part of my natural cycle.  I can already feel the tug of the pendulum in the other direction. I have some good news for you men.  They have determined that the manual test for prostate problems has no efficacy.  No more fingers up the poop chute.  My doctor was reflective.  He said of all the hundreds of these tests he’s done he only ever found 6 anomalies and none of those turned out to be actual problems.  Thanks again to Peter for reading that piriformis bit into audio last episode.  I got some great feedback on that.  I told you I’m trying to make November the month of gratitude.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I’ve been trying to get my morning routine in line by meditating a bit.  I’m going to share a technique I learned that might help you in this season of thanks giving. This is apropos given that we will be talking about breathing next.  Here’s the technique, and you can do this while you’re meditating, or running or sitting in the car.  Inhale gratitude.  Exhale that gratitude out into the world.  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 – Breathing and running - Voices of reason – the conversation Brian Metzler Kicksology Brian Metzler is a freelance journalist who covers running, running gear, and related sports. A running shoe geek since his prepubescent cross-country team days, Metzler has run more than 75,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,500 pairs of running shoes, run focus groups for several running shoe brands, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles, raced to the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago, run a marathon on top of the Great Wall of China, completed two high-altitude 100-mile ultraruns, completed four Ironman triathlons, and regularly races with donkeys in Colorado. Metzler was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner and Adventure Sports magazines and was a senior editor at Running Times as well as Editor-in-Chief of Competitor magazine and Competitor.com. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Runner’s World, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, and Men’s Journal. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range and co-author of Natural Running with Danny Abshire and Run Like a Champion with Alan Culpepper.   Section two – Memories and Redemption – Outro   Well, my friends, you have made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-420 in those brand new running shoes that you are thankful for.  Like I said I’m just doing 2-4 runs a week right now with Ollie.  Not training for anything specific.  I ran the local Thanksgiving 5k with my running club friend yesterday.   I had planned to walk it with Teresa but her foot was too hurt still.  That put me in a bit of a bind because I wasn’t planning on running Thursday and I definitely wasn’t planning on racing a 5K.  I ran with Ollie in the woods on Monday and Wednesday. It worked out ok.  I just lined up in the 8:00 min mile section and eased into it.  I ran easy and got pulled along by the crowd.   Ended up being surprised to average a 7:26 pace.  Since I wasn’t hammering it I was being chatty with the other runners.  I’m a new level of annoying when you are running all out and I pull up beside you and start chatting. Next up, next weekend is the Mill Cities Relay.  I’ve got a good Men’s 50+ team and we’re going to have fun.  Then of course since I choose to live in a world where you can make up your own marathon and just show up without training on the last Sunday of December, we will be holding the 7th edition of the Groton Marathon.  I’ve got a handful of loonies signed up.  All are welcome.  Like I said earlier I’ve been putting in a lot of miles with Ollie.  Thursday was a long day for Ollie.  We had a lovely long walk in the Shaker conservation land in the bright, cold morning.  I was able to let him off leash so that he could sprint about through the swampy underbrush.  We were out for almost 2 hours.  Then we worked all day at Katie’s new house painting the walls and ceilings.  Ollie’s role in this is supervisorial.  He tests the quality of the painting by licking the freshly painted walls.  He enforces a schedule of mandatory puppy wrestling breaks. In this way we all stay limber for the work at hand. Later in the day he and I managed to beat the setting sun to a nice trail run.  We ambled through the soggy leaves for 6.5 more miles.  I was tired too.  My body was heavy from the unaccustomed time on my feet all day and the strange angles and dangles of honest work. We stood there steaming in the winter leaves and watching the sun melt into the trees.  I asked Ollie, “How you feeling?  Is this too much work, too much training?” He turned to me with his sharp brown eyes, considered me for a few long moments and responded, “No, Old-one, it is right that we train long.  For we must be prepared.  The day is coming when we will need to fight.  We will need our aerobic capacity and strength.” “Really”, I said, “How so?” He suppressed a small growl and pawed at the soft leaves and continued, “Grey-one, the time is coming soon when all will be ruin.  When the last remaining humans will be confined to carpeted cubicles and forced to ‘cuddle’ (here he seemed to sneer the word) and scratch behind ears and speak baby talk…We must be prepared.  We few remaining working dogs and humans for the Doodle Apocalypse.” And with that he trotted off up the trail with a seriousness and purpose no 6 month old dog should be forced to carry. 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 4-419 – Dawn’s Wisdom (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4419.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-419 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  So – I’m a week late with this one, but it’s great show.  Think about it this way – we gave it an additional week to marinate, to grow, to rise like rustic bread or age like fine wine.  Last week I was all lined up to get the show out for Friday. Thursday was my birthday.  I took Thursday and Friday off from work to recuperate a bit and was working on the show.   Then, ironically as I was writing the hero’s journey piece that is in section two, that talks about how life is not a straight line, and it seldom goes as you expect it to, my old computer ceased to turn on.  I’ve had this Microsoft surface since at least 2015 and it’s been the best computer I ever.  It was powerful enough to do all the audio editing for the show, it has a great form factor for traveling.  Just a great machine that matches my need.  End of this story is that I spent all day Friday in the Microsoft store and ended up buying a new surface that I am happily tapping away on now.  I didn’t loose any data, just some time – and oh by the way – I’m about $2,000 lighter so you might want to consider becoming a member of the RunRunLive Podcast to help defray unexpected expenses.  So with that excuse out of the way let me take you back to the primordial jungles of North America where strange and dangerous beasts roam dark, dank forests…. (Fade in Jungle music) Our old friend Peter Herridge everyone with that excellent dramatic reading.  That piece of writing has been kicking around in my head or a few years.  Probably since I first heard the word ‘piriformis’ and thought, that sounds like the name of a nasty dinosaur.  I immediately thought of Peter who has such a great voice.  Peter was a good runner in his day and one of the original podcasters from a decade ago when we all got online and met each other.  Peter does a podcast every once in a while called ‘spikes’. Today we have a really good, timely chat with Dawn.  I have been following Dawn for a few years but never had her on the show.  She is a heavy social media poster and for some reason I see her posts on LinkedIn a lot.  I have always treated LinkedIn as a professional network and haven’t let this ‘hobby’ side of my life bleed over into it.  She stands out, because you’ve got all these businesspeople talking about business stuff and then there’s Dawn talking about empowerment and Joy.  This time of year, in the northern hemisphere anyhow, we all get stressed out.  The weather turns.  The days get shorter.  If you have kids their schedule ramps up.  It’s budget-setting time and trade show season at your work.  The end of the year is approaching with holidays and deadlines and sales quotas.  It tends to push people into anxiety and depression.  I was there myself this month.  With my work having challenges, me getting older and an unruly puppy to train.  Things just felt awful and closed in and trapped.  My mind started repeating a scarcity narrative of how much I don’t have and how much I’ve lost.  Which, I know is ridiculous, because I’m one of the most blessed and lucky people you’ll ever meet, but that’s how your brain works, especially this time of year. Then I stumbled across one of Dawn’s posts talking about gratitude and abundance.  By the way, one of the symptoms of this downward-spiraling mental malaise is you start trying to distract yourself online.  Whether it’s FB scrolling or too much news or video games.  That’s a bad way to avoid life.  Anyhow, I took a deep breath and declared November a month of gratitude.  In section one I’m going to suggest two useful ways you can use your off-season training to learn some new skills and add to your running assets.  In section two we are going to take the hero’s journey together.  Because one of the most effective way to contextualize your experience in this world is to see it as a journey.  Tell your narrative as a journey.  And that is what we are going to talk about today.  Gratitude and journeys.  Because, my friends, no matter how low or shitty it gets the hero in you always knows the way.  Without the shitty parts there can be no hero.  I saw a great post this week that said ‘failure is like stepping in manure, it stinks when you do it but it makes for great fertilizer!” 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 – Using your in-between time - Voices of reason – the conversation Dawn Ciccone Make your day a new & exciting adventure! Discover your incredible life. Dawn Ciccone A marathoner, writer, personal trainer, nutrition and running coach, Dawn offers methodologies learned from experience!  Her passion is to help people face challenges, dIscover the gifts they bring and trust themselves as the beautifully powerful person you’re meant to be.   Dawn has conquered abusive relationships, addiction, disordered eating and came through a tragic accident that left her helpless. Dawn has been where you’re at and knows how to turn challenges into opportunities!   Credentials Certified RRCA &   USTAF coach   American Red Cross Health & Safety Instructor   Certified Nutritional Health Educator and Personal Fitness Trainer   Certified Master Reiki Practitioner, intuitive, empath, lightworker, transformational speak.   Section two – Your Hero’s Journey– Outro Well, my friends, you have Made it with gratitude to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-419.  Okey – Dokey – I’m in a down phase in my training.  Which is another, kinder way of saying I’m not training much.  Much for me that is.  I’m just doing 3 days a week in the trails with Ollie the Collie and then a longer run with the boys on Sundays – somewhere in the 20-30 miles a week.  I’ve fattened myself back up with some poor nutritional choices as well, but I think we need to take these breaks to rebalance the humors every once in a while.  I know discipline is power but that can burn you out and I’ve got a lot going on right now.  I’m noticing that I’m starting to get the bug again to do something epic.  Got any suggestions?  I’m not sure if I’ll get into Boston this year.  If I don’t that opens up the spring for something.  Coming up is our traditional Thanksgiving 5k.  But, Teresa hurt her foot, so I’m going to walk it with her.  Maybe we’ll start early and take the dog.  After that the first week of December is the Mill Cities Relay.  I was running with my buddies Brian and Frank and we came up with a the bright idea of entering our own team.  You only need 5 people and we already had 3 so how hard could it be?  As I started reaching out to some of our old running friends, (in our age group), I found that many of them were no longer running at all due to age-related injuries.  In a weird Schadenfreude way they made me feel pretty good about the fact that I’m still getting out there.  It also reminded me to be kinder to myself. Finally, I am planning to run the Groton Marathon, and organize it, for the 7th edition on December 29th this year – please come up and run with us.  It’s fun.  What about Ollie the collie? We were asked not to come back to puppy training.  It started as we were sitting patiently, waiting for class to start.  Ollie the border collie puppy and myself in the big box pet store.  It was our 3rd class.  Ollie was doing well, learning quickly.  The dopey brown doodle came in with it’s handler all stupid and goofy, doh do doh.  The dopy doodle’s exuberance overruled the owners’ ability to control it and it pulled its way over into our space to check out Ollie. Ollie was not happy about this.  He turned to look at me and said  “Dad, what is this madness?   These doodles and snoodles and snickerdoodle caboodles?  What right do they have to play with the canine DNA of pure breeds for their own amusement?  These freaks!  These aberrations! This cannot stand! I draw the line here! I must stop this madness!  Foul abomination I strike at thee! I will blot your aberration from this world!” At least that’s what I thought he said, because it was at this point he went berserk and tried to murder the doodle.  But, since I was holding him by the collar he turned and sunk his teeth into my hand.  As I was bleeding and shaking with fear, that’s when the nice lady said maybe we should leave and not come back.  On the one hand Ollie is mental and that has its challenges.  But, on the other hand, I’m kinda jealous because that’s exactly the kind of punk-rock, hard core mental many of us tried to be as teenagers! He’s just coming up on 6 months old and he’s already 31 pounds of muscular athlete with a big brain to boot.  He’s running 20 – 30 miles with me off leash in the woods each week and he’s scary fast and strong.  He’s not much on cuddling, but as they say, he’s someone you’d want to share a fox-hole with. I just have to train him up.  He’s going to be a great dog.  And remember, as Ollie says, Death to Doodles! 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 4-418 – Matt’s Long Ride (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4418.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-418 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last talked.  I did jump on the Ferry out of Hyannis to Nantucket for that half marathon.  It was kind of fun but also a bit of a struggle.  When I first signed up for it, I thought it would be a fun outing.  Maybe take my wife along or some of my running buddies.  In the end it was just me.  I met up with the other pacers on the ferry and met some nice people in the race.  It was a nice sunny day.  It was a pretty big race considering it was out on an island.  This race fell a week before my target race, the BayState Marathon, and I planned to use it just as a final easy run.  That was the plan.  With how inconsistent my training has been this summer I wasn’t feeling very excited about it.  I offered to run the 2:00 pace group, but they had a greater need for the 1:50 and I acquiesced.  I don’t run a lot of ½ marathons, and my math gets fuzzy.  A 1:50 half is the equivalent of a 3:40ish full marathon, and while not super challenging for where I am right now, it wouldn’t be the lark that a 2:00 would.  It works out to a 8:23 ish pace versus a 9:09 pace.  I went in tired.  My week was weird and my tempo run slipped to Friday, which was probably too close to the race.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt wasn’t helped by the long ride down to the Cape.  I made the morning ferry with no issues and had no issues finding the pace team at the start. I lost my pace group early.  The first part of the course is a lot of sand roads.  They had had a storm for the previous couple days before the race that dumped a lot of rain and left numerous large puddles straddling the road side-to-side.  It turned those early sections into a bit of a steeplechase.  As a pacer I’m supposed to maintain pace no matter what – so I did and lost everyone who was trying to keep up with me.  I was trying to run by the overall average pace on my watch.  Which was a mistake.  I figured if my overall average was an 8:22 – 8:23 I’d be right on that 1:50 finishing time.  I ended up right on an 8:23.  I slowed down a little at the end because I was all alone and thought I might be a bit too fast.  That turned out to be the mistake and I crossed about 30 seconds too slow – which is a cardinal sin in the pacing biz.  I’ll probably get excommunicated.  Pacing isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Even though my average pace was exactly where it needed to be based on my watch, I missed the clock time.  It’s a bit befuddling.  My watch is always off a little on the distance and I guess that could be worth 30 seconds.  It looks like the only strategy that works is to have your mile splits written out, hard copy and check every mile – old school pacing.  And then plan to be a minute early on top of that to make up for variability.  I got it done, but I didn’t feel great.  Another small racing failure in what has been several months of disconsolate results and discontent.  My whatever-it-is pain in my butt was screaming in the car-ride home.  I was in a bit of a blue mood rolling into the last week of taper for BayState.  And that, my friends is what we will talk about in section one!  In our interview today we talk with Matt about his recent experience of riding his bike unsupported across the TransAm route and then writing about it.  In section two I’m going to rant a little on the current ‘hustle’ culture.  As I was lined up in the starting corral in Lowell, the city of my birth, a city that I have some history with.  I had one of those pure moments that I love about racing.  When you are there, on race morning, all the waiting is over.  The decisions have all been made.  It’s a pure moment.  The expectations and worrying are washed away by the rising sun.  The volunteer singing the national anthem fills your soul and dampens your eyes.  It is a pure place without affectation, without choice and filled with the energy of being set free onto the course.   How many pure moments like that are left in our world? 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 2019 - Voices of reason – the conversation Matt Hi Chris,  I’ve been a listener to your podcast for years now. You’ve been a constant source of entertainment and motivation in my life. I really enjoyed your Marathon BQ book, and used it for my marathon. Though most of my training has been more in the ultra-cycling world, geared towards 24 hour cycling events, and last year I raced Trans AM, a 4200 mile ride from Astoria Oregon to Yorktown Virginia. One of the things that saw me through those 16 hours of riding every day was listening to your podcasts.  Riding across country was a profound enough experience that I wrote a book about my journey “As Fast As You Can: How I Biked Across The U.S. In Duct-Taped Shoes” and there’s a quote from you in there from the podcast when you were talking about your 100 mile race “Here’s the uncomfortable truth.  There is no strategy that is going to allow you to stretch the effort over the distance to make things sunshine rainbows and unicorns.  You are going to be uncomfortable.  At some point, things are going to suck.  And not just for a few minutes like a 5K or 10K.  It’s going to suck for hours on end.  Your goal is to acclimate to the suck.  You can keep going with raw bleeding patches of skin.  It just sucks.” ~ Chris, from the “Run Run Live” Podcast. That was one of my favorite things that you’ve said, and it helped keep me going. If you’re interested, I’d love to work with you, maybe talk with you on your podcast. I have a modest facebook following and would do everything in my power to help promote your show, to add what support I can. Let me know if you’re interested. And thank you for being an inspiration. Regards, Matt Kovacic   Section two – Hustle– Outro Well, my friends, you have peddled non-stop across the country to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-418.  Time to put some nut-butter on those saddle sores.  I was flying back from Miami this week and looking out the window when the following words bubbled to the top of my brain: “Clouds boil up out of the southeast humidity escaping from the cauldron of the world.” That’s how my brain works sometimes.  It paints pictures with words.  But, let’s talk about something important.  Ollie the Collie.  Last week we started puppy class.  Which is a very good thing because he is a wild man.  Technically I could just train him myself without class but this, as in all things, is better with a coach.  Going in I was pretty sure Ollie would be the crazy, uncontrollable puppy in puppy class.  He’s got so much energy and he’s really busy.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ollie was the smartest, calmest puppy in class.  It’s a border collie thing.  When it’s time to work they fall in line.  He picked up the commands right away and he didn’t cause any trouble.  He’s going to be a good dog. I forgot to mention last show that I met up with Tim when I was in Chattanooga a couple weeks ago and we went for a trail run up on Signal Mountain.  It was good to see him.  He’s retired now and is planning to through-hike the Appalachian Trail next summer.  These long endurance events like the AT and Matt’s Trans AM can be game changers.  Matt’s a great example of just deciding to do something and doing it in a way that changes your life.  It’s one of those things that will become a fulcrum for his life journey.  If you think about your life’s trajectory, we tend to fall into a path and either consciously or unconsciously build the conditions that keep us on that path.  One of these big events is a great lever, to pry yourself out of that rut.  I’ve got a funny story about Matt’s interview.  As you may or may not know I have an editor for these interviews.  One of the most time-consuming and hard to automate parts of the podcasting process is the audio editing of the interviews.  The process is that you have to play the interview and cut out the bad bits.  By definition it’s a hard thing.  You have to understand what is being said to know whether it is pertinent or not.  I do my best to be consistent, but some interviewees are harder than others.  Sometimes we go down non-value-added (re: boring) rat holes that need to be ferreted out.  Sometimes I get a real talker or I lose track of time and the interview has to be significantly shortened.  I have had many good interview editors over the last many years that we’ve been in business.  Currently I work with Dimitry who live in Moscow.  He does a good job and seems to have learned my method well enough to make these tricky edits.  I pay him for each show – and that is one of the things I use subscription money for.  It doesn’t seem to bore him too badly.  I have had other editors quit on me, basically saying “I can’t take any more of this!”  Sometimes he’ll comment on what he thought was an interesting topic or person.  With Matt’s interview, Dimitry was very enthusiastic.  He said that he, himself, was a “Bike-Packer” as well and wondered how he could get a copy of Matt’s book.  So here’s a guy I work with every week.  That knows a shitload about my life.  That I’ve never met.  In Moscow.  That’s the world we live in today!  And as weird as that sounds, this conversation with Matt resonated and made a connection.  Think about that.  You never know which conversation or which thing you do is going to make a connection. So keep doing epic stuff and keep having conversations 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 4-416 – Nate Does Form (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4416.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-416 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Yes, I did that thing where I published two episodes out of order.  Last week was episode 417 and next week will be episode 418. Today we wrap up our series on running form. We talk with Nate who commands the Run Experience in California and is an expert of form.  You may hear some odd noises in the background towards the end of the interview.  I was trying to do too much and was walking the puppy in the woods behind my house at the same time I was interviewing Nate.  We got going a bit later than planned and I realized I had to get back to my house for another call.  I went off trail to take a shortcut.  Anyhow. How are you folks doing.  Got some new members. In the last couple weeks.  When I ask them what I can do for them they say ‘just keep doing the podcast’ – I guess I can handle that.  Set’s the bar pretty low.  I am sitting in my Cape Cod house.  In the morning I’m going to get up and drive over to Hyannis, catch the 6:10 highspeed ferry to Nantucket where I will pace the 1:50 pace group at the Nantucket half marathon.  They were having trouble finding pacers.  1:50 is a little quicker than I would usually volunteer for, but they needed that more.  It shouldn’t be a problem.  It’s only a 8:23ish pace, and it’s only a ½ marathon distance.  Meh.  We’ll see if we have anyone looking for that pace.  I’m not feeling great.  I took a couple weeks off after Beantown, but it didn’t help my sore butt at all.  It really hurts when I sit for a long while, which is basically the definition of my life.  I have Baystate next week but at this point I’m thinking about switching to the half because I have serious doubts about my fitness and ability to race. I feel like my body is telling me to stop running for a while.  My thinking is to switch to some other fitness routine for the rest of the year and try to get my flexibility and core strength back.  I’m also loath to lose the fitness I’ve built up.  I’d need to find something aerobic to replace the running.  When I took those two weeks off I did do a medium effort bike workout on the Peleton in the gym.  That still aggravated the whatever it is.  I guess I could swim but logistically that is such a pain.  I’d have to join a club, rebuy all the stuff, etc.  I’d love to get into some sort of class that could give me the core strength and flexibility but I’m not confident I’d be able to find anything that fit me.  Cross fit?  Yoga classes?  I don’t know but I need to find something different.  I’m a bit rudderless.  In section one we’ll wrap up our form discussion.  In section two I’m going to talk about brown rice.  Yeah, why not?  Let me share a story I forgot to share last time from the Beantown marathon… Late in the race, after I had crashed and was limping home I had something amusing happen.  It was a loop course so later in the race I was lapping the slower runners. I passed a lady pushing a double stroller with two toddlers in it.  Good for her pushing two kids, I’m assuming her kids, for a marathon distance.  As I pass the stroller and pull ahead one of the kids yells out “Dadda!”  That gave me a chuckle. 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 – Finishing up on form - http://runrunlive.com/finishing-up-on-form   Voices of reason – the conversation Nate Helming BIO: Co-Founded The Run Experience in 2014 with the goal of reaching a broader audience of runners and outdoor enthusiasts who want to be able to run and enjoy the outdoors and remain injury-free. He has helped athletes finish their first races, conquer new distances, overcome pre-existing injuries, set new PRs, reach the podium, and qualify for national and world level events. New Training App: (just launched this August) https://therunexperience.com/app Youtube Channel: Section two – On Brown Rice– Outro Well, my friends, you have used that perfect form to stroll nonchalantly to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-416.  I read a couple books this week.  I finished the  It was a decent read.  Very inspirational made you feel like you could do anything.  I didn’t see him, but he was out at Leadville.  He likes the ultra-running.  Likes to suffer.  One of the things he talked about that I found useful was using your past successes as proof that you can do whatever new thing you’re attempting.  You make an invent tory of those times when you broke through and when you succeeded and you pull those out when things get hard. I’m not in a great place in any of the aspects of my journey right now.  And it is useful for me to be able to go back through the inventory of all the amazing things I’ve been able to do in my life.  It gives me patience, and gratitude and even a bit of courage.  We all need courage. The other book I read last week was .  I found it in Starbucks.  They have a little basket of books that people leave and take. If you’re listening to me you probably already know who is.  He was one of the most unique science fiction writers of our time.  You’ve seen his stories in the movies.  Most famously his story, “Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep” became the cult classic “Blade Runner” with Harrison Ford.  But also, “The man in the high castle”, “A Scanner Darkly”, “Minority Report”, “Total Recall” and “The Adjustment Bureau”.  It’s hard to describe a PKD book.  They are all richly tailored alternate universes.  But, close enough to our own reality to make us uncomfortable.  I would recommend you read through his notable works.  This one won the Campbell award.  It was hilariously set in 1988 – which was 15 years in the future from where Dick was writing.  The thing with PKD is that the themes are science fiction-y, but it’s more philosophical fiction.  It’s not all spaceships, ray guns and beautiful women.  The alternate universes are abstractions for him to ask very reasonable questions about unreasonable things and things that matter. Nantucket in the morning.  BayState next weekend then slow things down for the winter months and try to get my kinks straightened out.  Ollie the border collie is doing great. He’s still a terror.  He’s turning into a teenage.  He’s learning how to chase the ball and sometimes even bring it back.  He loves to run on the trails with me.  I run and he zooms around.  He’s a good dog but he has way more energy than any of us do.  I take him to work with me sometimes and let him bother me there.  I have to go up and down 3 flights of stairs to walk through the basement to the loading dock to get him outside.  I suppose it’s god for both of us.  He’s making friends with the ladies in the smoking area.  When I went to the dump this morning the lady there was asking where he was.  He’s such a cutie pie and loves everyone so much he draws a crowd wherever he goes. That’s it for me.  I’m cooked and have to get up super early.  Reach into that cookie jar of past achievements that you are proud of 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 4-417 – Robert Owen Hamilton – Beyond Average (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4417.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Hello and welcome to episode 4-417 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Welcome to all my endurance friends as the summer winds down up here in the northern hemisphere.  Maybe you’re wrapping up your season or deep into training for that last fall marathon.  The September weather we’ve been having is more like August weather.  It’s been warm this week and dry for quite a while.  The days are getting precipitously short, it’s dark in the morning and dark in the afternoon and soon it will be dark all the time here in New England like the bottom of some deep, cold well with a small circle of sunlight at the top peeking in to signal the long lonesome memory of sunny days past and the long winter ahead.  In the old, farming days this would be the time of plenty.  The crops are in the larders are full and the new beer and wine are fermenting.  This is the time of Thanksgiving and Oktoberfest.  Before the slow march into the winter solstice.  The ancients saw it, literally, as the death of the world.  I have just started running again after taking two weeks off.  I came out of that last marathon really beat up and decided to give it a bit of a rest.  I looked back over the Spring and Summer and realized that I’ve run 10 races over the last few months.  It was what I wanted to do after spending so much time heads down training.  But it does leave you a bit beat up I’ve been getting OllieDog the border collie puppy out with me more often as well.  He’s going to be a big dog. Today we have an interview with Robert Hamilton Owens who reached out to me to talk about aging and fitness.  Robert is one of those guys with an agenda or passion.  His passion is convincing people that age is no excuse to not do stuff.  You can do more than you think.  Robert has written a book and speaks on this topic.  He’s circulates in that hard core ‘we can do anything group’ with Joe DeSena from Spartan and David Goggins.  He is a retired Special Ops Pararescue guy.  He’s an ironman.  He’s had a TV show and been a minister.  He did that 7 marathons in 7 days thing with McGillivray last year.  He is known as ‘the fittest 66 year old in the world’.  Most recently he went through the equivalent of the BUDS SEAL training Hell Week.  That’s the thing you see with them shivering in the surf and carrying logs around.  Interesting guy.  A bit of a force of nature.  The kind of guy you want on your side in a fight.  One thing you may or may not notice is me getting a bit less interactive towards the end on the interview.  I had set myself up in a conference room to take the call and someone found me towards the end and was sitting there waiting for me to finish which kinda cramped my style.  That whole separating work from hobby thing again. Today I decided to wrap the whole episode around the concepts of aging and what we are really capable of.  In section one I talk about what the current thinking is on age and fitness.  In section two we delve into that ‘giving more than you think you are capable of’ topic and try to weed out truth from magical thinking.   That’s the question my friends.  How much more can you get out of yourself and why aren’t you getting it?  Can you live up to or beyond your potential?  Do you even want to? Let’s find out. 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 effect of age on fitness - http://runrunlive.com/the-boston-problem   Voices of reason – the conversation Robert Hamilton Owens ABOUT ROBERT Robert Hamilton Owens is a man of many hats. He’s been and done a lot – mountain climbing, radio and TV personality, keynote speaker, minister, Ironman, philanthropist, triathlete, Special Ops Pararescueman, and father of five – to name a few. But of all the pursuits he’s undertaken, there’s one title that best describes this literal force of nature: Robert is The Fittest 66-Year-Old in the World. Period. Robert was born and raised in Orange County, California without ever having met his parents. Adopted by a California judge, Robert was raised as a special-needs child who was unable to play kickball with his classmate due to the corrective shoes he was required to wear through sixth grade. In high school, Robert trained under legendary US Olympic swim coach Jon Urbanchek in Anaheim, and later raced outrigger canoes from Long Beach to Catalina with the Dana Point Outrigger Club on his off time from lifeguarding in San Clemente.  In 1973, he entered the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School with a class of 157 men to train as a Pararescueman, the Air Force equivalent of a Navy SEAL. Of those 157, only seven made the through and graduated, one of which was Robert, who was designated Team Leader. As an Air Force Pararescueman, Robert was routinely called upon to risk his life to rescue those in perilous situations, such as climbers stranded on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. As a climber himself, Robert later attempted a winter ascent up the mountain, making it nearly three quarters of the way up before being blown off by 80-mile-per-hour, -100-degree winds. But to his credit, and to Robert’s understanding to this day, no one has ever made it to the top in those conditions. After Robert left the military, he began smuggling literature into the old Soviet Union, and smuggling official documents back out. The documents were violations of the Helsinki Peace Accords under the Carter administration. Robert Hamilton Owens In total, Robert has completed 12 Ironman Triathlons – from Florida to Oahu to South Africa – and is one of the few Ironmen to complete both Honolulu in 1980 as well as Kona in 2003. “My goal is to be the longest active Ironman in the world,” he says. The 140.6-mile Ironman (2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and 26.3-mile run, all done without a break) is among the shorter competitions Robert’s put himself through. At age 65 he embarked on the 238 mile “300 of Sparta Endurance Race,” an eight-day endurance race in Greece to help raise over $315,000 for the families of fallen Navy SEAL contractors who died at Benghazi. A mere four days before his 66th birthday, Robert took on the SEALFIT’s Kokoro 50-Hour Challenge, originally created to train Special Operations Candidates. He was the oldest of the group by 25 years to finish, and at the same time became the oldest to ever complete the challenge, for which he was awarded the “Most Advanced Age Ever Award” by SEALFIT. And then without any training, he took on the Ironman Mexico – his 12th Ironman. And in January, 2018, Robert took on and completed "The World Marathon Challenge – 7 Marathons 7 Continents 7 Days.” But for Robert, a father of five, none of this is done for self-aggrandizement. While he loves the challenge, he derives his greatest pleasure from helping others – motivating, educating, and inspiring them. He does it for one, such as helping a ready-to-quit Ironman competitor and cancer survivor to continue and finish the race, and he does it for many. For more than 25 years, Robert has been speaking before audiences as large as 50,000, from San Diego to Moscow on motivational and leadership topics. His past clients include the Navy SEALs, New York Jets, The Baltimore Ravens, The Philadelphia Eagles, South African Parliament, the Vietnamese Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Philippines Joint Chiefs of Staff. He’s been invited to address the South African Parliament, and has made five trips teaching officials in the Vietnamese Department of Foreign Affairs. During 22 of those years, he hosted the regional Fox network television program “Leadership for Changing Times” in Reno, Nevada where, by two separate Governor’s appointments, he also served for eight years on the Nevada State Judicial Ethics Committee. While it takes extraordinary physical condition to be in the Air Force Special Ops or to best the many Ironmans he’s bested, Robert will readily affirm that success in these physical endeavors – and in life in general – is as much a matter of will and mental attitude as it is physical conditioning. When most have long since slowed as they approach their golden years, The Fittest 66-Year-Old in the World continues to routinely take on unprecedented challenges, and to help others see what can be achieved in their own lives.   Section two – 40% more– Outro Well, my friends, You have used your willpower to rise above the limitations of age and poor thinking to strive valiantly, giving 140% to the end of the RunRunLive Podcast episode 4-417.  Since we talked I took some time off.  I was really beat up after that BeanTown marathon try.  I shut it down for the better part of two weeks.  I started up again this week.  The tendonitis in my butt still hurts but I feel relatively fit.  I’ve only got a couple weeks of training before I have to taper for BayState.  We’ll see what I can do but I’m not mortgaging the house on this one.  I counted up the races I ran this summer and it turns out there were somewhere around 10.  That’s a lot for an old boy.  They released the statistics for Boston today.  Even with making the cutoffs 5 minutes faster you would have needed to beat the qualification standard by 1:39 to get in for 2020, or about 3200 runner who qualified and didn’t get in.  It’s a brave new world.  I’ll tell you a couple Ollie dog stories to take you out.  I’m getting tried and I need to wrap this up.  First, I had him out yesterday on a trail run with me.  My day got hosed so I couldn’t get out until it was almost dark and it was pissing rain.  There’s a point, about 3 miles in where it opens up and you can get to the pond off of the trail.  There’s an opening.  I usually stop here to let the dog drink or swim, not this dog, the last dog, Buddy.  I pulled out to the opening and told Ollie to go get a drink.  Now, this late in the day, with a full heavy rain going, the surface of the pond looked solid as a cement floor.  He went running into it as if he wa going to run out onto this floor pretty much full tilt scamper…and went right under.  He was quite surprised and managed to dog paddle himself back to dry land.  This morning I got up and he had been sick.  He left me a fairly disgusting mess in his crate.  I toweled him off and took his blanket out.  I carried the hard-plastic liner out and hosed it off outside.  I went upstairs and through the towel and blanket in the washer and turned it on.  That’s how my day started.  Then my wife gets up and starts yelling at me for running the washing machine at 6:00 AM!  I explained the situation and she asks me one of those questions that I can’t answer.  “Did he eat anything he wasn’t supposed to?”  He’s a 4-month old, high-energy, border collie pup.  If he’s awake he’s trying to eat something and it’s usually something he’s not supposed to.  That’s it.  I’ve reverted to being a beginner parent again.  My life is wrapped around picking up bodily fluids and trying to keep my young friend from killing himself.  I’m not sure I’m equipped for it anymore! May the gods lend me patience. And I’ll see you out there. MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks - Rachel -> Coach Jeff ->